Chapter 2: Jean.
"Uhm, Jamie? Are you okay?" Krista asked carefully. Jaime didn't respond. She just kept staring at the sheet music. It had been less than a month since June Hale played that ridiculous song about the Corporal in front of everyone in the mess hall. Everyone had enjoyed it so much that when a few cadets had sat down for another exciting game of truth or dare, Jamie had been dared to make a sequel. The other cadets had just finished writing what she would be singing the next day and Jamie was utterly horrified. It wasn't that Jean was scary at all, not like Levi anyways. It was just that she was afraid that this song might hurt his feelings. Corporal Levi didn't have feelings what Jamie knew of, so it was different this time.
"What if this makes him hate me?" She whispered, unfortunately forgetting that the room was filled with other cadets.
"What? Horse-face? Who cares?" Eren shrugged with the greatest grin plastered on his face. He was seated between his sister, Mikasa and Serena Grey, maybe a little bit 'too' close to Serena, she noted.
'Oh, Eren! Could your feelings possibly be more obvious?' Jamie thought to herself. Eren had had the biggest crush on the raven-ette ever since she joined the Survey corps last year with her sister, Daisy and Jamie herself. They had been the only three from their trainee squad to choose the Survey Corps that year. Serena sat and stared out the window, seemingly bored by this game of humiliating songs and obviously oblivious to Eren's close proximity.
"I care, Eren! Jean has feeling too, you know!?" Jamie snapped at the Titan shifter. Where was Jean, you ask? He had been so unfortunate to get late stable duty, so he wasn't coming back anytime soon.
"So you're not gonna sing it?" Sasha asked innocently, crocodile tears forming in her eyes. It was hard to take her act of sadness seriously, when she had a loaf of bread in her mouth.
"Of course I'm gonna sing it! I can't back out of a dare! I'm just gonna tell him that Eren put me up to it!" Jamie yelled in exasperation at the gluttonous young woman.
"Hey!" Eren protested.
"As if you have a problem with Jean hating you!" She defended. She hated that she had to do this. She didn't know Jean that well, but he had always been kind to her. She remembered the day she arrived at the Survey Corps. Jean had approached her to tell her that she had pretty hair, a slight blush on his cheeks. Connie had told her that he said that to every girl he met, but Jamie had been flattered regardless. She had admired his willpower when Sasha had told her about his wish to join the Military police and how it had changed when his best friend, Marco had died. That couldn't have been an easy choice to make. She actually really wanted to befriend the man, but her shyness had blocked her from even talking to him for more than three minutes at a time. Eren and Armin had somehow been easier to talk with and so, Jean had taken even further distance to her as he did with all of Eren's friends.
Unable to take the sly grins of her mean friends, Jamie got up and scurried out the room. She had a feeling that guilt was going to make it hard for her to sleep that night.
***Time skip to next morning***
Jamie entered the mess hall that morning, with a sickly nausea and a clenching feeling in the pit of her stomach. She quickly scanned the room, searching for the familiar two toned mop of hair. She saw it immediately. Jean was sitting next to Connie who sent Jamie a mischievous wink when he saw her standing in the doorframe. Eren too, snickered to himself. Jamie exhaled a deep exasperated sigh.
'Okay... Let's get this over with'
Jamie ran over to Hanji as fast as she could and stopped right in front of her. The first thing she noticed was June and Levi sitting next to each other, with their fingers intertwined. This made Jamie smile. She cared deeply for June, and was overjoyed that she found someone to love. Even if this person was the scariest person alive. Hanji squealed in surprise at Jamie's sudden appearance.
"CADET CHURCH! WHOA! YOU GAVE ME QUITE A SCARE THERE" She laughed almost maniacally at this for some reason.
"I'd like to use the piano, please" Jamie got right to the point. She just wanted to get this embarrassment over and done.
"HA, HA! IS YOUR SONG ABOUT LEVI!? IF IT IS, YOU ARE SO WELCOME TO DO SO!" Hanji's comment made Levi frown deeper.
