Do you guys want to win a dedication for my next chapter? Then, here's what you have to do...

1. Comment that you want a dedication!
2. No spamming!

That's it! I'll pick one person from the comment section and announce the winner in the next chapter. I never did a dedication before, so this will be my first! Okay, on with the chapter!

~~~

Author's POV:

It was the day of the wedding. Grandine was in the dressing room with Lucy and her friends, getting dressed and ready. Grandine never thought about getting married again. It was just something she never had time for. That was until Igneel came back and tried to make amends with his family.

Wendy was more open to Igneel, considering she never met him before. She always wanted to get to know her father and have a deep connection with him. Before Igneel came back, Wendy always imagined what her father looked like, what his voice sounded like, and whether or not he was a good man. Now, she finally got all the answers she was looking for and it didn't take long for the both of them to start bonding.

Grandine was a little hard on Igneel. It took her a while to forgive him for abandoning his family and leaving her alone to take care of the kids. She was also skeptical when Igneel claimed he had changed for the better. That all vanished, however, when Grandine saw how persistent he was at trying to win his family back. He was the same Igneel Grandine knew and loved.

Natsu was a bit of a challenge. When he was little, Natsu always looked up to his dad. When Igneel left, Natsu could only think about the reason why he did. Was it because he wasn't good enough for him? The question seemed to haunt Natsu every single day. That was until Grandine told him about Igneel's secret. She told Natsu about how he used to smoke, drink, and gamble a lot of money. When Igneel came back, Natsu could only think about how he damaged his family. He never gave him a chance to show how much he changed and closed him out, not wanting anything to do with him. However, Lucy was able to persuade him into talking to his dad and the both of them were able to receive closure.

"Will there be cake at the wedding reception?" Erza asked, combing Grandine's hair. "Preferably strawberry cake?"

Grandine laughed. "Yes, there will be strawberry cake at the reception."

"Erza!" Levy scolded. "You and your addiction to cake needs to stop."

"It's alright, Levy," Grandine said, "I have an addiction to cake too."

"Hey, Juvia," Lucy said, grabbing the pink lipstick. "Can you zip up the dress for me? I'm going to do her makeup."

"Sure!" Juvia said, zipping Grandine's dress up.

"Wait, what about me?" Wendy asked, feeling a bit left out.

Erza thought for a moment. "Can you check to see if Mira has delivered the cake that was ordered?"

Wendy gasped. "Mira is coming to the wedding?" Everyone nodded. Though, it still shocked Wendy. She hasn't seen Mira in a long time. "Didn't you guys tell me she was too busy managing her bakery?"

Juvia nodded. "Yeah, but she thought it was a special order, so she was able to fit us in."

"Mira should hire someone to manage the bakery," Lucy said, applying some lipstick on Grandine's lips. "She shouldn't have to skip school just so she could satisfy the customers."

"To be fair, Mira doesn't really need to go to school," Levy said grabbing the curling iron from one of the drawers. "She already has a job and she gets a pretty good amount of money."

"Is there anything else you want me to do?" Wendy asked.

"Oh, yes!" Lucy exclaimed, as if she remembered something. "Cana is suppose to bring champagne. Can you go check to see if she hasn't finished any of it?"

"Cana?" Erza said, a little surprised. "Wasn't she in the hospital for drinking too much alcohol?"

Grandine had a shocked face. "Your friend is doing underage drinking?" Everyone in the room nodded. "Wow, I never expected a friend of your's would be drinking illegally."

"I'll go check to see if the orders are here," Wendy said, closing the door to the dressing room behind her. Wendy was glad that the wedding was taking place at her backyard. She thought it was the perfect setting to have Grandine and Igneel's wedding.

Going to the kitchen, Wendy spotted Mira with a seven tiered wedding cake and Cana with the champagne. Unlike a big cake, Grandine requested it to be small, so it could fit into her house. She didn't want Mira to overdo herself. Cana, however, insisted on bringing two boxes of champagne. Grandine only wanted one, but Cana didn't listen.

"Hi, Mira! Hi, Cana!" Wendy greeted. "The girls sent me to see if you brought the cake and the champagne."

"I did, but I don't know about Cana. She seems a little tipsy," Mira said, pointing to the almost unconscious Cana. Wendy sighed and opened the two champagne boxes. One of them was filled with two bottles of champagne. As for the other, well, it was completely empty.

Wendy shrugged. "Well, Grandine did say she only wanted one box of champagne."

"Oh, while you're at it, can you go check to see if the guys are ready?" Mira asked, putting the bride and groom topper on the cake.

Wendy nodded. "Sure, I'll go right away!"

Running through the halls, Wendy could hear bickering coming from the guy's dressing room. Wendy thought it was Gray and Natsu arguing like they used to. They didn't talk all that much when Natsu thought Gray and Lucy were seeing each other. Now, that that's all cleared, they went back to their usual selves and Wendy was glad everything worked out.

Opening the door to the guy's dressing room, the bickering became even louder. Wendy could hear them call each other by their nicknames. Wendy laughed and went into the guy's room, which caught all of them off guard. Some of the boys were either half-exposed or wearing nothing, but their undergarments. Take Romeo for example.

"WENDY?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Romeo asked, trying to cover up his underpants. Wendy was red-faced and quickly apologized, while shutting the door behind her with a big slam. She started walking away, trying to get some fresh air to cool her nerves down, but to no avail. She couldn't get the picture off of her mind. It was the first time, besides Natsu, that she's seen a guy almost naked. All of the guys it could've been, it just had to be her crush.

[TIME SKIP]

The wedding was perfect. Grandine felt like she was reliving the old times. The dress suited her nicely and you could tell by her smile that she was the happiest girl in the world. Igneel was the same. When he saw Grandine walking down the aisle, he started getting butterflies, just like the first time he met her. Nothing could go wrong.

They both exchanged their vows. Their promises to each other. Their undying love for each other. This time, however, Igneel really meant it. Through bad times and good times, Igneel promised to never stop caring for Grandine. He promised to always stay by her side and never make the same mistakes like he did before. All Grandine did was smile. She wanted to show how truly happy she was, but there was no better answer than showing him her smile and that was enough for Igneel. After exchanging their rings, the both of them were now pronounced husband and wife.

