Jean Kirschtein hated school. He'd never stayed in one place for very dad was poor, and with only the one meager income, it was difficult for them to keep a house for even a single year. Constantly being forced to switch schools had taken a lot of the fun out of the whole experience for him. He tried not to talk to people or really make friends, because by now he knew from experience that it only made leaving harder. Of course, the downside was that isolating himself made him feel left out. Sure, he could deal with it, but it wasn't exactly enjoyable.

Naturally when he walked through the front doors he didn't expect anything different. He would do as he normally did, keep his head down, sit in the back of the rooms when he could. He wouldn't get involved in any clubs or sports. Any activities at all were out for him. Just keeping to himself and working as hard as he could so that he could get good grades, and a scholarship. He was going to college no matter what, he knew that much. He would rather die than end up like his dad, so poor that he couldn't keep a house.

He walked to his first class, dragging his feet as he went. His first class was Chemistry with Mrs. Clark. She was young and very pretty, with medium brown skin, dark hair that fell to her shoulders, and beautiful greenish hazel eyes. Science was Jean's worst subject, but he figured if he really worked at it he could get a B. He was the first one there, so he took his customary seat in the back row off toward the right corner. It didn't take long for the rest of the room to fill out, leaving exactly five seats including the one on his left. Well, at least there were five. Right as he bell rang another kid ran in, tripping over their own feet in their haste to find a seat.

He immediately annoyed that they chose to sit next to him, instead of taking any of the far closer and more convenient spots up front. Whatever, they (he couldn't really tell if they were a boy or a girl) didn't exactly look like they would be a problem. More likely just a mild annoyance and distraction.

"Did I miss anything?" The person next to him asked. The question caught him off guard.

"Wait, what? The bell just rang, of course you didn't miss anything." It came out harsher than he had intended, but he was irritated about having his attempt not to talk to anyone foiled this early in the day.

The blonde bowed their head in embarrassment. "Of course not, I'm sorry."

He almost let out an audible groan. He had gotten the shy kid? Well, it did mean that choosing the back made sense, and at least he probably wouldn't end up having to talk to him much. And besides, in his experience a lot of the shy kids were pretty smart, so he might be able to get some help when he needed it. The thought made him feel a little better. Maybe a B wouldn't be so hard to get after all.

"Good morning! Did everyone have a good summer?" Mrs. Clark shouted. Jean nearly jumped out of his seat, surprised by how loud she was. There were a few murmurs, but everyone seemed too tired to make any effort to respond. By the time she was done introducing herself Jean had completely tuned out. He had been through plenty of this first day of school stuff to know the rules. Teacher tells more about themselves than anybody cares about and then explains the class rules, blah blah blah, he really didn't need to pay attention until they started doing name games, and even then he only needed to introduce himself, he could ignore everyone else. It wasn't like he planned to be buddies with any of them in the first place


Jean didn't even realize that he had dozed off until he felt someone poke his side. He rubbed his eyes, sitting back up slowly, so he wouldn't draw attention. He hoped that the teacher hadn't noticed, but by the looks of things the only one who had was the person next to him, and Jean couldn't help but feel a little grateful for the way they had prodded him just behind the table so it wasn't noticeable. "What did I miss?" He figured it must have been something otherwise they would have let him sleep. He also couldn't help but think that it was basically the exact same question he had been asked just a little bit ago.

"Not much. We're supposed to introduce ourselves to our table partners." They seemed to be avoiding eye contact, keeping their blue eyes focused on a spot just past Jean's ear. "I'll go first. My name is Armin Arlert and I'm a sophomore. I don't play any sports, but that was one of the things she said to mention, so if you do… I don't have any siblings, but I do have a cat named Eren…" They trailed off, seeming not to be able to think of anything they thought was worth sharing. "Oh, and I'm a boy." At this his face turned beet red and he looked down at his feet. "Sorry, your turn."

