Trigger warning: mention of school shootings. If this chapter triggers you please do not continue the story as it will only get worse from here.

10.

Levi spent the rest of Sunday avoiding Harlow. He avoided everyone, needing time to adjust to his new feelings and accept them. When the sun went down and he returned to his dorms he was pleasantly surprised to find Farlan already asleep. At least he would get no questions about his disappearance from the blonde tonight. Levi tossed and turned all night, his mind on overdrive. When he did manage to force himself to sleep, he awoke an hour later with cold sweats from a certain agonising nightmare. He had given up hope after that, turning on his reading light and doing some homework for Shaddis' class. It was easy and boring, perfect for getting his mind off of things.

When the sun finally came up and it was time to get ready for school Levi was quick to hop in the shower and get changed. He rubbed a towel over his wet hair before yelling to Farlan to wake up. The blonde groaned in response, hugging his pillow tighter. Levi smirked before ripping the blanket off his best friend and putting it at the other end of the room. Farlan curled up into a foetal position and shivered. It was clear he was trying his best to fall back asleep, but the cold eventually got to him, quicker than it normally did as well since he was

in nothing but his boxer shorts. Farlan sat up and gave Levi a tired but pissed glare and trudged off to the shower.

An hour later and the pair were both down at the reception, lining up with the other students to get their new tables, which told them which fillers they had and with who. The last time they were made to put through this pointless hell Levi had gotten lucky and either Izzy or Farlan was in every single one of his classes. He hoped for a similar outcome this time.

"Name." the desk lady asked in a bored tone. Levi didn't blame her; he would rather jump off a cliff than have a worthless job like this.

"Levi Ackermann." Levi replied. The lady gave him a tired glance before ruffling through some sheets and passing him his, giving him a look that said, 'now piss of and get out of my que'. Levi did as he was told, walking away from the line, looking down at his sheet. Great. English with the crazy fucker Hanji Zoe and Maths with Erwin smith. Did the world fucking hate him or something?

"Levi!" He heard a familiar voice call from his left. Levi looked in that direction to find Izzy waving him over. Levi felt his breath hitch when he saw a particular blue-haired brat standing next to her. Did she somehow look even more beautiful today or was it the whole 'forbidden fruits taste much sweeter bullshit'? Levi snapped out of it and steeled himself before walking over to them. Harlow look at him quickly and gave a forced smile before looking back down at the paper in her hands. What was that about? "So, who'd you get?" Izzy asked cheerfully.

"Shitty Glasses and Eyebrows." Levi said nonchalantly. He didn't need to clarify for the redhead, she knew all of his nicknames. Izzy chuckled.

"Yeah I got Erwin for maths too, but I got Rico for English." Izzy explained. Levi nodded, well at least he had Izzy for maths. "But Harlow got the same as you!" Izzy added cheerfully. Levi gulped and turned to Harlow for confirmation. She smiled and nodded. Perfect. Fucking perfect. Farlan better be in that class too. He needed supervision to be around the brat now.

"Good." Levi managed to say, hiding his dread.

"Yep." Harlow replied, looking about as excited as Levi felt. There was an awkward silence before Farlan came jogging over to them.

"I got Erwin and Rico, how about you guys?" Farlan asked with a smile. Levi mentally faces planted. Great. He had about 5 lessons a week alone with the blue-haired brat. Oh, and Farlan was going to be pissed when he finds this out. Even though technically this wasn't Levi's fault this time, he still felt bad.

"Levi and Harlow got Hanji and Erwin; we got the same." Izzy updated. Levi saw a flash of disappointment flash through his best friends' eyes, but he smiled and nodded anyway.

The group started talking about something unimportant and Levi tuned them out. He knew even though it would be best to sit as far away from Harlow was possible and ignore her the entire time it wasn't a possibility. For one, Levi didn't want some American asshole trying to flirt with her the entire term. Farlan was acceptable but Levi didn't think anyone else here deserved her. So, he would have to sit with her and drive those annoying shits away. Second, if he started ignoring her it would make things very awkward in the group and he would probably end up getting words from Izzy, that was the last thing he wanted. Finally, and most importantly, he liked the brat. He liked talking to her and hanging out with her, she was funny and interesting, and he didn't want to stop speaking to her over some crush. No, he would pretend everything was normally and pray he doesn't say anything stupid.

Levi gulped as the first bell rung. Well this was it. His first class was Shitty glasses. Levi looked to Harlow, who also looked slightly nervous for some reason, before they said their goodbyes to Izzy and Farlan and heading in the direction of the English block.

They walked there in silence but that was pretty normal for them. They were both quiet people. Still, something seemed off about Harlow today. Levi wanted to ask if anything was wrong, but he knew the answer he would get. She was stubborn like him. If she wanted to talk about something with him, she would do it without provoking. They followed the clump of students down the halls until they reached Hanji's classroom. It wasn't a giant lecture hall since these were only filler lessons, so the room was smaller, and the desks were lined up in rows. Two people per desk. Great for keeping other guys away from her but bad for keeping himself away as well.

After a few minutes of waiting Hanji ripped open the door and grinned at everyone. Hanji was tall, she had a sharp face, crazy brown hair tied into a loose ponytail, brown eyes and goggle-like classes. She normally taught science lessons, biology to be precise. But for some stupid reason she volunteered to teach the English fillers every 3 months. The reason probably being because she was bat-shit crazy. Levi had her last time as well.

