Chapter 1 First day? Not so great

It was a bright sunny day with not a single cloud in the sky. There were sounds of laughter and chatter as well as bicycles ringing from the other side of the walls. Eren was still asleep inside his bedroom. It was only yesterday since his parents had arrived from a small suburban called Shiganshina to Trost because his dad needed to be closer to his work. His mother had already applied him into a new high school just before they had relocated.

"Eren!" It was his mom.

Her call continued to echo inside the house but there was no reply. "Eren, you have to go to school today!" Still no answer. His mother steadily went up the stair steps then knocked on his door. "Eren?" She stood there for a few seconds with her hands on her hips. She bited her bottom lip softly. The door creaked open, and she catched a glimpse of her son still soundly sleeping on the bed with the blanket kick to the side. She briskly went to lift the blinds up letting sunlight hit Eren's eye. His eyes twitch then his mother shouted his name again. "You'll be late on your first day if you don't get up now!" He groaned as he slowly rose.

"Do I have to attend school today…?" He asked then yawned.

"Yes, you do. I already told you that I enrolled you to a new school days before we moved here. I heard that it's the best school in this area. Therefore, you'll enjoy it. Make new friends!" Eren grumbled a little when he heard her mention the last part. In his old school he didn't make many friends. Mostly because they were all obnoxious and annoying or so he thought. "Anyways, hurry and come down stairs to eat breakfast your going to be late! I already packed your lunch," she said before closing the bedroom door behind her. Eren then hurriedly got out of his bed and opened his closet to grab a clean white shirt; he buttoned it on; then, he quickly pulled up a pair of blue jeans. On his way down the wooden steps, he pulled his socks on before entering the kitchen with his backpack. "Do you need me to take you to school?" His mother asked once she turn around to face him. With the pan in her hand, she slided a perfect looking sunny side up on to his plate with ready toast next to it. He took a seat and placed his bag next to the leg of his chair.

"No thanks," he replied. He took a bite out of his breakfast then glanced around as he carefully chewed on the soft and mild savory whites of the egg. "Is dad not home today?"

"Your father went to work. Ah, don't speak with your mouth full." As soon as Eren finished eating, he quickly stood up and grabbed his backpack; Just as he was about to unlock the front door after putting on his shoes, his mother called out to him. He turned around and saw her waving a brown paper bag in the air. "Don't forget your lunch."

"Right, thanks." He grabbed it out of her hand and opened the door.

"Have a good day at school!" His mother exclaimed.

Outside there were groups of people walking together on both sides of the neighborhood, and a few bicycles going down the same path. He could tell which person was going to the same place as him because of the direction they were headed, and because they were carrying backpacks. "Why did summer have to be so short," he muttered. For Eren, every school day felt long. Only in the evening felt short because he would sleep; the rest of the day, he would contemplate while he laid on his bed gazing at the ceiling of his room. Once he reached his destination, he read a large sign that said 'Shingeki High School'; he glanced up at the front of the building then clenched the straps of his bag and let out a mumble. "I just need to make it pass today…" Eren entered the school along with a few other students. Inside was a wide and long hallway with rows of lockers and doors on both sides of the wall. He gazed around as he strolled down the corridor; although he was never looking forward to coming, he was in awe ever since he entered the school; in his old school there were very few lockers and the hallways were mostly narrow, but that was expected because it was a small school. As he continued to scan the walls, he eventually bumped into a student a few inches taller than him. "Ah sorry." The boy who was in front of Eren was wearing glasses and a sweater. Strange he thought since the weather was still a little hot. The student gently closed the locker door and responded with a smile.

"No worries. Hey, aren't you new here? I've never seen you around before."

"Yeah. I just moved to around this area yesterday…"

"Oh, do you need help finding the office?"

"That would help…" Eren replied.

"My name is Marco by the way," he said as they shook hands.

"Eren."

"Nice to meet you Eren." The two proceeded down the hall as they chatted about themselves for a bit; at the same time, Eren noticed the hallways were beginning to look empty.

"I'm not making you late to your class am I?" Eren asked

"Don't worry. My class is actually on the way down. It's close to where the principal's office is." They then continued on with their conversation. "Wow, it must've been awful being in that school," Marco exclaimed. Eren slightly tilted his head to the side.