Oh god, this kid must have some serious social issues. Two apologies in one class period and he hadn't even done anything wrong yet. Was he apologizing for not being a girl or for sharing so much about himself? And why was he blushing so much? He decided to start without thinking first, so the awkward silence would be shorter. "Okay, my name is Jean Kirschtein, sophomore also. I'm new this year and I don't play sports. Only child, no pets." He thought about what else might be interesting. "Well science classes aren't my best subjects, but I've kept straight A's in everything else since fourth grade and I plan on getting lots of scholarships so I can get a good job and be able to afford a house so I can afford a really nice house." He felt pretty proud of himself until he looked back to Armin, and he felt his pride shrink.

Armin was well groomed, and his clothes were clearly new, and probably pretty expensive going by the looks of them. He was a rich kid. Probably got the newest iPhone as soon as it came out, and ate a nice home cooked meal every night and got to go shopping for a new pair of sneakers even when he didn't need them. Why had he said that to him? He might as well have written 'I'm poor' on his forehead. Rich kids always looked down on poor people. Jean wished that Armin would at least had the decency to stop looking at him with so much pity, he didn't need pity. What he needed was a college degree, and that look wasn't going to help him get one.

As the moments passed he felt himself growing angry. "And I won't get anyone's pity then either." He added icily, his amber eyes narrowing. He almost felt bad when Armin shrunk away, his eyes returning to their previous view of the floor. He supposed that he might have been a little harsh, but it wasn't like he had been out of line. The kid looked at him like some kind of injured puppy, and Jean wasn't one to just sit there while his pride was trampled. Whatever. It's not like they were going to be friends anyway. He sighed and put his head back down on the table.

He didn't fall back asleep this time, because the teacher asked if everyone was finished. There were a few grunts and nods, so she continued. "Now we'll go around the class and introduce our partners. I hope all of you were listening!" He felt his stomach drop. Oh god, now this Armin kid was going to destroy his reputation before he even got one. He would be the poor kid. People would notice the way everything he wore was faded. The way his pants were too short, and his shirts were too tight on him. Maybe he would have to move halfway through the semester like last year and not have to deal with it for very long. It wasn't as if he wanted that, but if it happened at this point, he didn't think he would be too upset.

First up was Marco Bodt, who played soccer and had a little sister named Katelyn that he was very fond of. Then Reiner Braun, the football player whose stepsister Annie was skilled in karate, a fact everyone seemed to be aware of because she had taken people down for touching her without permission more than once. Beside him was Bertholdt Fubar, an only child who was apparently the track star of the school, though his sweaty nervous demeanor wouldn't have suggested it. He stopped listening after they passed Connie, a boy whose last name he didn't catch because he was surprised by the girly first name.

Finally everyone had had been introduced except he and Armin. The other boy stood, speaking out in a voice so soft that he was sure the people up front couldn't hear. "This is Jean Kirschtein, he has no siblings and isn't on any sports teams because he's new this year" Jean didn't bother to correct him. He must not have understood what he meant exactly. Either way, it didn't really matter if they thought he was athletic or not. "He was the wrestling champion at his school last year, but then he got a bad injury, so he might not be able to play anymore." What? The other part may have been a misunderstanding, but this was completely made up. He hadn't said anything remotely similar to that. He looked around the classroom to see that there were a few nods of approval throughout the room, and it dawned on him that Armin wasn't trying to do anything to hurt their first impression of him. He was once again grateful to the smaller boy, this time for making him seem cooler than he really was. Maybe he should make up for being rude earlier by doing the same thing. A guy like him could probably use whatever talking up he could get. Sure, it would be harder since these kids already knew him, but he could think of something.

"That's Armin Arlert, he's an only child too, but he has a cat." His mind raced, trying to think of something cool, which a cat definitely wasn't. "He makes really good salsa." It was the first thing he could think of, and immediately he wanted to slap himself. He glanced around the room and noticed a few strange looks, but he just shrugged and sat back down, cursing his lack of imagination.

Armin looked at him with wide eyes. "I'm not good at making salsa." It was only a whisper, but he sounded so serious that Jean had to hold back a laugh.

"Well I've never been on a wrestling team, and I haven't been injured so badly that I couldn't play sports, so I guess we're even." He raised an eyebrow. "Plus, making salsa is easy enough, if you really feel the need to know how then I can show you."

