𝚁 𝙴 𝙵 𝙻 𝙴 𝙲 𝚃 𝙸 𝙾 𝙽 | 𝙴𝚛𝚎𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝚃 𝙷 𝚁 𝙴 𝙴

As soon as I took my seat, I regretted it immediately.

My adrenaline from pushing over Eren subsided and I was left with remembering the report that was due today.

I had a few more friends in this class: Connie—who was back on his phone beside me, Reiner—the tall, broody blonde one of the group, and Marco—Jean's freckled best friend...

The seats being in pairs—Reiner and Marco sat together one row behind Connie and I. Reiner had his football hoodie on, and honestly, football seemed to define his entire personality for the last two years or so. He sat leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed, hood up and headphones plugged in—Just Reiner being his usual broody self.

Marco had his laptop open on his desk. He was desperately trying to complete the report for both him and Reiner, whom I just remembered was his partner. Marco always wanted everything to be perfect—I knew he was just adding some finishing touches.

Marco looked up from his laptop once I sat down and smiled at me. "Hey, (Y/N)! How's it going?"

I smiled back, "I'm pretty good, how are you?"

"Good, good... Have you...uh... talked to Jean today?" He asked sheepishly.

I hid my cringe. "Oh, no, I haven't. Why do you ask?"

He had trouble meeting my eyes. "Just wondering. I...haven't seen you guys together as much anymore."

"Oh, right. I dunno, I guess we've just both been busy with different things." I pulled up a half-smile, hoping that would be enough to convince him.

He nodded, looking back at his work, and I turned back towards the front, my heart sinking in my chest.

Things with Jean... well they'd never been very good. I'd been with him for just over a year now, and yet being with him made everything a lot worse. It was never his fault—I just...I knew I let him down too much. He'd always make these comments about it, playing them off as jokes, but I could tell it actually bothered him. And of course, we did have some amazing times together. He was so sweet, during the initial few months, but then Sasha happened...

He wasn't a bad guy, he just... wasn't right for me. I supposed I was just waiting on him now to break up with me. I knew I couldn't—our friends always talked about us being the 'ideal couple' and how great we were together and all that. I was just too scared. He seemed to be pretty disappointed in me, anyway. Ever since Sasha, I couldn't be there for him the way he wanted me to. Emotionally and...physically.

No one else knew what the relationship was really like these days. I'm sure Marco knew—or at least had suspicions— being Jean's best friend and all. But Jean had tried for months to get me back to my usual self, but in the end, he became just as annoyed at me as everyone else and gave up trying. The same way I did.

Eren still thought of me as Jean's prized possession, and he hated Jean—and Jean hated Eren in return. They have ever since middle school. They both fought to be the top; it was extremely childish, but nothing could be done to stop it most of the time.

And yet Eren still goes out of his way to bother me, after an entire year, just to get back at Jean. Honestly, at this point I wasn't even sure if Jean was a part of it anymore. It seemed Eren just enjoyed making me feel horrible for his own benefit—the way he bothered Jean. It was probably second nature to him by now.

Connie swore beside me, dragging me back to consciousness. He was flinching and moving side to side, as if dodging something in his game. I had to try not to laugh—it was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen.