At 11:45 a.m., a shooter came into Eren's remedial Algebra classroom. He wore a large hoodie. Burning sunglasses. Boots like the ones worn by military guys. A big, scary gun in his hands. The classroom was silent, but not the kind of silence that came with extreme boredom. Inattention had been erased from their gazes. Eren saw his teacher's eyes go big and round.

The gun began to lift. A girl screamed. Eren moved through the room swiftly. He tackled the shooter as hard as he could, and they both went down and the gun went off. A shred of muzzle-fire. They wrestled and Eren pried the gun away from the man. He leveled it, his face grim and heroic. He held the shooter at gunpoint until the police arrived.

But then, as a police chief clapped him on the shoulder (you're a hero, son!), Eren fell down because a stray bullet was in his gut beneath his hoodie, and nobody had noticed until now. He woke up in the hospital and his mother and Mikasa were by his bedside. You saved me, Mikasa said. She kissed him. Thank you.

Her mouth tasted like tears. Eren realized he was dying, and he didn't mind that much because Mikasa was crying for him. Reiner would also drop the receiver in shock when he heard the news all the way in California. And this was just a daydream anyway. So it didn't matter.

Eren blinked, and it was only 11:47 a.m. He still had forty-three minutes until lunch. The whiteboard was indecipherable when he slipped back. Eren rubbed his eyes but the spots didn't fade from his eyes. Nothing made sense.

He raised his hand. "Uh, could you go over that one again? I don't get it."

His teacher looked at him, exasperated. "This is a review problem from last week's homework."

She walked over to his desk. "Let me see your work."

Eren stared blankly at his backpack. He didn't feel like looking for something he knew wasn't there. "I lost it."

The class snickered, and this made the teacher think he was making fun of her, so she told him to meet her after the lesson. Eren sagged.

Lunch was a distant fantasy now, as far away as death itself.

Eren was scolded and shown a copy of his grades. An intimidation tactic. Then she let him go to lunch late. He trudged across the campus. The sun sizzled the defunct brain inside his head into a gray-matter patty. It was too hot for the season. Fleece crawled wetly on Eren's arms.

The day was dull. The school was a factory. You could see them, the machines, walking all around campus. Chatting, laughing, mechanical. The sun was just another cloud.

Louise sat at their lunch table now. She was crying today. Mikasa was sitting on the stool next to her, patting her back. She looked up when Eren's tray clattered down. Her eyes said, help me, Eren thought. He opened his mouth to ask what the matter was. Then Armin's eyes pinned him, womanly knowing, saying, don't ask.

Eren ate his lunch.

He wondered why girls were so hard to understand. Boys were easy. Boys were solid objects, and their feelings were engraved onto their faces. One look at a boy's face and you could tell who they were, what they were like, what they thought about you. Their faces came sculpted with all the answers you needed. Girls were algebraic enigmas.

The cafeteria emptied; the bell was about to ring. Eren threw his tray out. He remembered that he'd wanted to talk to Mikasa, but she was already going into the ladies' room with Louise. Mikasa's skirt draped her walking legs. Eren watched her skirt move as she walked.

It was okay. He'd forgotten what he'd wanted to tell her, anyway.

Eren didn't want to go home just yet, because then he'd have to face his mom, who'd probably gotten a call from the school. Instead, he drove to the beach.

The sky was overcast now, but Eren knew that the rain coming down would be hot. He put on his black wetsuit and got his surfboard. He surfed. The waves came at him and lifted him high. He glided over all his worries and fears. Freedom. The sun found him in between the clouds, low down and amber-hued. Eren reluctantly returned to shore.

He trotted to his truck and discovered a half-finished bag of Ruffles in the backseat cup holder. He sat on the tailgate and sprinkled chips onto the sand. Soon a flock of seagulls were swooping around him. They ate lunch. Eren watched them for a while. There were some thoughts in his head.

Seven months and then everyone would be graduated except for him. And Louise, but she was weird and Eren didn't know her very well. He thought he'd kissed Mikasa, but he didn't know for sure, and she never talked, so he couldn't know for sure unless he asked her.

But, seven months? He'd known Mikasa for his entire life. He'd known Reiner too. Why was he so slow? Why was everything so fast?

Eren wanted to cry. He sighed instead.

Eventually, a lady came and bitched at him for feeding wildlife, so Eren got in his car and drove home.

Eren's mom was waiting for him as he slugged himself inside. She looked tired. Bags hung under her eyes. Eren felt bad for her. Her husband had gone to live with his ex-wife and genius son, leaving Carla Yeager with the retard son.

"The school called today," she said.

"I know, Mom," Eren said.

"You're failing Algebra again."

"I know, Mom."

"You back-talked the teacher when she asked for your homework."

"I didn't back-talk her. The other kids make her think I'm back-talking her."

"Really? 'Cause you're back-talking me right now."

"Sorry, Mom," Eren said.

His mom made a desperate, pleading motion with her hands, reaching out to him, palms up. "Eren, honey, you can't fail another class. Do you understand?" She clasped them together. "I don't know what to do, Eren. Tell me what I can do."

"You don't have to do anything, Mom," Eren said in a blank tone. "I won't fail. I have homeworks that I haven't turned in. That'll boost my grade to passing."

Eren's mother looked very, very tired. "No more after-school shenanigans. God knows what you're doing during that time, smoking, drinking."

"I-I'm not!"

"Spend the time studying, okay?"

Eren dropped his head. Shame prickled his eyes. He sniffled. "Sorry you have an idiot for a son."

His mom stepped forward and hugged him, and, for a moment, everything was soft and the world's sharp edges fuzzed over and sunshine washed Eren's face. Eren told his mother he loved her. Then he stepped back from the embrace. The gray took over again. He tromped upstairs with his backpack to study.

He studied until his bedroom was completely dark. What had happened to dinosaurs and the solar system? If adults told kids what the world was really like right off the bat, Eren thought, then people's expectations would be a lot more manageable.

Eren undid the knot in his hair. It drooped over his face. He changed into a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Then he unlocked his phone and FaceTimed Reiner. Sweat sprang to his palms. After two rings, Reiner's squinting face appeared. It was a little too close to the screen.

"Eren!"

"Hey. How's Cali?"

"Good, good. Everyone good down there still?"

"All good."

"That's good…"

"Yeah…"

Eren heard Reiner scratch his head. He also heard arguing in the background.

"Looks like you've got some shitty neighbors there," Eren said. The room behind Reiner looked very small and closet-like.

"Oh," Reiner gave a start. He glanced back to his bedroom door. "Yeah, the neighbors suck, big time." Eren knew he was lying and didn't say anything.

"Hey, Eren, listen," Reiner reoriented the phone and Eren saw more of his face. "We haven't talked about— what you told me before I left."

"Wait, wait, please," Eren rushed. "It's okay. We don't have to talk about it. It doesn't matter anyway, right? I mean, you're all the way across the country. And I'm right here."

Reiner held his gaze all the way from California. He cast a blue pixelated shadow on Eren's retinas. The shouting behind him climbed high, reaching a crescendo.

"I have to go," Reiner said. Half his mouth tugged up. "See you, Eren."

"See you, Reiner," Eren said. The phone was black. The room was dark.

In the dark, a shooter prowled. He threatened, holding two friends at gunpoint. Mikasa's little kid face shone white. Reiner's bottle-glass eyes glittered. Eren tossed his sheets. He got up and rummaged through his dresser. He fished a prescription pill bottle from it and swallowed a couple of Adderalls. Then he went back to bed.

The world flicked through technicolor channels until it was nice and gray and normal again.