Make You

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Levy's POV

Levy McGarden was used to being new. She was used to being surrounded by an ocean of faces and not knowing a single person in the crowd. She was used to just smiling at everyone with her bright, happy smile, maybe forming an acquaintance here and there, and then moving on. She was, in short, used to being alone.

But today, at this new school with a new start, she was determined to change that. Her mother had assured her that this time, there would be no more moving away on short notice and abruptly leaving every connection they had made behind. Levy would get to have a life, a real life. She finally had a chance, and she would take it.

The school looked even more grand and enormous than it had appeared in the brochure. Towering white walls, great oaken double doors, elaborate stone work and Roman style pillars all made it seem more like some kind of castle out of one of her fantasy books than a school.

Levy squeezed her arms a little tighter around the few books she held, sudden nervousness settling down in her stomach. She had been the new girl at school for more times than she even cared to recall, but this time, for some bizarre reason, it felt different, as if there were something...unpredictable waiting for her inside.

Levy quickly shook off her nervous emotions with a deep breath. She may be the new girl, but she would be fearless, brave, and with an attitude completely contrary to her small stature. She could do it, she would do it.

Levy strode quickly up the steps to the huge double doors at the front of the school before she could think about it any longer. A river of students flowed around her, all talking loudly, jostling one another, occasional brawls breaking out among the more boisterous males. One boy in particular, a student with rose pink hair and a white scarf wrapped around his neck, seemed intent on ensuing battle with every other boy who stepped through the doors.

"Gray!" he shouted at a dark-haired student walking by, "Fight me! I won't go easy on you this time!"

"Can it, Natsu!" Gray hollered back, taking up a fighting stance. "I'll wipe the floors with you if you keep mouthing off like that!"

"Bring it on, Droopy-Eyes!" Natsu challenged, raising his fists.

Their scuffle was cut short, however, when a tall, serious looking red-headed girl grabbed both boys by the ear and began dragging them down the hall, launching into a lecture concerning there overly-violent behavior. Levy gathered it was a lecture the girl was prompted to recite very often.

"Well," Levy mumbled to herself, continued down the hall in search of where her locker should be, "This is certainly going to be an interesting learning experience."

After several student-packed hallways that all looked the same and asking three different people for directions, Levy finally discovered the correct corridor. Sighing with relief after the long search, Levy eagerly turned the final corner...only to hesitate mid-stride at the sight she next encountered.

Levy had always known that being taller than her was a feat practically anybody could accomplish, but this was just ridiculous. The boy before her towered at least three heads higher than her, even in his current bored-looking, hunched position. He had the longest hair she had ever seen on a boy. It was blacker than ink and spilled wildly down his back, the long bangs held back from his face by a headband. The color of his eyes startled her. They were blood red, and sharp as a blade, as if he could make you bleed just by looking at you. The ridges of his face were all outlined in silver piercings that added to the delinquent look about him. Eyebrows, nose, chin, ears, all bearing glistening metal ornaments. Even the pristine school uniform could do nothing to suppress his obviously violent demeanor. If anything, his muscled, lean figure made the outfit look...well, bad. In fact, bad was written all over him.

He had been walking, but now he stopped, and began glowering right at Levy. She felt extremely uncomfortable under his cold gaze, and her steps faltered. She blinked at him, startled by his sudden appearance before her and his apparent dislike of someone barring his way.

Not wishing to become an obstacle to someone so intimidating, Levy looked away and hurried past him, holding her books all the closer to the front of her sweater. That guy had been creepy, scary, threatening even. But there was something else, too, something...unpredictable.

Levy shivered, entirely forgetting about the quest to find her locker, and simply continued on around the next corner. She was sure she could still feel those crimson eyes concentrated on the back of her head with every step, even after she knew she was out of his line of sight. Levy made a mental note never to look him straight in the eye again.

On second thought, she corrected herself mentally, let's just avoid him altogether. He looks like trouble. Bad trouble. Big bad trouble.

Levy giggled at her little joke. What did that make her, then? Little Blue Riding Hood? What a story that would be: Little Blue Riding Hood and the Big Bad Trouble. She would have to write that tale down someday.

Unbeknownst to our blue-headed heroine, this was the mere beginning of a much, much greater fairy tale.