One Of The Boys

The Best Friend

Lucy was late to lunch. She'd lagged behind after class to ask the teacher a question about a tough algebra question, then gone to her locker to stash her heavy books away for the break. This caused her to enter the cafeteria exactly seven minutes later than her usual entrance.

Normally, she'd walk in, find the boys—they always sat at the same table; now, they saved her a seat as well—plop down, chat and munch on whatever grub she'd packed for herself.

This time, when she entered the cafeteria, she was absolutely puzzled by what she saw before her. Rather than the normal group of four sitting at the table awaiting her arrival, there were only three. Lucy stopped in her tracks, frowning at the sight. No head of spiky pink hair sat with Gray, Gajeel and Laxus.

Well, that's weird.

Lucy shrugged it off, figuring he was just as late as she was. She stepped up to the table, giving everyone a greeting, and then let her curiosity get the best of her.

"Where's Natsu?"

Immediately, Gajeel and Laxus dropped their eyes to their food, looking at it with intensity, as if they didn't really wanna answer her question. Gray glared at the table, nose wrinkling in disgust and annoyance just at the sound of Natsu's name.

"Over there," Gray said, although the words spat out rather harshly. He nodded his head towards the far back corner of the cafeteria.

Lucy's eyes trailed over to the back wall, widening once she realized Natsu was sitting back there, stuffing his face all on his lonesome. Her frown deepened. "He's not sitting with you?"

Gray scoffed. "Nah."

She blinked, pushing a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. "Did you guys get in a fight, or something?"

Gray forced a tight smile at Lucy. "Let's just say I don't really feel like being his friend right now."

"Yikes." Lucy murmured, eyes worryingly flickering up to the lonely boy in the corner.

Now, if Lucy had been exactly on time like she normally was, she most likely would have overheard the small exchange between the two boys that had led to something as drastic and dramatic as sitting on opposite sides of the cafeteria. But, she'd been late, and she'd missed everything, and no one seemed like they were about to explain it to her.

So, she let it go, didn't ask any further.

"I'm gonna go eat with Natsu."

The three boys' faces flashed up to hers. Gray looked astounded. "You're picking him over us?"

Lucy made a face. Clearly, they had gotten in a pretty big argument. "He's all alone, and you guys have each other. I'm not picking favorites."

She didn't mention that if she were picking favorites, she'd still pick Natsu every single time.

Gray turned his glare back onto his hamburger. "Fine, fine." He let out a sigh. "I'll see you after class, right?"

Lucy blinked. "Did we have plans?"

"You said you'd pitch to me so I could practice my batting, remember?"

"Oh," Lucy nodded, but her stomach dropped. She'd kind of been looking forward to hanging out with Natsu after school. She kept her tone bright so that Gray didn't notice how disappointed she was. "Right. Yeah, I'll meet you at the front doors, okay? Then we can walk to the diamond together."

She'd promised Gray she'd help him earlier that morning, in first block, but had totally forgotten about it. Thoughts of watching a movie with Natsu or doing anything with Natsu, really, had clogged her mind. Now, she kind of resented that she'd even offered Gray her help—any time without Natsu seemed sort of like a waste of time.