"Thanks…." There was a brief silence between them. "Why did you say that though?"

"You made me sound cooler than I really was and I wanted to do the same for you." It took a moment to realize how that sounded. "Not that you aren't cool, but you didn't tell me anything cool. Either way, it didn't work. Sorry about that."

Armin's blue eyes crinkle up as he giggled. "That's okay. Maybe I can teach you improv." Giggling? What the hell, had he not gotten that guys didn't normally giggle? If he was having problems with people thinking he was a girl, maybe that would be a good place to start. What was improv again? He was pretty sure it had something to do with acting. So Armin was one of those acting kids. He couldn't say that it was hard to believe. He had already said he didn't do sports, and he didn't seem the type to sit around and not do anything. He probably would have guessed orchestra, merely because he was so timid, but acting fit too.

"Alright then, I'll bring the salsa ingredients and show you how to do that. We can kill two birds with one stone." He joked. Armin giggled again, and Jean had to admit it was pretty cute. He liked that face on the other boy, it suited him much better than the painfully uncomfortable look he was wearing before. Then again, almost anything was better than that look. It was so pitiful. He was about to open his mouth to speak again when the bell rang. He must have been asleep longer than he thought, it didn't seem like that had taken nearly long enough. He would have continued anyway, but Armin was already gathering his pencils up and heading out the door. Instead he got up, pulling out his schedule to see that his next class was world history.

"Hey there. It was Jean, right?" A voice came from beside him. He looked up to see none other than Marco Bodt smiling at him.

"Uhh… Yeah, and you're Marco?"

"Yeah, good job. I was wondering if you needed any help finding your next class. Mine is on the other side of the building, so I pass everything anyway." He was slightly taken aback by the friendly gesture, it wasn't something that people did at many of the schools he had been to, but decided to just go along with it. It didn't hurt to know who was friendly.

"World history with Mr. Appenfeller." He told the other boy.

"Really? That's where I'm going too! That works out perfect." He seemed genuinely happy about it, and Jean couldn't help but like him a little. Usually if someone offered to show him around they were really weird, and even if he didn't know much about this guy, he seemed normal enough. He was just a really friendly person.


History was boring. During the whole class Jean was slightly irritated by the abnormal height of his teacher who was a towering 6'6" which was too much taller than his own 5' 8". Normally he considered himself pretty tall. It didn't really matter, he was still growing, but no matter what, he was sure he would be considerably shorter than this Mr. Appenfeller. This guy didn't even play a name game, so he left not knowing anyone but Marco and a girl he thought might have been called Sasha by the girl who sat beside her.

Math, english, creative writing, and drawing all went by in a blur of names. Annie, Mikasa, Christa, Ymir, Thomas Wagner, whose last name he only bothered to remember because he sat next to another Tom whose last name he didn't even hear, Mina, Hannah, Franz, Samuel, Nack, Millius, and Dazz. Finally it was time for his last class of the day. Acting.

He got to class with no time to spare. Sadly, that meant that there was only one seat left, and he plopped down , looking around to see if there was anyone he knew. There was Christa, Connie, and Marco. Other faces he didn't recognize, and one he couldn't even see because she had her hood up and was facing the other way, giggling with a group of girls.

"No hoods."

The voice came from the drama teacher, who he was sure hadn't been sitting there behind his desk a minute ago. Well he couldn't have been anywhere else. The only thing behind him was a closet, and he somehow doubted he had been hiding in there. Even if he had, surely he would have made a more obvious entrance. He turned to see that the hooded girl was not in fact a girl at all, but was Armin from his first hour.

"Aw, do we actually have to follow the rules in here this year?" Connie whined, interrupting his train of thought. He couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. Maybe Mr. Brown was really strict?

"Of course not. We never have before, just gotta pretend for the first week or so." One of the people he didn't know piped up, kicking off their sneakers and laying down between the desks. So maybe not, that would just be asking for a detention if he were. Unless they were just a troublemaker and didn't care. Marco tossed an empty water bottle and it hit their stomach, bouncing off and landing on the ground with a clatter.

