Chapter 2: Club

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

Previously: Mikasa and her friends start their first day of junior year. A new student joins a week late. She and her friends watch a movie. Evan thinks Mikasa is a creep and yells at her.

"Me! A necrophiliac! Me!" Mikasa paced around her bedroom like a caged tiger. Sasha was lying on the bed, legs in the air, face in her hands with eyes wide, watching the agitated girl go back-and-forth. "I wasn't stalking him! I was at the cemetery to pay respects. You know that!"

"Uh-huh," she bobbed her head up and down. "Your grandparents."

"Exactly!"

"In his defense, he didn't know that. From what you've told me, he must be approached by girls who're into stuff like that. The ones who believe the silly legends."

"But I'm not!"

"No, you're not. And he shouldn't have jumped the gun."

"Yes!" Mikasa nodded furiously. "What an asshole!"

"Still, you did sneak up on him—which shouldn't be possibly if he had powers and stuff—in a forest. And you were apparently staring. Who wouldn't be freaked out by that?"

"I wasn't staring." She folded her arms defensively. "I just saw something and went to check it out." Okay, so maybe, technically, she was staring. No. I was investigating.

"Well, it was an honest misunderstanding. I'm sure if you explain it calmly he'll understand."

"No. I'm never talking to him."

"Don't you two have classes together?"

"So?"

"So, are you going to avoid him for the rest of the year?"

"I don't see why not," Mikasa said.

"Because leaving it as it is will make it worse. Do you want him thinking you're a creep?"

"He won't listen."

"Then that's his problem," Sasha shrugged. "You can be mature and approach him and explain what happened. Whether or not he listens and understands is up to him. That's it."

"I guess I can do that."

Internally, Sasha cheered. It was such an interesting tale to tell one's children. 'You know kids, the first time I met your mother, she ambushed me in a forest and I nearly set my hound on her.' And she really didn't want the guy having such a low opinion of her friend. In the end it wasn't all that important. But if there was a chance to rectify the mistake and make everyone happy, why not at least give it a shot?

And that was how the following morning found them walking into the courtyard. They were heading towards the bench near the fountain where they'd heard Evan liked to have lunch. Most of the time he preferred eating in peace and quiet, but that didn't mean the occasional classmate that joined was turned away. He was happy enough chatting with them.

But he did tend to remember an assignment or something of the like and ditch if a gaggle of girls swarmed him with their face cake and cloud of perfume.

For once, it seemed they'd decided to leave him be. The two girls spotted him coming from the opposite side. He stopped abruptly when he noticed them. Sasha waved, "Hi Evan!" He nodded, approaching slowly. "Okay, I'll make an excuse and leave you two alone to talk and make sure no one interrupts."

"Um, Sasha?"

"Yeah?"

"He went into the cafeteria."

Sasha turned in time to see the large green door begin to shut behind him. "He decides today of all days to eat in, of course. No worries, we still have the rest of the day."

Mikasa wasn't so sure. She couldn't help feeling she was being ignored. If he thought she was some obsessive fangirl, it'd make sense he'd keep his distance. Not give her any hope or feed into her weird fantasy. If someone was crazy enough to approach him thinking he was a vampire—clearly someone did, based on his outburst on Saturday—it wouldn't be far-fetched to believe she'd twist any interactions they had to fit her delusions.

Mikasa's guess was proven correct. He really did ignore her. It was the same the next day as well. She had turned after sharpening her pencil and found him frozen. Quickly, he'd asked the person closest to him for a pencil sharpener, unwilling to even touch the classroom's since she'd just used it. By the third day, she was tired. It's ridiculous.

"You're giving up?" Sasha pouted.

"It's annoying, but I'm not wasting time and energy into chasing the guy down and trying to explain myself. It only makes me look worse."

Sasha continued to sulk but Mikasa was done. Despite her best friend's grumbling, she successfully avoided Evan for the next few weeks.

It came as a surprise when Evan approached her during chemistry, offering to be her lab partner. Suspicious, she agreed. Their newest lab experiment was one she was really looking forward to. Who wouldn't like to create candy? She snapped out of her thoughts when he cleared his throat. "Yes?"

"I asked if you wanted to move over there," he gestured to his seat. "There's no space for me here."

"Oh. Okay." Mikasa grabbed her things and joined him. She picked up the instructions, "We'll quickly go over the pre-lab discussion and decide who'll do what and—"

"I'm sorry."

"What?" That was the last thing she expected to come out of his mouth.

"For blowing up at you. That day." Evan grimaced. "You wouldn't believe how many freaks I get. Trying to befriend me because apparently I have a mysterious vibe and live in some stupid house. When I saw you staring, dressed all in black, telling me you were hanging out at the cemetery, I thought you were one of those people," he ducked his head in embarrassment.

