I finally got an official Beta :D thank you Goldflame!

—.—

The cold air sliced though Annie's thin jacket. She had her hands firmly placed in the pockets of her black uniform pants. She was thinking about lunch the whole time she was walking home. Why had Armin been so nice to her? He had known her for about a month and she always acted like she hated him, so why did he do anything remotely pleasant?

She heard a car honk ahead of her and looked up from the snowy sidewalk. Reiner's car pulled up to the curb and the passenger window rolled down. Bertholdt rested his arm on the windowsill and Reiner was craning his neck to look out the window to see her.

"Hey, Annie!" Reiner called out. "There's going to be a party later at Oluo's. You comin'?"

She shrugged. "Sure. What time?"

"Around seven." Bertholdt replied.

Annie nodded and said she would go, then waved goodbye and continued to walk down the street. Like usual, she wanted to avoid her problems and go out somewhere to forget about them. The parties helped her forget.

She arrived at the complex doors and pushed them open. They made a loud creak, signifying they needed some oil, badly. The lobby was shabby. It had old furniture and dull lighting from the dust that cloaked the bulbs. The wall's cream coloured paint was starting to peel off, and the carpets were coming up at the corners of the room.

She nodded at the man at the front desk, then proceeded towards the timeworn elevators. They creaked as the doors opened ever so slowly. The interior was small. The walls had little railings along the sides, with a dirty, fingerprinted mirror on the back. The buttons were worn from constant usage. Annie pressed the "8" button and the elevator noisily made its way up. There was a faint 'ding' and the battered doors opened. She stepped out and made her way down the short, narrow hall to her door: 814. Annie slung her bag off her shoulder and dug around until she pulled out her house key. She unlocked the door and swung it open.

There was the faint clatter of dishes in the kitchen. "I'm home!" Annie called, then she shut the door and trudged into her room.

Her bedroom was pretty small–it could be a closet. She had white walls and cream coloured carpet. Her desk was almost clear, save the lamp and a couple overdue assignments. She had a single-person bed shoved in the corner with a bulletin board hanging above it, which was crowded with pictures from when she was a little kid. She had a wooden wardrobe that had all her clothes inside, minus the clothes on the floor. There was a sliding door to the rickety fire escape, showing off the spectacular view of the back of the building across the road.

Annie threw her bag on the bed and rummaged through it. She pulled out her English assignment and math homework and threw them on her desk. She grabbed her cellphone and tossed it onto her pillow. Sighing, she changed out of her school uniform into black jeans and a white and grey striped hoodie. Now she just had to occupy herself for about four hours until she could leave for the party.

...

Annie had an awkward dinner with her father. No one spoke at all, which was normal at her place. After she finished, she got up and put her plate in the sink, then told her father she would be doing her homework for the rest of the night. A complete lie, but he fell for it. She stalked to her bedroom and shut the door, then threw on her jacket. The blonde opened the sliding door as quietly as possible and slipped outside, shutting the door behind her.

After going down eight stories she started walking down the back ally. Annie pulled out a cigarette and lighter. She stuck the cigarette in her mouth and shielded the flame from the cold winds to light the stick. Annie continued her trek down the street. To get to Oluo's, she just had to walk through the "rich" neighbourhood, a walk that took about fifteen minutes.

The sun was still out tricking people into thinking it was warmer, but it was as cold as the North Pole. She shoved a hand in her pocket and took a long drag from her cigarette, the heat radiating from it keeping her warmer. She slowly walked through the Rich neighborhood. She knew she would never live anywhere close to here, but she could dream. The brick buildings and driveways were snow-free and the cars looked like they were brand new. She hopped up the curb and started walking on the sidewalk instead of the road. Even the sidewalks had no slush or snow. It seemed unrealistic.

Annie's phone buzzed. She pulled it out and checked her messages. Bertholdt had texted her wondering where she was. The blonde had to admit, he was really nice. He only got expelled from Rose because Reiner dragged him along with his "prank". Reiner influenced him a lot more than he let on. He never drank until Reiner told him to, or smoked until Reiner said it was okay. She quickly texted she would be there and sent it, then she ran into someone. She tumbled to the ground and her cigarette flew to the ground, as well as her phone.

"Oh, sorry." A voice said. She looked up to see Eren Jaeger from her math class. He held his hand out to help her up, but she brushed it away and stood up by herself.

Eren cocked his head to the side. "Hey, you're that Annie girl from my math class! You live around here?"

She glared at him. "No."

His expression turned confused. "What do you mean? Then why're you around the area?"

"I'm just passing through." She mumbled as she pushed past him.

Eren reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Hey! You dropped your..."

He bent down to pick up the cellphone she had dropped earlier And handed it to her. His eyes flickered to the fallen cigarette. His eyebrows furrowed as he gave Annie back her electronic. "Is that—"

"Bye."

"H-hey!"

But she had already stormed away.

...

When she finally arrived at the party, Bertholdt ran up to her. "H-hey! You're late! I-i thought something happened! I mean, it's not like you live far and—"

"Bert, I'm fine. Just ran into someone on the way here." She wanted to add how it was literal, but didn't want to worry the tall boy. He could be very protective of her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She rolled her eyes.

He made a face. "Alright. Reiner's waiting inside. I think he's drunk though."

Annie shrugged. "We've dealt with a drunk Reiner since we were twelve. Come on."

—.—

I rewrite this chapter about 5 times, and sent it to my beta twice (once i guess. I resent the ending twice) and i have to say, this was the longest by far. I don't think it was the best though.

Party will be next chapter. Probably Armin's POV. Huh? What's he doing there?! Surprise :D

Review :3