This took forever didn't it?

—.—

Armin walked into his English class early Monday morning. Yet another weekend went by where he thought about Annie and her well-being. He lost sleep thinking about her. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her face. He saw how her eyes flickered to a look of desperation. He could not for the life of him get that out of his head.

The bell rang, and his mind quickly snapped back into reality. His eyes drifted to the front of the class where Hannes had started the lesson. He looked to his left and saw Annie had yet to show up. His eyebrows furrowed. Was she alright? Did she stay home? Were her injuries worse than he had originally thought?

A piece of paper landed on his desk. Hannes had given them a worksheet to finish, and they had to hand it in by tomorrow morning. Armin gazed down at the sheet to see that they had started the greek mythology unit. He sighed through his nose. Maybe the sheet will calm my nerves, he thought.

After answering all the questions (about eighty percent had to do with Zeus and his millions of lovers) he handed in the sheet. Hannes nodded at him as usual and told him he could do whatever he wanted for the remaining half hour.

"Actually, sir? My stomach kind of hurts. May I go to the nurses office?"

Hannes gave him a quick nod and told him to take his bag with him. Armin quickly packed up. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Eren with a worried look. "Hey," he whispered, "are you alright?"

Armin gave a nod in reassurance. "I'm alright. Just a stomachache. See you later."

Before Eren could say another word, Armin had already bolted from the classroom. He walked down the stairs to the first floor to drop his bag off in his locker, then he took a look around the school. In all honesty, Armin did feel kind of sick. The blond boy was pretty sure it was because of Annie. Armin was thinking if all the possibilities of her condition. Looking at her, she didn't look very hurt. Besides the two hits she had received, she was in good condition.

While thinking about that, he opened the doors to go outside for a walk. He shoved his hands in his pants pockets to keep them warm. It was still pretty chilly out, but it was still warmer than what it had been a few days ago.

He followed the sidewalk to the back of the school. The parking lot was pretty big. It had two large sections with a gate on the far side by the road. The boy peered across the parking lot to see a head of golden blonde hair and a simple jacket. He stalked across the lot and around the fence. Armin slowly crept up to the blonde and realized it was a cigarette between their fingers. Noticing who it was, he slowly reached out. He brought his hand in front of the other blonde and swiped the cigarette from their mouth. He took a couple steps back just as they spun around, ready to punch him.

"Arlert!" Annie yelled, surprise in her eyes.

"Annie!" Armin shouted back, despite the short distance between the two. "I thought you said you would stop smoking."

The shorter girl scoffed. "I never said I would stop smoking, Arlert."

Armin made a face. "But these things kill you! Thats all they really do, besides get people addicted. The nicotine—"

Annie waved him off. "Yeah yeah, no need to lecture me. I know all that already. The nicotine, the tar, et cetera."

Armin looked at the cigarette in his hand. "So why do you smoke?"

She shrugged carelessly. "Habit. Since I was, what, ten?"

Armin's eyes widened. Ten? She's been smoking since she was ten? What had caused her to start? And why? Annie stepped forward and tried to grab the cigarette, but Armin just held it farther from her. "Why weren't you in first period?"

Annie looked away. "Nosey, are we? I wasn't in the mood to go, that's all."

The blond boy sighed. He looked back at the cigarette. "You know I think I have a way to break you from your habit, free of charge."

The petite girl looked up at him and crossed her arms. "Fine. Lets hear it then."

"Alright," he began, "every time I catch you with a cigarette, or pack of them, you need to tell me a fact about yourself. Anything, but no repeating yourself."

She raised an eyebrow. "How's that going to stop me?"

"Trust me."

She thought for a minute. "Fine. But," she reached out as fast as lightning and took the cigarette, "don't plan on catching me with them often."

He smirked. "Fine by me. So, one fact?"

She shrugged. "Guess so." She took a drag from her cigarette. "What are you thinking of?"

Armin playfully tapped his index finger against his chin and he had a wide smile on his face. Is it really possible that he grew closer to Annie Leonhardt in just five minutes? "When's your birthday?"

Annie rolled her eyes. "That was a waste of a question. It doesn't matter what day I was born."

"Annie...?" He asked expectantly.

She sighed. "March twenty-second."

Armin's eyes widened. "Wait, but that's—"

"Yeah, that's today. So?"

He smiled. "S...so is that why you skipped first? To celebrate somehow?"

Annie raised an eyebrow. "No. I just didn't want to go."

"Oh..." He stayed silent for a minute. "Umm...do you want to go back to school now? There's not much time left."

She shrugged and threw the cigarette on the floor, then stomped on it to snuff out the ember. Annie walked around the fence and started to stroll towards the school again. Armin noticed she was slightly limping. He jogged after her, almost slipping on the damp grass. When he caught up to her, he slowed down to her pace. "So what're you doing for your birthday?"

She shoved her hands in her pockets. "I'll probably go out with Bert and Reiner—"

"What?!"