~~~

Lucy's POV:

The ceremony was beautiful, just as I thought it would turn out. It was seven o'clock when the wedding reception started and people immediately started chatting and having fun. I could see Grandine and Igneel smiling at each other as they both danced to the music. The both of them couldn't keep their eyes away from each other, as if they didn't want the moment to stop.

To the right of me was Erza staring at the strawberry cake, waiting for the time when the bride and groom cut the first slice of it. I was relieved when I saw Jellal taming her into not eating the wedding cake. In all honestly, if Jellal wasn't there, Erza would've eaten the whole cake, no doubt about it. Nobody does a better job keeping Erza under control than Jellal does.

I looked a little more to my left and saw Juvia sitting alone by herself, watching Igneel and Grandine dancing. Unexpectedly, Gray tapped her shoulders and I swore I heard him ask her to dance with him. Blushingly, Juvia took his hand and the both of them made their way to the dance floor. It was evident Gray couldn't dance, as he kept stepping on Juvia's shoes. I found it quite weird, since he danced perfectly at the winter formal with Levy. Juvia must have done something to him to make him feel nervous. I know a pretty good number of reasons why.

I searched for my best friend, Levy, who was reading her book. I giggled lightly, not at all surprised by her actions. Gajeel rolled his eyes and promptly took the book away from her. He stood up and held it up in the air for Levy to be unable to reach it. Though Levy didn't want to be the first to admit it, being short really did have it's disadvantages. Gajeel laughed and ran away from Levy, unaware that the both of them were playing a silly game of tag.

As for Mira and Cana, they believed that they could be happy without boyfriends. Of course, a couple of guys did show interest in them, but the both of them turned them down, saying how they were already an item. It was true, though. Every time we mentioned about the boys that had crushes on them, the both of them would blush or try to avoid the subject. We thought they liked them too, but that wasn't the reason why they were embarrassed. Mira and Cana had been dating for quite some time and they never had the courage to tell us, until recently. I was really happy for them to come out and be brave enough to tell us that they were a thing. Girl power to them!

