The rest of the day went by dully. I ate lunch by myself, in the little corner I used to eat at last year before Armin dragged me over to sit with his friend group.
After that, I went to my afternoon classes, which were all basically the same thing, going over how the year would go, syllabuses, and stupid first day assignments.
The only major homework I had gotten, thankfully was the stupid poem assignment for Mr. Church`s class.
I didn't know what to write about myself. No one would like to really know what was inside of me, and I'm pretty sure if I told the truth, I would get sent to the counselor's again. I was already forced to go to therapy with Erwin Smith. I didn't need to see some crummy school counselor. I had already dealt with that last year.
I flipped open my laptop. I labeled it "Poem of Myself" like Mr. Church had instructed. I also typed my name and date. I had no idea what to write. After contemplating on a few ideas for a few minutes, I thought of something. It wasn't some genius idea, but it would do for this pathetic first time.
"Did you do yesterday's homework? Armin asked next class. I nodded.
"Wasn't it hard? I couldn't come up with anything!" I nodded.
"Don't worry, I'm sure yours is better than anything I've written," He shrugged.
"Well, I can't say anything until I've read yours. May I?" he asked, reaching his hand out towards me.
"What the heck Armin, no! I'm not letting you read my poem, that'd be weird!" Armin didn't need to see my poem. Before Armin could retaliate, Mr. Church began class.
"Alright, I hope that you all did your homework from last night, because I'm going to have a couple of you share your poems!" The class groaned. I did too. It was just another stupid introductory assignment. I was assuming he was doing this so my classmates could all get to know each other or something.
"Alright, I'm going to pick a number from this jar, and I'll have that person read their poem!" I rolled my eyes. He sounded like an elementary school teacher. My classmates, including Armin all nervously watched as Mr. Church swished his hand around in the jar of numbers. I didn't really care. In a class of thirty or so, the odds of getting picked were quite slim.
"Number 14! So that would be... Annie Leonhardt!" I jolted up. Was he serious? Out of all the numbers he picked, he picked mine? could't believe my bad luck. Armin gave me a sympathetic look.
"Good luck Annie," he whispered. I nodded. My poem was awful, and I hated sharing things in front of the entire class. This was not something the whole class needed to hear, only to be ridiculed behind my back. My poem was personal, it was awful.k
"Come on Miss Leonhardt, we don't have all day," Mr. Church said sternly. I rolled my eyes and stood up.
"I was once so young, once so innocent
But youth and innocence was not meant to last
I became strong, alone like a lone wolf
For years I stayed like so
I thought that was how everything was meant to be
But the lone wolf had to migrate, things had to change
I thought a lone wolf was meant to be alone
But I was wrong
A lone wolf doesn`t need to be alone
A lone wolf is free to be with others"
I sat down. I thought the poem really represented myself. It wasn`t necessarily the best poem I could have written, but it was decent enough.
"That, was very... interesting Annie," Mr. Church commented. I could tell it was content he didn't expect. But this was creative writing class, what was he supposed to expect? I shrugged and sat down.
"Now, let me pick someone else, then..." Mr. Church slowly shuffled the cards around in the bowl. He picked out number twenty one. Some random sophomore had to read their poem. I didn`t listen in, I wasn`t too interested in learning about my classmates.
"Thank you. Now I`m going to pick out one last lucky person," The class rolled their eyes, including me.
"Number 1! Now that would be..." Mr. Church looked at the list of names, and put his finger down. "Armin Arlert!" I turned to look at Armin. His face was dreaded with horror. Armin was very smart, but the one thing that messed up his perfect grades were anything that had to do with public speaking. I learned that when he had to do a speech in chemistry class. I also knew there was nothing else worse than having to read a poem about himself in front of everyone.
"Come on, Armin, stand up! We all want to hear your poem!" Mr. Church said. Armin nodded, reluctantly. He pushed his glasses up, and let his fringe cover much of his face, and stood up. He held the paper, and started to mumble out his poem.
In this world, only a few can survive
The strong beat the weak
Only a few can cheat the system
At a price of insanity
The few that the cheat the system
Are the rulers of this world
I can never cheat the system
But I have my friends, and that`s enough for me
In this world, where only a few can survive
Armin sat down. His words were barely audible, but he was loud enough so I could understand his poem. His poem seemed pretty straightforward and true. The strong always beat up the weak. I was one of the weak before too. I let my best friend get bullied by the strong girls. I let them kill her because I was weak. I nearly went insane after that. But I beat them. I had beaten the system, at the cost of coming here. The real question, was what had Armin meant in this poem. What had he done that made him write this.
"Very interesting Mr. Arlert," Mr. Church said. Armin was startled.
"You heard me?!" He asked. He smiled.
"Yes, I am a teacher who has many shy students, I have good ears. But next time, please read your poem louder! There is nothing to be ashamed of!" Armin blushed and looked down at his lap. The bell rang and we turned in our poems.
"Armin, what was your poem about?" I asked. He gave me a sad smile.
"It`s nothing really, it doesn`t mean much..." I shrugged and left it at that. I could tell he didn`t really want to talk about it, and I wasn`t going to push him.
Weeks slipped by. School drowned me with more homework. The only classes I remotely enjoyed were creative writing and physics. I liked creative writing the subject itself, but the only reason I could stand physics was because Armin was in there.
