DING DONG.

The bell to signal that school was over rang and students rushed out of their classes, nearly knocking each other over.

A group of four girls, however, walked slowly to the destination they were headed.

Another group of four boys was also walking slowly to the same direction as the girls.

--

"Hey, Lu-chan," Levy spoke, breaking the silence that had plagued the girls for minutes.

Lucy turned to face the shorter girl.

"How are you going to get back at Natsu? Do you have a plan or something?"

Lucy narrowed her eyes, not liking the question.

"Yes," she finally answered. "I do have a plan."

Juvia and Erza had already heard all of this and were curious to see what kind of plan their blonde friend had in mind.

--

"Hey, Natsu," Jellal called, breaking the silence between the boys.

"What?" Natsu asked, turning his face to face the blue haired boy. The other boys did the same.

"You said you were going to get back at Lucy but do you have a plan for that?"

Natsu let out a small growl that no one but Gajeel could hear because of his enhanced hearing.

"Yeah," he finally replied, "I got a plan."

--

The two groups kept the same pace as they walked to their destination.

And when they arrived, they were surprised to see what was there.

--

"Why are they here?!" Gajeel excaimed, pointing at the group of girls.

"We could ask you the same question. Why are you here?" Levy countered, giving the group of boys a dirty look.

"Juvia is confused. Why were these boys following us to Lucy-san's house?" Juvia said, glancing over at the house they now stood in front of.

"Wait, that's Lucy's house? Natsu's house is right next to hers?" Gray said, looking at the house the group of boys were standing in front of.

"What?! You two are neighbors?" Erza was shocked. "Then how come we never noticed you?"

"Perhaps it was merely coincidence." Jellal spoke, sounding like a narrator of a drama movie.

"Hey, Lu-chan," Levy whispered to Lucy, "why does he talk like that? It sounds weird."

Lucy shrugged. She didn't pay much attention to Jellal, instead, her gaze was focused on Natsu.

"Tch, girls are such a pain." Gajeel groaned.

"Hey, Natsu, you didn't know she was your neighbor?" Gray asked, nodding towards Lucy.

"No," he answered half-heartily, barely hearing what his friend had said. Instead, his attention was on Lucy.

"Juvia understands. So Lucy-san's house and Natsu-san's house are next to each other. Is Juvia correct?" Juvia asked to no one in particular.

"Why does she talk in third person? Is there something wrong with her?" Gray asked, kind of creeped out by the way the blue-haired girl spoke.

"Do you have problem with the way Juvia speaks?" Juvia threatened.

Gray rolled his eyes. "Geez, Gajeel was right. Girls are weird."

"Told ya." Gajeel folded his arms in agreement.

Then a phone rang. It was Lucy's.

She quickly fished out her phone from her bag and picked up.

"Dad?" she said.

The other girls winced.

The boys couldn't hear what the man Lucy claimed was her father was saying but by the expression the other girls were making, they assumed they could.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm outside." Lucy said after a short while of listening to her so claimed father.

She paused. "No, Dad."

Another pause. "What?!" she exclaimed.

"No way.."

Tiny shatters of words escaped the mouths of the other girls. The boys tried to hear the conversation but even Gajeel and Natsu, who had the best hearing of the group couldn't hear it.

"Dad!" she shouted before hanging up and walking to the pathway to the entrance of her home. The other girls followed.

"Hmpth. These girls are crazy," Gajeel commented.

"Ain't that the truth." Jellal said.

"Whatever, let's just get going. Didn't Gramps want to tell us something?" Gray said, looking at the door to enter Natsu's house.

"Yeah. He did." Natsu muttered, still spacing out. He began to walk to the entrance and the others followed.

He opened the door and walked in without a moment's hesitation. "Hey Gramps! I'm home!"

Before the boys could get five steps into the house, the loud yells of a particular angry blonde resonated around the structure.

"Gramps! How dare you?! You know that I hate that job!" Laxus screamed and what seemed to be a older and much shorter version of himself.

Natsu didn't pay much attention to the raging man in front of him. "Hey, Gramps, I'm home." he said in a bit of a monotone voice.

"I'll be in my room when you want to tell me whatever it is your going to tell me." He said, gesturing his friends to follow him to his room where they would await the old man.

