Sitting back down on her spot on the bleachers, Annie made sure that she had at least a tiny gap between her body and her neighbors. Christa and Ymir were still watching the game next to her, but Christa seemed to know to give her a little personal space. She still asked if Annie was feeling alright, and Annie assured the small girl she was fine. Eren surprised her by being uncharacteristically aware, also asking about how she felt, did she a ride home?
"I said I'm fine." She responded blandly.
He shrugged. "You just don't seem the type to tell someone if you feel sick."
She was that type of person, but she wasn't going to admit to him being right. "Well, I really am fine." She said instead.
The rest of the game was fairly uneventful, save for Rose losing to the Titan's and Eren almost frothing at the mouth in animistic anger. Annie almost wished Mikasa was around to drag him away so he wouldn't cause a scene. Armin was trying to control Eren's indignant shouting, but it was ineffective. Annie was standing back, watching Armin struggle to try to talk some sense into him, but she couldn't take it any longer. She stalked up to the boys and pulled Armin back roughly by his arm, and kicked the side of Eren's knee in a way that made him collapse without permanently harming him.
"Ah, what the hell, Annie?" Eren shouted from the ground, clutching his leg.
"You were being a dick. Suck it up." She looked down at him and wondered at his mood swings. Just a moment ago he was shouting and yelling, but now he looked thoroughly ashamed of himself. Even earlier that night he had been happy- ecstatic even. She chalked it up to the fact that was just the way he was. He was moody, Armin was sympathetic, and she was stony. It was a full spectrum of emotions.
Although, if she was truthful, she would consider herself angry, so maybe Armin was the only calm one. Whatever.
Somehow Annie ended up in Eren's car with him Armin after he said goodbye to Connie and Thomas. "So where do you live?" He asked as he drove off the school's campus. "I was asleep when Mikasa dropped you off last time."
"A left at the light." Annie directed, "Just stay on this road for a few miles."
"Okay." Eren agreed, then, "Sorry about earlier. I got a little upset..."
Annie just raised her an eyebrow.
"Okay, I kindda freaked." He shifted awkwardly in his seat. "I, um, I might have some anger management problems."
"Wow, really?" Annie said sarcastically. At Armin's warning look she added, "So?" She felt as if adding a semi-genuine question cut out on her sarcasm's harshness.
"I-I can get a little violent. It's okay if you don't really want to risk it-" Eren broke off and cleared his throat.
Annie felt like rolling her eyes, and for once she indulged herself. "Are you a dumbass? I've taken you down twice in one move and you're worried about me? Don't flatter yourself."
There was a pause, and Annie could see Armin trying to hold off a smirk. On impulse, she gave him an exaggerated scowl that caused him to chuckle out loud.
Ignoring that moment of weirdness, Annie directed Eren to her house. When he pulled into the driveway Annie cringed. Her father was on the porch. She had eaten dinner with him, but left afterwards. It wasn't like she had sneaked out, he obviously saw her leaving, she just hadn't said where she was going. "Bye." She said and slipped out of the car as soon as it came to a stop.
"Ah, bye-"
"See ya-"
Both of the boys' goodbyes were cut off by the shutting door. Annie walked up her driveway silently chanting leave leave leave leave leave. They should leave before her father stands up-
Too late. He gave a fake smile and a big wave, ignoring Annie and walking over to the driver's side of the car. She didn't turn, but she heard the window being rolled down, then Eren's greeting.
"Hello, sir."
"You must be Annie's friends. I'm her father."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Leonhardt." She heard Armin pipe up.
"You too. It looks like you all had... fun." He must have noticed how messy they looked. Thankfully they had shirts now, but somehow paint had made it's way onto their faces and arms, and their hair was a mess.
"Yeah, we went to the football game." Eren explained.
"Is that so?" he asked, skeptically.
"Yes, sir?" Eren assured, noticing the hostility.
"Well, my little daughter has never liked football before. She actually has expressed hate for it, if I'm right. I'd like to know what you two did to convince her to go."
She could tell they were starting to pick up on the hostile vibes. It was almost impossible to miss the palpable suspicion her father was emitting.
"Ah-" Eren seemed stuck on how to answer, so Armin jumped in.
"We asked her, and she did say she didn't like football, but um, we said we would do something embarrassing if she came. We painted the letters for out school on our chests and stood in the cold all game. She said she would agree to come if we did that."
"Ah." Her father said with fake understanding, "I see. So in a way, you were bribing her. Bribery in deceitful, you know?"
