Chapter 1: "Your hair! It's blue!"
Ugh, okay, so I had to rewrite this story. Something just wasn't sitting right with the previous version so...let me know what you think of this one!
"Come on, Levy. Stop being such a downer and just show us what it looks like already!"
Rebellion – she'd never done anything like this before. Always straight laced, Levy McGarden was having a hard to time believing this was really real. Her father was going to freak. If her mother were still alive, she'd have given her stern words. But neither of her parents could do anything to reverse the damage – it had already been done.
"No. I'm not opening the door, Lu!"
Fingers traced her hair from her scalp to the ends. Her eyes were smeared with mascara and eyeliner from tears. And her face was poofy from the crying fit she had found herself in moments earlier. How could she have done this to herself?
"LEVY. It can't be that bad. Just open up and let us see!"
"Yes, Levy-chan! A friend of mine said that it would only shock you for a moment. She's been doing it for years."
No. They just didn't understand. Things would be different now and Levy wasn't sure that she could ever change things back to how they were before. This was not okay. She was not okay. Another sob wracked her as she ran her fingers though her locks again.
"If you don't open up, I'm going to bust the door in."
"Yeah – we're going to break in, Levy-chan!"
Things would have been different if her friends had been the responsible ones…but alas, Levy had decided to do this all herself. She had to own up to the consequences of her actions. This was exactly why rebellion had never been a word in her vocabulary. She'd always messed up every shot she took.
With shaky hands, Levy collapsed her resolve. Her fingers moved to grip the door handle, twisting it and causing the door to unlock. A collective gasp was heard from her friends as she entered the room.
"Oh Levy!"
"EEEEEE!"
"Your hair! It's really BLUE!"
Yes, it was true. Levy's brunette locks were no longer long and luscious with the color of dark chocolate. Instead, they were now a permanent blue and clipped so that they fell just below her shoulders. Levy sniffed as she looked at her friends. Lucy with her perfect blonde hair that never seemed to have a strand out of place. Erza with her fiery mane that screamed fierceness. Mira and Lisanna with their pale white that had the coolest hints of purple. She hated all of them – all of them!
"It's so terrible!" Levy felt the tears swell again, but her hands quickly wiped them away. "I can't go to class like this. I'll be the laughing stock of the entire campus. The paper will read – 'Smart girl can't learn how to mix hair color appropriately.' I'll never be able to change it back! Never!"
She felt her life flash before her eyes. There went her medical school admission. She'd never be able to go to family events with her dad without seeing disappointment in his eyes. Everyone would laugh at her and distract her from her studies. She'd NEVER graduate now!
"You so dramatic, Levy." Lucy was the one to pipe up again. She was grinning from ear to ear as her fingers brushed through Levy's hair. "It's actually really flattering. I still can't believe you went through it. Someone must have said something that pushed you over the edge. What's next? Getting your ears pierced?" This brought a collective chuckle out of the other girls in the room. Levy had always been the 'good girl' of the group. She never stepped out of line, always obeyed the rules, and never did anything crazy. To her friends, coloring her hair an obnoxiously bright color was never too outrageous. They'd seen people do things to indicate their rebellion that were much worse. Besides, Levy was a sophomore in college. She had to learn to live a little eventually.
"But it's so terrible, Lucy! I look like a fucking smurf!"
"Whoa. Did Levy just say 'fucking'?"
"Yeah. I think she did. What a day, huh?"
"Are pigs flying? Is it the apocalypse?"
Levy flopped down her bed, burying her face in her pillows. Lucy shooed the other girls out of the room, giving Levy a little privacy and time to calm down. Lucy's hand ran along Levy's back, rubbing in a kind and calming gesture. "Levy, are you really that devastated by this?" Her voice was soft. Lucy had realized that her teasing might have pushed Levy over the edge. "Come on, Lev. We can always change it back in a few days."
Sobs poured out of Levy. A few days wasn't soon enough.
"But you know….why don't you let me help your do your hair for class on Monday? I bet you that I can make you love it if you let me."
Two days later…..
It had been months since she had stepped foot on the campus of Magnolia University. Levy had missed her friends, but her summer had been full of working at her local library, volunteering at the hospital, and preparing for her admissions exam to medical school. She only had one more year to prepare herself, and if this year was like last year, it was going to fly by at super speed.
Levy was lucky that she had found a very supportive group of friends during her freshman year at MU. Without their friendship, Levy was sure she would have been stuck in the library all of her college days. Instead, she had Lucy and the others to pull her out of her studies and show her what college life was like. At the end of their freshman year, everyone had promised to help Levy come out of her shell when they restarted classes in the fall. Sophomore year was going to be her year!
Freshman year had been an eye opener for her. College had been much more difficult than she had been expecting, but she'd gained so many credits during school that she'd been bumped into higher level courses. Her roommate had been Lucy Heartfilia, and after some awkwardness in the beginning, the two had clicked as if they'd been best friends for life. Levy expanded her friendship base to include some upper classmen, Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss. Lucy had brought in more friends that were the same age as Levy and herself, and before they knew it, a circle of friends had been created.