Not expecting the outburst, she jumped. She directed her wide eyes to stare at the taller boy's. "Wha—"

"Are you kidding me, Annie?" He shouted. He looked furious, but it didn't seem directed towards her. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Hanging out with Bertholdt is okay, but you cannot talk with Reiner again! Look at what he did to you!" He pointed at her leg.

She shifted her weight off her bad leg and looked away. "I can do what I want to. You can't stop me."

He looked at the ground. "Annie..."

"Let it go, Arlert."

He stayed quiet for a few minutes. He knew he just went from possibly talking to her more, to maybe not getting a reply again. He didn't want that. As an attempt to break the silence, he laughed nervously. "You know, you don't have to call me Arlert. You can call me Armin."

She didn't respond at first. He was afraid he wouldn't get an answer at all, but she huffed. "I cant see myself doing that."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, really." She shrugged. "Habit, I guess."

They were silent. Armin jogged ahead a few paces and pulled open the door. Annie paused for a second in front of the door, the walked in followed by the blond boy.

"I-I can walk you to your class if you'd like."

"You expect me to go to class?"

"Uhh," he scratched the back up his head, "do you have a test?" She nodded. He smiled nervously. "Then you should go to class."

She looked at him skeptically. "Where's your class?"

"First floor."

"Its alright then." She said. "My class is on the third floor." She started towards the staircase without him, but he ran up to walk along side her again. "It's no trouble, really."

She scoffed. "This is like when you first walked me home. You're as annoying and pushy as ever."

"Oh...sorry then."

She face palmed. "I'm joking around, Arlert."

"Oh!" He smiled widely. "So I'm not annoying and pushy?"

She made a face at him but did not say a word. She stopped in front of the classroom door and put her hand on the doorknob. "See you in third." She muttered as she quickly slipped in her class. The bell rang a couple seconds after. Crap, he thought as he turned on his heel and ran back down the stairs.

...

Armin had arrived to his class late, but the teacher wasn't even there. A couple minutes after Armin settled in his seat the teacher walked in. It turns out they had a supply teacher, which means almost no work or a movie.

The supply was an older teacher, and introduced himself as Mr. Pixis. "Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four in your textbooks and do questions one to eight," he commanded. Armin pulled out his math textbook and turned to the page.

He was in the academic math class, and since he knew Annie had math second period too he knew she would have had to be in applied like Eren. He started to read the instructions on the page assigned to them when someone nudged his shoulder. He turned to the right to see Marco Bodt looking at him with curious eyes. "Hey, Armin. Why're you late?" He whispered.

Armin sighed. "My locker wouldn't open." He replied. It wasn't a total lie. On the way to class he had stopped by his locker. He just didn't have trouble opening it.

Marco nodded at him. "I hate it when that happens. At least Mr. Pixis was late too."

He bobbed his head and went back to work for the rest of the period.

...

Annie was sitting at the lunch table with Mina, Thomas, Hannah and her boyfriend Franz. The four were used to her icy demeanor and spoke freely around her. Mina always ranted on to her and tried to include her in the conversation. Even the other three spoke to her. Annie was always surprised how they spoke to her and smiled at her when she was just there, never returning the gesture.

"Annie? Are you listening?"

Annie jumped ever-so-slightly and turned towards Mina. "What?" She asked.

Mina smiled at her. "I asked why you always skip most of your classes. You go to science a lot, heck Hannah says you go to English more than Math or Gym. Why?"

Annie raised an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

Thomas shrugged. "We're just curious."

Annie sighed through her nose. "No reason in particular. I just don't like those classes." She looked at the clock on the wall. "I gotta go. Bye." She stood up and grabbed her bag, then walked towards the cafe doors. Mina ran up beside her with her bag too. "There has to be a reason though." She tapped her finger against her chin and looked thoughtful. "Who's in both of those classes with you?"

Annie didn't say anything. She just kept walking to her locker. While the two walked, Mina rattled off a bunch of names Annie didn't know.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "What about Armin Arlert, huh? He's in both of those classes and I thought I saw you talking to him outside during first period today!"

Annie made a face. "Hell no."

Mina looked at her and grinned widely. "You answered to that one!"

"That means nothing." Annie grumbled, but Mina ignored her remark and kept talking. "It would make sense. He's smart and kinda cute, ya know? Oh my god you two would be so cute together!"

"What?!" Annie yelled, the slightest tinge of pink across her pale cheeks.

Mina laughed and hugged her from the side. "That's soooo cute! Little-Annie has a crush!"

"It's not a crush!" Annie shouted.

"And look you're getting all defensive! You know this may be the most emotion I've seen you show since you started here!" She joked.

Annie half-glared at her friend. "Tch...whatever. I'm going to class."

Mina unhooked herself from her friend and just smiled down at her. "Yeah, sure. See you later, Annie!"

Annie trudged to her classroom. Did she like Armin? No, obviously not. It was impossible.

Wasn't it?

—.—

Hello! I am currently dead because my friend killed me with a donut full of love and death sooooo... Like the chapter?