He Lies Within the Sea (eremika)

Chapter Six

With Monday coming meant another start of a school week. It was the last before winter break, and all of the kids were getting antsy. In fact, they were so pumped for a two week break that one of the popular boys who just so happened to be one of the richer people in town was throwing a huge party in which most of the seniors and juniors of the school were invited.

The boy, Blake, appealed to all of the students that were hesitating by informing them of the huge indoor pool he had, causing them to excitedly agree. The sea was far too cold to swim in, and most people had covered their pools for the winter if they even had one, so hearing that there was an opportunity to swim was enough to get any person excited.

Eren was, of course, one of the first few people that were asked to go to the party. He so easily accepted as Blake was one of his school friends, so how could he not go? The pool wasn't much of a problem, either. He could simply "forget" to bring a bathing suit and merely party without the pool. It wasn't just a pool party, after all.

He was mildly concerned about Mikasa, however. Since she had not been invited to go, he wondered how she would feel about it. By observing her, she did not appear to care much, but she had that blank expression almost all of the time, so how could he possibly know what she was thinking? Perhaps she was going to simply see Sasha and Krista on the weekend for their own little girl party? Well, that wasn't the case as she simply had plans to stay in her room for the night.

Mikasa, secretly, wanted to go to the party since Eren was going to be there, and she wanted to experience what things would be like as a teenager. She always saw the characters in both her favorite books and movies do such fun, wild things with their lives, but her life was no where near as interesting. It consisted of sitting in her room or taking long walks during her free time that wasn't consumed with the schoolwork she had. A party seemed nice, but she hadn't been asked to go.

Throughout the school day, Mikasa could feel like eyes were burning into her skin as Eren watched her closely in a way that crept her out more than usual. Each time she glanced his way, his eyes would quickly dart the other way. Pretending not to have noticed, she continued on with her day. There was surely a reason for his behavior, so she decided to question him about it after the school day had ended.

"Why are you staring at me?" she inquired.

"I'm not," Eren hummed. "I'm just keeping an eye on you like I said I would."

"I see," she replied, pretending to believe his lies. Continuing walking home, she tried to ignore the perpetual eyes burning into her skin. After about fifteen minutes, she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Is there something you want to say?" she asked, getting irritated.

"Are you not bothered by not being invited to that party on Friday?" he questioned straightforwardly, seeing no reason in asking in a roundabout way. He watched Mikasa's reaction closely as she stopped where she was walking.

Mikasa turned to him and sighed, "I would like to go, but I wasn't invited. I'm content with staying at home, so stop worrying about me."

He noticed that her brows were knit for a short moment before she took a deep breath. It bothered her minorly, but it still bothered her. "You can come with me if you want," Eren offered. "I'm pretty sure half of the guests will be people that Blake doesn't even know."

Mikasa's eyes perked up and looked at him with a thankful expression, but she was not sure if she should go anyways. "I-I don't know..." she muttered, having doubts.

"I'll tell you what," Eren began. "I'll wait outside your house from seven until seven thirty. The party starts at seven thirty, and if you really don't want to go, then don't come out."