Gajeel got home not too long later, and crashed down onto his bed. If only fighting crime paid well, then he wouldn't be living in this dump.

    The 'dump' was an old motel room which had clearly seen better days. The room was tiny and cramped, barely big enough to hold the bed, small table, chair, and icebox that made up the room's contents. The lighting above was dim and flickering because the bulb was gradually going out, and the fan was broken, clicking each time it completed a full rotation. And the carpet smelled like mildew and old socks so much that Gajeel was always reluctant to step on it.

     Gajeel sighed, pulling a soda from the icebox, popping its cap and taking a swig from the refreshing drink. He glanced briefly at the clock to find it was past midnight, and groaned, face-planting into his bed. He rolled onto his back as he set the soda on the small bedside table, and stared at the nasty khaki paint that peeled as it stretched in a thin layer across the ceiling.

     "College tomorrow," he promised himself. At least the dormroom would be a lot nicer than this piece of junk.

    With an aggravated sigh, Gajeel dropped a pillow onto his face. First sleep. Then college. All he had to do was wake up with his alarm clock at seven, and he'd be on a whole new milestone of his life.

      (Time skip to morning)

      Gajeel woke up to his alarm clock, sleepily rolling over to press the snooze button. Then he sat bolt upright as he saw the time. "REALLY? That infernal beeping took a whole HOUR to wake me up?"

     He leapt to his feet, grabbing his duffle bag he had packed the night before. He hadn't changed clothes the night before, so he just kicked open the door to the room, threw his bag over his shoulder, and sprinted out towards the bus station.

      After emptying his wallet to get a bus ticket that would drive him the entire hour across the city to the college, Gajeel dropped down in a seat on the bus.

     He found himself recalling the little bluenette he'd talked to the night before on the bus. He'd nearly had a heart attack when she'd left, because he realized his back pack had been slightly unzipped to reveal his Blacksteel mask. He grinned slightly to himself. She'd been pretty nice to talk to, not annoying like most girls.

     The bus hit a bump, and Gajeel cursed as he bit his tongue. Stupid bus. 

     His gaze roamed to the man sitting across from him that was reading the day's newspaper, and caught sight of an upside down black and white picture on the back. "Hey," he growled to the man, "Can I see that for a moment?"

    The man looked slightly surprised, but handed it over. Gajeel found the page, and scowled. The headline was "Villain and Vigilante Showdown Inside Local Museum!" And the picture was of Blacksteel and Shadow Script fighting, probably taken from a security camera inside the museum.

    Gajeel glared at the paper as he read the obviously biased commentary on the recent happenings and the battle. The article was well-written, but in the horrible light that Blacksteel, the 'law's self-appointed enforcer of government' was again endangering lives and risking the great valuables of the museum.

    Still highly annoyed, Gajeel tossed the paper back at the man, leaning moodily back in the seat. He still had a long way to wait before he'd get to the campus. He just hoped he wouldn't be insanely late.

    (Time jump to the college)

     Levy arrived at the college campus five minutes before the orientation began. She was sitting in a large room filled with chairs that faced a huge, white projection screen. She was sitting towards the front, her camera around her neck. She was being paid to do an article on the school, and being granted a tiny cut on her student loan for doing so.

    A few last-minute stragglers entered, and the presentation began.

     Levy took a lot of pictures during the tour around the campus, taking a particular fancy to the large student library on one of the lower floors. She was particularly proud of a picture she took of one of the bookshelves, which had a brilliant exposure and picturesque lighting. By the time the tour ended, Levy had taken over two hundred pictures.

    Levy and all the new students were given their schedules and instructions to their dorm rooms, and Levy read, "Dorm 56, third floor, girl's dorms."

     "The building to the left belongs to the girls, and the building on the right is the boys'," the tour guide lady said pleasantly, clapping her hands together, "I hope you enjoyed the tour, and we look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow!"

     The crowd split into two groups, each filing into a different building, and Levy found herself being buffeted by the crowd up the stairs. She managed to pull free when she saw the number three emblazoned on a door, and stumbled into a hallway with doors lined on either side of the walls. A few students trickled through the door after her, but they found their dorms and vanished inside fairly quickly.

     Room 56 was on the far side of the third floor, so by the time she had found it, she was pretty much by herself. Levy fit the small, jagged key into the lock on the brass handle, and pushed the door open.

     It was a nice, warm looking room, painted a light, tan color. The green and white plaid curtains lined the window and matched the pale green sheets on the bunk bed and the twin bed, which each sat on opposite sides of the window. There was a long set of drawers against the left wall, and a closet and a bathroom side by side on the right wall.

     Levy smiled,"Not bad." She found her items and belongings on the seperate twin bed, and began to unpack her clothes into one of the drawers. While she was doing this, a girl with blonde hair pulled up on one side by a bow to form a small ponytail entered the room. She was wearing a white shirt with a blue symbol on it, and a blue skirt.

    "Hi," the girl smiled, "I think we're roommates, right?"

      "Yes, I'm Levy McGarden," Levy said with a friendly smile, "Who're you?" 

       "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, nice to meet you. But I know who you are, you're the one that writes those articles on the superheroes in the newspaper!" The blonde said, holding up a copy of the day's newspaper.

     "And I've heard your name too... You don't happen to work for " The Magnolian Daily" too, do you?"

    "I do!" Lucy exclaimed, "That is so cool, we both work for the newspaper! Who's your manager?"

    "Michael Nosch, he's so uptight! What about you?"

   "You work for Nosch? Yikes! I work for Marya Kilona."

    "Lucky!!"

      "Hello, girls! I see you two are my roommates?" A pretty girl with long, white hair pulled up into a ponytail at the top of her head entered with a smile, "I'm Mirajane!"

    "I'm Levy," Levy said, returning the smile, "Nice to meet you."

    "And I'm Lucy," the blonde introduced herself again,"I think your stuff is on the top bunk."

     Levy couldn't help but to smile to herself. Good dorm room, good roommates. This was going perfectly.

AUTHOR'S NOTE!!!

Hope you guys enjoyed the third chapter of this book! Sorry if my scheme of college is a little unrealistic. I have yet to go, so if you guys have any corrections, just let me know! And I know introducing Mira instead of Juvia or Erza is a little random, but I've never really included Mira in a story before. Besides, now I can introduce Laxus! Yay! Anyway, thanks so much for reading! Love you guys!          —gajevyx99 out!