Content warnings; foul language (mild) :(
I had been ignoring Eren since yesterday, though, he was so persistent in getting me to talk to him. He'd often spam text my phone, but I wouldn't answer—it's not like I didn't want to, I just couldn't. Those words he said to me when I had last spoke to him, truly did sadden me and I couldn't find it in my heart to talk to him.
I never felt this distressed about the barbaric things he said to me before—until now at least, because this time it just felt different. I had been ignoring Jean's texts too because of his austere attitude and accusations of me allegedly lying to him.
I sat up in her bed, gazing down at my slightly aching body. When I had came over last night, I barely spoke to Historia. We conversed here and there, but we hadn't talked like we normally would. I didn't know what to say to her, I didn't know what to say to anyone anymore.
She quietly walked in, holding a plate of food for me. I reached out and noticed her eyes lowered, surveying my bruises and cuts. She immediately locked her eyes back into mine and I could see the fretfulness on her face. She tried her best to contain her angelic smile, but I knew deep down inside, she was well over apprehensive.
She sat down on her bed next to me and we silently ate our food. The scraping of the metal forks against the white ceramic plates was the only thing breaking the silence in between us.
"Eren didn't do this." I said, abruptly.
Historia stopped chewing and looked over at me, "Did you do it to yourself?" She asked, apprehensively.
I sighed, "N-no I didn't, it was Hitch and her friends." I admitted, disregarding the fact that I did cut my arm prior to the whole situation with Hitch.
She gasped, "Hitch?! We have to do something—or tell the administration! Someone at least, goddamn it! (Y/N), why didn't you tell me this sooner?" She asked frantically, slamming her utensils onto the plate.
"No!" I screamed, "You can't tell anyone. You're lucky enough that I told you." I said, candidly.
She slightly furrowed her eyebrows, "Why can't I tell anyone? What's stopping you—and me, from telling anyone?" She questioned, angry over the fact that she can't help me.
I huffed, timorously playing with the food on my plate, "Hitch, she threatened me. Call me dumb or whatever, but I believe her. That bitch is beyond crazy." I replied.
"Th-threatened you? Oh god, what did she say to you, (Y/N)?" She questioned, her eyes filled with discontent.
"...That she'd kill me if I told anyone." I spoke, softly.
"(Y/N), eventually the truth is going to have to come out. How long are you going to keep listening to these false rumors? Jean's upset now and everything went to shit." She explained, sighing.
"I don't care that he's upset right now." I replied, flatly.
She side-eyed me, "Did something happen between you two?" She asked.
"Something like that. He was being a total dick and calling me a liar, when I honestly couldn't tell him what really happened." I averted, rolling my eyes.
She smiled, "Well, it's a good thing you didn't tell him. Jean really cares about you, so whether he promised you he wouldn't tell anyone or not, he'd still go out his way to protect you." She placed her hand on top of mine, reassuringly.
"I talked to Petra yesterday at school. Hitch beat the fuck out of her because she refused to—you know, jump me or whatever. I asked her to help me take Hitch down and she obliged." I said.
"I'm surprised you got her on board with that, but I want to help you too. I think it's time I officially stand up to her all by myself." She whole-heartedly smiled.
I smiled.
"...I can't stop thinking about him—Eren, I mean. He got suspended all because of me and I'm pretty sure Mikasa hates me for it." I sighed, feeling slightly guilty.
"It's not your fault. She may be upset with you right now, but she'll get over it." She replied.
After our long conversation, it was officially time for school. I didn't bother changing into my uniform; probably going to get chastised for it later on, but I was going to spend most of my time sulking in class anyway. Historia and I walked to school, entering the entrance hall. We ambled to my locker and waited for class to start.
"(Y/N)!" Petra ran up to us, panting. "I think I found some things I can use against Hitch. When is this whole ordeal suppose to happen?" She questioned, weakly smiling at the two of us.
"Oh, I'm not sure. We'll have to humiliate her in front of everyone, though, I'm not sure how we're going to do that." I replied, rubbing my arms.
"At the dance, maybe?" Historia suggested.
Historia, Petra and I stood at my locker for a few minutes or so, formulating ideas to expose Hitch for everything she had done.
"Well, what do we fucking have here?" A familiar voice spoke, intruding our conversation indifferently.
The three of us turned around, face to face with Hitch, Mina and Gabi. Petra froze in place, her skin turning pale and her body stone cold. As if the timing couldn't be even more perfect.
"Are you seriously talking to these bitches, Petra? " She said, gesturing at us. "I knew you were gonna betray us at some point. It's your loss though, we were just using you anyway." Hitch shrugged it off, picking her nails carelessly.
Petra frowned, "Wh-what do you mean you were just using me? That can't be true!" She questioned.