"Not really…" When they both reached to the front of a door, Marco told Eren that he could enter and receive help from Zackly also known as the school's principal. Eren slowly opened the door once Marco left and briefly peeked inside the room; he abruptly heard the sound of a voice not too strong but not too weak either; it was hard to describe the tone, but you could tell it was an old man's voice.

"Why hello there, you must be the new student, please come in." Eren allowed the door to widen, then entered the room; he remained still as he stared at the man sitting in front of him with a desk between them. His hair and beard were gray and there were wrinkles all over his forehead. He wore small rounded wire rim glasses. Your name is Eren, right? Eren Jaeger?" He nodded causing the man to grin. "My name is Darius Zackly. I'm the principal of Shingeki Highschool. I heard that you've just recently moved here, correct?"

"Correct."

"Well I would like to tell you this." Beford continuing, the bearded man straightened the stack of papers in his hand and set it aside. "You'll like it better here than any other school you have been to. I can guarantee you. Our school is home to many talented students and we also have great teachers." Eren didn't say a word. "Let me just get your schedule as well as your locker number, and I will have someone give you a tour around campus." He got up from his chair then leave the room with the door shut. To kill time, Eren examined the office; he observed some of the signs of achievements or awards hung on the wall; however, his caught something sticking out from underneath a wine color blanket beside the principal's desk; he approached it slowly; curious regarding what was beneath the blanket, his hand tried to reach for the cover. Just as he heard the door click, he jerk his hand back and quickly turned around. "Eren." Thankfully, the the principal didn't catch him. He watched as he came forward with a sheet of paper in his hand. "Here's your schedule. It's based off the classes you had in your last school; your locker number along with your combination is on it too. I wasn't able to find a student who could give you a tour around the building. Most of them either said they were busy or..." He coughed then he avert his eyes.

"No problem... I can find my way around the school." Zackly brought his eyes back at Eren, then raised an eyebrow.

"You sure?"

"Yes." The principal nodded when he heard Eren's answer then gestured at the door. Eren exited the room and proceeded to skim through the paper as he head to his locker to store his bag. Luckily, he didn't have trouble opening it because the lock was the same as his old school. "Let's see, I have history first and science last. Fun." He peered up from his paper to the doors on the walls. All of them were the same other than the numbers on the sign. In a few minutes he paused in front of one. "One hundred thirty-five." He steadily extended his hand out for the door knob and heard it clack then opened it. What awaited Eren was a room filled with maps and timelines on every wall; the students in the class shifted their focus from the blonde haired man in front of the room to the back where Eren was awkwardly standing. The man in front wore a vest with a necktie, and his sleeves rolled up. He looked at Eren in surprise then asked if he was a new student. When he told them yes, the teacher placed his chalk down on the edge of the viridescent board.

"My name is Erwin Smith. As you can see from my room, I am a history teacher. Please, come over here and introduce yourself to the class." Mr. Smith waved at him to come up; Eren made his way to the front of the room next to where the teacher stood. The students were quietly anticipating for his introduction.

"My name is Eren. Eren Jaegar. I had moved here recently from Shiganshina…" He glanced left and right at the people in front of him then looked over to Mr. Smith.

"We are all pleased to meet you Eren. You can take that open chair over there." The teacher pointed at a desk in the second to last row next to the glass window. He then went to the table and took a seat. The class lasted for about forty-five minutes. When the bell rang, the hallways became full. It took awhile for Eren to reach his locker so he could grab his backpack.

"I'm just going to carry it around me for the rest of the day…" He closed it then headed to his next class. On his way there, he noticed a few meters in front of him two students next to a vending machine. One guy had gel hair and wore a dark jacket with boots; his arm was wrapped around another boy's neck who is much shorter than Eren; the boy's glasses became slightly tilted after the guy nudged him. Eren could tell the boy looked troubled; he appeared as though he wanted to escape from the other guy's grasp, yet at the same time, he looked like he didn't want to stir trouble. Don't get involved. Eren repeated these words in his head at least three times as he slowly tried to walk pass them, but when he was within a meter from them, he stopped.

"Hey, is that fun for you? Eren questioned with a deadpan expression.

