CHAPTER 1

Thursday, 6.11.14

"Will you just shut up for a second?"

"How can you be so selfish?" I growled, clenching my hands into fists. "Do you have any idea how much this hurts us? There's less than a month to the competition!"

He shrugged, showing no emotion at all. His hands were buried in his pockets, his guitar already hanging on his back.

"We need those songs, you can't just take them!" Connie said, jumping into the argument to support me.

"Yes, actually I can. They're my songs, so I can do whatever I want with them." He said, while starting to walk towards the door.

"Hey, come back here! We aren't done yet!" I yelled, taking a step forward.

Without turning around, he just hold up a hand and waved before exiting the room. The sound of the door closing was the only thing to hear in the room for the next seconds. I finally turned around to face the other bandmembers.

"Guys, I'm so sorry … I guess we'll have to quit the competition then … "

Mikasa placed a hand on my shoulder. I felt all of my energi drain out, suddenly feeling incredibly tired. I really felt like giving up – it felt impossible to move on.

"No, Eren. We shouldn't give up yet. We just have to find another Jean!"

"How are we going to do that?" I sat down on the nearest chair, and buried my face min my palms. "Let's face it, it's over. We can't make 2 whole songs from the start like that without another guitarist and singer. Sure, I could write the songs, but … They could never be as good as Jean's was. And we would have to practice a lot of the time,"

The silence surrounded them again, before Armin kneeled down in front of me, putting his hands on my knees. I raised my head to look him in his eyes.

"Then we'll just have to find another singer who can play guitar, right? That wouldn't be as hard,"

He sent me an optimistic smile, reassuring me that everything would be fine, surely. I returned it with a half one, not so sure.

What could go wrong?

Tuesday, 11.11.14

It took us 4 days, until we found one. Or, well, found or forced. It really depends on what word to use.

Connie and Armin had seen him play guitar in the park at the school grounds. He went to our school as well, he was just a senior where we were juniors. Connie and Armin had heard him play by accident when walking to class, but they didn't even hesitate to ask him. They said that he had been very reluctant at first, but then Armin had convinced him somehow – I was never told how.

He had promised to come after school the next day, to check us out. 'To see if you are even worth something' had his exact words been.

When it had been 20 minutes past the time he was supposed to come, I had started to lose hope.

"I'm going out to check the halls. Maybe he's just lost," I mumbled, but no one was really listening anyway. I walked to the door, but just when I was about to reach the doorknob, it suddenly opened, hitting me in an instant.

I let out a cry before falling right on my back, hitting my head lightly against the floor.

"Idiot," I heard somebody say, and after only a few seconds Mikasa had run over to me.

"Eren, are you okay?"

I sat up quickly, nudging my head gently. It hurt like hell, but at least I was still conscious. It would have been rather embarrassing to have been knocked out by a door.

Remembering that, I looked up to see who had opened it in the first place. A young guy was standing at the end of my feet with his arms crossed. Most of his clothes were black, and his hair was the same as well. He didn't seem tall, but his eyes was what caught my attention the most. They were small and grey, and they weren't just looking at me, it felt like they were boring into my scalp. He was tapping his foot, seemingly annoyed.

Wait, what? I thought, confused. Why was he annoyed, when I was the one who was hurt?

"I'm fine," I assured Mikasa, but she still helped me get up. When reaching my full height, I quickly noticed how small the older guy actually was.

At least, that made me feel a little better.

"Hi, I guess I didn't see you there," I said in a polite manner, wanting to make the guy like me.

"Whatever brat, should we just get this over with already? I'm late for an appoitment already,"

I was just about to take step forward, when Mikasa grabbed my arm to hold me back. I stopped, unclenching my fists, and took a deep breath.

We need him, I reminded myself.

"Okay then, you can just sit down over there, and we'll play for you. But, um, keep in mind that you're supposed to take the place as our singer, so we don't have anyone to sing the song right now,"

He shrugged, already walking over to the couch.

"Alright, get going then," He sighed, crossing his legs.

I bit my lip, getting a bad feeling. His attitude was not positive at all – it didn't even seem like he wanted to be here.

Then why waste time trying to convince someone who had already made up his mind?

We got into our places, and I tested some of the strings to make sure that it had the right tune.

"Alright, this one's called 'Fight or Flee'," I said out to the room, not wanting to have eye contact with the rude guy again.

Connie counted to four while hitting his drumsticks together, and then we started playing.

The whole way through the song, I couldn't stop myself from peeking at him from time to time though, but he seemed to have no emotions in his face at all. It was like a blank facade all the way through. A bit disappointed, I continued until the song was over.

This was the song that we were best and most experienced with, but he didn't seem impressed at all.

"So, what do you think?" Armin asked, rising from the keyboards. "Do you want to consider joining us? We need a singer who can play guitar and sing, for a music competition that are happening at the end of the month,"

I catiously put my guitar down, to walk down from the stage, and the others did the same.

"We really need somebody, and fast," I joined in. I didn't want to seem desperate to this guy, but the truth was that I was. If he wouldn't join, then how long would it take to find another? And would we then have enough time to practice? I doubted it.

I really didn't like this guy at all though, and he would probably be a pain in the ass, but Armin had assured me that he was more than skilled.

He kept sitting on the couch, but his arms tightly crossed over his chest were starting to loosen.

"That was horrible," He finally answered. "The blond girl kept hitting the wrong chords on the keyboard," He raised a hand and pointed at Armin. "And Baldie there had no rhythm at all," His finger pointed at Connie now. "And don't even get me started on you," He said, looking directly at me. My face completely flustered, and I was pretty sure that Connie and Armin's did the same. I didn't know if I should be angry or ashamed.

"The only one remotely good, was you." He said, lastly pointing at Mikasa. "But you look so dead on stage, that I thought you were sleeping. It was indeed horrible,"

I looked at her to see her reaction, but she kept her cool. Only her jaw clenched.

"You need a lot of work," He said, before standing up. " It's almost pathetic that you are thinking of playing live. For other people. Ugh,"

He furrowed his brows, looking very displeased.

"Be here the day after tomorrow, after school, and we'll work on your skills,"

He put his hands in his pocket, and with his foot he kicked the door open to get out of there.

Confused, I just stood there, watching him leave.

"Was that … A yes?" I asked the others, who apparently was in shock as well.

"I think so," Connie answered, before scratching his head.

Armin put his hands up to his cheeks, that were still incredibly red, mumbling something that you would have to focus on, if you wanted to hear it.

"H-He called me a girl,"