"What do you think it means, moron? We never cared about you. Hell, we don't even like you, but it was fun using you as a pawn while it lasted." Hitch had responded, emotionlessly.
She shook her head, "You were using me after everything I did for each and every one of you?! Are you kidding me right now?" She raised her voice, causing a crowd of people to swarm around us.
"In all honesty, if push comes to shove Petra, you would've been the bitch to shove." She stated, cold-heartedly.
"You really are a bitch." Petra whispered, clutching her fists.
"If I'm a bitch, then what are you? You're just a little conniving whore and I'm going to expose every little secret about you." Hitch said, turning around to face the crowd of curious students.
She continued, "Besides, I saw you speaking to (Y/N) yesterday. I'm not dumb, you know." She crossed her arms.
I squeezed Petra's hand, "I guess now is your chance, Petra." I whispered over to her.
"Besides, everyone's already watching, so why not? Let's put on a show for the entire school to hear, yeah?" She shrugged, laughing.
Petra exhaled, "You want to expose secrets, Hitch? Then let's expose secrets, two can play that game." She stated, firmly.
"Petra has an obsession over Captain Levi. Can you believe it? I mean pictures and all, I kid you not. This bitch has this poor man hanging up on her walls." She spoke loud enough, so that everyone could hear her.
Students laughed amongst themselves.
"Check your phone everyone. You'll see a picture of Petra getting shit-faced at a party. Embarrassing, I know." Hitch stated, pulling out her phone to air drop embarrassing pictures of Petra.
The nerve of this girl!
A bunch of students swiftly pulled out their phones and started snickering.
"And you guys didn't help me? You let that happen to me and your first instinct was to record?" She asked, voice slightly cracking.
"I told you. We don't care about you. We found every opportunity in the book to humiliate you, but you were too naive to realize it. So in reality, it was your fault." She responded, apathetically.
"Maybe you're right, but none of this compares to fucking Mina's boyfriend behind her back." She voiced, as loud as possible.
Mina frowned, "Wait, wh-what? What did you say?" Mina asked, fixating her gaze on Hitch, who just so happened to be turning crimson red.
"She's lying." Hitch denied, rolling her eyes.
"Am I lying or are these texts and images you sent me lying?" She smiled deviously, holding up her phone. "I mean, feel free to scroll through. Sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, I was threatened by her not to." Petra offered, shrugging.
"What the actual fuck is wrong with you, Hitch? You're such a fucking slut! I should've known." Mina yelled, flailing her arms into the air before shoving Hitch into the lockers. The students around us, began pulling out their phones and recording.
"Also, do you plan on telling Gabi you stole hundreds of dollars from her parents behind her back?" Petra asked.
"Hitch, it was you!? How could you even do that to me? I've gotten in so much trouble for that, you fake whore!" Gabi snapped, slapping the shit out of her.
"Sh-she's lying.." Hitch said, weakly muttering underneath her breath.
"Hitch, are you going to tell everyone how you forced a girl into suicide." Petra continued, while everyone's smiles dispersed.
"Are you going to tell everyone you bullied Historia in middle school and gave her a broken nose because you jumped her?" I asked, inserting myself into the conversation.
"The three of you hurt me, you beat on me, called me worthless in so many ways and I wanted to end my life because of you. I thought I was a monster for the longest time, but it's you. You're the monsters." Historia voiced, tears emerging from her eyes.
"Sh-she made me do it! I didn't want to jump Historia or you (Y/N), but I was forced." Gabi shouted, slightly crying.
"I didn't either! Hitch just didn't want to do it alone. I never wanted this!" Mina added on.
"I dragged you two along to protect myself, I never needed any of you." Hitch mumbled, still propped up against the lockers.
"Shut the fuck up, I don't want to hear you speak! I've bent over backwards for you and look where the fuck it got me." Mina said, punching Hitch directly in the face.
I heard angry whispers amongst the students. Everyone swiftly starting shouting out hateful words towards Hitch and throwing all sorts of things at her, including pencils, trash, and even textbooks. It was safe to say that everyone hated her.
I exhaled deeply, "Are you going to tell everyone how I really got these bruises, Hitch? Are you going to tell everyone that you, Mina, and Gabi jumped me and then framed Eren for it and got him suspended." I queried, crying from vexation.
Hitch remained inaudible, as well as everyone else. It was the first time I had ever seen her speechless because she knew that there was no coming back from this. Students started making a raucous, voicing their opinions about Hitch and the situation itself. Shortly after, administration intruded the facade and escorted Hitch, Mina and Gabi to the office.
❀
School was even more grueling than usual. Erwin lectured us the entire class period, not even taking a single break from talking. Levi had us do physical training, including practice drills. We also had to do one hundred push-ups because we seemed too 'weak' today and according to Levi, it agitated him.
