Chapter 21: Annie

Friday, November 13th, 2015

"So… guys… there is something we'd like to tell you," Jean stammered as he glanced at Marco nervously.

"We know your asses are gay," Ymir deadpanned and flopped down on the bleachers, spilling her popcorn all over like the savage she was.

"Bi, I'm bi. Not gay," Jean said, putting a hand on his hip. "He's gay." He motioned towards Marco.

I offered my hand in a high five. "Me too. Bi squad. Guess that means you're not that awful… I suppose." He took the high five a little too hard, and I had shook my hand out from the stinging pain.

Jean cleared his throat. I narrowed my eyes, looking over his neck. There was a massive hickey barely covered up by the collar of his shirt on the right side of his neck. "But. We are dating." That wasn't a huge mystery, now was it? I thought to myself.

"Called it," Ymir boasted as she put a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

"Don't say that like you were the only one who thought it," Krista rolled her eyes. "Everybody knew."

Connie bursted out laughing. "Roasted by the gal pal."

"Shut up, coconut head," Ymir grumbled as she ignored the blatant blush on her face.

Eren sat down next to Ymir and Armin followed him. They looked at each other and started whispering while glancing over at Marco and Jean. Connie sat on Ymir's other side and Sasha sat next to him. Connie gave Ymir a swift punch to the shoulder, hissing something about him not being a coconut head.

"So I'm guessing Jean is the bottom, right?" Ymir smirked, putting her boots up on the bleacher below her.

"Sweet Jesus that's nasty Ymir," Connie sighed.

"Did you expect anything different from a brute?" Krista laughed.

"Hey! I just want an answer to my question, shrimp!"

"Well, if you must know," Marco began only to be stopped by Jean scrambling to put a hand over Marco's mouth.

"Marco, babe, they don't need to know," Jean urged him.

Marco shot a wink to his group of friends. "Usually I'm the one covering his mouth."

Ymir bursted out laughing, as did just about everyone else. I allowed myself an amused snort as Connie started crying from laughter. Eren was wheezing, and even Armin's mouth was gaping open in surprise.

"Well, ladies, are we just going to gossip here or are we going to play volleyball?" Mikasa walked in, holding a volleyball to her hip.

She looked really good in her spandex shorts and green uniform. The sleeves were cut off so you could see past her arms, so you could see her bra and a little bit of her abs. Win or lose, it didn't matter to me, I just wanted to see her shirt off at her house… when neither of her parents were home.

"I'm ready to play," I said, standing up from the bleachers. Krista followed me towards Mikasa. There was a reason she was captain of the team. This was it. She could just voice her opinion, and others would flock to her cause, which made her very dangerous. She was a leader that could inspire the confidence of her followers with simple words.

We began warm-ups for the volleyball championships. Maria High had been the high school state champions three years running. We were up against Sina High. Though I suspected they were not going to be much of a threat. Their football team may be formidable but their volleyball team was laughable at best.

Krista was the bumper, I set the ball, and Mikasa spiked it across to the other side. We had a rhythm going. Us three worked well together, really well. We were like a well oiled machine, as teams are supposed to be. As all teams I was a part of were.

Before long, the referee called the game into order. Sina High's team looked nervous and unsure. I did not blame them for their anxiety; our record was undefeated almost the entire season, save for one loss against Rose Academy. Sina had a much more rough track record, barely scraping by every tournament round, and during the regular season, was defeated by non-military schools.

It was pathetic, really.

How could you call yourself a warrior when you lost to those who were weak?

Needless to say, I was ready to crush these puny bastards. And I knew my team was ready to do it.

After a coin toss, the ball was given to Sina to serve first. Everybody was in position, the crowd was as silent as a stalked mouse, and I was tensed, ready to pounce. The ball went up into the air, and my eyes tracked it through the air. It was sky-rocketing towards me.

I took a couple of steps back, bent my knees, and called out, "Mine!"

I passed the ball to Mina, who then set it to Mikasa, who then spiked it to the other side.

One of the girls who had bright red hair on the other side, dove forward and saved the ball from hitting the ground. There was a nasty screeching sound of her thigh skin rubbing against the wooden floor of the gymnasium. But up the ball went, and was spiked back to our side. Krista in turn slid across the gym floor, and sent the ball to Hitch, who sent it to me, and I sent it over to the other side, knowing very well I was not tall enough to make a good spike. I couldn't jump all that well, either. The ground was my domain, not the sky.

The ball was spiked over again, but before it could go over to our side of the net, Mikasa jumped high into the air and blocked the ball from coming over, making it bounce at an awkward angle to the other side.

It was our point.

Once we had control of the ball to serve, Sina did not have a chance. Krista was one of our best servers, and she had the ability to send the volleyball to the corners of the court, making it very hard to judge whether or not the ball was going to go out of bounds. Krista preyed on this weakness until Sina High realized what was going on after what seemed a thousand points.

A spike went between Mikasa's blocking arms, and landed straight on the floor, with Hitch and Mina diving towards it, knocking their heads together. After mumbling complaints, they stood up from the gym floor, ready to keep playing.

Sina did not hold the ball for long. We were too damn good. We were born to win, it seemed. Born to win this volleyball tournament for the fourth year in a row. After Krista sent the ball over to the other side, it landed on the edge of the out of bounds line, and the referee called it in bounds. It was our point. Again.

After the first two sets, after we destroyed Sina seven to twenty-five, it was the last set of the game, unless Sina pulled through and became a miracle story, which was not going to happen, they did not have what it took to win, they simply were weak.

The home crowd was going wild with cheers and hollers. Every fucking time Krista made a decent play, I heard Ymir scream 'savage' in the background noise of the Maria High supporters.

