THREE

It was the third day of school of this year and I was already begging for summer.

I swallowed all my swearing and stared at the guy who just humiliated me in front of Trisha. I wanted to slam my fist onto him or just turn away, but I knew that I'd get in trouble if I did and this guy… gets in my nerves. I had to admit that. He didn't pull me out of the couch; I just pushed myself up, like I hadto do it. If I didn't know better, I'd say he used some kind of power on me.

Who was he anyway? He didn't have any right to do what he just did, unless he was the principal… but he wasn't, because we were headed right to my science classroom and I know now that this motherfucker was my new science teacher.

Once inside, all eyes fell on me and everyone was snickering. Others were wide eyed and jaw dropped, unable to believe what the new teacher just did: look for me without even knowing who the hell I was and the school itself.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Eren laughing at me openly. Before I could throw him a glare and some words, the teacher stopped me, -"Take a seat, Kirshtein,"- He spoke and the moment he said my surname, I flinched. How did he know? He began to eye me or…–"I wonder where your school uniform is."- Again, the piercing look that demanded answers with his deep voice.

Ah shit…I cursed, throwing my head back. I completely forgot I had to write an excuse because of my 'uniform'. Damn it. I got through Hanji nicely, but not him. How am I supposed to tell him that? It would be embarrassing, even more if it was in front of my group. They were the idiots and I was going to show them that I was the exception. In the end, I shrugged ignorantly and said, -"Home"- Which I would regret I did because of the look the teacher had that said 'You did not just say that'.

He stared at me fiercely for some moments and time seemed to slow down as we had the 'Who Had More Balls' competition, -"Is that so, eh? What happened? Too occupied texting that you forgot to wash it?"- Gasps and laughs filled the room.

Boom. Right in the gut. Definitely, he had some kind of power. He left me defenseless and he noticed; having a wide grin on his face told me that. Wrapping his arms, he waited for my answer, but nothing came. I hated being defenseless without a comeback, but I was stunned both because it was a teacherwho said it and because it was true. God, fuck my life.

Since I wasn't giving him an answer, he sighed and shock his head, -"Kids these days…,"- He eyed me again with a smug, -"After class is dismissed, you and I have to talk more."

No, not again. I grunted and turned to my seat, right next the door as always. Throwing my backpack angrily, I sat. The new teacher looked at me and grinned. He was enjoying my annoyance and embarrassment. Son of a bitch.

Unlike the rest of the classes, the group stayed silent in this one. Too silent. Could they really fear this guy on his first day? He began the class introducing himself, -"Good morning, students. I'm Levi Rivaille and I'm going to be your science teacher,"- I almost snorted. I probably had that You don't sayface meme from the internet, -"I assume this is twelve two."-A lot of 'yes' and 'mhum' were heard, even though that wasn't technically a question. Levi nodded and walked to his desk, -"I'm going to start calling you out. Please raise your hand."- He said and the immediate idea came to my mind that he was going to do the same thing Hanji does.

Then it struck me… he was passing assistance.

What the hell!? He hasn't passed assistance and yet… he knew I was cutting? I was starting to think that someone told him that I normally cut this class when Hannes was here last year. That someone might be Eren; no- it was Eren. When I entered, he was laughing uncontrollably, the whole group was, but mostly him. That damned Yeager…

Levi started to call out everyone and then… -"Marco Bodt."- He lifted his head and peered, looking for a raised hand. None. –"Marco Bodt?"- He asked again. The little freckled guy didn't find his way. Poor him.

I couldn't believe this, but regret was boiling in me, forming a knot in my chest. God, the poor nerdy is absent for this guy's class, it was probably for the best. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling. He was going to be scolded by this guy who seemed like the kind of teacher who takes his job seriously and not coming to his class is probably the worst insult you could give him. Thing is, it was because of me. It's my fault. Why couldn't the freckled guy ask for directions, then?

It hit me hard.

He was shy.

Then I figured out why I was having this feeling: because it happened to me a long time ago and… it's not nice. Not a good experience. It was when I was in eighth grade, I think, back when I was a dummy. It was my first day in a completely unknown school. Some assholes liked messing with new guys and they purposely gave me wrong directions. If I assisted to one class, God had helped, but I was on my own just like Marco. Even so, I found my way through the hard way. Why couldn't he?

I shock away those feeling through the whole class. At the end of it, when Levi said dismissed the class, he beckoned me to stay.

I sighed, waiting for everyone to leave. By the door, some looked down on me, shaking their heads as in 'Poor, poor Jean' and I answered, -"What are you looking at?"- And when I saw Eren, I stood, -"Hey, Eren, you dickhead,"- I pulled him by the collar of his shirt, -"Thanks for selling me out, you bastard."- I tried not to raise my voice to prevent Levi from hearing because this could get ugly.