"Huh? Who the hell are you?" The guy released the student then tramp toward Eren with his eyes narrowed. There was a small height difference, but that didn't make him any more intimidating for Eren. In fact Eren already knew what he had gotten himself into, so he sighed then repeated. "I asked is that fun for you?" The guy glared at him. Eren soon felt the rapid knuckles on his cheekbone; the sharp impact grazed a bit of his skin. The freed kid quivered from the side, and a few other students that were heading to class paused to watch. Eren returned the force to the side of the guy's mouth scraping his skin as well. After that the two went all out on each other. Some of the people surrounding them began whispering among themselves and others started cheering. The two could hear their conversations as they threw punches one after the other while keeping their grip on the collar of each other's shirt, so they could land a hit. One of the crowd exclaimed that it looked like Jean found a new victim. Another asked, 'isn't that the new kid?' Someone else responded that they had class with him first period and his name is 'Eren Jaeger'.

"Look you ripped it!" Eren shouted at the guy as he pointed at his shirt; there was a tear on the top right with the seam of a button dangling next to it.

"Hey, I know who you are now, understand?!" The guy yelled then wiped a off the blood from the side of his mouth and stormed off. The crowd dispersed. Eren turned around when he heard a person said thank you; it was the student he helped freeing, standing right in front of him. The student placed his hands on his shoulder and resumed. "You were as cool as the good guys in Kick Ass there!" A girl with short black ponytails close to Eren's height came out from behind the vending machine with a book held in front of her mouth.

"No, you must be the dark knight called forth by my curse… here to fight off that man." Her cheeks were slightly red. Eren looked at the two bewildered...

"What?" He continued to stare with an eyebrow raised.

"I still can't believe you went against the school's bad boy. Ah, my name is Armin by the way."

"Eren. And, bad boy?" Eren thought it sounded ridiculous that they would consider that guy the 'school's bad boy'.

"Yeah, his name is Jean, you probably overheard his name from the people who came to watch you two fight."

"Uh… yeah. By the way, how come there weren't any teachers around to stop us?"

"Well…" Armin didn't respond instead he averted his eyes from him pretending as though something else had caught his attention.

"Forget it..." Eren then glanced at the girl beside him. "And your?"

"Mikasa," she shyly answered.

"Well, I'm going to go now…" He quickly passed by between Armin and Mikasa without looking back. He spent the rest of his classes staring at either the teacher motioning their hands or at a window with one side of his cheek resting on his palm. Every class he went to so far, at least two or three students recognized him; mainly cause of the brawl between him and Jean this morning; they would stare at where Eren sat and whisper to each other until class ended... When it was finally fourth period, he and the class went outside; it was a little hot but there were a few clouds blocking the sun. Armin was able to find Eren in the midst of the crowd from a distance. "Wow, I didn't think we would have the same class!" Eren was silent for a bit.

"I didn't expect someone like you to take gym…" He said as he inspected Armin from his feet to his face. Armin then rub the back of his neck and replied.

"I'm not very athletic. But, I was thinking that if I take this class, then I could build my stamina..."

Eren was yet again quiet. He averted his eyes to the direction everyone else was looking when he heard the sounds of shushing. A tall broad man with light brown skin and dark eyes appeared in front of everyone; then, the man took a deep breath. "Today, everyone will be running around the track for the rest of class. Which means no resting and no breaks! If I see any one of you slow down, I'll have you stay in this class and do at least five hundred push ups!" Without any hesitation the students as well as Armin began running. The coach peered at Eren who remained still at the same spot with his backpack on; the man suddenly hawk-eyed at him, catching Eren's attention; he stared as the coach marched toward him while a ray of sunlight reflected his smooth bald head. "Why are you here?" Eren gave him a puzzled look after hearing his question.

"I'm new." The man continued to stare at him then looked at his shirt. "It ripped…" Eren responded. The man twisted his head.

"You can still run even in those clothes. You'll receive your uniform tomorrow." Eren dropped his bag and started circling around the track. When he made a lap around, he heard Armin calling his name in a weak voice from behind. Eren peered over his shoulder and saw him desperately trying to catch up to him; he slowed down a little when he saw the coach already yelling at a student.

"You okay?" But Eren knew he wasn't alright. Armin was panting non-stop. Drips of sweat ran down his forehead.

"I'm fine." Eren continued to look at him in concern.

"By the way, who's the coach?" Armin tried to catch his breath before answering his question.

"You mean Keith Shadis? He's super strict… There was one time where a girl who didn't even have his class had to race around the track until she passed out as punishment."

"What did she do?"

