Tutor

Chapter 23 ~ All is Well

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Armin's POV:

I saw the familiar raven haired girl I have known for a majority of my life.

"Mikasa!" I waved my hand as she turned to see who called her name. She smiled as she hurriedly walked towards me.

"Hi Armin, what's up?"

"Eren's back from vacation today!" She scowled at the thought of Levi and Eren together. I knew she didn't approve of him, and was very protective when it came to Eren. She had a minor crush on him, or so it seemed.

"Maybe we can visit him later, or something."

"So how are things?"

"They've been rocky, but I'm fine now." She fiddled with her iPhone 5c as she saw Sasha scoot around the corner with her boyfriend, Connie.

"Well, I'll text you later." She kindly smiled as she left.

Lately, Mikasa has been acting strange, and I figured out why. Her sleeves grew longer as she grew quieter. She was always smiling, helping people, and playing a false role. She was depressed.

You can't know who's what from a single glance. It took me months to figure out her reasons for being so secretive.

-Flashback-

I visited Mikasa's house, working on a project that was soon due. As we worked, she said she had to use the bathroom.

I misplaced my pencil, and conducted a search for another one nearby. Rummaging through the drawers, I found blades. Several of them. There were some screws, and handheld pencil sharpeners that were pulled apart. The sound of footsteps padding the room grew louder. I straightened my sweater vest, using a pen in the absence of my pencil.

Why was Mikasa depressed? Did family conflict happen? Those questions remained unanswered for months.

Nearing towards the end of the year, things fell apart. Mikasa's mom died from an uncured disease, Eren announced he was gay, and she was isolating herself away from the world.

Everyday, I tried helping her. I didn't make it obvious that I knew her secrets, either. I've always had a liking for Mikasa, romantically and friendly, but for all I knew, her only thought was my other best friend, Eren.

-x-

I received a text from Eren.

July 5, 3:06pm. Message received from Eren/Bro:

A famous art buyer noticed my art blog!

Reply to Eren/Bro:

That's awesome, man!

July 5, 3:09pm. Message received from Eren/Bro:

He's also interested in buying a piece of my art! I'M SO PSYCHED MAN

Reply to Eren/Bro:

It's the beginning to your career! 😉

July 5, 3:11pm. Message received from Eren/Bro:

Haha, I gtg for now. text you l8

Not only did it bother me he didn't use proper grammar, but using the numbers in words. An example would be "l8". Gods, was it annoying.

~

Eren's POV:

"I'll text you later." I told my boyfriend, pecking his thin lips. I was excited not only about my art, but my new phone was coming in any day. My dad decided to surprise with an iPhone since I ended the school year on a good note. It was better then some shitty flip phone.

I ran downstairs to my room and opened my laptop, and booted her up. I took a swig of water from an old water bottle. The taste was dusty and in a way, kind of stale.

I ran my fingers through my shaggily short hair, feeling it's greasiness. I rotated myself and observed the state of my room.

Levi and I finished a cleaning session of my room about an hour ago, and I discovered my room had a carpeted floor.

Turning my attention to my slow laptop, I pulled up Google Chrome. Logging into tumblr, my blog was loaded with positive feed.

A drawing of a landscape got over 193,000 notes. And I've received at least 1,000 followers.

I fanboyed (is that even a thing?) over my feed, and how many actives my blog had.

I heard the automatic rumble of the garage door sliding open, followed by the hum of my dad's car.

I dashed up the stairs, tripping halfway up. We had little to no appetizing food.

"Eren, help with the groceries." My dad's kind tone filled the room. I happily unloaded the groceries occupying the car.

"How was work, dad?"

"It was alright. How was your vacation?"

"Patriotic. Petra says hi. I also didn't know she was a nurse."

"She went back to school and got a degree and everything." He smiled at the thought of his old friend.

"Does Levi have any parents?" I felt uncomfortable talking to my dad about Levi, I wasn't at ease.

"Not that I know of." I put the plastic bags in a cabinet where we usually stored them.

"I have some work I'll be doing, so keep it down." He patted my back and smiled at me, and I returned the favor.

For once in my short 16 years, everything in life was perfect.

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