"Which means that you have to keep your shoes on and sit up like the rest of us while we're still in the classroom." He said teasingly.

"Fair enough, but I'm not putting my shoes on." The student made a show of getting up and sitting in the chair, tossing the bottle back at Marco. "And no throwing trash, you barbarian."

Acting kids. They were always fun to be around, as long as you didn't take them too seriously.

"That's enough everyone, I need to take roll if we want to move on to something more fun." That got everyone to shut up really fast, and soon they were all sitting quietly at their desks, leaving Jean with the question of what that could possibly be that they liked so much. He had taken plenty of acting classes before, but each one was different. Some were boring some were fun, some had strict teachers and some had teachers that didn't seem to care what their students did at all. Really the something fun could be anything. Mr. Brown was still looking around the class, not calling names out, but apparently just by knowing who each of them were. Well, almost.

"Jean?" He called. He said it wrong, it was French, but the teacher said it as American as possible. Jean like the jeans that you would wear. Oh well, it was only a matter of time before someone did it. He was actually surprised that this was the first time today.

"Here." He called, raising a hand. He didn't bother correcting him, it wasn't the best thing to do the first time you spoke to someone. He didn't want to give the person in charge of his grades any reason to dislike him. The teacher stood up, clapping his hands together.

"Okay, that's all. If everyone would put up their chairs and head to the stage." Within seconds there was the clatter of chairs being put on top of desks, and everyone scrambled to the door at the back of the classroom. Jean followed quietly, not sure where they were going. He had thought this was a closet or something, not an actual door. Once through he was even more confused. The ceiling was high up, and half of the room had a second floor. There was wood and sawdust and paint and all kind of sharp tools, as well as furniture like couches and rocking chairs, scattered around the room with no visible order. It was a workshop of some sort, he knew, but why was it behind the acting room? He tore his attention away from the jumble of stuff, and quickly followed Mina through another door, and found himself in what must have been the backstage area.

Through the curtains he found the most disappointing auditorium he had even laid eyes on. He'd been to schools without auditoriums, but usually they had one or they didn't. This was just a small stage in a big room. There were bleachers on the other side of the room, currently folded back against the wall. He had passed through the room earlier, as it connected two hallways. It was really more of a commons area than anything else, and he couldn't help but ask the still barefoot student that now sat on top of a podium if there was another auditorium where they performed plays.

"What kind of high-budget school has a real auditorium?" They then began laughing at some kind of inside joke, and he walked away. Most everyone was off the stage, with a few shutting the doors so that people wouldn't cross through. He followed their lead and hopped offstage, only to stand there, unsure of what to do. He wasn't alone long when a very short girl with brown hair came up to him. She overweight, but very pretty.

"So, you're the new kid, huh? I'm Lexi -"

"STOP BOMBARDING HIM, YOU WHORE!" Came a screech from across the room, and soon she had been knocked over by a rather tall girl with curly black hair. They were both laughing, so he assumed that this wasn't unusual for them, and that Lexi didn't mind being called a whore, or at least not when it was this girl who said it. He wasn't sure what to do, so he just stood there and hoped Mr. Brown would tell them what they were supposed to do soon.

It was like the teacher could read his mind. "Everyone circle up." He called from the center of the room. Jean beat most of the class over, eager to get away from the girls who were still talking loudly at him. Before long everyone was in a circle, Armin at his right and Lexi to his left, a fact that made him a little uncomfortable. "Today we're going to get to know each other. In a class like acting you need to feel comfortable with your classmates and not let embarrassment get in your way. Everyone think of one embarrassing thing about themselves that you don't usually tell people, and we'll go around the circle and introduce ourselves and share our one story."

He smiled at them all. "I'll start. I'm Mr. Brown, and I have played drag queens in several different plays, as well as just plain being a girl in a few." There was some laughter, but for the most part everyone was respectful.

Next was the barefoot student. "I'm Nanaba and sometimes I'll watch all the Harry Potter movies in one night and then make food from the books or movies and eat it with my cat, Mrs. Norris." So a major Potterhead, that was good to know.