--

Lucy stormed into her house to see her father next to some random woman that looked like she was found in a box.

"Dad!" She yelled, throwing her bag on the couch next to the door.

"Lucy!" he snapped, not even sparing a glance to the other three girls that were at the doorway.

"I know what's right for you, for us!"

"Oh yeah, sure you do," she countered, putting her hands on her hips. "And that's why you brought in your seventh girlfriend??"

Lucy's father smirked. "Actually, she's my fiance." he said confidently, pulling the woman closer to his side.

Lucy had to force herself not to gag. "I don't accept her." she bluntly stated, narrowing her eyes at her father's so called "fiance."

"Actually," Lucy paused, gathering the attention of the people in the room. "I don't care. Go do whatever the hell you want to do, dad. See if I care."

She walked off to her room, not giving her father a second look. Her friends followed her and gave their greetings to the adults. Levy was sure to grab her friend's bag before rushing off to follow her.

"Ugh." Mr. Heartfilia groaned. "She's such a pain."

The woman next to him patted his back. "It's okay, Jude. She'll get used to me eventually."

Jude smiled, although to the random person, it looked quite scary. However, the woman adored it and even giggled a bit.

"And that's why," Jude turned to face his fiance. "I love you, Flare."

--

"For heaven's sake, does he not consider my feelings at all?" Lucy ranted as she and her friends sat in a circle in my bed.

"Maybe he thinks this woman is good..." Levy's voice trailed off, realizing what she was saying.

"Anyways, let Juvia change the subject." Juvia said with a smile, hoping to cheer up the dull mood that hung on the girls.

"Oh yeah! And Lucy, you didn't know Natsu lived next to you?" Erza asked, remembering the incident that happened not too long ago.

Lucy shook her head. "I never noticed. Maybe he only moved in recently so I never saw him."

"But, wouldn't there be a moving truck and everything? Did that mean Gramps moved out, then?" Levy analyzed, trying to piece together the puzzle with the pieces they had now.

"No. He didn't move out. I saw him the other day." Erza explained.

"Then how does Natsu live with Gramps?" Juvia wondered, thinking hard.

But none of them could come up with an answer.

"This is frustrating!" Lucy exclaimed, falling back into her pillows.

"How about we work on our homework from class?" Erza suggested.

Levy smirked. "You mean, you guys work on the homework. I already finished it."

"Juvia does not believe this!" Juvia exclaimed, obviously not believing her friend.

"Yeah," Lucy joined in. "I finished that too. Finished it yesterday."

"You finished a five page essay in one day?!" Erza half screamed.

"What's so hard about that?" Levy questioned with fake innocence in her eyes.

"Well, that's what you'd expect from the two highest scorers in our grade, Erza-san." Juvia added.

Erza pouted. "You guys are unbelievable. The only way I can concentrate is with strawberry cake in front of me." Her eyes immediately glistened with excitement upon the mention of her beloved cake.

"Erza, if you keep eating that strawberry cake of yours, you might get fat." Lucy commented.

Erza paused. Then she let out a sudden and dramatic "Nooo!" before falling on her back, her hair tumbling off the side of the bed.

The other girls laughed at her reaction. It was funny to she her turned from deadly to innocent to a worrying mess.

"You guys know it's already five, right?" Lucy stated.

Juvia rolled her eyes in fake cockiness. "But it's Friday and Juvia is staying over." she said bluntly and clearly.

Lucy blinked. "What?"

"We're staying over at your house, Lucy." Levy explained what Juvia said, although what she said was quite clear.

"But, why? You guys have to go with your families." Lucy questioned and her eyes started to tear up.

"Lucy, we are family." Erza smiled.

"Ah! Why is Lucy-san crying?" Juvia exclaimed, suddenly worried.

Lucy chuckled. "It's nothing, guys. It's just that you guys remind me of my mom."

"Awe." Levy giggled and pulled the rest of the girls into a big hug.

"You guys are the best." Lucy said.

"You know we are." Levy smiled.

--

Okay, so this chapter wasn't really that eventful but it did have some important information that will match up with later chapters. But I'm not saying what goes with what.

Anyways, how do you like this? Would you like long chapters like this or shorter ones?

Please tell me your thoughts in the comments and don't forget to vote and share with your friends.

Thanks for reading!

-EpicMelody