"How about we all go somewhere?"

Mikasa wasn't completely sure what to make of Eren's words. As she pensively tapped her pen against her notebook, trying to pay attention to her teacher, she was trying to mull over his words—those six simple words. When she had asked him what he meant, he simply smiled and waved off in the opposite direction, leaving her thoroughly confused. Maybe he'd explain at lunch why he was being so cryptic. Mikasa tapped her pen on her notebook even more quickly, her frustration building at having to wait another twenty-seven minutes until the period ended.

She sighed, leaning her cheek against her palm. Her dark eyes took a quick glance out the window to see something that made her heart stutter in surprise: both Eren and Armin were waving frantically at her to come out.

Her eyes blinked rapidly as she looked from her desk and back out the window. Was she hallucinating? And if she wasn't, why the hell weren't they in class?! The sudden vibration of her phone startled her out of her reverie. Glancing between her purse that held her phone and the teacher that was pointing at something on the board, Mikasa quickly took out her phone to see the screensaver of her and Armin posing in front of a fast food statue lighting up, urging her to check the message that was sent to her. She went through her phone to see a single message from Eren:

didn't i say we were going somewhere? come out now!

It would be too risky to answer the phone when she already got away with checking it. There was no way she could leave in the middle of class! And besides, it was only a few days until graduation; there wasn't any time to be skipping. It'd be a complete waste of time to even try and leave. And what if she did leave and they got caught? It'd tarnish her school record, and who'd want a high school kid that left class towards the end of the year? No one, that's who! Certainly the reason Eren and Armin wanted to leave had to be pretty dumb, so—

Her phone vibrated with another message.

She checked her messages again and read the new one:

Eren told me that if you didn't come, he'd go back to calling you Mikasalsa Ackerdude. Again.

He wouldn't dare, she seethed. Glancing back at the teacher to make sure they weren't looking, she quickly typed in a message. "Give me five minutes," She typed, sending the message, and checking the window again to see their reaction. A quick thumbs up from Eren was enough for her. Tentatively, she raised her hand and waited for the teacher to call on her.

"Yes, Miss Ackerman?" They paused from talking about multicellular organisms (based on the diagram on the board) and gave her a measured look.

"I don't feel very well; is it possible if I could go to the nurse's office?" She groaned, trying to sound as ill as possible. If she had to, she could even make a few vomiting sounds.

"Are you sure you can't wait until after class?" To feel sick? What kind of teacher did Mikasa have again?

She quickly gathered her thoughts and made a few hacking sounds that made her classmates scoot away from her in disgust. The teacher's face suddenly blanched as she sent Mikasa on her way. It'd be a disaster if she was to vomit on the ground—it would mess up the lesson.

After a soft thank you, Mikasa gathered her things and made her way out the door. When she was sure that she was out of sight from any administrators or anyone else that could send her back to class (oddly enough, the hallways were so empty that she wouldn't be surprised if a tumble weed would pass by), she made a swift dash out of the east doors that would lead to the parking lot. In a few seconds, she spotted Eren and Armin's hands waving her frantically over to them, their eyes sparkling with victory at getting her out of class.

She gave Eren a punch to the gut once she made her way over.

"What the hell was that for?!" Eren held his stomach as he grimaced in pain as Armin shrugged and gave him a "you asked for it" look. When Mikasa wanted to, she could give some of the worst punches—enough to land him in the hospital.

"Don't give me empty threats just so I could go with the two of you on an escapade." Mikasa crossed her arms and tapped her fingers them. Her eyebrows were furrowed with frustration and anger.

"What do you mean, empty? I was totally gonna call you Ackerdude!" Eren moved out of his position and began to lead his two friends to Armin's car.

"Are you completely sure?" Mikasa's eyes looked absolutely venomous and Eren began to shrink back in fear.

"Alright you guys, calm down. We need to get out of here now or else we're going to get caught by an administrator." Armin, the heavenly voice of reason, shoved his two friends into his car as he began to start it up.

"Wait, are we really going to skip school? Why?! Armin, I thought you were a rule follower? Or at least, follow most of them, anyway." As they began to drive away from the parking lot, Mikasa tugged on Armin's sleeve (she shoved Eren to the back seat as she took shotgun), wanting him to answer now.

"Well, it is our senior year, and I haven't done anything exciting so far," He confessed. His hands gripped the steering wheel as he began to drive south towards the highways. "So, why not skip class? Why not do something that could be even remotely fun?"

Mikasa was speechless.

"Hey Armin, pull over. You have no clue where we're going, but I do." After Armin hesitated for a moment, he pulled over into a gravel driveway by the road and Eren and Armin quickly switched seats. Once Eren was in the driver's seat, he drove south until they reached a fork that lead them southwest.

