The three friends stepped off the bus as they made their way to the gates of TCU. Reiner noticed Annie had not said anything at all since they met up at the airport in Marley nearly five hours ago. Her headphones were on drowning out everything around her, while her face retained its sullen expression. Reiner made sure not to startle her lest she flip him onto his back, "Hey, Annie", tapping her shoulder slightly.
She removed her headphones and looked up at him "What?".
"Everything okay, you haven't said anything in hours?"
"I'm fine, just don't feel like talking".
Reiner looked at Bertholdt who just shrugged and shook his head. "Promise you'll at least try to get along with people here, Annie", Reiner continued. Annie sighed heavily in response; "Fine", she huffed. All three had now made their way past the university gates.
Bertholdt suddenly fell over "Dammit", looking down at the small piece of uneven pavement that had tripped him up. For an averaged sized person they probably wouldn't have fallen victim to it but Bertholdt was just under 6'8" and had size 18 feet which made it far easier for them to get caught up by minor tripping hazards such as these. Reiner laughed "You okay, buddy?"
"I'll live", he started tying his shoelaces, "Don't wait up, I'll catch up soon"
"Whatever you say"
Reiner began making his way to registration. Bertholdt had noticed that Annie was still with him. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah"
"Why are you still here?"
"Because he would try to force more conversation out of me; 'try to make some new friends Annie'…'Smile for once Annie'...'Don't be so blunt Annie' ".
Bertholdt laughed "He's not wrong you know"
"Oh please, not you too"
"Well, it wouldn't kill you to be a little more sociable"
"Yeah, whatever", she crossed her arms.
Reiner had since ran ahead of them when they made their way to the desk. Bertholdt noticed something out of the corner of his eye; a group of boys were throwing water baloons at each other. "Welcome to college, eh Annie?", she just shrugged at him in response. "If you don't cut that out, I'm calling campus security", a member of the admin team shouted after the boys. Suddenly a water baloon missed its target and made a direct hit at Annie's shirt.
Bertholdt began to sweat profusely as a scary look formed on Annie's face. "Annie, don't", she began marching over to the group of boys who were high-fiving each other. They may have missed their target but they managed to get a girl's top wet. They suddenly noticed Annie coming towards them. "Hey, looks like someone's come back for more, what's your name, cutie?". Before he knew it Annie had judo flipped him onto his back. "Oh, shit", Bertholdt said to himself "Annie, STOP". She just ignored him and began attacking the other members of the boy's group of friends.
Bertholdt took out his phone and texted Reiner; "I NEED YOUR HELP ASAP, ANNIE'S ABOUT TO KILL A GROUP OF BOYS". Bertholdt was more concerned for the boys' safety than Annie's who was a black belt in judo and experienced in muay thai. Despite her being only 5'3" Bertholdt knew he couldn't hold her back on his own when she was in full rampage mode.
Five minutes later Reiner came rushing through the doors to the reception area. Both boys grabbed their friend and did their best to restrain her. "Annie, calm down", Reiner did all he could to make his voice as calming as possible. Seeing their chance the boys ran off helping their friend up in the process.
Once they felt the boys had reached a safe enough distance they released their hold on her. Annie had calmed down, somewhat, but still had an angry look on her face. "Annie you can't go around beating people up whenever you feel like it", Berholdt took her hands in his. She pulled them away and began to brush away the hair in front of her right eye behind her ear. "Whatever", she huffed, her emotionless expression returning to her face.
Satisfied that she had calmed down enough, Reiner returned to his room while Bertholdt picked up his key from registration. Bertholdt turned to Annie again "I'm serious though, the whole world is not your enemy and vice versa". She just turned her head away from him and looked off into the distance with a disinterested look on her face. Bertholdt was well aware of the fact that Annie wasn't the hugging type, so he placed his hand on her shoulder. She put her hand on his and that was the only response he needed from her to know she was okay.
Despite the elevator being broken Bertholdt had little issue carrying his luggage to his room. He didn't really have a chance to read over his accommodation package before Annie's rampage, all he knew that he would be sharing with one person instead of two.
He finally reached his destination when he realised the door was already open, a tallish boy with a youthful face, blond hair and sideburns was arranging books on the apartment's shelf. The boy noticed Bertholdt and came over to greet him, "Oh hey, Thomas Wagner, pleased to meet you".
Bertholdt met his hand "Bertholdt Hoover, likewise".
"I thought I was tall, I'm surprised you didn't bang your head on the doorframe", Thomas let out a small laugh.
"Ah, being this tall has quite a few drawbacks, the only benefit I get is being able to reach high places, I'm just hoping my bed in here is long enough".
"You're in luck, they must've been preparing for your arrival, both beds look over seven feet long"
"Well, isn't that a relief", it was his turn to laugh.
"Look man, I'd love to stay and chat but I have a coffee date with my girlfriend, catch up later?"
"I see no reason why not"
"Cool, till then Bertholdt", Thomas headed out.
"I wonder if the other two are getting on well with their roommates too", Bertholdt thought out loud to himself after Thomas was out of earshot. He brought his luggage into his room to unpack.
