He stood behind the tree and watched her as she walked towards Fairytail University.  He knew who she was the moment he saw her long flowing blonde hair and beautiful chocolate brown eyes. Of course he knew. How could he ever forget? He had loved her since they were children.

What is she doing here? What if she saw me? Would she even remember who I am? He thought to himself as he leaned back against the tree closing his eyes in disbelief. He hadn't seen her since her father had taken her away when they were twelve years old.

That was the day that Natsu Dragneel's  heart broke into a million pieces. It was the day he decided he would never love again. In the seven years since that fateful day Natsu had focused on being the most heartless playboy he could become. Using the girls he met to fulfill his own selfish desires, and then dropping them like a fly when he decided that they no longer amused him.
As he stood there trying to wrap his head around what he saw his best friend walked up to him and punched him in the arm.

"Hey Flame-brain! What the hell you doing hiding behind the tree like a punk? Is one of your groupies stalking you again?" Gray Fullbuster walked over to him with a sly little grin on his face. Natsu turned around quickly with his fists tightly clinched ready to fight. This was a normal daily routine for the two of them. They had been just like this since they were little kids.

"Screw you ice tray!" Natsu shot back quickly. He stared at Gray for a moment before he finally spoke in a hushed tone. "Gray,  Lucy is back. I know it was her. She was walking towards admissions."

Gray looked at Natsu like he was crazy before shaking his head. "Dude, come on with that shit. It's been almost 10 years. It's not her.  Why would she show up now? And why would you care anyway? Let her go already. And on another note, who the hell are you calling an ice tray?!"

Natsu clinched his fists together before he finally let out a breath. Gray had been his best friend all his life. He had been close to Lucy, too. It hurt them both when she left. Natsu knew this, but unlike Natsu, Gray had been able to move on. Gray cared for her but he didn't love her like Natsu did. But Natsu knew that it upset Gray whenever he brought her up. Gray just didn't want to see him hurt like that again.

"Yeah man, you're probably right. And I called you an ice tray, what you wanna fight about it?" Natsu grinned at Gray. He didn't doubt for a second that he saw her, but he wasn't going to focus on her anymore. He couldn't.  He told himself that all those years ago.

"So are you ready for the big game next week against Sabertooth?" Gray asked trying to get his friends mind on anything else.

"Oh hell yea!" Natsu shouted with a big grin as they headed towards their class. "You know I'm always ready to stomp them in anything. And their basketball team sucks anyway."

"I heard they got a new player this season. They say he is pretty damn good." Gray said as they approached the building where their morning classes were held.

"Well, it doesn't matter who they got cause they can't touch me!" Natsu said puffing out his chest. Gray quickly stuck his hand out and popped Natsu in the stomach causing him to double over slightly as he lost his breath.

"Yeah, some god you are there blow torch." He responded with a snicker.

"What are you going on about now?" Asked a tall muscular blue haired guy with a tattoo over his eye as he stood by the door waiting for them.

"Sup Jellal." Natsu responded dapping him up. "I was just telling Princess Popsicle here that I don't care if Sabertooth recruited Kevin Durant- they cant touch us."

Jellal burst out laughing when he heard Natsu's nickname for Gray. "Well you're right about one thing." He responded.  "We're definitely gonna beat them. I mean seriously we've been undefeated for the past 3 years."

"That's true." Gray said opening the door to the building. "I'm still curious about this new guy though."

The three walked through the hallways until they found their classroom, ignoring all the whispers and blushing girls that were going on about them as they passed. They entered the classroom  headed to the back row and sat down next to a black haired guy with piercings all over his face.

"Gajeel, where you been at man?" Gray asked.

Gajeel looked at him for a second responding quickly, "I been a little preoccupied with getting my bike ready for that street race tonight. I had to put a little more work into it to make sure it was ready. I hit it too hard with the Nos last time and had to replace a few parts." The guys were well known around campus for being bad boys. Ready to get into any kind of action that they could find.

The group of boys sat around talking about various things as they waited on the professor to start his lesson for the day. But deep in the back of Natsu's mind he couldn't stop thinking about her. Was it really her or was his mind playing tricks on him again? Either way, he decided he wasn't gonna worry about it anymore. He could have any girl he wanted- and he'd had his share. She was just a thing of the past to him now. 

They stopped talking and sat back as the professor walked into the classroom and placed his briefcase on the podium.  "Alright everyone I hope you studied because today we're gonna have a pop quiz."

The four guys looked at each other as they sunk down in their seats and let out a silent moan , sweat dripping from their heads.

"Well we're screwed." Natsu said under his breath as the rest of them shook their heads in silent agreement.