*RIIIIIING* *RIIIIIING* *RIIIIIIING*

Marco groaned and slammed a hand on his alarm clock. 6:30. Ugh. School. Great. He felt sick from all the butterflies in his stomach. In less than two hours he'd be stuck in a building full of strangers. Come on Marco! That's no way to think, he told himself. He dragged himself out of bed and groggily felt around his room for the school uniform he'd received last week.

Jeez, I'm nervous, Marco thought to himself. I won't know anyone…will I make any friends? Marco quickly dismissed that thought. He's always been good at befriending people. To his knowledge, he'd never had enemies. Everyone he met seemed to take a liking in him so that had never been a problem. He just hoped that this new high school wouldn't be any different.

Marco Bodt was transferring to a new high school because his father's job required his family to move to a new town. It was mid-October so the school year had already started at Trost High School. Most of Marco's anxiety was caused by the fact that his old high school had been much smaller, so he'd known just about everyone. This would be the first school he attended knowing no one.

Marco recalled what the school secretary had said yesterday. "School starts at 8 am, but be at the main office 20 minutes early. I have a student your age assigned to showing you around and helping you find classes. Don't be late."

Maybe that student will be my first friend, Marco thought hopefully.He'd never been a loner. At his old high school, Marco had always been surrounded by his classmates whom he now missed dearly. He spotted his new school uniform lying on the floor, groaned, and drowsily grabbed it.

~X~

When he was finally dressed, Marco surveyed himself in the bathroom mirror. His glossy brown hair was combed and tidy. The school uniform was quite simple. A crisp white shirt tucked into dark grey trousers. A navy tie loosely hung from his neck and Marco reached up to tighten it. If there was one thing he didn't like, it'd be his face. Well more specifically his damn freckles.

Marco's mouth curved into a scowl as he scrutinized his speckled face. If only they would just go away. But they never would. He hadn't always hated the freckles. He used to like them. That quickly changed when he was teased constantly in middle school. Of course there were lots of other students with freckle covered faces, but the meaner students took delight in harassing someone who was always cheerful. Someone who never got angry. Someone who-

"MARCO! What are you doing! It's 7:30! You need to go!"

Marco yelped at the sound of his mother's voice. He grabbed the toothbrush and blindly started throwing note books and pencils into his schoolbag as he raced around his house. He shouldered his bag, stuffed a bagel in his mouth, and was out the door.

~X~

"Whoa! So you like just moved here?!"

"Uh yeah. Just a couple weeks ago."

"I bet your old high school won't compare to Trost at all! Everyone here is so cool! And smart! And athletic-Oh yeah! We have the best basketball team bro! And-Hey! You're quite tall! You should join the team!"

Marco gritted his teeth, trying his best to keep up a smile while he listened to the enthusiastic teen. "I don't exactly play sports."

The short boy with the grey buzz cut snorted. "Oh come on man! Just look at me and I'm on the team!"

Marco laughed, "I'm sure you could beat me in a game any day! But shouldn't you be showing me where my math class will be?"

"Huh? Oh yeah! Follow me!"

Marco had been surprised to find that his tour guide was so upbeat. The boy's name was Connie Springer. He looked young for his age, more like 13 than 16. Despite Connie's eagerness, the kid could be rather dull, often going on tangents and getting distracted. Marco was quiet most of the time, preferring to just listen to Connie babble on about the various championship trophies the school had attained through different sports.

"-and my favorite soccer victory being the one against Karanes. Me and my friend Eren painted ourselves green. We got drunk and ran onto the field in the middle of a penalty kick." Connie scratched his head thoughtfully. "I think we puked on the field too… but I can't remember."

Marco eyes widened in horror. "Did you get in trouble?!"

Connie let out a burst of hysterical laughter. "You should have seen the look on Mikasa's face!"

"Mikasa?"

Connie wiped his eyes. He had laughed so hard it looked like he was crying. "She's captain of the varsity soccer team and also plays on the volleyball team. She doesn't take kindly to pranks." Connie grinned at the memory.

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted when a shrill ringing echoed the hallway.

"Oh shit, class." Connie said, his voice and face drained of all happiness and laughter. "Come on. Biology is close to here."

Marco followed Connie down the crowded hallway, trying to avoid tripping over any shoes or bumping into anyone.

The Biology classroom was already packed with chatting students by the time the two arrived. Connie waved to a few boys who smiled back. Connie beckoned Marco to join them. I'm doing good so far. I've made a friend before school even started.

"Hi." Marco turned toward the voice. At the desk to his left was a boy with shoulder length blonde hair and large blue eyes.

"Yo Armin!" yelled Connie, sticking his fist in Armin's face. After a pause, Armin completed the fist bump awkwardly.

"Armin is Trost's certified nerd!" Connie announced.

Armin frowned. "Hey!"

Connie's grin widened as he added, "And teachers' pet too!"

"Am not!"

"My name's Marco," Marco said, quickly interrupting.

Armin turned his attention away from Connie to Marco. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Marco smiled.

"You guys notice class was supposed to start six minutes ago?" said a boy sitting on the other side of Armin.

Another boy snorted. "What do you think Eren? She's probably terrifying some students with those experiments of hers."

But before Eren could answer, a loud bang echoed across the classroom as the door slammed against the wall. "Speak of the devil," muttered the boy named Eren.

"HELLOOOO STUDENTS~!"

Marco watched as several of his classmates groaned at the sight of the loud teacher.