"I'm Connie Springer and my mother named me after her childhood dog, who was a girl." Well then, he wasn't the only one who thought that was a girly name. It made him feel a little better.

Next was the girl who had tackled Lexi. "I'm Madison Elmer and I'm adopted." Was that supposed to be embarrassing? Maybe he was missing something because a couple of students erupted into laughter.

After her was Lexi. "I'm Lexi Evans and last year I fell off stage during a choir concert and brought Madison down with me." The two looked at each other and laughed.

Now it was his turn. "Uh, I'm Jean Kirschtein and…" he was at a loss of things to say. "Uh… This morning I tried to make up something cool about Armin and I said he makes good salsa." There was an outbreak of laughter from a few of his classmates and someone shouted about needing to work on improv. He felt his face reddening and hoped no one could see.

"I'm Armin and this summer a grand total of twelve guys hit on me because they thought I was a girl." Although he sounded a little boastful about it, Jean wasn't sure whether to laugh or feel bad for him. No wonder he included that when he was introducing himself this morning. Jean himself hadn't been any exception, just a few minutes ago he had thought he was a girl when he had his hood up.

He didn't dwell on it any longer when they moved on. "I'm Hanji and last year I messed up the entire marching band formation because I saw a cat and got distracted," said the bespectacled girl in a ponytail beside the blonde.

"I'm Christa and one time I ate a whole pizza by myself." Jean was surprised her stomach could contain so much with how small she was.

"I'm Marco Bodt and this summer I faked an injury so I could stay home from a soccer tournament and see the midnight premier of Star Trek." That one surprised him too, he didn't have him pegged as a Trekkie.

Jean checked the clock on the wall behind him. There was still an hour to go. "Alright then, now that we know everyone's name let's play a little game of popcorn." Mr. Brown suggested loudly. He had never played popcorn before, and he hoped it was something fun.


As it turned out popcorn was another name game. They switched around their places and then one person had to go to the middle and name everyone, and by the end of it his new nickname was Jean Valjean, who was apparently from a musical called Les Miserables that he had somehow completely missed being advertised as a movie last year. Lexi had suggested that he come to her house and watch it, an offer he had declined as nicely as he could. He was starting to see what Madison was talking about. She was a huge flirt to say the least.

When the bell finally rang he ran out of the building as fast as he could, nearly knocking over little Christa in his haste. He wasn't sure why he left so fast. He had to walk home anyway, because he couldn't afford a car and he hated the bus. It wasn't a short walk, but he preferred it to being so crowded by noisy, smelly teenagers. No matter, he had to wait for all the buses to leave anyway, they were basically blind spots on wheels and he didn't trust their drivers not to kill him. It took all of thirty minutes for them to be gone, and he started out his trek walking fast.

The already overcast sky had grown darker during the day, and the clouds looked ready to burst by now. He was making good time until he had to stop at a crosswalk and ended up waiting for a good ten minutes to be able to go, and then all at once it was pouring. There wasn't any warning and within seconds his worn clothes were completely soaked through, leaving him shivering as the icy droplets ran down his shirt, sharply contrasting to the previously warm day. He sighed in exasperation. He was only halfway home and now all his books were going to get soaked through because he had nothing to keep them dry

He was looking for somewhere that might provide a little shelter until it lightened up, when a car that had been stopped by the red light with him rolled down their window. "Jean? Is that you?" they asked

Jean recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place it, and in this downpour he couldn't see much past his bangs. "Yeah?"

"You're going to ruin all your books, get in here!" They shouted, and he didn't hesitate to do so. He couldn't afford to replace them, so that was his top priority. Plus, they could only be from school. He hadn't been here long enough to have really met anyone else. He climbed into the passenger's seat, not bothering to try to dry off. In this weather it wouldn't help at all. He did hope he didn't ruin their car, but it was beyond his control.

"What were you doing walking out there in the rain?" He turned to see none other than little Armin Arlert, with concern written all over his face.

"Walking home." He told him, shrugging. He really didn't mind Armin knowing that he didn't have a car. The other boy already knew that he was poor.