"It's fine," she shrugged. She'd pretty much put it behind her already.

"From what people said about you, I realized my mistake. I would have apologized earlier but I wasn't entirely sure how to approach you."

She had a idea of what exactly students might have said about her. She was asked out often, she wasn't an idiot and she owned a mirror, but she had more important things to focus on.

"I've been told I should be more sociable if I don't want people making up weird rumors about me."

Mikasa nodded. "Right, well," she looked down at the paper.

"Let's get started," Evan sat up straighter.

After finishing the discussion, they followed the teacher into the adjacent room, the lab, and moved to an unoccupied station. Mikasa ignored the jealous looks a few girls shot her. Making sure they had all the equipment and safety gear, they began.

"Add 125 ml of water to the beaker."

"Done," Evan said. "What next?"

"Turn on the benson burner, and then we add the sugar."

The instructions were simple and easy to follow and the two quickly fell into a smooth rhythm. Class soon ended and they parted ways with a 'see you later' and a polite nod. Sasha was eyeing her dangerously when she entered the classroom. Mikasa had a feeling she knew why. Pausing briefly, she looked around the room—the desks were arranged to form a rectangle—trying to find an empty seat. No such luck. Sasha pounced the moment Mikasa's butt touched the chair.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"That you and Evan are lab partners for the rest of the year?"

"Unlike your teacher, mine said we have to work with at least five different people. So no, he was my partner for this experiment only." She calmly took out her first draft and a red pen. They were doing peer edits and she'd come prepared.

"C'mon Mikasa, are you going to make me beg? Spill!"

"What do you mean?" She purposely ignored the obvious.

"Details! I want details."

"We started by boiling water, then we added sugar and made sure all the crystals dissolved—"

"No!"

"If you want specific details, I can give you a copy of the instructions. I know you love candy and it'll be cool knowing how to make it."

That comment distracted Sasha long enough for the teacher to begin taking attendance.

Mikasa wasn't so lucky after school.

"He's the most sought out guy in our year. Now that you two have gotten over the misunderstanding, you should ask him out before someone snatches him up."

"Sasha—"

"You two have chemistry," she snickered at her own pun, "and you enjoy making candy together."

"What about candy?" Connie walked up to them. "I heard something about candy."

Sasha opened her mouth but Mikasa interrupted, "Nothing. Just girl stuff. Cravings and all that."

"We can stop by a store if you want," Jean said eagerly.

"It's alright, we have some at home."

They quickly fell in step, walking towards Jean's car.

"Have you guys decided if you're joining any teams?" She had already done soccer for the past two years and baseball in middle school. Now she wondered if she should try out for basketball. But junior year was the most important academic wise. She wasn't sure if she should opt out of any commitment heavy teams and go for clubs that met once a week or so. Or maybe not join anything at all.

"I've been thinking about that," Armin said. "About creating our own club, something all five of us can do. I mean there's a chance someone might want to join up but that's okay."

"Considering most of the clubs—outside the typical sports teams, charity groups, and academic related clubs—are created by a group of friends who want to hang out and make it an official kind of thing, I think we'll be fine."

"Jean's right," Connie nodded. "I mean we actually have a club devoted to horses."

"What should our club be?" Jean asked.

"We have to figure that out by Friday. I have the papers, once we make up our minds, I can fill it up and turn it into Mr. Morrison and get our own room."

"How about we brainstorm a few ideas tonight and vote on the ones we like best and narrow it from there?" Mikasa suggested.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Sasha smiled.

Mikasa tried not to stomp like a five-year-old. Finally. Annoyed at herself for leaving her math textbook in her locker, she yanked the large door open, using too much force. She knew she had just made it time, knowing the doors would be locked in five minutes. She grabbed her textbook from her locker and tried to ignore the extra weight. Cursing came from around the corner, echoing down the long hallway. Mikasa could hear the person yanking the main doors. She checked her watch. Yup, they should be locked.

"Hey," the girl waved when Mikasa turned the corner. "Can you open this?"

"Did you leave something behind too?"

"Uh yeah, thanks!"

Mikasa nodded and continued on her way. Halfway through the school parking lot, she froze and nearly slapped her forehead in frustration. Distracted by the cursing, she had forgotten her phone in the locker. To her luck, the janitor was taking a smoke break. Mikasa politely asked if she could be let in. Thank goodness. She smiled and said her thanks.

A crash startled her. She followed the noise, masculine voices, into a long corridor with three doors on the left. She could hear voices coming from the boys locker room. Hearing Keith's voice yelling, she quickly identified the culprit. Without thinking, Mikasa entered the girls locker room, leaving the door cracked open a centimeter. Seconds later, Evan stormed by, throwing the metal door open with such force it banged like a gunshot against the wall. She heard footsteps and kept quiet, watching as Keith went after the boy.

