Burnt Out | J. Kirstein

|03|

Jean POV

I wasn't sure about coming tonight. Maybe a frat party isn't the best idea for my first college party experience. They can get pretty wild from what I hear.

As I'm walking down the street, two boys run past me, completely nude. I look away at first because that's not a sight I want to see, but once they're behind me, I turn to understand exactly why they're streaking.

It must've been a dare or something...

When I get to the Sigma Chi house, I enter without hesitation, but once I'm inside I wish I could be anywhere else.

Connie had asked me to meet him here, but I wish I had disagreed with his reasoning.

"You need to meet more people"

Do I? I'm fine with the one friend I have here. I mean, I can always meet more people in class instead of at a frat party. Drunk people don't always appreciate the new friends they make on their nights out anyways.

"Yo!" Connie claps his hand against my back. "Glad you could make it. Come on, we're hanging down stairs. Want a drink?"

I do.

I think it might be the only way I can get through this party. I'm not big on huge crowds with loud music causing me to shout in order to talk and the thought of socializing with a bunch of strangers causes an anxiety ridden pit in my stomach.

Connie grabs me a beer and then leads me down the stairs to a much quieter part of the house. Once we reach the bottom, I find a group of people sitting around a coffee table on an array of four couches.

"Everyone," Connie raises his bottle. "This is Jean, my roommate. He's super cool. You'll love him."

"Hey Jean," a brunette girl waves. "I'm Sasha. Connie's new best friend. Therefore you're gonna be my new friend."

I'm not sure whether to be honored or annoyed. It's not like she gets to decide if she's going to be my friend or not. But there's no harm in accepting her. God knows I need new friends.

I'm not surprised that Connie has already found a group to join. He was invited here by some frat guy he met at the dining hall and now he's surrounded by a bunch of strangers that he seems to already be comfortable with.

"Well," Connie shrugs. "This is Reiner, the host of this party. And then there's, Mikasa, Eren, Armin, Marco, Annie, Colt, Bertholdt, Ymir, Porco, and Historia. I got those all correct, right?"

"Not even close," the blonde one who is sitting beside a taller guy with his hair pulled back laughs and corrects all the names.

I'm not going to remember anyways, so I don't know why im trying to match faces to names. It's a waste of my time. I'd like to know them because it's polite, but also, will I really be seeing much of them? I'd like to decide who I spend my time getting to know.

"Nice to meet you all," I wave slightly, unsure how to act around new people. I've always just been kind of known since I was popular in high school, but now that I'm nothing but a stranger to everyone, it's hard to reveal my true self. I want to be liked, so will my true self be enough? Or do I need to change it?

I sit down beside Connie and everyone begins asking questions.

"You a freshman?"

Yes.

"You play any sports?"

Yes.

"Where did you meet Connie?"