"Why are you walking? Can't you drive or ride the bus?" Jean could tell that the other boy wasn't trying to be invasive, he was just worried. Not that there was anything to worry about, in a town like this he was sure there wasn't much crime, it wasn't like Detroit or something. But still, the rain must have been a concern, which was still stupid because it wasn't as if he could control the weather and he hadn't left the school when it was like this.

"I don't like the bus." He stated flatly.

"Then why don't you drive?"

"Jean narrowed his eyes, frowning at the other boy. "I'm pretty sure it's illegal for either of us to be driving actually, since you can't get a driver's license until you're seventeen here, but I'm not badgering you about your criminal activity."

"I have a restricted license. You can get those a year after you've had a learner's permit for a year, but I can only drive to school or work." Armin regarded him with a strange expression. "Where did you live before you moved here anyway?"

The light turned green and he put a foot on the gas pedal, moving forward at a ridiculous and almost annoyingly safe distance from the car in front of him. He then put on his blinker and merged onto the highway, once again following probably every safety precaution he had ever been taught and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I'm being too nosy. If you want you can choose a radio station."

Jean had forgotten to answer the question, and now that shy little bastard was trying to make him more comfortable. Ugh this kid would be the death of him, he kept making him feel bad. "You're shy, aren't you?" He watched the blonde who had curled forward a bit, like he was trying to make himself smaller and less noticeable.

"I uhh... Yeah." He allowed himself a quick glance to the side, to check Jean's expression before he continued. "Sorry." His face was already beet red, which made it hard not to notice just how very blue his eyes were. It reminded Jean of the ocean, like you see in those pictures of beaches and probably the clearest water in the world that didn't really look that clear at all, because blue wasn't clear.

"You know that you don't have to say sorry about everything, right? It's not a crime to be shy. Hell, I usually don't talk to anyone." He shrugged. "The only reason I've been talking to you is because you're so damn nervous that if you thought I was mad at you, you might go into cardiac arrest."

"I'm so-" Armin started, then thought better of it and shut his mouth. "So how was your first day? I hope everyone was nice enough to you."

"They were all really nice actually. It's kind of weird." Jean answered, looking around. "Hey, not to make you more uncomfortable than you already are, but where are we going? I mean you don't exactly know where I live or anything."

Armin nearly stopped right there in the middle of the highway, and Jean could practically feel the wave of overwhelming anxiety came over him. "Oh god I'm so sorry, where do you live? I promise I can get you there right away, I really didn't mean to take you home I just wasn't thinking about it. I'm so sorry Jean."

"You know what, maybe it would be best if you just dropped me off. It seems like you're afraid of me or something and I really don't want to get you in a car crash. Besides, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with you seeing my house." The last bit was completely true, but he had mainly said it to make the other boy more comfortable.

"Oh I'm not scared I promise, I can take you home." Armin assured him.

"First of all, you are totally scared. You look scared, you sound scared, and you're just acting very scared in general. That doesn't offend me or anything if that's what you're worried about, but the point is you are scared to death of making me mad at you or whatever and I promise I'm not, but I also don't want to kill either of us in a car crash. Second of all I really don't want you to see my house. You would look down on me if I saw it, I know you would."

"Jean, I am not going to just leave you out in the rain. You'll get sick and then I'll be even more nervous around you." Armin's voice was slightly less shaky than before.

Well at least the kid had admitted to being nervous around him. "Fine, take me to your house and I can wait on the porch or something until it clears up."

Armin took his eyes off the road for a second to look at him. "If you come to my house you'll be coming inside. My mom is home and there's no way she'll let you stay out there, especially when you're all wet."

Jean didn't dare say that would make him uncomfortable for fear of getting Armin all worked up again. As it was he had only just loosened up a little. "Okay, then I'll wait inside for the rain to let up.

"Jean?"

"Yeah?" He had thought that the conversation was over, but maybe not.

"I think you should know, my mom can be a little overwhelming. I don't know what she'll do exactly, but just be prepared." Jean spent the rest of the drive in silence, wondering what that could possibly mean.