Chapter 3
The glorious smell of bacon was what roused her from her slumber. Mikasa sat up and stretched her arms over her head and popped her shoulder blades. The sun streamed through the blinds and momentarily blinded her. A knock on the door startled her.
"Come in!" she called. The door opened and Historia poked her head in. Her smile brightened up the room even more.
"Hey, glad you're awake, breakfast is almost ready if you're hungry," she said. Mikasa threw the blankets off herself and stood up. The hardwood floor sent shivers up her spine at it's harsh morning coolness.
"Historia-,"
"Ah, ah," Historia waved her index finger at her. "No more "thank you's", I told you it's no problem." Mikasa smiled softly.
"Alright fine, now let's set the table, I'm starving."
The three girls ate at the kitchen table in silence until Sasha broke it.
"Classes are today, you girls ready?" she asked.
"Ready? Yes, nervous? Yes again. I don't know how different it's going to be from high school. I always hear that it's terrible or that it's awesome," Historia explained.
"Guess it depends on the education," Mikasa added.
"All my classes are things I love, so I think it's going to be awesome," Sasha said.
"By the way, Sasha, this French Toast is awesome," Mikasa said, shovelling more into her mouth. Sasha beamed over her own bite and stuck her thumb up.
"You know, I have a really good feeling about this year, especially with a very enthusiastic professor like Ms. Hange," Historia chimed in. Mikasa's eyes widened.
"Oh shit!" she cursed. Both girls turned to her.
"What is it?"
"Ms. Hange wanted me to meet her at the front of the school today," Mikasa said.
"Okay, how about we meet Ms. Hange, stop off at Starbucks and drop off our applications and go to class, considering the timing that will all take," Historia suggested. All three girls agreed and finished off their breakfast and got ready for their first day of college.
Avoiding passing students through the main door, Sasha, Mikasa, and Historia walked through the bustling courtyard towards the brunette standing at the main gates.
"Ms. Hange!" Mikasa called, making the brunette turn around in surprise.
"Mikasa! How did I not see you enter? I have been here since the first student arrived so I would catch you," Hange explained.
"You were waiting that long? I'm sorry Hange, I actually stayed with Sasha and Historia last night, I hope that wasn't a problem," Mikasa added when Hange looked thoughtful.
"Oh, it's no problem at all, I know your parents can be irritable," Hange chirped.
"Wait, how did you-,"
"Come on then! No time to lose! I have class prep in 15 minutes," Hange then skipped away, while Mikasa wallowed in confusion.
Once the women reached Mikasa's locker, Hange whipped out a piece of paper and read off it while fiddling with the lock. It clicked and swung open.
"There we go! All your things will fit in perfectly." The lockers at Trost University were twice as big as the lockers in any high school. They had hooks for thier bags, a spot for duffel bags and instruments, and shelves for books. Mikasa hooked her bag on the hook and grabbed her needed items for her first class.
"Thank you, Hange, and listen, I was wondering how you know about-,"
"Okay, I gotta run, but I'll see you girls in class," and with that she hurried away.
Mikasa sighed in defeat. "I wish she would stop doing that," she said, while walking away. Historia and Sasha laughing behind her, followed her.
Finally, their last stop before class was Starbucks, and they didn't get to the bottom of the stairs before someone called out to them.
"There you are!" The trio moved towards the coffee shop with smiles.
"Morning Isabel," Historia greeted.
"Morning! So, did you girls fill out the forms?" she asked. Both Historia and Mikasa dug into their packs and pulled out their applications. Isabel beamed.
"Atta girls! You two are two of the first to hand in their applications, so I wouldn't be surprised if you got the job on the fly. I will also put in a good word for you," Isabel winked and placed the forms under the till. "So what can I get for you?" Mikasa turned to her two friends.
"You can get anything you want, on me, as a thank you for letting me stay with you," Mikasa offered. Before Historia or Sasha could speak, Mikasa held her hand up. "NO arguments, it's the least I could do." The two girls agreed and ordered their drinks, and Mikasa ordered hers. As Isabel made the drinks, she made small talk.
"So, what are you girls studying to be?"
"An actress for Hollywood," Sasha answered.
"Singer," Historia and Mikasa both said.