"Uhm, no... It's about Jean..." She just answered the crazy scientist with a whisper.
"OH, GREAT! GO AHEAD!"
Jamie approached the piano, gaining everyone's attention.
"Hi, guys. my song isn't about the Captain." She heard a few 'aww's. This disappointed a lot of the soldiers. Jamie continued though.
"It's about Jean Kirschtein..."
Jean's head shot up and he started staring at Jamie in horror, knowing full well what happened last time someone played a song on that piano. He probably had no idea that this was a dare, which only made Jamie more nervous.
"Please don't hate me" She whispered under her breath as she sent an apologetic look at Jean.
Jamie took a deep breath before starting to clink at the piano. (The song I'm using is called: 'Look at my horse, my horse is amazing')
"Look at my horse, my horse is amazing!
Give it a lick. Mmm, it tastes just like raisins.
Stroke on its mane, it turns into a plane.
And then it turns back again when you tug at its winky."
Jamie kept shifting her voice between a male one and a female one, so that it sounded like she was singing a conversation.
"Eww that's dirty!
Do you think so? Well I better not show you where the lemonade is made.
Sweet lemonade. Mmm sweet lemonade.
Sweet lemonade, yeah sweet lemonade.
Get on my horse, I'll take you round the universe all the other places too.
I think you'll find that the universe pretty much covers everything.
Shut up woman, get on my horse!"
Jamie was supposed to repeat the song for a few times, but decided against it when she looked down at Jean. He looked genuinely hurt. That look he sent her made Jamie's chest tighten. He looked at her like she had betrayed him, tears actually forming in his eyes. Suddenly, Jean looked away and got violently up from his seat, the chair tipping over. He slammed his fists in the table hard enough for everyone's food to fly, before exiting the room in anger. Everyone was laughing hysterically, except for Jamie. Jamie did not find this funny at all. She ran over to Eren and slapped him hardly in the side of his face.
"Oww!" He complained.
"IDIOT!" Jamie yelled at him, tears welling up in her silver grey eyes. She ran out of the mess hall as fast as her legs could take her. She needed to find Jean. She needed to apologize for this.
"JEAN!" She yelled, hoping that he would answer her.
"STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!" Jamie suddenly heard Jean's voice coming from the stalls. His voice was strained, as if he was crying. Was the song really that bad? Ever so slowly, Jamie entered the horses' stalls. Sure enough, Jean was grooming his chestnut steed which he had named Marco. Tears was falling freely from his honey colored orbs in a heavy stream.
"Jean.." Jamie whispered carefully.
"LEAVE. ME. ALONE." Jean interrupted her, with a hoarse whisper that managed to shoot poison arrows at Jamie's heart.
"Jean, I'm..." She tried again.
"You're WHAT!? You're sorry!? I highly doubt that! Why, Jamie!?" He turned to face her, throwing the brush he had been using on the horse harshly to the ground, making it jump against the stone floor.
"Jean..." This was apparently the only word Jamie could say at the moment. Her vocabulary had completely disappeared from her brain. Jean was about to rant, Jamie knew that. And she figured that it probably was best to let him.
"Why is it that every time I fall in love with someone, they completely ignore me and fall in love with Jaeger instead!? And if that isn't bad enough, she also adopts his hatred for me and decides to humiliate me in public! Do you even realize how much it hurts to be humiliated by your crush!?" Jean was so angry that he didn't even realize that he had confessed his feelings for Jamie. Jamie herself was so plagued with guilt that she didn't pick up on it either. She fell to her knees and started crying heavily.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm SO sorry!" She kept sobbing, making Jean's anger soften slightly.
"I don't hate you, Jean..." She whispered between her heavy sobs. For some reason, she just couldn't stop the tears from bursting out. She had kept the faucet closed for too long.
"Neither do I like Eren more than I like you..." She vaguely noticed that Jean sat down on the ground next to her, looking intensely at her as to take in everything she said.
