T.W. This chapter will contain derogatory terms towards those who have disabilities and those who are LGBT. Please read with caution if this may trigger you.

EREN

It's almost the end of the day and gosh, it can't get here any faster. I almost made it through the whole day without running into Toby but then I got to my last period, music, and he was in it. On top of that, he decided to sit right beside me and torture me for the entirety of class. Hopefully, we'd be assigned seats soon so I can get away from him for a bit. It's still about fifteen minutes before class ends. Toby has calmed but not for long, he's in the middle of texting someone, probably another girl he keeps hitting on. 

Our music teacher, Mr. Garner, was done giving us a speech on what we'd be doing and was relaxing while we had free time. I had seen Mr. Garner around the school, last year, when he became the new music teacher and from what I could tell, he was a chill teacher as long as you didn't make trouble. I was listening to some music on my phone to drown out the noisiness of the classroom when my phone started to buzz and I looked at it, it was a text from Charlie.

"Can we meet after school?" the text read. "Sure. I'll meet you at the front doors, see you in a few mins." I texted back. 

As soon as the bell rang, people are running the halls ready to leave the school or look for afterschool activities to do. We're holding a "Club Convention" in the gym which is essentially just where students can sign up for a club or learn about different ones. I'll be going soon to look for the drama club but first I gotta find Charlie. I walk past the crowds, kids heading to buses, the gym, walking home, etc. I make it to the front doors and find Charlie, who seems down. He spotted me before I could make it over to him and he waved but he definitely looked sad. I walked up to him and signed "You okay?"

He looked at me weirdly, it's the first time I had seen Charlie look upset and it was kinda unnerving. He's usually pretty pleased and cheerful. I held out my arms, wondering if a hug might help and he hugged me. Over the time I've known him, I've learned he's very physically affectionate and gains most happiness from being in close contact with people he knows. We hug for a bit before he pulls back and signs something I don't completely understand. The only words I understood were 'sad' and 'girl'. I take out my notebook and hand it to him. He takes it and writes.

"I'm sorry, I had a tough time in my fourth period. There was a girl who kinda upset me and I really needed a hug." He wrote. I read it and wrote back. "What did she say? I can talk to her if you want." I wrote and he shook his head. Although I was worried about him, if he doesn't want me to get involved, it's best I don't. I just hope this doesn't become a bigger problem later on. I'm not sure if Charlie knows about the Club Convention so we head to the gym so he can see if there's anything he's interested in. Jenn, Anne, and Theo are also there, entering the clubs they'd been in last year. I also headed to get into Drama Club. 

Ever since I was ten years old, I've been into acting and singing. I've been told I'm pretty good at singing, of course, most times by my mom, and have been in about 3 plays so far. Most times, we do well-known plays at our high school like Romeo and Juliet, Mary Poppins, and Peter and the Starcatcher but sometimes the drama club puts on their own plays written by their members. I'm hoping to write a play for this year's fall or spring performances. Once I sign up, we all relax on the bleachers and talk. Jenn and Theo are bombarding Charlie with questions about where he used to live and how his school was before. Anne and I are arguing over if Shiba Inus or Huskies are better.

"You don't understand, Eren, huskies are great!" She argues. "They're larger, probably stronger and they even have they're own job, sled dogs are so cool." I shake my head. 

"Shiba Inus are both cuter, squishier and who cares if huskies have jobs, have you seen Shiba Inu puppies? They're adorable." I argue back. We keep bickering before a girl walks up onto the bleachers, approaching us.

"Oh god, here comes the 'lioness'," Jenn says, aggravated. It's Paige Berkeley, probably one of the bitchiest girls in this school who can't seem to keep to herself. Charlie starts to look uncomfortable. I think I know why. Paige stops and smirks at us.

"Well, I see you guys are talking to the new cripple now," she says. Charlie looked away and Jenn stood up, standing in front of her. "Excuse me?" Jenn says.

"I guess it's not surprising, especially since you all already have one cripple in the group already," she says, looking at Anne. Charlie looks confused by the statement and looks at Anne. "Guys, let's just go. I don't wanna deal with this..." Anne says, we start to get up and I tap Charlie, letting him know we're leaving. As we walk away, Paige yells from behind.

"Yeah, leave, no one likes crips or homos!" she yells. I stop and am about to turn around before Theo holds my upper arm and we continue walking out of the gym. This day could not have ended any worse than it just did and all of us were on edge now.

Once we all were outside, Anne started to cry and Jenn comforted her. Charlie tapped my shoulder and I looked at him. He still had my notepad and he wrote on it.

"What did Paige mean by 'one cripple in the group already?'" He wrote. Theo looked over my shoulder as I read it and we both sighed. "I'll tell him," Theo said.

Theo took the notepad and started to write about how we met Anne and what happened to her back when we were all in sixth grade.