The Way She Looks At Me

Chapter III: Her House

"Sometimes, Accepting help is harder than offering it."

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I sat in my usual spot for first period math, Armin and I were usually early to our classes. I sat, my headphones in. Music is one of the only good things in this godforsaken world.

10 minutes before the bell was supposed to ring, Mikasa sat in her seat next to me. We sent no more text messages to each other after her response.

She turned to me, but I kept my headphones in and pretended to not notice, which lead to her tapping my shoulder.

"Hm?" I questioned, taking one out. "We're still walking back to my house after school right? Like, together?" She questioned back, seeming slightly stressed, yet her voice still stale and dead. I almost couldn't reply, "Yeah?" I told her, my usual attitude shining through, yet I was still taken back by how her voice represents how I feel. Maybe she's like me.

She nodded, "Okay, where do we meet?"

Her concern genuinely baffled me, 'What is up with this girl.?" My thoughts flooding with curiosity for her. "The picnic table outside the front, main doors." I replied after a moment of thought. "Is that good with you?" I added, inspecting her, to which she nodded.

I must have looked at her weird or she remembered something, because her face turned slightly red, causing her soft voice to question me, "What?"

She had some nerve. The amount she stared at me yesterday during class was crazy. Usually things like this would anger me, and I'd be done with the situation, but I felt more confused than angry. Which was a first.

"Nothing." I told her bluntly, instead of saying what I originally thought of saying. "Just got lost in thought." I shot out, partially lying.

Mikasa just shrugged and finally seemed to turn her attention to the bell that had just rang, indicating that math class was beginning.

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It had been snowing since the end of first period, and it was snowing hard, and it didn't seem to let up.

I scoffed when my phone ended up dying as I sat, waiting. My butt on the table part of the picnic table, and my feet on the bench. It was cold.

I began watching the snow fall, admiring how beautiful the terrible world around me was.

I was startled at the sound of a short giggle, looking towards the person who made it, I was surprised.
"I like watching the snow fall too." Mikasa revealed, her voice actually holding an ounce of emotion. My stomach turned when she began looking up at it too.

"We should probably get going." I interrupted, "It's cold out here." My voice was low, I wasn't really too cold, I just didn't know how long I could stand the situation. I felt uneasy, I didn't know why.

She rubbed her head lightly, "yeah." Her voice returned to its normal state, which relieved me. "Come on." She finished, motioning for me to follow as she began our journey. "How far is it?" I questioned, catching up to her.

She shrugged, "Around ten minutes." I pursed my lips, "Not too bad at all." She turned her head and looked at me with a weird expression on her face, "Why is your face like that?" She questioned, immediately offending me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, slight aggression filling my voice, which made her giggle again. "I didn't mean it like that, sorry." She half-heartedly apologized, that hint of emotion back, making my stomach feel as it did before. What was this? "I meant like, why are you making that face?" She continued.

I immediately felt stupid, "I don't know what you mean." I said in a near whisper, "What face?" I added, not expecting what happened next.

"This one." She attempted to make the face I made, and she looked absolutely ridiculous, I began chuckling, but I immediately stifled it. Her already red face from the cold, got even more red as she realized she looked silly. "Whatever, nevermind." She finished. I could tell she wasn't mad, my stomach still felt uneasy because that slight bit of emotion was still present. "We're here anyways." She finished, turning quickly into a yard filled with about a foot and a half of snow I suspected to be hers.

I was correct, of course. Her house was nice, it was a two story, fairly decent size. She lead me to the front door and got her keys out to unlock it. "Why is it locked? Aren't your parents inside?" She looked back at me confused, "No, I live with my uncle, He's a police officer." She replied, as if I should've known. "My room is upstairs, we'll be in there since all of my stuff is up there." She informed me.

Her house smelt nice, it was a lavender smell. Whether it was her, or her uncle who cleaned. They took it extremely seriously. Once we arrived to her room I was immediately hit with the sweet smell only describable as 'Candy Apple'. Everything was neat and organized, except her closet. It was full of unpacked boxes.

"Let's get started, shall we?" She said as she put her school things on her desk and grabbed her laptop and sat on her bed. I didn't know what to do, so I stood there, with my things from school, awkwardly. That earned me yet another weird look, "Put your stuff down and come sit down." She said in mild disbelief, patting a spot next to her on the bed.

I sighed, putting my school supplies next to hers and I took a seat on the opposite side of the bed, which made her sigh. She got up and moved right next to me. "You need to be able to see the screen too." She told me, making me feel even more dumb. I was not experienced with hanging out with people that weren't Armin, or the people who ate lunch with me, nor being in a females room, especially it just being the two of us. We finally began our project and she immediately took control.

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After long hours of research, working and finishing our rough draft. "I think it's time I leave." I stated, as it was late. "I'm getting hungry and we're already way ahead of schedule." My stomach growled as I said that, to which her stomach replied. "Me too. Yeah, it's probably best if we finish this tomorrow." I just nodded, "Thanks for having me, I guess." I said awkwardly as she got up to follow me downstairs.
As we made it down, we both gasped at what we saw.

Her windows were covered in snow, you could only see out the top.

"Are we trapped?" I questioned in disbelief.

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Oh boy, STUCK, are we? What will happen next chapter? Should've looked at the weather app before going, huh?

I hope all of you are doing good! Comment down below, I'd love to hear from you!

I'm here for any of you if you're going through anything. Just PM me!

-CBN-