Camilla was happy with her progress. She made it into the top ten, and that was enough for her. She was pleasantly surprised too, because she thought she would be ranked farther back than she was. It was almost amazingly irregular. Then Genevieve ranked right below Reiner, something also unexpected. She figured she would go under Bertolt, but she managed to get ahead of him. She figured Jennifer would be proud of them, and smiled sadly at the thought.
Over the course of three years, she was on okay terms with the other cadets. She spent most of her time with Mikasa and Sasha, often hanging out with Eren and Armin and Genevieve in turn. The rest of it was spent alone or with Annie Leonhart, the little girl she had stood up for so many years ago. It felt like a life time to Camilla. "Rodriguez!" Her attention snapped to Eren, waving his hand in front of her face.
"Eh?" Eren gave her an annoyed look. "What? Did you say something?"
"What has you so lost in thought, Rodriguez?" Eren seemed genuinely interested, but Camilla figured she would play it off. Eren still didn't know about Jennifer, even after he told her about watching his mother die at a Titan's hand. She hated thinking about that day because she would always feel like there was something dripping on her face, right below her eye. "Rodriguez, are you alright?"
Shit. She almost allowed herself to drift again. "I'm fine," she said coolly. "Just simply wondering if I might miss this place or not." They had just finished hand-to-hand training and were on their way to dinner until a crowded area beckoned Camilla. She moved the subject smoothly to the object they crowded around. "What's happening over there?"
"As if I know," Eren answered. "Let's go check it out." Camilla saw Genevieve standing toward the back and felt something wrong knot up in her stomach.
"I agree, Jeager," she said before jogging over to her childhood friend. "Genny, what's going on? Why is everyone crowding around here?"
Genevieve shrugged. "Don't know. I just heard something about a Rodriguez so I came to investigate. Think they found out about the fire thing?" Camilla shook her head. "Then I have no idea what else it could be. Reiner, what can you read?"
"Says that they are transporting a girl tonight. Around graduation. I can't read what she did wrong, so if you plan on sneaking out, read this first," Reiner answered before walking away. Genevieve glared at the people around. She knew very well that she was short, and she very much hated being called a leprechaun. She just knew that she looked like it and was of Irish descent before shit went down and hit the fan.
"Damn it," Camilla cursed. She had a loud voice that everyone knew about. For a while she had to ignore people who tried to get her to answer to Megaphone and grit her teeth when Eren made fun of her for it. "Everyone, move!" The mumbling stopped for a moment before everyone parted like water on rocks. Camilla moved forward and read the paper. "Holy shit... Genevieve, come look at this!"
Genevieve moved through the tangle that grew back together after Camilla got to her destination. She squeezed through between bodies, feeling hot after a day of work. "I'm here, babe." Genevieve rested her elbow on Camilla's shoulder and stood on tip toe. "Hey, that looks like.."
"Jennifer," Camilla finished. "It says that there was a strange Titan found, around Wall Rosa and seeming to run away from other Titans..."
"People don't turn into Titans though, Camilla," Genevieve said in a low voice, glaring discreetly out the corner of her eye at Ymir. "We went over this all that time ago." She remembered when Camilla came in the room one night at night and said that Ymir was secretly a Titan. Genevieve saw it too, but she wasn't about to indulge in Camilla's fantasies that would ultimately lead to disappointment. It just wasn't on her list of things to do just yet.
"I told you-"
"We are not going to discuss this here, Camilla!" Genevieve interrupted sharply. "Besides, you said that you didn't want to do this. You didn't want people to know we are even from Wall Maria, nonetheless Shiganshina."
Camilla nodded, trying to tell herself that the idea was preposterous and unlikely. "Let's go then," she said. "Move it!" They walked through again, Eren joining them with Mikasa and Armin. "So, what are you guys going into? I'm thinking about the MP. Supposed to be a bad ass group, right?" Camilla nodded, though she knew that Genevieve would follow her and Armin into the Recon Corps.
