Shorter Than Me

1 Ecyn

I follow the three other girls to the girls' dormitory. It's just two long rows of bunk beds with a narrow aisle through the center. The four of us occupy two bunks next to each other. I let them choose their beds and wind up with a bottom one. There are dressers against the wall between each bunk that are already equipped with the Scouting Legion uniforms of our sizes, though I'm sure mine are still to large. I don't mind as long as it doesn't look too bad. They're the same as all the other uniforms except the symbols.

Not very many people are here so it's pretty quiet. I'm a little tired so I lay on the bed, feeling the unfamiliar cold sheets against my skin. The mattress is a little more comfortable than what I'm used to, but I fall asleep quickly. I've always been able to fall asleep anywhere.

***

I wake to the sound of voices and people moving.

"Newbies, time to get up," someone says. I sit up and look around. "Get dressed in your uniforms and meet me outside." She turns and walks out. I glance out the window to find that the sun has barely risen. I stand and pull out the drawer of the dresser. I take out a shirt and pants. I hurriedly get dressed, finding that the pants fit and the shirt is only a little too big. I pull the jacket on over the shirt and tuck the shirt in. I thread my belt through the loops and fasten it with the last hole.

I pull the oversized boots over my feet and run my fingers through my light brown hair a few times. I braid it quickly and hurry out after the other three girls.

"I'm Jame," she is saying. "And you are...?"

"Ira Kren," the girl with the long black hair says.

"Danya Qui," the tall blond says.

"Bredi Felcides," the short-brown-haird one says.

"Ecynya Guiin," I say.

"Alright, nice names." She laughs. "I'm not really any kind of rank above you, I've just been here longer, so I'm supposed to show you where to go and things like that." She starts walking and we follow her. "This is, obviously, where you'll sleep. The dining hall is over in that building," she points to the main building, "and the stables are over there," she points to another building, one that looks like a large stable, "and the supplies, the practicing field, the forest..." She keeps naming things and I commit the directions to memory so I won't get lost. "There's the lake- Jascon!" She interrupts herself and waves to a man, who I assume is Jascon. The five boys who joined yesterday are with him.

They lead us toward each other.

"You all know each other, right?" Jascon asks.

"No..." Danya says.

"I'm Fellip," a medium-sized boy with black hair and blue eyes says.

"I'm Walsh," a tall, very tall, blond says, smiling.

The other three I know. The huge one with shaggy brown hair is Dren Reardon. The average-sized one with cropped-short black hair is Lenden. The last one is my best friend, Briine Atkins. He has a mop of bright red hair and the most radiant green eyes. He's only eight inches taller than me.

The girls introduce themselves and we walk together to the dining hall.

Briine walks next to me. "You really joined? I told you no one would take you seriously."

"They will," I tell him. I'm determined to prove myself as a worthy member of the Scouting Legion despite my height.

He sighs. "Are all the girls in one large dormitory?"

"Yeah."

"So are we," he pauses. He and I have been friends since before we started training to fight titans.

"Are you tired?" I ask tiredly.

"Yes." He sighs again.

"Me too. I wonder what we're going to do here."

"I have no idea." He shrugs. "Fight titans, save humanity."

"Yeah."

We've both been friends since before the fall of Wall Maria. He's lived with me for half my life, so he's definitely the closest friend I've ever had.

We've reached the building and Jascon holds the door open for all of us. We get in a line and grab plates. A few people fill the plates with food and we carry them to a table.

I start eating the eggs and see the man who called me a kitten last night sitting at another table. The woman who was next to him is there too. I also see Captain Levi, his famous blank expression on his face as always. The others try to make him give some kind of emotion but fail every time. I hear another one of them yell, "What did the titan say to the pig?"

"Gerrar, please, that's not even funny. It never was," one of them begs.

"He said-" Gerrar starts.

"Shut up," Levi commands.

They laugh. "You know, you laughed at that joke once." Gerrar laughs again.

Captain Levi laughed?

"You were drunk-" he starts. Captain Levi moves one arm so fast I can barely see it and shoves Gerrar backwards off the bench. He cries out and flails his arms as he lands on the ground. I smile as everyone at the table roars with laughter.

"Stupid punch line." The captain starts to stand. He walks out and for a split second, I want to follow him.

"What are you smiling about?" Briine asks.

"Him." I point to Gerrar trying to get back up, his legs still on top of the bench. Briine smiles.