"Apparently she stole his lunch. Is what I heard." Eren looked at him disappointed, but at the same time he felt weirded out by the student's action. Sure, there have been plenty of students that got in trouble with the teachers in his old school. But never in his life did he hear of a student try to steal a teacher's lunch... The two didn't say anything else but listened to the sounds of several steady pounding on the earth, and Armin's heavy breathing. Eren shifted his focus to the other side of them which was a large field; there were students in football gear huddling to the center of the grass, and a few girls in front of the bleachers who wore skirts and held pom poms.

"Hey, what's happening over there?" Armin glanced at the direction Eren was looking.

"Oh, that's Shingeki's football team and cheerleading squad. There's a game happening next week on Saturday. I guess they're preparing themselves early."

"Hmm…" Armin then opened his mouth again.

"The school's king and queen are also a part of the football team and the cheerleadin-"

"Not interested," Eren interrupted then drew his gaze forward again; later, Coach Shadis shouted for everyone to get out and go to their next period. Armin quietly followed behind Eren and asked if he wasn't going to shower.

"Its fine. I can just go home and take a shower..." They continued ambling down the corridor until they heard someone call out from a distance.

"Knight of darkness!" Eren looked to his right and saw the same girl from this morning.

"Hey Mikasa," Armin said. She greeted him back then with eagered eyes, asked if they were going to lunch.

"I have lunch…" Eren replied. He noticed that ever since they finished circling the track, Armin was staggering. Eren on the other hand felt tired; after gym class, he wished he could go home and take a nap on his soft and cool mattress.

"Knight of darkness?" Eren shook his head.

"It's nothing." Mikasa swinged the cafeteria door open blasting them with conversations. Eren gazed at each table; one table had a few students on their smart phone as they show each other what was on it; another was a guy sitting on a table that Eren believed to have seen them in the football team, displaying their physique to the people near him.

"Eren!" He turned around and saw Armin waving. "Over here. There's empty seats."

"Ah, I need to go check out somewhere!" Eren shouted. He hurried out of the cafeteria and into the halls and peeked over his shoulder then turned his head forward; there wasn't a single person around. "Hopefully they aren't following…" Eren mumbled. Because he didn't experience a tour around the school, he decided to explore the campus during lunch and not after school. "So, that's the band hall room… wait there's a martial arts club?" He continued to wander the school but soon came to a halt when he noticed two people standing in the middle of another hallway from the right; he watched them without moving a muscle so that his soles wouldn't make a squeak from the vinyl composition tile; he felt the heavy atmosphere crawl to where he stood.

"Hey… weren't you looking at me?" There was girl in the cheer squad pinned to the wall by another student. She didn't say anything but remained still with her arms folded. Eren couldn't see her expression because her head was turn to the other side. "You at least have a thing for me right. Ah hey!" The girl pushed the guy's arm aside and walked away with her eyes cast on her phone. Eren too had left the scene and headed back to the front of the cafeteria. He couldn't stop looking back until he heard Armin and Mikasa call his name.

"Where have you been?" Armin asked. He hesitated whether he should tell them everything but...

"I decided to take a look around the school." When the bell rang, the three headed to their next class. During Eren's fifth and sixth classes, he was slowly beginning to fall asleep; he couldn't stop yawning during the teacher's presentations and lectures; although the classes felt very long, he found himself in front of his last classroom.

"Welcome Eren! My name is Hange Zoe. But call me Dr. Zoe. I heard that you just transferred here."

"Yes…"

"Your going to love this class. We get to experiment with chemicals and dissect animals!" You could tell that her face expressed delight. Eren didn't respond because he was a little disturbed by her reaction when she spoke the last sentence. Even if he did answer, there would be no joy in his tone. At that time he felt somnolent. He took a seat next to another empty chair in the back of the room. "Let's see… Is Historia here?" Hange questioned. A few students looked at where Eren situated then faced forward again shaking their heads. A female student with shaggy light brown hair suddenly called out that Historia's dad came to pick her up. "I see well thats a shame." The teacher frowned, but her face quickly lightened up. "Let's begin class!" Eren directly went home after school ended; he opened the front door and saw his mother standing in front of him.

"So, how was school?" Eren once again didn't say anything. He went upstairs and closed the bedroom door behind him. Then plopped with his back against the warm and no longer fresh bed.