Unspoken Norms | Levi Ackerman ✔️

Chp 12 ~ Envy Incarnated

I'm really sorry, but Petra will have to be OOC for the role of the 'jealous' admirer... It just flows better with the storyline. Love you Petra!

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Your POV

Over the course of the next few weeks, the exams came barrelling in successively. So far, I had only completed two—being maths and geography—with perhaps six more to go. I knew I did quite poorly in the first two assessments, especially maths. Having this in mind, I was not ready to fail the upcoming ones.

"Hey (Y/N)!" Connie's voice startled me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, right as movement caught my eye. Behind Connie, Eren and Jean were at it again; both of them taking turns to punch the life out of each other. Whatever caused the brawl this time... A sigh escaped my lips.

I began to seriously doubt if they even knew the definition of entertainment. The way I saw it, their definition of entertainment was getting killed by their own fists.

Beside me, Armin shared the same exasperation, while Mikasa watched silently.

Connie got up from his seat, squishing in beside Sasha to show me a slightly crinkled page. Five paragraphs of illegible words took up the space, the letters not even lined up properly. "I need help with my essay! You're good with English—can you give me some feedback?" Connie inquired, a hand scratching his head.

I bit my lip. "How can I give you feedback if I can't even read it?"

The notorious loudmouth shoved the paper at his face, squinting at the words. "Is it that messy? Well um..." A shameful smile passed over his lips, and I felt guilty for pointing out his unreadable handwriting. Whoops.

I looked pleadingly to Mikasa, sitting near Armin. Eyes of flint noticed me, raven wisps darting back and forth. "Do you think you can help Connie, Mikasa?"

I knew that my actions were only to get myself out of the situation, but I didn't know what else to do. The black-haired girl nodded. "Let me see it first."

Gratitude swelled up in my chest as Connie moved again to a different seat, leaving Sasha with her beastlike eating manner. I shook my head, smiling to myself. That bread lover was one kind of a creature. Averting my gaze, my eyes landed on a distant table, sheltered by a leaf-shedding sycamore maple.

The leaves flittered gold, red and umber, signalling the arrival of autumn. They swept down towards the aluminium benches, where a group of girls—my year—sat. I recognised the perky student with gold hair and amber eyes, blushing youthfully.

Curious, I surveyed the area, trying to find the source of her blushing. Unsurprisingly, the source came in the form of severity and aloofness; Levi himself.

He was surrounded by Isabel, Furlan and the group of bullies, arms and legs crossed with his back to the table. That icy manner divulged nothing, only the coldness of his gaze.

My heart at once felt all sorts of feelings—mostly hatred and annoyance, but beneath it there was a trickle of admiration... caused by his earlier conduct at the assembly. Pfft. Why was I impressed by that?

Mentally cursing myself for being so easily swayed, my eyes returned to the blonde-haired girl, expecting to discover what else she was doing. Only to find those amber eyes staring straight at me. It was as if she saw me looking at him.

Even from a distance, I could clearly read the expression in her glare:

Back off, girl. This one's taken.

***

The end of lunch drew us nearer towards our English exam in Period 7. I hardly remembered my quotes, not to mention their techniques, but at least I had three somewhat clear points. If only I could read Connie's handwriting—I could've perhaps stolen a few words.

Not that I would ever do that.

I redid my ponytail along the way to my locker with a new scrunchy this time. The one Jarrod pulled out... I didn't even know where it went. The thought replayed flashes of that evening. Of Levi intervening Jarrod's taunting actions.

Don't you brats have better things to do?

I could have sworn there was good intention behind those words. As if he truly wanted to guide them away from bullying me. Part of me wanted to believe in this possibility, to tear apart all this hatred I've placed between me and him.

But still... he hung out with them. He didn't even try to intercept the group of bullies when they victimised poor Issac. Levi didn't stop them bullying Issac...why did he try to stop them from bullying you?

I shrugged off the prickling sensation of the thought. There was no time for this. I had an exam coming up—soon—and if I didn't start memorising my quotes, I would fail.

And I also needed to head to the student kitchens for Period 6 food tech.

Fastening my pace, I reached my locker within minutes, undoing the lock before hastily swinging the door open. The momentum was too much—I winced as the locker door whacked into someone beside me, the impact ringing out loud and clear.

Hissing a quiet curse, I heaved textbooks from my bag and shoved them into the compartment, not caring to see if the person was okay. I was already late to class—I didn't need to be more late.

The next moment, I highly regretted what I did. As soon as I closed the door, large fiery eyes pierced mine, face fringed by golden hair. A faint red mark bloomed on the girl's temple; visible evidence of my rashness. To my dismay, it was the same girl who thought she owned Levi Ackerman.

She jabbed her index finger at me, glare promising vengeance. "Listen up right now," she seethed, brows tightening. "Firstly, no one dares to steal what belongs to me—and I am talking about my Levi here—secondly, no one hits me with their locker door like they don't fricking care! So don't you ever throw this sort of trash at me, you understand?"

I blinked at her, processing all the fury she just catapulted at my face. And I mean literally catapulted. This woman had some considerable amount of rage.

Before I could reply, she swept off down the hallway, bag twirling with her movements. The afternoon rays lit up her honey locks, dazzling my eyes for one second. Two other girls joined her stride, one with dark dreadlocks, the other with auburn hair.

I stood there, completely forgetting about Period 6 until someone walked past me, hands in pockets. "Oi brat, cut out the crap. We have class."

That was a second slap to the face. Levi acknowledging my presence... even speaking to me...

What kind of hallucination is this?