"Frankly, Eren can go die in a hole right now, for all I care." Jean still stayed silent, which killed Jamie.
'He hates me! He actually hates me!'
She clenched her fists and started cursing.
"I HATE truth or dare!" She burst out, not even realizing that she had said it aloud.
"I am SO sorry, Jean. I actually really like you, I was just too shy to talk to you... Eren is so sociable that he didn't actually give me any choice, but to be his friend." Jamie didn't dare to speak louder than a whisper and she certainly didn't dare look at the man seated in front of her.
"Can you... Can you ever forgive me?" She cried once again. She suddenly felt a hand lift her chin. Jean had stopped crying and looked more curious than anything else. He carefully brushed the hair away from her face. A single tear escaped Jean's honey orbs and Jamie gathered her courage, brushing it away with her pale slender finger. They stayed like that for a while, just staring at each other, both crying. Something Jean had said earlier, suddenly dawned on Jamie.
"I'm not in love with Eren, you know?" She shot her gaze down to the ground as she said this. When she looked up again, Jean was blushing madly with realization.
"Hey, Jean?" She finally asked the strangely silent boy.
"Yeah?" He asked. His voice was cracked and odd, but not angry anymore.
"Wanna go for a ride with me?" Jamie gestured to the horses. A small smile tugged at Jean's lips.
"Sure" He tried to get up, but Jamie stopped him by pinning him to the floor, causing him to become beet red in the face.
"Wait a minute!" She protested.
"Let me thoroughly apologize first." She shifted her body on top of his.
***Time skip***
After a very eventful horseback ride (amongst other things), Jamie was exhausted. Riding with Jean had been so peaceful and fun. He had taken them to a stream where they had let their horses: Marco and Farlan, drink the water while the two of them had a chance to get to know each other. Jamie told Jean about the dare, and he told her about his feelings for her. Not that she hadn't figured that out when she had kissed him in the stalls. They hadn't kissed since, but she wanted to. He probably thought it had been a onetime thing and Jamie needed to change that. She got down in front of her desk and pulled out a pen and paper. Time to write another song about Jean. (Listen to the song 'Pony' by Kasey Chambers if you want)
When I grow up I want a pony When I grow up I want a baby If I had a baby Yodelay he yodeloh oh When I grow up I want a cowboy If you were a cowboy When I grow up I'll be a lady I won't listen to rock n roll
I'm gonna ride him from dust til dawn
I'm gonna brush his mane
And feed him sugar cane
And keep him in safe from the storm
If I had a pony
I wonder could I be your girl
I'm gonna name it after Marco or Farlan
And I sure won't mind if it cries all night
Just as long as it looks like me
I wonder could I be your girl
You rock my world
Yodelay he yodeloh
When I grow up I wanna be your girl
With dust all over his jeans
With a horse named Marco
And a ten-gallon hat
He is nice but looks so mean
I wonder could I be your girl
All my rings will be made of gold
I'll put flowers in my room
I'll wear perfume
If I was a lady
I wonder could I be your girl
***Extended ending***
"Hey, Jamie, I'm sorry to disturb you, but you left this in the st..." Jean stopped talking when he saw Jamie asleep at her desk. Maybe he shouldn't just have barged in like that. He walked over to place the hair band he had found on her desk and was just about to walk away when he accidentally read the words 'For Jean' on the paper she had been scribbling on before she had fallen asleep. He carefully pulled the paper out of her grip without waking her and read the song she had written for him. A smile adorned his face at the sweet words of the song. Could it be that Jamie actually returned his feelings? He placed a soft kiss in her ashen brown hair.
"You know... I hate it when people associate me with a horse." He whispered silently enough for her not to wake up.
"But I don't mind it when you do it..."
Author's note: The reason why I had the whole Farlan thing in this, is because my OC; Jamie, is Farlan's little sister. It's not relevant for this story though, I just thought I should explain since they share a last name and stuff. Jean and Jamie will get their revenge in the next chapter. Eren's next.