Though I hated to admit it, I genuinely missed eating lunch with Armin. I usually ate lunch alone, though on occasion I sat with Eren everytime I forgot how annoying Eren could be sometimes. I did get along with him better than most people, despite his childish temper tantrums, however lunch really wasn't the same without Armin. Armin definitely made me feel more comfortable, he was easy to talk to and nice, I really enjoyed his presence last year.
Before I knew it, Homecoming was just around the corner. Spirit week prompts for next week were already announced. Monday was denim day, Tuesday decades day, Wednesday pajama day, Thursday decades day and Friday School Colors day. I didn't find spirit day anything I needed to participate in. I didn't really like homecoming either. Basically, all homecoming really was is some giant football game the alumni came to see. I didn't understand why any of the alums would want to come back to their high school. I definitely would not want to go back to Karanese, and I had no interest in coming back to this high school either.
The worst was the dance. Thankfully, the alums didn't go to that. It was just an overcrowded overpriced giant party. Girls wore slutty dresses and everyone was grinding. It was a no thank you for me. No way in hell would I go to the Homecoming dance. At least that's what I thought.
"Annie, aren't you excited for homecoming? It'll be your first homecoming at Trost!" Eren exclaimed. I was eating lunch with Eren that day and I was regretting it.
"Eren, you know I'm not a social person. I mean, I have to admit, pajama day is nice, but I don't like dressing up, or watching football, or dances." Eren pouted.
"Oh come on don't be a bum, even the most antisocial people participate in Homecoming! At least in the spirit days!" I rolled my eyes.
"I don't care"
"Is Armin going?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I dunno, he came last year. We went with the three of us, but he's not much of a party person. I personally want him to come this year, but I don't think he really enjoyed it last year..." Eren suddenly grinned. "Why, do you want to go the dance with him?" he sneered. I cringed my eyebrows.
"Shut up Eren, I was just asking a question." His grin widened.
"So you are into Armin huh." I felt blood rush to my face. It was anger. I was not embarrassed, I was just getting irritated with Eren, I reassured myself.
"Wipe that stupid grin off of your face, or I will tell Mikasa you like her." That shut him up for a bit.
As the days in the week went by, more and more people began rowdying about homecoming. I was surprised Armin hadn't mentioned anything of it.
At the end of the hour on Thursday, Mr. Church had announced an assignment that was due on homecoming Friday. It was a partner project that had to be in boy girl pairs. It was to write a short story about a high school boy and girl couple. Most people groaned, but for me, picking a partner was easy. I could partner with Armin without any ridicule of being in some stupid relationship.
"Annie, are you busy on Friday evening?" He asked. I shook my head. He smiled. "Perfect, we can work on it after school. Is the school library okay?"
"That works for me" I replied.
I never ever enjoyed an assignment or got excited about homework, but this was different. This was a partner project with Armin. Despite the topic, the fact that I should do the project with Armin was what was nice. I had always hated partner projects, but for the first time in my life, I was about to enjoy one.
When I got to the library Friday after school, I saw Armin's things set on a table. A few of our other classmates were sitting at other tables. I assumed many of these people did not want to do these assignments outside of the school. I didn't know where Armin was, I assumed he went to the bathroom.
I assumed his notebook was in his backpack. I figured I should pull it out and get started on it. I didn't want to stay in the library too long on a Friday after school. I unzipped the main pocket and found the notebook we were using instantly. I pulled it out and flipped to the page we were working on. Armin had added some things to it, in fact, it looked like he added a whole new page! I assumed he must have had time in another class. I began to read what he had written.
"... The blond took the blindfolded blonde to where he had written out his message. She opened her eyes. 'Hoco?' Was written out with light blue paper cups on a wire fence. The blonde was shocked, her eyes widened. The teenage boy's cheeks dusted pink.
`Annie, will you go to homecoming with me`"
What? What was this? At that moment I heard a large thud in the library, loud enough to make me and a few others in the library look up. Armin stood there, his face white as a hospital room. He had dropped a textbook, from the looks of it.
"A, Annie?!" He sputtered. "I, I... didn't think you'd be here so early... Oh my god, please tell me don't tell me you read that." He rasped.
"Armin, you want me to go to homecoming with you?" I asked. The blond's face went from sheet white to burning red. He pulled his glasses on top of his head and buried his tomato red face in his hands. I heard a few mumbles.
"Oh my god oh my god, Armin what are you doing? That was a dumb idea, now you've embarrassed yourself! Why didn't you just take the notebook with you, ugh why did you even write that agh..."
"Uh, Armin?" I asked. "Are you okay" He unburied his face and looked up at me slowly and shyly.
"How about, we work on this another day. I'm free Monday after school, is that okay for you?" He put his glasses back on his face.
"Yeah, that's fine. I'm sorry I called you out like this, only to get nothing done... I'm really sorry," He whispered. I told him it was okay. With that he gathered his things and scurried out of the library.
My mind went completely blank and shocked. All I had was one question as of now. What the hell just happened.
Okay, first of all time for me to apologize. I`m sorry I haven`t updated in 6 months! I know I said I would, I just had a writer`s block, this chapter wasn`t fun to write until the last part, and I haven`t been into SnK lately. Either way, I`ve started to get back into it, or at least writing again. I`m sorry this chapter was so short after the long wait, I`ll try to make the next one longer! Please Review, and I promise the next update will be sooner than this one!