The Cadet's Origin

Chapter Sixteen - Tests

"I'm never going to get this," Eren groaned as he slammed his head into the table. "Why do they do this to us?"

"Because they need to know that they aren't letting complete morons into the military," Jean said as he twirled his pencil around his fingers.

"You've got this, Eren," Armin reassured him. "We've been studying this all week."

"You know the information, Eren," Mikasa said.

Kenna glanced up from her notes. She had been listening to Armin and Mikasa quizzing Eren for the better part of the hour. Right now, he had about an 75% success rate of getting questions right. However, Kenna was now getting annoyed with Eren's constant whining about how he wasn't going to get it and Jean trying to egg him on. Kenna quietly got up and left the dining hall. She hoped that the rec hall was going to be a little quieter. When Kenna entered the dining hall, she saw Reiner, Bertolt and Marco sitting at the table. It sounded like they were quizzing to each other. Annie was sitting and looking through her notebook at the end of their table. Kenna decided that she would throw her luck with the boys. She guessed that Annie wouldn't be so keen on Kenna interrupting her studying time.

"Care if I join you guys?" Kenna asked.

"We have plenty of space," Marco said as he moved his books out of the table next to him.

"Let me guess, Eren's worrying that he's not going to pass the test, and you're going crazy," Reiner smirked.

"You can say that," Kenna said as she opened her books.

"Why are you even studying for?" Bertolt asked. "You're great at history and I'm pretty sure you could take apart and put your ODM gear back together in your sleep."

"It makes me feel better about myself," Kenna shrugged as she started to flip through the pages about ODM gear. "The more I review, the more confident I get in myself. Besides, what we should be worried about is what new training exercises Shadis is going to put us through. It doesn't matter if we pass his exams if we all die from exhaustion."

"You don't have to worry about that," Annie's voice caused them all to look over. "I'm pretty sure that Armin is still red from the kiss you gave him a week ago. You can outlast any of us."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Annie," Kenna said. "Do you want to join us in studying."

"No," Annie said as she stood up and walked out with her books.

"Each time I think we take a step closer to friendship, she takes a step back," Kenna said as she looked back at her books.

"I wouldn't take it personally," Reiner said. "I don't think that Annie can feel anything warm and fuzzy towards anyone."

"Stop being so mean, Reiner," Bertolt scolded him.

"Do you guys just want to start asking each other questions?" Marco asked as he looked up from his notes. "I think if we just look at our notes without doing anything our heads are going to explode."

"Fire away," Kenna said as she closed her book and crossed her arms.

"Where are we starting?" Bertolt asked.

"Does it matter?" Reiner teased. "We're going to get all the questions right anyways."

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"Oh god," Connie groaned as they walked away from the testing center. "I failed. There is absolutely no way I passed that exam."

"You'll be fine, Connie," Kenna said. "You know more than you think."