The Cadet's Origin

Chapter Thirty One - Finally

Kenna was reevaluating all the choices she had made in her life that had gotten her to this point in her life. She was cursing everything that had caused her to be chased up this tree.

"Go away," Kenna yelled as she kicked away Bertolt's hands from the branch that she was holding onto.

"Kenna, I swear to the walls if you don't come down I will drag you down," Bertolt said as he attempted to climb up the tree.

"If you try and come up here I will just climb up to the branches that won't support your weight," Kenna said as she moved closer to the trunk of the tree.

Bertolt managed to pull himself up on the branch, "Kenna, get down from the tree."

"Are you going to try and get me to talk with him?" Kenna asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"You've been avoiding him for a month," Bertolt said. "Something has got to give, and none of us can take it anymore."

"So, you're here to try and fix it," Kenna said. "Well nice try, but not going to happen, Bertolt. I'm not getting down."

"Kenna, you can't live the rest of your life avoiding him," Bertolt said.

"You underestimate my ability to avoid situations I'm uncomfortable in," Kenna said.

"Do you even care how this has been affecting him?" Bertolt asked. Kenna opened her mouth, but then promptly closed it. "Come on, Kenna, we all know you like him."

Kenna didn't know what to say to that. Instead, she jumped out of the tree and ran off to go and hide.

Kenna shut herself in the girl's sleeping cabin. Kenna wished she didn't have to. She wished that she had the courage to go out and say something. The door opened and Kenna heard people file in. Kenna looked towards the door and saw that Mikasa and Sasha were walking over to her.

"What do you guys want?" Kenna asked as they stopped in front of her.

"Get out of here," Mikasa said.

"Not you guys too," Kenna groaned as she fell into her pillow.

"Come on, Kenna," Sasha said. "Just get out of here. The day is beautiful, and I hear they're serving double rations in the dining hall tonight."

"No," Kenna said.

"Are you just going to spend the rest of your free time in here from now on?" Mikasa asked.

"Maybe," Kenna said.

"Kenna," Sasha said as she sat on the bed next to Kenna. "Please come outside."

"No," Kenna said. "I'm just going to be forced to talk to him."

She could feel how red her cheeks were. Her eyes were trained on the spot on her bed in front of her feet. Kenna just couldn't bring herself to look at her friends.

"What's going on here?" Kenna looked up at saw that Ymir was walking towards them. She stopped in front of them and crossed her arms. "Are you throwing yourself a pity party because you can't handle the fact that Reiner likes you."

"Don't make her more miserable than she already is," Mikasa snapped at Ymir.

"She's making herself miserable," Ymir said. She turned her attention to Kenna. "All because you can't bring yourself to admit that you like Reiner." Kenna wanted to argue, but she knew that Ymir wouldn't give her any chance. "What's so bad about the fact that you like him anyways? I mean, he's not my type, but he's not a completely horrible option. So, tell me, why can't you just walk out of here and talk to him."