"Where are we going anyway? Don't you think someone might find out if we're not at school? What if we get caught—"

"Whoa Mikasa, just calm down a second," Eren laughed and reached over to pat her on the arm. "One question at a time. Where we're going, I couldn't say. We're stopping at a few places until we reach a final destination." He sounded so calm, so sure.

His hands were gripping the steering wheel, but it wasn't in the way that Armin was nervously grabbing at it before. There was confidence in the way he took the turns, the curves, the bumps the road had to offer, Mikasa noticed. Usually Eren was so unsure of everything. He had revealed to her that he didn't know what he wanted to do after high school. Maybe go on to college, but it was literally the last thing on his mind. He didn't know what to do or what he could do, and he was terrified. His hands were shaking and she had tried to soothe his worries; she would always be there, and whatever he wanted to do, both she and Armin would support him every step of the way. Then, he smiled.

Somehow, it made her content that Eren was at least sure of what they were doing at the moment.

Armin leaned over from the back seat to turn on the radio to some station that played songs from the 80s. It normally wasn't the type of music that the trio listened to, but somehow it seemed to fit.

"We're getting pretty close to our first stop, so I hope you guys have some cash." Eren tapped at the steering wheel to get their attention. Armin and Mikasa both had confused looks on their faces, but they checked to see if they had anything.

"Well, I have thirty bucks," The blond offered, taking three tens out of his wallet.

"And I have forty-five, I think." Mikasa rummaged through her purse to take out the two twenties and five dollar bill that were both crisp from being in her wallet.

"I have twenty-seven, so I think we'll be fine." Eren scrounged up five crumpled five dollar bills and two singles, making Mikasa roll her eyes in exasperation. Of course he wouldn't even take care of his own money.

Before the two could ask where they were going to stop at, Eren pulled into a gas station, parked between two little lines, and hopped out of the car, leaving the engine running. He jogged over to Mikasa's side and opened her door and pulled her out to come with him. Armin scrambled out of his own door, yelling at Eren to at least close the doors.

"Come on, we won't even take five minutes! It'll be fine." Eren tugged his other friend along into the station. He told them to split up and grab whatever food it was they'd need for a whole day; it didn't even have to be healthy.

After a few minutes of pondering over what it was that Eren was doing, Mikasa shrugged and grabbed a bag of fruit snacks, a can of dip and chips, a sprite, and a cream cheese Danish.

A few snack-grabbing minutes later, they all met up with each other to see what they had all got. Mikasa showed them what she had gotten first, and then they were quickly naming off what they had gotten (Armin would glance outside every now and then to see if his car was still there).

Racking up about twenty bucks worth of food (and a sour look from the cashier), they made it back to the car in fits of laughter.

"I can't believe we bought all of this from the gas station." Mikasa was trying to hold back her giggles, but they'd occasionally pop out tauntingly.

"Yeah, why the heck do we need all of this anyway?" Armin's laughs were full and hearty; it made Mikasa smile at how open it sounded.

"To eat of course! It's gonna be a long day, so we need to stuff up."

Throwing their back in the back with Armin, they made a hasty getaway from the station and were bound southwest again.

The scenery had begun to change, little by little. The houses and small stores that were littered around became replaced by designer stores, restaurants that varied between the kinds that could fill up a stomach, to the kind that could fill up a bill. The grass was exchanged for concrete floors, and the roads were brimming with cars. They were heading towards the city.

"I'm guessing we're going to go shopping, am I right?" Armin tapped the glass on the car towards the stores with their brand names written all over them.

"Not exactly," He replied. He didn't elaborate on what they were going to do next, but Mikasa didn't mind. The day hadn't been so bad so far, she thought as she munched on her chips and dip.

When Eren had paid a meter to park on the side of the road, the trio stood together as they looked up at the store they were standing in front of. It didn't look like it held expensive things, but it didn't look like it would have anything disappointing, either. It was swathed in an array of colors; blue, green, red, and orange, and it looked like a peacock in between pigeons. Windows twice their size were on each side of the building and it couldn't look even more inviting.

"Do you know the name of it?" Mikasa's hands brushed the door handle, not sure whether or not to open the door.

"I'm not sure, but it looks really fun," Armin replied easily, putting his hand over hers. They opened the door together in one go.

The inside was just as magnificent as the outside: cloths were draped all over the place in a swirl of textures and colors, the floors were a rich burgundy, and there seemed to be endless racks of clothes, hats, and sunglasses. The people inside were so cheery that it was hard to feel any sorrow.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Come on!" Eren shoved the two of them towards crosswalk full of clothes on either side of them.