It wasn't like Annie disliked gym class. There had been times in the past where she had really enjoyed it. She was talented at most sporting activities, and one thing she truly loved was Judo; schools didn't offer it, but it was something she wished they did. She had attended classes from the age of seven because her father had pushed her to do it. Annie was a slow learner at first and remembered how small and fragile she used to be compared to the other kids there. Her father had helped her practise to become better, and with time she surpassed all of them, always to remain small and fragile to him, though.

She remembered how her mother was never all that thrilled with her love of Judo. "You're so pretty and petite, you know I'll always love you no matter what you do, but ballet would suit you so much better", her mother's words rang through her ears, the memory so vivid that it seemed like it was only yesterday that she was sitting in-between her mom's legs as she combed her hair. Her mother had dragged her along to ballet class once and she refused to go back. It just wasn't her thing. Needless to say she was slightly disappointed. Why am I remembering and thinking of this now? She's gone.

Annie couldn't control her thoughts as she sat alone in an isolated corner of the library, skipping out on gym class for the fifth time that week. She had grabbed the first book she could find and had had it open on page one for the past ten minutes. She'd only managed to read the first line because her thoughts had been distracting her so much. Annie was tired and hungry, on top of that, parts of her body ached pretty badly. She didn't want to be there, but she didn't want to go home, either. She couldn't even decide what place was better at that moment. Probably school. Being alone was a bonus, she didn't want to be around others. Annie didn't trust anyone and she wasn't in the mood to entertain any of the imbeciles at school. She liked being alone, she had been that way for a while and had become quite accustomed to it. In fact she preferred it.

While her brain decided to go over every vivid memory of hers, the blue-eyed blond boy suddenly came into her mind, Armin Arlert. He was a small boy, (still taller than her, though) who had clearly not finished puberty yet, or has he even started? He was undoubtedly annoying, either way. However, Annie was thankful he had given her a sandwich yesterday. She really needed it, not that she'd admit that to anyone but herself.

Suddenly, Annie heard the sound of a chair pulling up opposite her, disrupting her thoughts. You've got to be kidding me. She looked up from her book, irritated, and couldn't hide her surprise when she came face to face with the boy who had just been on her mind just moments ago.

"Hi" he said softly, he looked embarrassed and awkward as he slowly sat down opposite of her.

"What are you doing here?" she mumbled. Shouldn't he be in gym class right now? He didn't seem the type to skip class, he looked like the typical goody two-shoes.

"W-well I don't really like gym." Armin replied honestly, but that wasn't the real reason he was there. His intuition had told him that Annie wouldn't go to gym class after all, and he thought he might find her in the library. He hated gym class anyway, he was terrible at all sports and at the end of the day he only ever ended up humiliating himself. Although he never usually skipped any of his classes, he thought that just the once wouldn't hurt.

"Oh." was all she said as she looked back down to her book, trying to ignore him for the second time that day.

"Annie?" Armin questioned, he could tell she didn't want him to be there but he didn't want to leave, "Why don't you go to gym?"

"I don't even know why I bother wasting my breath on you, it's none of your business. I thought I made that clear already." she looked up and made eye-contact with him, her crystal blue eyes staring harshly into his softer blue ones.

Annie had completely sealed herself off from everyone. She wouldn't even spare him a glimpse into her life, the real her was well hidden. But he wouldn't call her hopeless just yet. She was fierce, stubborn and intimidating, and despite this, Armin was strangely attracted to her. Every time she pushed him away he felt the need to get closer.

"Is it true you kicked Reiner in the, um, I mean where it hurts?" Armin was desperate to get her to talk, or to get some kind of reaction out of her at least.

"You mean in the balls?" Annie asked bluntly, Armin nodded. "Yeah, I did" she said, not breaking eye-contact.

"W-what did he do?"

"He was messing around with me. I won't hesitate to kick you in the balls either, you know."

Armin gulped, feeling nervous. He knew that she was telling the truth. All he could do was nod his head. After a few minutes silence he finally decided to speak again, "Reiner can be a bit of a jerk but he's not all bad. A lot of people at this school are the same. You just have to ignore them".