Looking over to the left, Wendy was blushing profusely. The last time I saw her acting completely normal was when she was leaving the dressing room, but other than that, she's been stuck looking like this for the past 6 hours. I tried asking if she was feeling okay, but she kept stuttering or finding a way to get out of the conversation. From the corner of my eye, Romeo was glancing over at Wendy. He was also blushing, which gave me the assumption that something awkward happened between them. I'd rather not get myself involved in their current situation.

Sadly, Lisanna couldn't join us. Though, her reason made me squeal. About half an hour ago, Lisanna sent me a picture of her and Sting on their first date at Six Flags. She texted me, saying that her brother, Elfman, was making Sting's day into a horrible nightmare. Apparently, he wanted to know if Sting was man enough to be Lisanna's boyfriend. It wasn't going so well.

Igneel and Grandine's closest friends and family also came along, but I didn't really talk to them, thinking that it might be my first and final time seeing them. Plus, I was never good mingling with people who were either a little older than me or people I've never seen in my life. I get nervous and when I have nothing to say, the conversation becomes awkward. I try to avoid them as much as possible, not wanting them to think that I was socially awkward, which I clearly was.

I walked away from the backyard and made my way to the front yard. I lied on the cool, green grass, whilst looking at the glimmering stars. I closed my eyes, feeling the soft breeze against my face. All I could think about was the letter from the college I wanted to go to, which was New York University. They have one of the best writing schools in the world and it would be a privilege to be a student there.

My English teacher has been hosting a writing contest and explained to us that our story could be of any genre. I chose the romance route, because I was a hopeless romantic. I then submitted the piece of writing to her and all she did was thank me, without critiquing my story in front of me. She told me that if I made it to the top ten, she would send it to the University of New York and only they could decided if I was worthy enough to win a trip to their school. In a way, I was thankful that my teacher didn't tell me whether I won or not, but at the same time, I really wanted to know what she thought about my characters, my plot, and how everything tied up together in the end. Most of all, I wanted to know what the people in NYU thought.

I opened my purse and scavenged for the letter that had arrived at my home the other day. I was too nervous to open it, jumping to the conclusion that I didn't win. When I told Jellal that I was receiving the mail from my favorite university that day, I was excited to open it, but now, I was nervous to the core. So many doubts filled inside my head that I didn't believe in myself. A good writer must be confident in one's writing and I was the polar opposite. How could I be a good writer if I have little to no faith in myself?

"A penny for your thoughts?" I opened my eyes and looked up to find Natsu with his ever so familiar grin. I sat up straight, while he came and sat next to me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing much. Just a letter that will determine my entire future."

Natsu laughed. "That important, huh?" I nodded my head, playing with the corners of the unopened letter. I wanted to know what was inside it. I wanted a clue or hint on what the letter was going to be. Natsu sighed and said, "I'm pretty sure you have to open the letter to find out."

"That's easier said than done, Natsu," I continued, "I'm nervous that I'll get rejected. I worked so hard to try and win a trip to NYU that I'm afraid that everything wouldn't have mattered in the end."

Silence engulfed us, as the breeze blew harder, pushing my gold locks out of the way. It was really pretty outside. The night sky shined brighter than any other nights I've ever seen. Natsu looked at me and saw something around my neck. He smiled, when he knew what I was wearing.

"You're wearing the key that I bought you," Natsu said, changing the subject. I looked down and realized that I was wearing the key that Natsu gave me as a necklace. Every time I looked at it, it made me remember the time that I finally admitted to myself that I was falling for him. My heart would always flutter at the small remembrance.

"Yeah, it was the day you believed that I would join the pep squad," I said, smiling. "I thought I was going to fail, but you kept telling me how you knew I was going to get in.

Natsu nodded. "Well, I'm going to do it again." He cleared his throat, as if he was going to prepare for a grand speech. "You're a really talented person, Lucy. Not just in writing. You're determined, patient, and you work hard to achieve your goals in life."

