Standard Disclaimers Apply
Rated T for language

1. Special

"Psst!"

No response.

"Aira!"

"…Mm…extra pepperoni please…"

"Pep-? Aira! Wake up!"

"Wha- Aira's awake! Class is interesting! Education, yes! Present!"

The whole lecture hall grew silent from her outburst while Eren and Armin face-palmed at their friend's embarrassing display.

"Is that so, Aira?" The professor's low and demeaning voice powered through the speakers.

When she was finally awake enough to process what had just happened, Aira couldn't help but join her friends in a face palm.

"No more interruptions or I'll be taking off 5% from everyone's final mark."

Not so surprisingly, many glares were shot at our heroine that day.

"Pfft, 'present'? He didn't even take attendance!" Eren clutched at his stomach, doubling over in laughter.

"It's not funny. It's only the first day and he's already threatening to take off marks! We're doomed!" Armin, always the more logical of the trio, shrieked.

"Lighten up, I'm sure it's just a hoax to get us all to shut up."

"Remember what Mikasa told us? This guy's the real deal. He's so strict he'll actually deduct marks for little things like that."

"Oh shit…well just who do we have to blame for that?"

Aira didn't miss the accusing tone in Eren's voice.

"Um…" she smiled sheepishly. "Anyone up for pizza?"

Though her friends' anger towards her was just a joke, she couldn't say the same about everyone else in the class…and mind you, it was a pretty large class too. That's why it wasn't all that surprising when she entered the cafeteria and a number of eyes
gravitated towards her.

She tried to ignore it. After all, it wasn't like she was a freshman anymore. In her second year, she shouldn't be so easily influenced by any of this… then again, no regular sophomore should have to go through this kind of attention.

What can she say? Aira was just special.

"Pepperoni please."

An achingly familiar voice sounded behind her. "With extra pepperoni?"

She spun around so quickly, her hair ended up smacking her friends.

"Watch it!" Eren warned, coughing out a hairball.

But Aira didn't have time to argue with the brunetright now. After all, the spawn of Satan was standing in front of them.

"Professor Ackerman!" Armin greeted quickly.

He nodded to Armin, but then to her, he did something rather unbecoming of the reputedly cold professor. "Aira."

God, he remembered her name. (See? Special.)

"Uh…yeah?"

There was a hint of disgust in his voice. "Is this what you eat everyday?"

Was he…trying to make small talk? Or was he genuinely curious about her eating habits?

"Um…no? Kind of?"

He clicked his tongue, but before anyone could utter anything else, he turned around and left.

Eren was the first to break the silence. "That was weird."

"Yeah," Armin agreed.

They turned to the last one in their group to see what her reaction would be. They expected her to be the most confused of them all, but it looked like she was rather composed. If anything, she was more interested in her pizza right now.

When they arrived at the cashier to pay, the lady at the counter politely declined. "That man just now paid for your order," she said, motioning in the direction the professor had just left.

"OKAY, NOW IT'S JUST CREEPY," Eren shuddered.

"Aira…do you…know the professor? Like, know know him?"

"No," she retorted outrageously. "It was my first time seeing him today!"

In all honesty, she found it extremely weird as well. She wouldn't go as far as calling it "creepy" per se… If anything, she found it rather flattering to have his attention. From what she's heard of him, Professor Ackerman was one of the youngest members
in the faculty but he has had more successes and achievements than anyone else. Not to mention the fact that he was not one to socialize freely with students, so the fact that he had even batted an eyelash towards her today was outright shocking.

Special was an understatement for Aira at this point.

"How was school today, sweetie?" her mother asked. Maybe coming from other parents, this would have been a normal conversation starter. But in Aira's case, this was the complete opposite.

Her mother never cared about her education experience on a daily basis. She only cared about her final marks. This was owed to the fact that (despite her tendency to fall asleep in class and her constantly clueless personality) Aira was actually quite
a smart child. So when her mother asked her that seemingly harmless question, warnings flagged up in her head.

"Why…?" she replied skeptically.

"Oh, I was just wondering if you met anyone special."

There was that word again...special.

"…No?" Unless a strange professor counted, she wouldn't say her day was anything out of the ordinary.

"Oh…perhaps you just haven't had the chance yet. Anyway, there's something I have been wanting to tell you for a while now."

She figured this would be serious if her mother had to use the "I have to tell you something" line instead of just saying it right off the bat. So she decided to sit down by the kitchen table and turn her full attention to her.

"I'm remarrying!"

"Wait- what?!" The chair seemed to prove useless as she merely stood up again, throwing the furniture back and knocking it to the floor loudly.

"You heard me. I'm remarrying. There's this amazing guy I met a few months back. He's divorced too, and well…we just kind of connected!"

Her mind was still in the "what?" state, but her mother kept rambling on. "We'll be moving in with them this weekend. Oh my goodness, Aira, you're gonna love them so much! He has a son, you see. He's quite a bit older than you, but he's such a gentleman!
I'm sure you two will get along perfectly! And well, I should have told you this sooner because he's actually a profes-"

Unfortunately by that time, Aira had already spaced out again.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you'd like! I know I'd like it. ;)