At a time out, called by the other team, we all huddled together, panting and sweating, wrapping our wet arms around each other. Mikasa sneaked a glance at me, with those warm brown eyes of her. They were steely with determination, though her gaze seemed to soften when her eyes met mine. My lip twitched upward in response. All I could think about was how I wanted to just… make love? fuck? have sex with? her. I swiped my tongue over my lips absentmindedly, and I didn't even hear what Petra had to say to us.

The referee blew his whistle and the game was called back into action.

We won. We were champions. We got our pictures taken, given tacky medals, and huddled around a cheap trophy that read 'Washington State High School Champions' with a little gold humanoid spiking a volleyball mid-air.

After the game, we went to the small diner on the outskirts of Olympia we always did, the one that had the best breakfast, the best milkshakes, and was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred and sixty five days a year. The owner of the diner, who was behind the counter, did not seemed at all surprised that practically the entire 104th Cadet squadron and even a few regulars showed up to her diner at ten-o-clock.

"My favorite group!" She exclaimed as we walked through the doors.

I took a deep breath in, relishing the smell of hamburgers, milkshakes, and french fries.

Before we came in, the diner was relatively dead. We filled up the small parking lot in a blink of an eye.

Each of the groups sat down at their respective spots. Our group took the biggest booth in the corner of the diner, where we could put chairs on the other side of the booth table.

"Congrats on the win, guys," Marco smiled. He looked like a goddamn puppy all the time. His face made it very hard to hate him.

Krista was grinning ear to ear, and Ymir slung an arm over her petite shoulders. "Thanks," Krista beamed back.

"I have to tell the truth, Sina didn't really stand a chance against you guys," Connie said.

I shook my head. "Nope. They were fucked from the start."

Jean gave an amused snort. Eren gave me a dirty look that he thought I didn't notice. But I did notice, so I inched closer to Mikasa, wrapping her hand in mine. She didn't quite react how I expected, but she didn't pull her hand away, either.

Armin nudged Eren , a disappointed look on his face. Eren realized what he was doing, looking at me like I was evil, and promptly looked away.

"Man, am I hungry!" Sasha said, eyes closed, taking a deep breath in.

We chattered until the waitress, who must have been new because I didn't recognize her, took our orders.

"So guys," Eren began, as he cracked his neck. "Any plans for this weekend?"

"I can't believe I'm out tonight," Sasha replied first. "It's Friday the thirteenth, afterall."

"Don't you think that's bullshit?" Jean asked. "Friday the thirteenth is just made up."

Connie gave Jean an irritated glance. "Don't you think you're horse shit?"

Ymir dragged her palm across her face. "He just asked if we had any weekend plans. But, since none of you nuggets are going to answer the question, I will. I'm staying at home and jacking off, thanks for asking Eren."

I had to admit, she was hilarious. Before I could stop myself, a harsh, bark-like laugh escaped my mouth after the rest of the table had finished laughing.

"Woah there," Jean said. "You alright over there? Are you sick?"

Mikasa gave an exasperated sigh. "She was laughing."

"She's just not used to doing it," Eren smirked as he took a sip out of his soda.

I quirked an eyebrow up. "Neither are you, temper tantrum enthusiast."

Eren tensed up, and I just simply sat next to Mikasa, smug as hell.

"Okayyyy," Krista said, glancing between Eren and I.

"I'm taking this handsome guy out on a date," Marco said, trying to ease the tension at the booth.

"You are?" Jean asked, surprised. It probably hadn't been in Marco's plans to begin with, but since it was awkward as hell at the table, he just searched for something to say.

Marco smiled. "You bet I am."

Our food came a little later, and everybody shoveled their food into their mouths like savages. I didn't have enough money for an entire meal, but I still ordered a few sliders and a small milkshake. The last thing I wanted to be was left out at something like this. To draw attention to the fact that I was dirt poor, and my dad was shit. The less attention drawn to myself, the better. I would be safer that way.

"Why don't you ever want to hang out at your house?" Mikasa asked me. She was driving Eren's car, because Eren and Armin were spending the night at Connie's house.

"Ah," I said. "Mmm… I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough," Mikasa said. And she dropped it.

I kind of wish she hadn't.

"Where are your parents off to?" I asked, trying to maintain a conversation that was increasingly harder to hold.

"Grisha is out saving the world with medicine," Mikasa sighed. "Carla is out with her girlfriends for the weekend."

"Why don't you call them mom and dad?"

Mikasa kept her eyes on the road, not even glancing over at me when she answered. "When I was little, my parents were murdered in front of me."

A huge, cold, stone, a feeling I had never felt before, hit my stomach. "What?"

"I don't normally talk about it."

"I'm sorry."

What else could one say?

"I was young. Four years old. I barely remember what happened. Only that it did happen."

"Good god," I mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to say sorry, it's not your fault," Mikasa said. There was a deep sadness in her voice. "I love Carla and Grisha. But they could never replace Mom and Dad."

The car went silent, save for the quiet strummings of the classical music Mikasa had playing on the radio. I sighed, reasoning that if Mikasa told me something as personal as this, I should do the same. "I don't like hanging out at my house because my father is a drunk and is living on welfare."

"And your mom?"

I shook my head. "Gone. Don't even know her name or anything about her, except that according to my father, I look a lot like her."

"Does your father… hit… you?"

"He tries, but most of the time he's too drunk to even know what he's doing," I explained. "He always misses."

Mikasa's grip on the steering wheel tightened.

"If he hits you, I'll end him."

I gave a soft chuckle. "That won't be-"

"I'm serious."

I looked her over, looked at her messy ponytail, how the strands of her hair were all over the place. "So you are. Thank you."