Can I Say 'I Love You'?

Chapter 6

[Third person POV]

The exams were very near. It wasn't particularly hard for Eren, since he's quite average, but there are still a few subjects that he needs to work on.
Eren laid his head on his desk and sighed. He has always hated exams. When he was younger, he would study together with Armin and Mikasa. He would love to study with them again, but he always felt stupid compared to them. He decided to study by himself or with somebody else this semester.
He stood up from his desk and made his way to Annie's table. Despite being a slacker, Annie was the smartest pupil. She had a cold look on her face as always. She glared at Eren, but once she recognized his face, her gaze softened. "What do you need?" She said nervously. "Well.. I was wondering if you could teach me some lessons for the exam." Eren smiled, scratching the back of his head. "Don't you usually study with Armin and Mikasa?" Annie asked. She said Mikasa's name full of disgust and Eren couldn't help but giggle. "Well, if I study with her and Armin I feel stupid since they're a lot smarter than I am." Eren explained. Realizing what he just said, he quickly fixed his sentences, "It's not that I'm saying you're not smart! Since we're not extremely close to each other like Armin, Mikasa and I, I think it's okay that you're a lot smarter than I am. But Armin and Mikasa are my childhood friend. I would be embarrassed if I wasn't as smart as them." He sighed. Annie started to think a bit. Teaching Eren would be hard work, she thought. Eren talked like he was really stupid. But teaching Eren would also make her study, and her grades will be higher. She hates getting low grades but for some reason she skips class a lot. After a while, Annie finally said, "I don't really understand the way you think, but okay, I'll teach you." She managed to force a smile. "Thanks a lot!" Eren smiled and bowed. "Could we possibly start today? I'll be in my to for the whole night so we have plenty of time to study." Annie replied, "Sure." She wanted to say no since she was supposed to need Bertholdt and Reiner that night, but she just couldn't say no.

Later that night, Annie knocked on Eren's door. Eren opened the door cheerfully and motioned Annie to come inside. "Make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa." Annie cringed when Eren said mi casa, because the pronounciation is so similar to Mikasa. "Thank you." She said softly. Eren started to take his books from his bookshelf. Annie looked around. Eren's bed was quite messy. He didn't do it for a few days. Some clothes were on the floor. She looked over at the side. His roommate's part of the room was a lot tidier. The sheets were nice and clean, and the blanket was folded neatly. It seems that his roommate was a lot more organized. "Here," Eren said as he set his books on the table, "these are the lessons I need to work on." Annie looked at the books one by one. "You have quite a lot to work on, Eren." She sighed. She started to pick out the easiest lesson for her, Math. "Let's start with this topic, shall we?" "Ah, I'm the worst at math." Eren chuckled nervously. "And all the other lessons as well." Annie teased. "You're a meanie." Eren pouted. Annie couldn't help but giggle at Eren's childish attitude. They started to study until Marco came in. "Oho? What do we have here?" Marco whispered to himself. He wanted to take a picture of them studying so seriously, and he didn't want them to know. He took out his phone and took a picture. He sent it to Jean. He giggled to himself and said, "What a sweet couple." Eren and Annie looked up, shocked. Marco's phone rang and he read the text he received. "I sent a pic of you two." He smirked. "Jean said, 'Yeah, Jaegar should totally go with Leonhardt. I can have Mikasa all to myself.' I guess I'm not the only in that ships you two." He giggled. Eren got up and tackled Marco. He repeatedly hit Marco and shouted, "YOU IDIOT WHAT THE FUCK I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT OH MY GOD GO DIE IN A PIT-" "Eren, it's alright. It's not like we're going out." Annie stopped them. Eren stopped and complained under his breath. Marco giggled again and made his way to his bed. "Sorry for disturbing your study session, guys. Just continue and pretend like I'm not here." Marco said as he stepped into the shower. "How are we supposed to ignore you when you sing in the shower so loudly?" Eren muttered. "Shall we continue?" Annie asked quietly. "Ah, sure. Sorry." Eren snapped out of his thoughts. He focused on studying again.

They studied together for a few hours until Annie had to go back. "I don't want to worry my roommate." Annie said. "I haven't told her that I'll study with you, and she worries about me a lot." Annie sighed. "It's totally okay! We could study together again!" Eren grinned. "Thanks for having me over." Annie smiled. "No problem! Thank you for teaching me! Bye!" Eren chuckled as he waved to Annie. Annie waved back and she went back to her room.

Eren closed his door and lay on the bed. He didn't know what to say to Mikasa and Armin if they found out that he studied together with Annie instead of them. He obviously couldn't just say, "Well, I didn't study with you because I feel stupid compared to you! I don't really know Annie so I don't feel any rivalry between us. I mean, I love studying with you guys, but I just don't want to." It would embarass him a lot. Eren decided not to think about it and go to sleep.

Hello, I haven't updated for a very long time. As I said last time, I had a lot of school work, and I barely have any time to play my phone. Please forgive me if I have any typos, and please do tell me. I don't have time to recheck this because I'm writing this in a rush. I will try to update once a week starting from today. Wish me luck~!