"LEVI! Your back! Aw, I knew you missed me!" Hanji cried, jumping up and down on the spot. Harlow muffled a laugh and Levi glared at her before scowling at the teacher.

"Stop yelling, you, crazy shit." Levi spat. Hanji cackled and opened the door wide enough so that people could start coming in. Yet when Levi and Harlow tried to walk past Hanji grabbed them both and pulled them to the side so they could keep talking. Levi rolled his eyes. He was hoping for a seat at the back.

"So... who's this?" Hanji asked with a grin, looking from Levi to Harlow.

"Do you have any idea how unprofessional you are?" Levi sighed. Hanji smirked.

"Answer the question Levi, or I'll have to report you for ignoring instructions." Levi glared at her.

"This is brat." Levi said simply. Harlow frowned and elbowed him in the ribs. Levi couldn't help but smirk at her reaction. She was the least dull person he'd ever met. Hanji sniggered.

"My names Harlow Danes, nice to meet you." Harlow said politely with a smile. Hanji squirmed on the spot before turning to Levi again.

"LEVI! She is so fricking cute!" Hanji squealed. Harlow smiled awkwardly a light blush coming to her cheeks. Levi rolled his eyes at the crazy brunet before grabbing Harlow and finding a seat near the window. He was going to need something to look at to get through this lesson. They sat down and got out their equipment like everyone else.

"She's... interesting." Harlow said with a chuckle. Levi sighed.

"She's fucking mental. Just you wait." Levi replied. Harlow laughed quietly in response. Levi ignored how the sound warmed his heart and looked out the window instead.

"ALRIGHT CLASS! TODAY IS A SERIOUS TOPIC SO LISTEN UP!" Hanji yelled to get everyone's attention, or maybe it was just because she liked to yell. The class fell silent after a few groans of annoyance and all eyes were on her. "Perfect." Hanji smiled turning on the projector and turning off the lights. Some images came up on the board from recent news reports. The pictures weren't pretty. Some of the class turned away, not Levi or Harlow though. "Does anyone know what these are?" Hanji asked, pacing about the room. A blonde put her hand up before speaking.

"Those are pictures taken at the recent school shootings in Washington." The girl answered. Hanji nodded seriously.

"Terrible stuff. Today I am supposed to teach you some protocols for the very unlikely scenario that something terrible like this happens to our school. These precautions are not supposed to worry you or make you feel nervous. They are here to ensure you are all safe and protected, understood!?" Hanji asked. The class responded with a combined "Yes".

Levi looked out among the class, despite what Hanji had said, most, if not all the students had a slightly worried look on their faces. Especially since the pictures on the board were still showing. Levi looked beside him to check on Harlow and was surprised to find her face mirroring his own. She looked completely calm and collected, whether it was an act or not Levi didn't know but she didn't seem scared in the slightest. Levi was impressed. Brave little brat.

The first half of the lesson was Hanji explaining details about the previous school shootings in the last year. She displayed more photos which were more than disturbing, and one student even ran out of the room dry heaving. Others were in tears, but most just looked worried. Levi checked on Harlow regularly to see how she was doing but every time he was met with a seriously calm person. Sure, she looked sad, who wouldn't be looking at photos like that, but she looked... practiced if that made sense. Like she had seen stuff like this before. Odd.

The next half of the lesson, Hanji explained the drills and what would happen if someone were to infiltrate the school. Depending on the time of day students will either have to barricade their classrooms or do the same to their dorms. Levi hated the idea of this. The only time all of his friends were going to be in one place was maths filler. If this really were to happen, he didn't want to hide out in some classroom while his other friends could be in danger. He would go crazy waiting. Hanji explained that there was a button installed all along the halls that would need to be pressed to alert the police. Currently they are encased in glass that would need to be broken and it has a 2 minutes timer before the police are altered so if it was pressed by accident in a false alarm, it would be able to be corrected. Hanji said that a teacher would most likely be pressing this button but if for some reason they couldn't, the responsibility would fall to one of the students.

Levi was slightly pissed throughout the whole discussion. If America had some gun restrictions like England, then there would be no reason for any of this because it wouldn't happen. He was pissed at America for putting his friends in danger. They weren't supposed to be here. By the end of the lesson Levi had gotten himself worked up and was in a very foul mood. It seemed Harlow noticed as once they got out of the classroom, Harlow pulled him to the side.

"Hey, are you okay?" Harlow asked concerned. No, he wasn't but he also wasn't about to tell her that.

"Fine." Levi answered in a monotoned voice. Harlow quirked a brow and crossed her arms, clearly unconvinced.

"It's okay to be concerned about the people you love Levi. It doesn't make you any less tough. I'm worried about them too. The systems bullshit, they expect us to hide under tables and wait for the guns to come to us. If it ever does come down to it, I'm going to want to go find the people I care about and protect them. Not just preserve my own life." Harlow said, face full of frustration and annoyance. Levi was surprised at her reaction. It was basically the same as his. And knowing someone also felt that way did help to calm his nerves.

"Well said brat... and fine, maybe I am slightly concerned." Levi replied. Harlow smiled up at him.

"See, was that so hard?" Levi rolled his eyes and they both started walking towards their next lessons, which were not fillers, but was in the same direction.

"Yes." Levi grumbled. Harlow laughed.

"Well, I doubt it would happen anyway. So, we have nothing to worry about." Harlow comforted. Levi let out a silent breath of relief, he didn't know how much he needed to hear that until he did.

"Hope your right."