He just widened his eyes and tried to pull away from me, -"What are you talking about?"

-"Don't you 'what are you talking about' me; you know exactly what I'm saying,"- Trying to prevent my voice from raising was becoming a bit difficult now, -"Telling this asshole of a teacher that I was cutting, ring a bell?"

He just raised an eyebrow and looked at me like I was some kind maniac.

I growled, -"Stop playing the innocent baby!"- I raised my voice. This guy's playing all nice and angel innocent and that just added more fuel to my anger.

-"What!?"- He didn't like the 'innocent baby' term. Pushing me back, he countered, -"What the fuck, man? I didn't say nothing! You're just picking up fights, you dick!"

He clearly was as angry as me. I pushed him back more, recalling all the fights we had on our record, -"Bullshit! You're the one who's started it!"- Lie. I always started the fights.

And he knew that, -"Are you fucking kidding me?!"- He shouted as he pushed me back again. Normally, that's how our fights started, -"You start the fights! And yeah, what if I was the one who told him, huh?"

He was looking for the fight. He always did. His frown almost reached his nose, angered at me. I growled and pulled my hand back into a punch, -"'What if I was'? You were the one, idiot!"

-"Why cut in the first place when you knew you'd be caught? You're just a masochist! You like it!"

-"Shut up, Yeager!"- I launched my fist, aiming to Eren's face, but was stopped by a soft and cold hand, -"What the…,"

I stared at Mikasa, admiring her for a moment: her silk black hair, grey eyes, lips… I quickly shove the images away and glared at her angrily and then at her palm grasping my fist tightly, stopping the punch, -"Don't."- She said flatly, but her words were clear. Touch Eren and I'll kill you.

-"Move, you bitch!"- I shouted, frustrated. She just squeezed my fist more as a warning. I pulled it away, -"Don't interfere!"

She stood right in front of Eren, frozen, arms down as she eyed me coldly.

I growled and began to reach for Eren again, -"Really, Eren? Why don't you fight like a man-?"

-"Geez,"- A strong hand grasped my shoulder and pulled me away from Eren and Mikasa. I almost stumbled to the floor, but I held myself against the wall, -"First cutting, showing disrespect and now picking fights. Are you having a competition with someone to see who the bad boy is?"-More laughs. I just shrunk and looked away, -"Can I join in the game? Setting people straight is my specialty. I guess that makes me a bad boy too, no?"- Levi grinned at me, enjoying every moment of this.

I watched as Eren and his little group left. Before they did, Mikasa gave me a menacing glare and I responded with mine too. Bitch.

I let out a heavy sigh and went to the teacher's desk. My second scolding is about to start. Just when I sat, I heard hard footsteps and heavy panting, -"Is it… here?"- A familiar voice spoke through difficult breaths. I turned around and saw Marco, hands on knees, buffing, and the only thing that crossed my mind was 'lack of exercise'. He looked up, sweat falling to his freckled cheeks, -"Oh… I'm late."- He looked tired and disappointed. When he saw me, he was surprised; probably thinking 'again?'

Karma is a bitch.

I looked away. Levi looked at Marco and eyed him, -"Oh, you must be… Marco Bodt, right?"

Marco parted his gaze from me once his name was called and looked at the teacher apologetically, -"Yes! I'm really sorry for being absent at your class. I'm new and… lost."- He smiled, though, with honesty.

-"I understand,"- Levi nodded and a slight smile formed, but quickly disappear when he saw his clothing, -"Your uniform…?"- He asked.

Yes!I celebrated. I didn't know why, but I was having a mini party in my head.

-"Oh,"- He unzipped the Assassin's Creed jacket and revealed the school's shirt, -"I brought an excuse, anyway, if something's not…"

Bummer,it all crashed down. Party pooper.

-"It's adequate."- His small smile returned and Marco zipped up his jacket.

Marco turned to leave, -"Thanks and, again, I'm sorry-"

-"Wait a bit. I'm sure Kirshtein here would love to accompany you to the next class so you don't get lost,"- Levi said with a rather disturbing friendly voice. He looked at me, -"Right, Kirshtein?"

I looked at him and Marco, who had a begging expression on his face, but who knows? Maybe he doesn't care if I do it or not. Even so, Levi's sharp look demanded I say yes, so…, -"Fine."- I said reluctantly.