"Natsu..."

He cut me off. "If you put your heart into it, I know you can do anything in the world, Lucy. So, trust yourself that you did everything you could to win the trip to New York."

I took a deep breath, while looking at the letter. I never gotten so worked up on something so simple. To me, though, it wasn't simple. In my mind, it was either life or death, kill or be killed. Natsu was right, though. If he trusts me, I should trust myself too.

Hesitantly, I opened the letter and read it silently...

~~~

Dear Lucy Heartfilia,

The story that you have submitted to us was beyond our expectations. Out of all the entries, we found your's to be unique and eye catching. That's exactly what we look for in a writer. Congratulations on winning the writing contest! We are thrilled to have you join New York University. Such a talent shouldn't go to waste, so we're offering you a full scholarship to attend our university. We know you are not finished with your high school education, but we checked your updated transcript and we found out you are a straight A student. We hope you consider taking the chance of a lifetime to come to NYU. If you do wish to take the scholarship, your flight takes off at 8:00 a.m. on Monday. Your ticket is in the letter. Don't be late!

Sincerely,
Chairman of NYU

~~~

"So?" Natsu asked. "Did you win?"

I smiled, sadly. "They're offering me a full scholarship to their university."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I don't know," I said, pulling out the ticket from the opened letter. This has been my dream ever since I started writing. I thought my dream was to go to the same college as my friends were, but that wasn't where I wanted to be. I wanted to pursue writing and become an amazing writer. I didn't realize that my dreams were happening too soon. "If I take the scholarship, I have to leave next Monday."

Natsu frowned. "But, that means I won't be able to see you anymore." I didn't say anything, my expression conflicted. I didn't want to leave my friends. I wanted to spend my senior year with them, but how could I do that when I have an offer I couldn't refuse? I also didn't want to leave Natsu. I still have some unfinished business with him. I would never tell him this, but if I do leave, I know I'll miss him. "Lucy, I have something I need to tell you."

I turned my head to face him. "What is it?"

"I-"

"Natsu! Lucy! It's cake time!" Erza exclaimed, her attitude noticeably excited.

"Coming!" I shouted, standing up from the ground. I dusted off some grass from my bottom and stretched my back, feeling a bit stiff from lying down for some time. "Are you coming, Natsu?"

He shook his head. "In a minute."

"Okay," I said, smiling. I went back to the reception, thinking about the scholarship and my friends that I might leave behind.

~~~

Natsu's POV:

I didn't want her to leave. It was selfish of me, but I never said what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell her how stupid I was. I wanted to tell her that breaking up with her was the biggest mistake of my life. I wanted to tell her how much she means to me, because God only knows how much I do.

Knowing her, Lucy was probably going to accept the scholarship. Who wouldn't want a full scholarship to their favorite university? She'd be crazy not to take it. Though, a part of me would be happy if she turned the offer down. The chances, however, were not in my favor.

What am I going to do?

~~~

Holy guacamole! This is the first chapter in this fanfic that I wrote over 3,000 words. I'm so proud of myself. ^_^

I would really like it if you would read this part of the A/N, because it's really important to me. I know a lot of you don't ship Cana and Mira together. To be honest, I don't either, but I thought it would be cute to add a lesbian couple, because I'm actually bisexual. I had no idea that some of the people I know from Wattpad are part of the lgbt community and I'm glad that I don't feel alone, because I'm afraid that people are going to judge me. I discovered my sexuality a little more than a year ago and I admitted that I was bisexual just recently, so I'm still trying to find out who I am.

Sometimes, I would lie about my sexuality. I would tell myself that I can't like a girl, because I like a boy, even though I know it doesn't work that way. I would sometimes tell my friends that I like a guy, but really, I actually like a girl. I feel like I'm in my safe place when I'm writing, because I feel like I'm able to express myself for the real me. I envy those who are confident of themselves and are not ashamed of who they are.

I'm sorry if I rambled too much. I just have a lot in my mind. I'll see you guys in the next chapter. <3

~TheKonfusingKK