She was smiling widely at the students through her glasses with… hunger? She certainly had a wild look in her eyes as she beamed at the half-asleep teens.

"Ooooh! What do we have here? A new student?!"

Marco's face reddened as every set of eyes in the class settled on him. Oh shoot. "Uhm. Hi?"

"Well stand up and introduce yourself!" said the female teacher.

Marco did so, and then the teacher announced herself as Hanji Zoe. Hanji was quite eccentric as she hopped from foot to foot while talking about the day's lesson.

"Everybody ready for some dissecting?!" The class let out another groan. According to Armin, this was Hanji's favorite class activity and the dissections ranged from tiny flowers to adult cows. Today they were dissecting frogs.

~X~

"Ugh this stinks!" exclaimed Eren. He angrily started stabbing the frog with his scalpel till Armin grabbed his arm.

Marco, Connie, Armin, and Eren were all in a "squad" together. They took turns cutting, poking, and scooping organs out of the decrepit lump of stinking frog flesh. They were only ten minutes in and two students had already run to the bathroom, green faced and retching. Marco felt his stomach lurch at the sight of something grey oozing a thick fluid. Oh god, I can't believe I have this class first thing in the morning on my first day.

Armin suddenly let out a shriek as an eyeball fell on his lap. He shrieked again and jumped out of his seat running into Hanji. "U-uh sorry Hanji-senpai!"

Hanji gave him a look of disapproval before moving on. Marco, Armin, and Eren burst out laughing. "Ha! That frog had an eye for you, didn't she!" Marco laughed teasingly. Armin looked a bit embarrassed, then started laughing too.

The class ended soon after and a horde of pale groaning students exited the classroom holding their stomachs.

~X~

The rest of the classes before lunch passed by quickly and were much more relaxing than Biology class. Marco had to introduce himself in each class but the students and teachers seemed nice and some kids talked to him in the hallway. In World History, he ended up sitting next to a girl named Annie Leonhart. She wore a bored expression the whole lesson and didn't seem to be listening very hard yet she aced the quiz at the end of class. Marco did well on the quiz too and found that he wasn't having difficulties in any of the classes. Everything so far was going great.

"Hey!" Marco turned to the sound of Eren's voice behind him. "Wanna come eat lunch with us?"

"Sure!"

~X~

The cafeteria at Trost was huge compared to his old school. He managed to spot Connie, Armin, and Eren sitting in the corner with a few other people he didn't know. There was a short blonde girl who sat next to a taller brunette. A tall boy with dark brown hair. A muscular blonde boy. And a girl with reddish hair who was chatting with Connie. Marco spotted Annie a few tables over. He sat in a seat between Armin and an empty chair.

Armin filled Marco in on everyone's names. "That's Christa and Ymir," he said pointing to the short girl who was chatting to the taller girl. Armin continued in a whisper, "Watch what you say to Christa or Ymir will pound your face in." He motioned to the remaining students at the table. "The tall one is Bertholdt and the blonde is Reiner. They were both on the basketball team last year and are really good. And that's Sasha with the overloaded plate."

The girl, Sasha, was trying to talk with her mouth full to Connie and they were both laughing.

Marco noticed the empty seat next to him. "Are you saving a seat for someone?"

Reiner nodded. "There was a party last night for the Fall Basketball Tournament that we won Sunday morning. Jean may be our best point guard but he's not the smartest when it comes to drinking."

Bertholdt laughed. "He was out stone cold by two in the morning."

"That sounds like Jean. No wonder he skipped morning classes," Armin said.

Reiner's eyes flicked to the cafeteria entrance. "Speak of the devil."

Marco swung his head toward where Reiner was looking.

A boy his age staggered into the cafeteria. He was an inch shorter than Marco and his arm muscles shown through his school uniform. He had sandy brown hair that covered a darker layer of hair visible above his ears. His school shirt was wrinkled and untucked messily. The tie hung loosely around his neck and the unbuttoned shirt revealed elegant collarbones.

This boy was visibly popular as well as handsome. As he made his way toward the corner tables, girls started whispering excitedly and sneaking glances in his direction. Some boys glared at him, a few of them tinted with jealously while others laughed at his intoxicated condition. Marco watched as Reiner waved at the attractive teen who stopped at their table. The boysank slowly into the remaining empty chair at the table. Right next to Marco.

Now everyone at their table was staring at the boy.

Eren sneered at him. "Have a nice sleep, Jean?"

"Shut the fuck up Jaeger."

Jaeger? Then that must be Eren's last name.

Jean lowered his head onto his arms and groaned.

"Hangovers are no fun," said Reiner, not looking the least bit concerned.

"I said shut up! My mom threatened me to go to school!"

Connie laughed. "Threatened you with what? Taking away sport magazines? Your phone? Perhaps-"

Jean let out an angry growl and swung a fist at Connie, missing by several inches.

Marco felt like he should say something. "Uh, I've heard drinking water helps with hangovers. I have an extra water bottle in my bag! You want it?"

Jean's gaze darkened. He slowly turned toward Marco, his face slick with sweat from his hangover fever. Jean frowned at Marco through hazy and unfocused eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?"

~~~X~~~

Author Notes:

Sooo this is the first fan fic I've ever written. O_O I would love if you left a review with your thoughts and let me know how you like it so far. I really wanted to do an au where Marco and Jean get into a fight and there wasn't much JeanMarco fics on so this idea came to me. I have the second chapter done so I'll upload it in a few days. Thanks for reading!