"Well, you girls are certainly reaching high, but I believe you can do it, good luck!" she placed their drinks on the counter. They took their beverages and waved to Isabel, and made their way to class.
The two friends, Mikasa and Historia, walked through a hallway made of glass. The windows looked over the entire school yard.
"Songwriting class is going to be so fun, hopefully there will be a group project," Historia beamed.
"I agree," Mikasa said.
"Mikasa!" a voice called. Both girls turned around to the sound of a voice. A brunette male was hurrying towards them. After observing the boy and Mikasa's unsure face, Historia pieced it together.
"That's him, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Mikasa said. "That's him." The boy stopped in front of them, and all his confidence dripped away now that he was in front of her. Her eyes observed him and he felt a little exposed.
"Listen, Mikasa, I just wanted to apologize about last night. If I'd known that this situation would drive you out of your own house-,"
"Eren."
"-I mean, it should have been me to leave, not you, I mean it's your house! It was so-,"
"Eren!"
"-disrespectful for me to even-,"
"EREN!" The brunette stopped dead and looked at Mikasa, startled. "Eren, I'm not angry with you," she assured.
"Really? Why not?" Eren asked confused.
"None of this is your fault, this was between me and my parents, you were just a factor," Mikasa explained. "Things have always been tense between us, I guess we were finally pushed off the edge and I snapped I've been holding all that in for a while." Eren nodded in understanding.
"Well, that puts some of the stress at ease, regardless, I was still a factor and for that I am sorry." Eren then turned sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck. "So, I was thinking, if you want we could get together and set up some ground rules...over dinner?" Eren offered. Historia looked delighted, while Mikasa looked downright gobsmacked. The blackette faced the ground to hide her semi-red face.
"Uh, okay, if you're buying," she said. Eren smiled a toothy grin.
"Naturally, so tonight then, and you can come back home?" he suggested.
"Alright, might as well or Levi will go all bounty hunter on me," Mikasa said.
"Awesome, so I'll see you after school, later!" and Eren bolted away, waving.
"So..." Historia drawled once they started walking again.
"Don't even, this is just mutual friends discussing important business, nothing more," Mikasa stated.
"Uh-huh, tell that to your red face and starstruck eyes," Historia teased. Mikasa shot her a glare, coaxing a laugh from Historia, and continued walking to their songwriting class.
The class was made up of about 20 students. A group of rambunctious boys laughed loudly in the back, while everyone else looked ready to start the day. Since Mikasa and Historia weren't too eager to be distracted, they sat as far away from the group of boys as possible.
Once everyone was in their seats, a beautiful red head stood at the front of the classroom, patiently waiting for the class to settle down.
"Good morning students! I am Ms. Petra Ral, I hope you are all as excited about this class as I am. Believe it or not , this class is the very first class of this course and your group will be the first to experience it." The class all bustled with excited chatter about the revelation. Once the teacher got them to settle down once again, she continued. "This course was made to express yourself and anything about your hidden emotions that you want to share with everyone. The goal of this class is as follows. To better your performance I'm going to put you in groups of 4-5 and those students will be your group for the whole year. Every week you will write a new song until the winter showcase where you will choose 3 songs to perform as your end of Semester project, and the quality of the songs, the harmonies, the teamwork and the performance will all reflect on your grade for this class so really commit to this," Petra explained. "Now here is what we are going to do, I have all your names here in this bowl and I will choose names at random and put you in your groups." The students all murmured at the harshness of not being able to choose their own groups. Petra started pulling names.
"Alright, now when I call your name, stand up and find your group and start brainstorming ideas for your band name. So, Eli, Gwen, Lucy, and Marley." The four students found their group and started discussing. "Mina, Thomas, Karley and Daz, Micheal, Carmen, Raven and Hyde..." Petra continued to list off names of students until she read out Historia's name. "Historia, Ymir, Annie and Mikasa," she read out loud. Mikasa and Historia sighed in relief and turned to each other.
"Thank God we are in the same group," Historia spoke up. Mikasa nodded.
"Now, we just need to find the other two."
"No need," said a voice. The two teens turned in their chairs and were met with two other girls. The taller brunette girl smiled. "Mikasa and Historia? I'm Ymir, and that's Annie." They took a seat. "What do you say we get this started?"