"When people are dicks to me I can't just ignore it like some people can. Only the weak do that, because they're too spineless to stand up for themselves." Annie's eyes diverted their gaze to the table and she glared at it. Her eyes glistened with a mixture of emotions, anger, frustration, and from what Armin could detect, sadness. It was as if she was taking out her inner problems on the table judging by the harsh look she was giving it.

And there it is, Armin thought. He had managed to get her to open up, even if it was just a tiny bit, it was still progress. He wondered what exactly Annie was talking about though, had she been bullied at her old school? He doubted anyone would even attempt to bully her. He didn't really know what to say in return because he knew that he was the type of person she would class as a coward. He also thought it was best to take her attention away from whatever she was thinking, as it seemed to upset her.

"So…how are you finding it here so far?" Armin asked, changing the subject and trying to keep the conversation alive between them.

Annie just shrugged. She didn't feel like speaking anymore and wondered why the boy was even talking to her in the first place. Armin got the gist and began to take out some homework to work on. He stopped to stare at her when the silence was broken by her stomach suddenly making a loud rumbling sound. He saw Annie's cheeks flush red in embarrassment.

"Don't even say a word." she whispered it under her breath and Armin knew to take her seriously. He stared at her for a few moments and watched as her face returned to its normal pale complexion. Rather than make a comment, Armin decided to just do his homework.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, Annie quickly stood from her seat and walked off leaving Armin to hurriedly pack away his homework. He stuffed it into his bag not caring if it got crumpled and followed her out of the library. When he got to the cafeteria he continued to follow Annie, she was heading for her usual position at the table by the window.

"Armin!" he heard Eren call his name, Armin stopped in his tracks and went over to Eren and Mikasa's table. Sasha Braus and Connie Springer were sitting with them, too. Sasha was messing around with some potatoes while Connie was laughing, finding it hilarious; Mikasa on the other hand looked rather unamused. "Where were you? You didn't show up to gym!"

"Oh um, I didn't really feel all that well." Armin felt bad for lying to his best friend but he didn't want Eren to go off on one. He knew he would be angry if he told him that he skipped class because he wanted to hang out with Annie Leonhardt.

"Oh, are you feeling better now though?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, well, it looks like the table is pretty crowded today, I'm going to go and sit over there." Armin hoped that Eren wasn't going to start giving him a lecture. Not that he had any right to anyway.

"What? Where…? Do you mean with the new girl?"

"Eren, she has a name."

"Fine, well okay then. Go sit with her, I mean Annie. I don't mind…just, remember what I told you about her okay?" Eren warned.

Armin didn't care what Eren had said about her or what anyone else was saying about her. He wasn't fickle like the rest of them. "Catch you later, then." Armin said to Eren who nodded, he also gave Mikasa a wave before leaving them. As he made his way over to Annie he instantly felt nervous, he noticed that every time he had approached her, or she had approached him, his heart would begin to race. He didn't want to annoy her, that wasn't his intention at all even though it was evident that he ended up doing that every time he spoke with her. He wanted to be her friend, or maybe something more.

Armin took a seat opposite her like he had done in the library. She had been looking out of the window again and when she heard the chair move she turned to him. She didn't look surprised this time, in fact it looked as if she was expecting him. He smiled at her awkwardly, his heart continuing to pound against his chest as she stared back at him with a blank expression on her face. He took out his food and also the sandwich he had prepared for her. He scooted it towards her and began to eat his own. She didn't say a word, but her eyes were drawn down to the sandwich in front of her. She looked away for a moment and furrowed her brows as if she was thinking hard about whether to accept it or not. Armin didn't say a word and let her decide for herself.

It was several minutes before Annie looked at the sandwich again and slowly removed the tinfoil from around it. Armin felt a wave of relief flood over him. He was so happy that she had accepted it, not only because if she hadn't it would have made the situation very awkward, but also because he knew that she was hungry and wanted to eat.

"Thanks." the word came out almost inaudibly, but he heard her and his heart almost burst from his chest.