Circles | Eren x Reader

Chapter 4- Tryouts:

The next day Jean walked up to our group still looking pretty torn up. He threw his arm around my shoulder, "(Y/N)! What would I do without you?!"

    "Probably nothing," I teased. "You'd still be stuck on the floor." Everyone laughed, including Jean.

    "Ha! Thank God for you guys." We walked to class, ready to spend another long, boring day together. Although, it wasn't as bad, having them around.

    The next few months of school passed by fairly quick— most of my days were spent tripping over Eren's feet or being shoved by him to the floor while Jean cursed him under his breadth.

    "I don't understand why he can't just leave us alone!" Sasha whined.

    "Yeah, it was already bad enough when it was just he and Jean, but now this?" Connie agreed. "It's just so pointless."

    Marco nodded his head. "It would be a lot nicer if Eren just kept to himself. Do you think we could talk to him? Maybe he'll back off."

    "Ha! Unlikely," Jean continued. "In fact, he's probably trying extra hard now that (Y/N) is refusing to give him a proper reaction!"

    Historia and Ymir popped up behind us: "Well," Historia chimed in, "at least we'll have a break soon. The Winter trip is coming up! One whole week of hiking—"

    "And food," Sasha added.

    "And sleeping in a dorm with Historia!" Ymir beamed. "I can guarantee her safety now!"

    "Um... did you guys forget the whole point of this entire trip?" asked Jean. "It's for soccer. Our team is playing against MP High for the finals up there... Speaking of which, are any of you going to try out for the team?"

    Connie, Sasha, and Ymir all said yes. Historia and Marco said they'd rather cheer us on from the sidelines. "I don't like having to push other people around," Marco explained.

    "What about you, (Y/N)? Are you planning on competing?" Connie asked.

    I thought about it for a minute. I used to play soccer at my old school, and I was talented enough to make Varsity my sophomore year. I decided that I could be of some use to AOT High's team. "Yeah, I guess so. Sounds like fun to me."

    "Awesome!" everyone agreed.

    For the next two weeks, Coach Erwin hosted tryouts for the soccer team. It was co-ed, so I got to practice with Jean, Connie, and Reiner as well as Annie and the girls. Of course, that also meant I was practicing with Yeager and Mikasa. I was introduced to Levi Ackerman, captain of said soccer team, and Hanji, co-captain. They were both my age. Hanji usually planned the workouts while Coach Erwin taught us strategy. Levi was the hardass. He was the one making us do sprints and weights.

    Apparently, Levi had a certain knack for soccer. And once I saw him play, I completely understood why he was captain. He was an extremely fast forward with great ball control. Hanji was also really good as a midfielder. They knew how to communicate with everyone, and the team trusted them very much.

    I wasn't sure if I was going to make the team, after all, I had some serious competition— not to mention that I was still new to the school. I mean, after a few months, I had made a great deal of friends, but I hadn't met Captain Levi or Coach Erwin until today. As far as they knew, I was completely useless. I realized by the second week of tryouts that I hadn't really stood out as a player. I had a lot of good traits to show off, but, no one from here had seen any proof. So, I decided that during the next drill Hanji organized, I would kick the ball as hard as I could to show what I had to offer.

    We were split up into two lines— one facing the goal and one defending it— to work on some one-v-ones. It wasn't going very well for some of us: Annie had knocked Jean onto his face to protect the goal, which didn't help either of them— Annie got a foul and, of course, Jean was humiliated in front of the Captain and Coach Erwin. Mikasa, as expected, was an amazing forward as well. She possessed the same speed and control as Levi. I found out later that they shared the same last name— no one knew for sure, but most people assumed they were cousins. Eren was playing goalkeeper during this drill, however, so Mikasa didn't bother to take any proper shots. She wanted to make Eren look good and not injure him, so she gave the weakest kicks ever. It was so fake.

    Finally, I was up. Jean was cheering for me from the bench— Annie really did a number on him. Hanji put me as an attacker upon my request, so I could show off my kick. I started with the ball and faced Reiner one-on-one. When I cut to the side, I tripped over my loose shoelace and fell to the side.

    "HA! Nice one (Y/N)! I'm sure you'll definitely make the team now!" Eren toppled over in laughter, smacking his goalie gloves against the post.

    I growled. Sure, at this point I was used to Eren's snide comments— he'd been teasing me relentlessly for the past two months, but I was getting really tired of it. Maybe it was the heat exhaustion, or maybe it was because I felt utterly humiliated in front of my peers, but I decided that I wasn't going to let Eren get away with it this time. I sprinted to the sidelines, picked up a spare ball, and set it on the ground. I was going to score a goal from here. Eren was still laughing, I could see the tears forming in his obnoxious bright teal-green eyes. UGH! I was just so sick of this already! I want to just punch that stupid kid in the fa— Suddenly, without a second thought, I ran towards the ball and kicked it as hard as I possibly could. I couldn't have stopped myself if I tried. It flew across the field at an amazing speed— everyone stared in awe. And then—

    BAM!

    The soccer ball collided with Eren's face and sent him into the dirt.

    "EREN!" Mikasa sprinted towards him and tried to lift him off of the ground.

    Hanji looked at me with surprise: "Wow! (Y/N)! Why didn't you show us that kick earlier?!"

    "Tch. It may have been a far kick, but it didn't score a goal, shitty glasses."

    "I— Actually, I was originally aiming for the goal but... I got a bit sidetracked." I explained weakly.

    Eren was still on the floor. Mikasa looked up at me, ready to kill. I wasn't scared. I could take it. (Well, no, I couldn't... but at that moment I thought I could.) Lucky for me, she was too distraught over Eren to step away from him to attack. I'm sure my moment would come though.