But aside from all of that, I heard that Hitch, Mina, and Gabi had gotten expelled. Historia, Petra, and I were called into the office to explain our sides of the story. I figured it was my time to make things right, so I told them about how it wasn't Jean or Eren's fault for reacting the way they did. So, the two of them were also asked to return to school sooner, since it was all just a misunderstanding.
I had spent most of the day doing homework, watching tv, and then grocery shopping with Historia for snacks because tonight was movie night; horror movie addition of course, which starts any minute now.
"Some of our friends are coming, which includes Jean. Are you okay with that?" Historia queried, placing chips and dip on the coffee table.
I sighed, "...I guess, as long as he doesn't speak to me." I answered, stretching my feet out.
After about a couple of minutes, Jean, Connie, Ymir, Hanji, and Sasha showed up as lively as ever. Sasha brought extra snacks, which of course was no surprise at all. Connie had brought some extra sodas and juice and Jean brought a large pepperoni pizza and hot wings. Jean and I made direct eye contact, but I swiftly looked away.
Sasha plopped down next to me, "Alright, I want ten bags of popcorn, a box of cookies, four slices of pizzas, this specific bag of chips because these are my favorite, these jumbo bags of candy and—this!" Sasha voiced, picking up the entire box of hot wings.
"Put the wings down." Jean ordered rigidly, grabbing the wings from Sasha and extending his long arms across our bodies to place the food back on the table.
"Hey! Don't take your shit out on me because (Y/N) doesn't want to talk to you." Sasha blurted out, crossing her arms.
"Yeah! Live a little, Jeany. You've been acting like an emotional two year old since yesterday —no offense." Connie added on, sitting on Sasha's lap.
He sighed, "None taken. (Y/N), can I talk to you for a minute—alone." He said, completely flustered.
"While you two 'chat', we'll be discussing what movies to start off with, so don't take too long, okay?" Hanji said, smiling at the two of us.
As much as I didn't want to talk to him, the least I can do is hear what he has to say. I nodded my head reluctantly and followed him upstairs, so that no one could eavesdrop on our conversation. We gauchely stood in the middle of the hallway upstairs, staring at each other.
"Look (Y/N), I didn't mean to call you a liar or anything—and I really am sorry about that. I was being an asshole, but I was just trying to look out for you, you know?" He said, rummaging his fingers through his hair.
"I get that Jean, but you have to respect my decision when I say that I can't tell you anything. I wouldn't hide anything from you if it wasn't for a reason." I stated.
"It won't happen again. You don't have to tell me anything, until you're ready to. I shouldn't have turned my back on you that moment in time and I feel really shitty about it." He said, softly.
"Don't feel shitty, let's just move past it, alright?" I smiled.
"Yeah, sounds good." He replied, locking his eyes into mine. We stood there, staring into each other's eyes for a few seconds, until he leaned in to kiss me. He scooped my face with his hands delicately, as his tepid lips and kisses were in sync with mine.
I enjoyed it at first—that is, until Eren popped into my mind. I couldn't continue kissing Jean when someone else was on my mind. It wasn't right, it didn't feel right—and I felt guilty. I swiftly detached my lips from his and backed away.
"I'm sorry—I didn't mean to, no—uh, did I make you uncomfortable?" He asked, his face tinting with pink.
"N-no! Not at all, it's just the others are waiting for us and I'd like to hear movie suggestions." I replied, anxiously.
"Right, I'm sorry." He muttered.
"Jean, have you talked to Hitch recently by any means?" I asked.
"Uh, yeah. She kinda asked me for your address a couple of days ago, so that she could apologize to you for something. So, I gave it to her." He stated, shyly.
I kept my mouth shut and nodded. I couldn't blame Jean for falling into Hitch's manipulation. Who knows what she could've said to make him believe her.
We headed back downstairs to the rest of the group, whom decided that we should all watch The Ring movies. I sat back down in my original spot next to Sasha and Jean sat down next to me. The movie started playing and about twenty minutes in, my phone started buzzing.
From Eren:
(10:39 PM)
I'm sorry:(
Pls answer me
I ignored it, until he started texting me again.
From Eren:
(10:40 PM)
Want to go out for ice cream & talk abt it
let me make it up to u
🥺please🥺
From Me:
(10:41 PM)
Dont make me block you
From Eren:
(10:43 PM)
thought u were dead
im sorry I'll stop though
i miss you:(
ill leave u alone ☹️
From Me:
(10:45 PM)
goodnight, Eren
I silenced my phone and then locked it, finally focusing back on the movie.
"...Who were you texting?" Jean asked, inquisitively.
"Oh, just a friend from my old school. We were just checking up on each other." I replied, lying.
I miss you too Eren, but you hurt me.