She checked the hallway to make sure the coast was clear. Keith must have ordered the boys to stay put because no one dared peek to see where they had gone. Normally Mikasa would have kept her nose out of trouble but this was Evan. The only time she had ever seen him be anything other than reserved was their first meeting when he'd yelled at her. Evan, who all the girls fawned over for being a total gentleman.

Mikasa's feet were leading her after the two before her brain could process what was happening. She heard Keith's voice and quietly followed it to where the basket ball coach had pulled the boy aside for privacy, intending to see this through.

Halfway home, she was startled by loud sirens. To her surprise, three police cruisers raced by. I wonder what that's about? She watched them turn right down the street, the direction she was heading. Mikasa sped up, curious. Her eyes widened when she saw where the three police cars and a paramedics van were parked carelessly. A group of people watched from across the street, looking curious and some actually amused.

They began quickly talking and she looked back at the ugly brown house. No way. The paramedics were wheeling out a gurney. The body was covered, which only meant one thing. He's dead. People around her talked furiously.

"Can you believe it?"

"Serves him right."

"Now I know there's some sort of deity up there."

"What do you think happened?"

"The old fucker finally got what he deserves."

"What a relief!"

Mikasa had it on good authority Old man Wald was a racist, homophonic, and chauvinistic pig, but being so blatantly happy and excited just yards from the dead body seemed wrong somehow and she quickly moved on. Sasha had sent her a barrage of texts by the time she got home, asking if she had heard that Wald was murdered. News traveled fast in her town. Especially murder. Or at least that's what Sasha was claiming it to be. From what she'd seen outside the man's house and heard of his reputation, she couldn't say it was surprising.

It was the breaking news that evening.

"That's terrible," Mrs. Ackerman shook her head.

"He was an awful person."

"That still doesn't mean you should throw a party the same day he was murdered," Mr. Ackerman said in disapproval.

Mikasa was sure the partying started before the body was even cold and stiff.

"Turn it off please," her mother requested. "We'll not watch and enjoy such a thing before we eat."

The TV was off but her mind continued to race.

And just like that, she had an idea for their group club.

The following morning, the student body was abuzz with news of Old Man Wald's death. No, his murder. Mikasa corrected. Death was big and juicy, but murder was bigger and juicer.

"They released an official statement saying it really was murder and an investigation is underway," Sasha said.

"Can't say I envy the cops," Connie said, mouth full.

"Forget trying to make a list of people who wanted him dead, it'd be much easier coming up with a list of those who didn't want him dead and removing them from the rest of the town's population," Jean added.

"Okay, I've been thinking," Armin finally spoke, "from what I've seen, you guys are interested in Old Man Wald's murder too. But there's a slight problem."

"If this is about creating a detectives club, I think they already beat us to it," Jean jerked his thumb behind him to a group of teens a few tables away.

"Or a supernatural one," Sasha said. "Somebody's already got that covered."

"Yeah, I thought that might be the case," Armin said.

"I've been thinking about this too," Mikasa said. "Like Armin, I also figured we wouldn't be the first. And no one would take us seriously if went all Scooby and the gang. Now, Old Man Wald's house is very old and passed down from generation to generation. It's an important part of the town's history."

"I see!" Armin's eyes lit up, understanding where she was going.

"We could make a historical group or whatever—the name's not important. Basically we'd go around touring famous historical spots in town and writing about their, well, history, telling their stories."

"We could make a website," Connie said. "Add sources and citations at the bottom and all that."

"Yeah, then it'd be totally legit," Sasha nodded. "And it'd look good on a college application." She gave her best friend a pointed look.

"That's what I was thinking," Mikasa said.

"We should start out doing actual work before moving to Old Man Wald's house," Armin said. "It'll look less suspicious that way."

They quickly fell into a discussion about the group's name when Armin pulled out the contract. Mikasa wasn't as interested and spent more time listening than contributing. A familiar scent filled her nose and waited a few seconds before casually looking around. Evan was walking away. She hadn't told anyone about his heated argument with Keith. It had been weeks ago and she didn't see the point in brining it up and causing drama.

From her eavesdropping, her mind had immediately jumped to a conclusion. As a result, she'd spent a lot of time keeping a close eye on Even's behavior, checking to see something that might support or reject her theory. So far, it was pretty inconclusive.

"—think Mikasa?"

"Hm?"

"Historical Landmark club," Sasha repeated.

"It's simple and straightforward," Armin said.

"Yes, good," Mikasa nodded. "Let's keep it."

"You forgot boring enough to put on a college application," Connie rolled his eyes.

"Exactly," Jean said.

"I'll take this to Mr. Morrison after school," Armin passed the papers around for them all to sign.

Mikasa received a text from him later that evening, confirming their new club's acceptance and a classroom for it.

Their first day was tomorrow.

She couldn't wait.

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