The Exchange Student

Chapter 3

"Do you think we'll miss them once they go ?"

"Huh?"

"The exchange students - Hanji, Petra, Erwin ..." murmured Armin, carefully omitting Levi's name since he and Eren weren't on good terms.
Eren realized that, and he was grateful for it, as his goal on this little break was to get his mind off of building a friendship with Levi.

"Yeah, I'd say we're pretty close even though we only got to know each other like, two days ago. I definitely know I'll be a little sad at seeing them go in six months" sighed Armin.

"I admit, their presence doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, they're actually pretty cool. I don't know much about the other students, apart from the bouncy girl, Annaëlle I think, and honestly part of me wants to stick with those we got to know. I don't want to have my first impressions spoiled," he laughed.

The blond teenager shifted in his place, making himself more comfortable. "Who knows, we might accidentally get paired with someone for some other project that could easily spring out from Mr. Pixis's head."

"Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if he came up with something unusual. However, I have to admit his idea of an exchange with a french school is actually not bad. I'd love to go to a school in a different country, see how it all works with my own eyes, and not what they show in movies or whatnot. Kinda too cliche for me. At least we could compare a different students' life from there to those of Hanji and the others, get to know other lifestyles, if we were ever to talk to them. If they are sociable. But then you would have to pretend to be sociable too Eren. Because if you were to be taken as a typical student then ... I feel like no one would come live here" grinned Mikasa.

"Shut up," said Eren, giving her a playful shove, making her groan in displeasure at being moved from her comfortable position.

"A shy giant, a crazy human who's constantly high, a chill student and an ice cube. That sums it up pretty well," joked Mikasa. "I think only Petra can make the non-nicknamed cut, she hasn't done anything yet to earn one."

Eren made a sound in agreement, the sun starting to get into his head, pulling a thin haze over his mind, slowly lulling him into a peaceful oblivion.

"He looks so peaceful ... Don't wake him up Mika, we aren't in that much of a rush. It's barely past five o'clock."

"How little sleep does Eren get to shut down for two hours ? I know the sun might've made him sleepy, 'cause I am too, but he hasn't even stirred. He would've ended up burnt if we didn't cover him up. Not that his skin does burn, he remains tanned all the time, quite the opposite of ours" said a female voice. Eren felt a soft hand gently stroke his hair, removing a few stray hairs from his forehead.

"I don't know ... He was probably going over a test or something. In any case two nights wouldn't cause such a big amount of tiredness would it ? Or maybe he stayed up reading, watching Netflix ... I don't know to be honest."

He heard an audible sigh as the hand paused. "I swear to god if Levi doesn't take into account Eren's kind heart I will murder him there and then." The soft strokes on his head resumed.
Eren was grateful for having such good friends, although he felt a little bad for eavesdropping on their conversation since they thought he was asleep at the time.
They weren't wrong as a whole, he had been getting a lot less sleep, due to him waking up in the middle of the night for an hour or so, though he didn't know why. He was sure it would go away after a while, but for the time being he didn't think it would be anything to worry about. Most likely the fact of someone else sleeping in his room. Maybe Levi snored. Who would know.
Eren mentally laughed at himself, knowing very well Levi didn't, or rarely, snore. He had even told Mikasa he didn't, and he didn't say it as a lie.