And When That Light Goes Out AOT

1

Everyone is familiar with that tight, sickly feeling they get in the pit of their stomach when they know that something is going to happen. The only problem lies in the fact that there is no way to know anything else about it; they just know that something is going to happen.

I woke up with that feeling constricting my chest. I didn't really think much of it. Night terrors and nightmares had been normal for the last few months, and waking up like this happened more times than I liked to admit. I understood, though. I had to take into consideration that: one, it was monday; two, I had school; and three, I never slept well. It was quite a killer combination. I sighed, swung my legs over the side of my bed, and stretched in preparation for the next step of my morning routine:

"Mikasa! Get up now if you plan on having enough time to get ready!"

I coughed, cleared my throat, and stumbled into the bathroom to wash my face and shower. Just before I shut the door I heard a grumble in response and smirked. Mornings were one of the few times that I could look out for her instead of it being the other way around. She was just barely older than I was, not even enough to put us in different graduation years, but judging by the way that she looked after me, you'd think she was my mother. She undoubtedly felt indebted toward my family for taking her in when her own parents passed away. Her method of repayment boiled down to making sure my short temper didn't earn me an asskicking and keeping me company while my mother and father traveled for business. Mornings were the only times I had the upper hand and being obnoxious about it gave me a twisted sense of satisfaction.

When I stepped into the kitchen after getting dressed, she was already leaning against the counter with a mug of coffee and a banana.

"That's... That's fucking disgusting, Mikasa," I scoffed and subconsciously wrinkled my nose when I tried to imagine the conflicting flavors. She raised an eyebrow, studied her breakfast, then shrugged and met my eyes, "It works for me. Who are you to judge? You can't even put your shirt on right."

I looked down and felt my cheeks burn when I realized that not only was my shirt backwards, it was also inside out. Today was going to be fantastic.

I got out of the car, waited for Mikasa to get her things, and then we walked into the school together. "Eren, did you remember to do your Physics homework? I forgot to bring it up last night but Mr. Bossard said that if you forgot another assignment he'd give you detention."

I cringed. Of course I hadn't. I couldn't stand the class, and as a result I didn't understand a word of the material he taught. To be honest, I was an average student at best. I could manage decent grades when I really tried to persist and work at it, sure. Mr. Bossard, however, gave me no incentive to try hard. For reasons beyond my comprehension, he constantly picked on me. He was condescending and took every chance he got to be antagonistic. The worst part was that he was genuinely excited to do it, so much so that he had bitten his tongue on multiple occasions. The bastard had bitten his tongue because he was so excited to be an ass. The icing on the cake (even though "icing" at this point was overkill) was that on top of everything else, he was the cockiest, most self-assured person I - or any of my peers, for that matter - had met. He was admittedly good at what he did, but he was so busy being full of himself that you couldn't notice. Now I had given him another reason to degrade me. "No, I didn't. Great. Go home without me tonight, okay? Would you mind coming back when I call?" She sighed and nodded, then caught my eye with a look that seemed to say 'I don't know why I try.'

Hah, me either.

His class was my first class of the morning and it lasted for what seemed like days. As I'd expected, he chewed me out in front of the class and gave me detention for an hour and a half after school. As an unexpected little "fuck you," he demanded that I come to his class for the next week after school to go over course material and be tutored by him. The realization that it was only Monday hit me like a brick. An annoying, self-centered brick. When the bell finally rang, I left before most of the class had managed to get out of their seats.