Chords [Ereri]

The weird encounter

I looked up at the gray stone building in disgust.

"Are you sure this is it?"

I already knew the answer, the huge sign saying "SINA HIGH SCHOOL" making it very clear. Under it, hung the school emblem; It was a woman with a crown on her head, almost looking like she was watching over the students as they passed through the front doors of the school.

"What's wrong with it?" Mikasa said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Nothing.. it's just so.. boring." I scratched my neck and started towards the school entrance.
"Like.. Armin bragged a lot about this place, saying how 'awesome' it is here and I honestly don't see it.. yet at least." A couple students rushed past us, their feet splashing in the small water pits forming on the ground, trying to get out of the pouring rain.

"You haven't even been inside, Eren! What is it they say.. Don't judge a book by its cover?"

I rolled my eyes at her and sighed.

"Sure, whatever."

When finally getting inside, we had no idea what to do next. Students crowded the halls, some frantically searching for their classrooms, others standing in groups talking, taking up at least half of the space in the hall. I had texted Armin earlier and told him to meet us by the entrance, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where the fuck is he?" I frowned; my eyes scanned the crowd looking for the small blonde. "I'm gonna go look for him, you stay here." I pointed at the floor in front of Mikasa. "But I-" she started to protest, but I broke her off. I swear to god, that girl couldn't leave me alone for one second, I thought.

"Stay here in case he shows up, I'll be back." I turned around and started to search the crowd. "Be back before 8!" I heard her calling after me.

At first, I thought I had seen him walking towards one of the classrooms. I called out for him, only to realize it was a girl with the same blonde hair as he had. Awkward.. She gave me a weird look and walked off. I mumbled a "sorry" and pushed through the crowd of people, going further in to the building. Still no Armin. After about ten more minutes of searching, then trying to find my way back to the entrance, I realized I was lost.

I was too busy looking at students rather than watching where I was going and ended up in what looked like a cafeteria. There were a few people sitting by the tables talking, some were on their phones and others were doing their homework.

The cafeteria was quite large, with maybe 30-40 round tables covering the floor, and a café with a wide choice in food and drinks. There were also huge glass windows at the back of the room, revealing the backside of the school. Outside was a big field, probably the one used for PE, but also a big hall with a sign saying "SINA SWIMMING". Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all.

However, at this place I was the odd one out, standing alone in the middle of the room looking confused.

Getting lost the first day of school.. just great.

I cursed under my breath and pulled out my phone. Two missed calls and a text from Mikasa.

"Where the FUCK are you??"

I was about to answer the text when a loud voice scared the shit out of me.

"Hello there! Are you lost?!"

When I turned around I almost fell on my ass because the person's face was way too close to mine. This person had definitely not heard of personal space.

The voice belonged to a girl, probably older than me, with squared glasses and dark brown hair pinned up in a loose ponytail. She was looking at me with big eyes, a look of someone who found their prey.

"Who the fuck are you?" I said, moving further away from her."Ooh, aren't you a feisty one!" She let out a loud laugh.

"I was just wondering if you needed help, you looked lost. Are you new? I could totally tell from the look on your face." The words kept pouring out of her mouth, making it hard for me to keep up with what she was saying. "I- uh.. yeah." I blinked in confusion.

Suddenly, she flung her arm around my shoulders and grinned, her eyes sparkling. I cleared my throat.

"I was looking for my friend and somehow I ended up here.." I tried to pry her arm away, but it wouldn't budge.

"So you need help? I know almost everyone at this school, and everyone knows me. However, none of them really talks to me, only about me. I can't really figure out why.." She trailed off and looked in to the distance, a frown forming on her face. I raised my brow at her and cleared my throat again, trying to get her attention. Her head snapped towards me and she let go of my shoulders. "Oh, yeah! What is your friend called?"

"Armin Arlert, but he probably went to class already.. Do you know where the first years have their English classes? I don't remember.."

She gave me a nod and moved her hand up to her face, then tapped a finger against her chin as if she was thinking really hard. There was something seriously wrong with this girl. It looked like she was constantly trying out for a play, but miserably failing.

While she was "thinking", I pulled out my phone to check the time.

07:55.

Shit. five minutes until class starts, Mikasa is totally gonna kill me..

"Ah! I know. Follow me!" The weird girl started pulling me by the arm, so I shoved my phone back in my pocket and stumbled after her.

"By the way, my name is Hanji Zoe, nice to meet you. I'm a 3rd year, my deepest wish is to become a scientist. I have two pet hamsters called Sawney and Bean, they don't really like people, they tend to bite. I love experimenting on pe-"

"I'm sorry.. Hanji, It's Hanji right?" I said, feeling a bit annoyed by all her rambling.

She stopped suddenly when hearing her name and turned around quickly, her chestnut-brown eyes shining with excitement.

"I appreciate you helping me and all, but my class is starting in about four minutes and I'd rather not be late for my first class. Could you please tell me where we are going instead of talking about your fucking hamsters?" Her expression changed from one of excitement to looking hurt.

Ahh, come on, I thought. I started to panic, regretting what I just said. Hanji seemed like a nice person even if she was a bit strange. She said she knew her way around school so it probably wasn't a bad idea to stay on her good side, If she even had a bad one.. Not that I would like to know.

"Sorry.. I didn't mean that, I'm just stressed.." I sighed.

She gave me a small nod and started walking quickly towards the hallway, pulling me by the arm.

"We should probably run."