The Exchange Student

Chapter 1

Armin pulled him out of his thoughts, tugging his sleeve to get him to stand up and join the rest of their class, just as Pixis was saying "Now I'll start pairing you up. Helen, with Jennifer, Dustin with Hervé, Ymir with Annie..."
Eren watched as each two students whose names were called out went to sit together, some looking happy, awkward, or nervous.
"Armin, you're with Erwin"
The blond boy with bushy eyebrows stepped forward, mirroring a relieved Armin, as they went to sit together.
Eren tried to hide his disappointment, just as Mikasa's name was called out, along with the student that looked hyper, whose name was Hanji.
Marco got paired with a brown haired boy called Jean - who looked like a horse if Eren was completely honest - , who seemed to have set his eyes on him, judging by the not-very-discreet looks he slid towards Marco.

At this point there were only a few students left, and Eren hoped he would get the blond girl. He could hear his classmates wondering about who would get the cold and distant looking male, the one Eren hoped with all of his heart he wouldn't get paired up with.
Slowly, everyone got paired up, save for Eren and Sasha. On the other side were the blonde girl and the raven.
Eren shivered, fear making spiders crawl down his back as he realized that following Pixis' logic, he would be left with the dark haired male.
Indeed, Sasha happily joined the blonde, called Petra, while Pixis announced, running two fingers over his mustache, "And Eren, you will be with Levi."
Armin shot Eren a sympathetic look as the brunette nervously walked over to the remaining table, sliding into a seat just as Levi came over.
"Now you will get the remainder of this hour to get to know each other, then during the day you will show your partner around the school," said Pixis.

Eren kept his head down and didn't talk, the tension growing between him and Levi until he couldn't take it anymore.

"HiI'mErennicetomeetyouI'msorryIcan'tspeakFrenchverywell."

Levi smirked and answered "Thankfully I speak English fluently, nobody would be able to understand that shit."

"I-I .... I'm sorry. How are you fluent ?" said Eren, blushing with shame.

"Not that it's any of your business, but my Uncle is American. Lived here for a while then went back to France. Does that answer your question brat ?"

"Oh okay I understand thanks ..."
Eren sank into his chair, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
He hated this exchange idea. He hated being shy. He hated not being able to talk with Levi. He hated how he was blushing. He hated how sacred he was. He hated Levi. Hell, he hated himself.

"Oi, brat. What's your surname," asked Levi. More like demanded, the way his monotone voice showed no variation whatsoever.

"Um Eren. I mean Yaeger. Yeah it's Yaeger." He paused cringing at his awkwardness. "What about you ?"

"Ackerman."

Another long silence ensued.
Eren envied Mikasa and Armin, who seemed to get along fine with their partners.

Levi glared at Eren, who recoiled even further into his chair.

"Do I have to fucking ask all the questions here ? I hate small talk, even more so when I have to do it," he spat.

"I'm sorry !"
Eren started to feel panic rising in his chest. He fought to quell it and calm his breathing, but Levi glaring at him didn't help at all. His heartbeat started speeding up as he began to feel a little lightheaded.
Why did he have to end up with the rudest and possibly uncaring person in the whole group ?
The bell ringing interrupted them, to Eren's great relief, giving him an excuse to bend down over his bag, pretending to get something out of it, as he attempted to calm himself as best he could.