"Father," Annie turned halfway to face him "we should let them go home soon. They don't want to be talking to you."
He shot her a hard glare that neither Eren nor Armin missed, "It's a father's duty to make sure his baby girl is being treated right."
"I'm sorry if we gave you any reason to doubt us," Armin said, "but I assure you we wouldn't do anything to hurt Annie."
"That sounds nice doesn't it? Two perfectly nice boys looking out for my only daughter. I bet you are the ones that took her out to that amusement park. How nice. You payed for her to go, expecting nothing in return, I bet. How noble of you."
"Father" Annie spoke in a low tone, wanting to drag him away, but knowing she couldn't.
"Annie, I am just making sure you don't mix yourself up with troublesome boys." Her father shot the car a dirty look.
"They aren't troublesome," she lied, "they're my friends." which, she found, was not a lie.
"Yeah, like that Mina girl was your friend? You want to go through that again?"
Annie's nostrils flared. She was trying not to flip out, but she could feel her cool mask waivering more every second. Her father couldn't just bring shit like that up. If he wanted to drag up the past, she'd hit home too- but she couldn't, "Bye Eren, Armin. See you tomorrow." she said instead, then she walked away, not looking back and not thinking about how she wanted to scream at her father. Annie never wanted to be like her him, bitter and alone. He had told her most of her life that people were not to be trusted, and that life was an obstetrical to survive, not an adventure to live.
She knew he was wrong- of course she knew. But even with his hate for the world she loved him, and Annie was not a person who could act against love.
"Yeah, um, bye Annie, see you." Eren said before quickly making his escape. She watched the car until it went around the bend in the road and became invisible.
"I'm disappointed in you." Her father said gruffly as he walked by her, back to the house. He didn't know that what he said was the worst punishment he could come up with, for Annie loved him, and he was suppose to love her, and he was dissatisfied with her, just like the rest of the world he so hated.
Oh jeeze this is depressing. Sorry. I can't help it! I feel like i progress Annie a little bit, then brutally chop her back down. But I guess she will be built up stronger that ever by the time this is over, hopefully. Hopefully, hopefully. I suppose right into reviews, which did anyone notice we broke the 50 mark? I never expected this much positive feedback, and I thank you all so much :) You are what keep me going!
Meepmeep123: I'll snap you out of those good feels real quick... cuteness shall return (eventually)
kuroiikawa: Well, Annie and I both agree on the shirtless males, so you are out voted, my friend XD thanks for the support. Ah RWBY, good stuff. Episode 9 was a little lack luster, but after last week's action packed episode I can understand why.
silenceandscreams: apparently we are all similar. I took a test on tumblr and I was closest to the same type as Annie, although, who knows how accurate it was.
Ronaldweasleythehero: Yeah, they just have some teenage angst problems, which is nothing to being eaten problems. No, I will not ignore you, that is good! I am trying to portray it like that! If even one person gets what I'm saying it's a success.
Brandnewmelody: Yay! And I'll do my best!
' .out.: Okay, good. Glad it's not a problem. If I did every day it would get mundane, so I try to keep it to non-filler like chapters.
Cybercorpsesnake: thanks for all the reviews! Glad you're liking it :D
armani: First of all, I'm lovin the username. Second of all, that's a really nice thing of you to say! It makes everything worth it to hear reviews like this hehe thanks!
Mostardaproductions: yeah, I understand. I'm very cautious when I'm reading fanfic and it's a highschool AU. Booh-yah, I made somebody laugh! And HOW DID YOU PREDICT THIS? although I guess it was inevitable. I just put it sooner than I thought I would. Although it isn't resolved yet soooo...
GroundZeroFirework: I'm workin on it haha XD chill yo pants. Also, big thanks for the review
storm warning: Thanks! glad you liked it.
: hehe I'm feeling fangirl vibes. we can fangirl over shirtless Armin together. It was kinda like fan service I wrote for myself. Is that weird? Should I not admit that about my writing? Ignore me. It's not like YmirXchrista is for my enjoyment either. no way. Pshht. I'm professional. This whole story is not like that at all.
Ay, guys, thats a lot of reviews, and I'm lazy, so if you reviewed for an earlier chapter only, I kinda ignored you, sorry. I'm going to start replying to reviews by PM, that way you get answers sooner, and I can keep track of who said what when for what chapter easier. I'm goin to try to PM everyone I'm skipped, but if I miss you, nothing personal.
So, recap, I'm PMing responses now. Look for those :)
Later Gators
~Goldflame