-"Good,"- Said Levi. On with the scolding already, -"I need an excuse for not bringing your uniform, but I'm going to let you go as a free bird today,"- He leaned closer to me, his small figure suddenly growing intimidating, -"But,there won't be a next time, Kirshtein. I won't tolerate any of your jackass comments or your bad boy attitude. I'm the bad boy here and Iget to make the jackass comments, are we clear?"- His voice was loud enough for Marco to hear. Unlike Hanji, he didn't care if others heard.

I stared in bewilderment, shock, unable to move. Levi had the weirdest look on his face, a creepy one. To make it all end, I gulped and forced the locked in words out, -"I…I, yeah… crystal clear."

Levi slumped back with a satisfied sigh, -"Good. You may go."- He ordered us flatly and I, without thinking twice, jumped up and left.

Marco, who had the same face as mine, did the same. Outside the class room…, -"Um… your backpack."

-"Shit…,"- I cursed. Thank god I always sat beside the door, because I just rushed in and pull my backpack out without having to see the teacher's face again. Once outside again with my backpack, I sighed, -"God… that was horrible."

-"You said it,"- Startled, I turned and saw Marco there. Oh yeah, I was supposed to take him to the other class. He had his hand on his forehead, trying to remember something,-"I think we have Spanish now, though I don't remember since I lost the paper."

Oh, great.

He lost the paper and that meant I had to stick around with him, -"Oh… uh, just follow me."-He looked at me, doubtful for a second, probably thinking if he should trust me or not. Before he could say anything, I spoke, -"Yeah, about the science classroom… I didn't know they changed it or that there was a new teacher, because it used to be in the lower level so…"- I lied again. Science classroom never used to be in the lower level.

It was a huge lie because I went the first days, but he didn't know that. If he believed that, he's a complete idiot.

-"It's okay."- He shrugged and just smiled.

I had a poker face. Yup, a complete idiot.

I started walking and he followed. Spanish class with Erwin Smith. The only thing I liked of that class was hearing the others speak Spanish, because I wasn't interested in another language. Though, it was funny just to hear other people speak it. You had to like sing of some sort. In my opinion, it's a horrible language. I'm just fine with English. The only words I knew in Spanish were the bad ones, the swearing ones. Now, the teacher… Erwin was good teacher. Not so strict but not so meek either. He's the only one who spoke Spanish nicely, the rest just sounded like they were summoning a demon of some sorts. It's obvious that every teacher dealt with students who didn't paid attention differently but Erwin… was too different and weird: he'd just stare at you with his eyes wide until you shut up. Rumors say that if you stare at his pale blue eyes for too long, he takes you into a hypnotized level and controls you with his bushy blonde eyebrows. Bullshit.

One thing's for sure, don't get in his bad side.

The silence was killing me and I glanced at Marco beside me. He was reading that book and was smiling cheerfully, -"Uh, you know, what happened with Levi there, uh, that was nothing."

-"Levi?"- He closed the book with what I thought was a Batman's bookmark and looked at me. I reached for the bookmark, unable to stop myself. He followed my hand and opened the book. I took the bookmark and stared at it in awe, -"Oh… that's my Batman bookmark I ordered in eBay. Cool, huh?"

I ignored him and stared at it. It was like a silver stick with two pins on the end that nicely hung on the book. One of the pin had the Batman's logo and in the other was Joker. God… it was simple but beautiful. I used to like Batman… a lot. A constant waves of memories flowed in me.

Fighting those waves, I gave him his bookmark and went back to the main topic, -"… like I was saying, it was nothing, he's just like any other student I could totally handle," He looked at me, confused, -"Um… Levi, the science teacher."

I had a feeling that wasn't what he was confused about, but he let it go, -"He looked really pissed, though."

I kept on bragging, -"I don't care how many glares he throws at me, I'll swallow them all and shit them in the toilet."- I wanted to let him know that Levi didn't intimidate me, that I wasn't scared. Especially to him.

At that last part, he looked at me in surprise, but he laughed anyways. Then, he stopped abruptly, -"Oh, I think we're here."

I looked into the hallway. Yep. Our group was crowding in the doorway of Erwin's class, watching something inside. What's wrong? Then, I heard it: shouting from the inside. Fight! Someone called me!

With adrenaline in my veins, I made my way through my group, pushing them back. They muttered, irritated, -"Hey! Watch it!"- But I ignored whoever it was and when I reached the door, I peered inside:

-"¡Cállate, idiota! Me vuelves a faltar el respeto así y para la próxima no te perdono, ¿oíste?"-A lot of bad words came next and a flaming angry Erwin pushed a student to the door, -"¡Maldita sea, carajo!¡Como os odio!"

Then, the laughing twelve one came out in guffaw.

And this is where things get ugly. Realugly.