"Well, I'll either go Garrison or Recon," Camilla said. "Definitely not MP though. They get on my nerves more often than not." Genevieve sighed, reconsidering her choice again. "Go to whichever one sounds most like you, Genny. It's not like you won't end up facing Titans either way. Plus they can't separate us completely, right?"
"Okay, never mind, terrible conversation starter," Genevieve sighed. "How about... Oh, what are your plans for tonight?" She linked arms with Camilla and Mikasa, Mikasa feeling awkward about it as she was more dragged along for the ride. "Because I think that we should do a girls' night, unless you don't want to..."
"Well, I already had plans with Armin and Eren," Mikasa said quietly. Camilla gave Genevieve a weak grin and shrugged sheepishly. "I guess you can do something by yourself. Maybe scale the wall with your Gear?"
Genevieve sighed. "Yeah, it's pretty much my only choice, so I might as well. See ya tonight when we finally get some damn sleep." The redhead walked away from them, leaving Camilla and the other three. Camilla considered exactly how she would get away so she and Armin and Eren could prepare the surprise party for Mikasa and Genevieve.
"Hey, Mikasa, have you seen Ryner recently?" Eren asked, trying to get her away long enough to get the place ready and then come up with a reason to steer them away from it. They figured that Keith would come into use at that point, which wouldn't surprise them all that much considering. Camilla smiled at Mikasa as she missed Armin's better excuse for her to go away for just a short time, because they really didn't have much to get ready other than streamers and balloons.
Genevieve, on the other hand, sat atop the wall with a pencil in her mouth. She had her journal next to her, but there was nothing she really felt like recording about this sunset. She just wanted to watch it, really. She also wanted to go out to her original home. She had sat atop this wall so many times, never wuite daring to go, but wanting it more than she wanted a lot of things. Her green eyes scanned over the damages in front of her as she began to stand up. There were only a few Titans at this part of the wall, just enough that she could avoid them without engaging.
"Well... I did graduate." Genevieve fell over the side, falling several feet before turning and catching herself with the 3-D Maneuver Gear. She looked down as one of the Titans, nine meter category, was attracted to her and began going toward the wall. She sighed and decided that one less Titan wouldn't hurt, right? She took it down with ease and began heading toward the river. Her aunt had lived a good bit down the river on this part of the wall, and she wanted something from her aunt's house that she had forgotten a long time ago. Two things actually.
Meanwhile, Camilla laughed as Armin fell down from a ladder as he tried to set up the streamers. "Are you okay, Armin?" she asked. He glared up at her, a purple streamer lying over his hair. "Okay, it isn't funny, but it is so funny." Eren ran in, having heard a crash and that was all.
"Is everyone okay?!"
"Yeah," Camilla said as her laughs fell and she helped Armin stand. "We're fine. Armin just fell off the ladder." Eren sighed in relief, feeling like he was entirely too tense. "Okay, so how is the whole sha bang going on in there?"
"I could use a little help," Eren admitted. Camilla nodded and moved past him into the room where the whole party would begin. She laughed at her own sick humor. "Does it look real enough?"
"It will be night time, so it has to look real enough to a certain point for these two. We just have to keep their focus on the actual party room. Is Mikasa still doing those errands for Keith?" Camilla was nervous that one girl would come in on the surprise and be totally not stoked and not happy and thankful. It was a thing with her, because Genevieve always surprised her with all sorts of things, and Mikasa surprised her enough for anything. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a braid, wanting to do something different from what she normally did.
"Are you going to cut your hair?" Eren asked, seeing how long it was. It went almost to her waist, sitting maybe two inches above it. Camilla pulled it over her shoulder, frowning at the long lengths.
"Well, I have been thinking about it. Genevieve said I probably should because my hair gets loose easily and it can be dangerous with the equipment," Camilla said before looking at him. "Do you think I should cut it?"
"No!" Eren said a little too loudly and a little too quickly. He looked away with a faint blush on his cheeks. "I mean... Don't cut it. It works for you." Camilla gave him a weird look before shrugging it off and going back to work.
"I just hope that they like it. Love it even."