That was how she ended up living in a giant house with all the girls this year.
That was how she had been convinced that changing her hair color would be beneficial.
Peer pressure was real.
"So, Lu, how's your dad?" Levy pressed her hands into the pockets of her dress. The two young women had class in buildings next to one another all day today. It made sense that they would walk from their house to campus together, catching up on everything that they had missed out on while Levy was gone for the last two weeks. Sure, it had been summer vacation, but Lucy and Levy discovered early on that they had lived pretty close to one another. This had prompted many shopping trips and girls' days out. It would have been hard to make it through the summer without her best friend!
"Oh, you know. As crabby as always. I wish he would just accept that I'm getting a degree in professional writing. He's not really on board with anything, unless I follow in his footsteps and get a degree in finances or medicine. Seriously - he's ridiculous." Lucy grinned at Levy for a moment. "You know – I'm glad he thinks you're a good influence though. Do you want to trade parents? I think you'd fit in as a Heartfilia better than I do."
Levy shook her head with a sad smile. She had hoped that Lucy's dad would have jumped on board with his daughter's decision once she was home for the summer. "I'm sorry he hasn't accepted that you want to be a writer. If it makes you feel any better, I think that you're a great writer and I know you're going to do amazing things when you're done." Levy didn't know what it was like to have a parent so concerned with the degree she was getting. Her mother had been the caring, nurturing parent, but just like Lucy, she had died when Levy was a kid.
A sigh escaped Lucy. "Yeah. Thanks, Lev. At least I can always count on you to support me. After all, it's not every day that your best friend gets accepted early in the medical program that your dad wishes you would have applied to." Lucy gave Levy a quick eye roll before they both started laughing.
"Hey, I haven't been accepted yet. Everything is conditional upon me passing my courses this year. I have to meet my prerequisites, you know!" Levy could feel a blush hit her cheeks. She'd received word that several programs already considered her a top contender. Her first entrance exam had been high enough to qualify her acceptance to most medical programs, but Levy was going to for the big gun – scholarship money.
"Levy, we both know you won't have any issues passing your courses. Have you told your dad yet?"
It was a tough topic to breach, especially since her father had only one goal in mind – Levy getting her MRS degree. As progressive as his daughter was, Mr. McGarden still hoped more than anything that Levy would be a stay at home mom, taking care of his future grandchildren and the estate he would leave her one day. He had never really cherished Levy's intelligence and pushed her to continue to thrive in an academic setting. It had really bothered Levy, but part of her wondered if he just wanted her to enjoy life instead of becoming more like him. He was a workaholic and he'd missed out on so much in her life. Dance recitals, academic competitions, awards programs. It hadn't surprised her when he didn't show up for her graduation because of some last minute meetings with his supervisors. They didn't talk much anymore, but he'd tried to make things right by taking her with him on a business trip to Europe for two weeks before classes started again.
Too bad she had caught his ploy to set her up with his best friend's son.
Needless to say, he hadn't been her type, but she had promised her dad that she would at least keep face with him during school this year. She hadn't been lucky enough to go to a university different than the kid and now she was stuck tutoring him in calculus.
"No." Levy muttered softly, her eyes looking at her feet as she tugged at the hem to her dress out of nervousness. "You know how he is. He wants grandchildren before I'm 25 and I'm overwhelmed by it! That's only a few years away and at this rate, I'll just be getting out of medical school at that point IF I'm lucky."
Lucy looked at her friend, tossing her arm around her shoulder in a sloppy hug. "Levy, you need to do what you need to do. This isn't your dad's life. It's your life. And if you decide to never fall in love with someone and have babies by the time you turn 25, that's purely your decision…..But I really think you should tell him what's going on. You might be surprised at his reaction. And, Lev, he's your dad." Lucy knew that her dad would come around one day. After all, this was a major accomplishment for his daughter! It seemed ironic to the blonde that their families were so different and so alike. Just like Levy and herself.
The pair approached the first building and Lucy stepped in front of Levy before letting her go to class. "Deep breath, smarty pants." Lucy said with a lopsided smile. "First day of class. You have blue hair. And you'll probably have a few panic attacks because it's different. Remember that you are cute as a button and that your blue hair is totally rockin'. Seriously – have you not seen all the approving looks from people as we walked here today?"
Levy's smile waivered. She'd noticed the looks, but they hadn't seemed too approving.
"Levy – don't you dare start to tear up on me right now. You have biostatistics in ten minutes and I can't have you ruining the makeup that I covered your face with. You look flawless – not that you didn't before…just extra flawless now." Lucy chuckled as she continued with her pep talk. "Now, go in there and learn some math, Tiger. If you still hate your hair tomorrow, we'll change it back."
Author's Note:
Yay! I cannot wait to write more of this fic. Please R&R. Looking forward to seeing your feedback!
Please check out my Gajevy stories (if you're into that) "Nothin' on my Mind" and "Come Fly with Me."
This is my first AU 'modern' Fairytail fic and it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.