Chapter Text
Jean sat in his first period Literature class doing his best to stay awake. He was only two weeks into senior year and he was already over it. None of his friends were in this class, and it was too early in the morning to start critically analyzing the subtext of novels. The bell signaling the start of class rang and Jean reluctantly pulled out his copy of the book they were reading through. It wasn’t even an interesting book. It was some classic romance novel and boring as Hell.
“All right everyone, time to sit down and be quiet,” the teacher said from the front of the room.
Jean opened up his book to the chapter they were assigned to read over the weekend and looked up at his teacher. An unfamiliar blonde girl was standing next to him. Jean thought to himself that she was pretty cute.
“This is our new student, Holly Arlert,” the teacher introduced her quickly before pointing her over to the only empty desk in the classroom - the desk right in front of Jean.
She mumbled a quiet thanks to her teacher before quickly walking back to the desk. She set her bag down on the floor and pulled out a notebook, pen, and a copy of the novel. The teacher started lecturing.
"Hey," Jean whispered with his trademark smirk that no girl could resist as he held his hand out for her to shake. "I'm Jean."
"Holly," she answered simply without offering her hand in return.
He waited for her to say something else. When she didn't, he cleared his throat and asked, "So what school did you transfer from?"
She didn't answer him as she kept her attention on the lecture and took notes.
He cleared his throat again and decided to try again, but this time he made his voice just slightly louder to make sure she heard him, "What school did you transf-"
With a quick look over her shoulder, she interrupted him, "Do you mind? I'm trying to actually learn something."
His mouth snapped shut and his eyes went a little wide. No one had ever shut him down like that before and he wasn't really sure how to handle it. Stunned into silence, he sat back in his seat and left her alone.
----
At the end of class, the girl got up and walked out of the classroom before Jean got a chance to try and talk to her again. He was shit with names and had already forgotten hers - he was hoping he’d get a chance to figure it out if he got a chance to actually talk to her. He thought that maybe she would be in one of his other classes, or maybe he would see her in passing in the halls. He remembered that she smelled really nice on top of being pretty. Maybe he could break the ice by complimenting her perfume - girls always liked when he did that.
Unfortunately, he didn’t see her for the rest of the day. He resigned himself to trying again tomorrow in class and headed out to his car after school was dismissed for the day. Connie was waiting for him as usual.
“So did you ever see her again?” Connie asked once Jean was close enough.
The two of them had the same second period class and Jean had mentioned the girl in passing. “No.”
Connie just nodded as he walked over to the passenger side of Jean's car. As he waited for Jean to unlock the doors, he idly looked around at all the other students leaving the school. “Hey, who’s that walking with Eren?”
Jean looked up, thinking that maybe Mikasa cut her hair again and Connie just didn’t recognize her. He quickly realized that wasn’t the case - Eren was walking with the girl.
"That's her," Jean said.
Jean wasn't sure why the new girl was hanging out with Eren, but he knew some part of him didn't like it. She could do way better than Eren.
Jean and Eren had never particularly gotten along. Jean was the type to stay on top of fashion trends and make sure he was always dressed well. He kept his hair neatly cut and styled and, in general, focused a lot on his appearance. This wasn't really for anyone else's sake (he simply took pride in his appearance) but girls seemed to appreciate that he took care of himself which just served as encouragement to keep it up. Eren, however, went in the exact opposite direction. He only ever wore wrinkly t-shirts and the same two pairs of ripped jeans. He kept his hair long and messily tied back in a man bun most days. He had snake bite piercings and gauged ears. Most people were put off by his appearance and he got in a lot of fights as a result.
Eren and the girl stopped at a car nearby and were leaning against it talking.
"I'm gonna go talk to her again," Jean told Connie
With a smug grin on his face, Connie said, "I don't think it's going to work."
Jean gave his own smug grin in return as he said, "Watch and learn." He’d never had a girl reject him. Sure, sometimes they played a little hard to get but he always charmed them eventually. He quickly checked his hair and teeth in the reflection of his window before he turned and started jogging up to Eren and the girl. "Hey guys," he greeted the two of them once he was close enough.
The pair stopped talking and turned to look at him.
"Hey?" Eren responded, obviously confused as to why Jean decided to randomly talk to him.
Jean ignored Eren and turned to his female companion. "Hey we met earlier, remember me?"
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Uhh I guess. Jack, was it?"
Jean's grin dropped. "It's Jean."
"Oh, sorry about that. I've got this condition where I can't remember names of fuck boys," she said.
Eren snorted a single laugh before he was able to control himself.
Jean was shaken for a moment, but managed to quickly recover and keep his grin on his face. He laughed a little like she had made a joke. "I think that's unfair to say. You don't know me."
"Yeah?" She asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "If you're not just talking to me because you want sex, then what's my name?"
Jean mentally cursed himself. He was hoping he'd get to fake his way through this conversation until he remembered her name.
A few seconds of awkward silence passed before she said, "You heard it twice today." Like she was trying to give him a hint.
He still didn't have an answer. He was racking his brain trying to remember, but he just couldn't. He started listing off a bunch of female names in his head, hoping that one of them would sound familiar. Armin and Mikasa walked up as he was deep in thought and dodged around him before getting into the back seat of the car.
"That's what I thought," she finally said before turning away from Jean and getting in the passenger seat.
Eren's snickering made Jean snap his head over at him and glare. "What's so fucking funny?"
Eren just shook his head with that same stupid smile on his face. "Better luck next time,” he said before climbing into the driver's seat.
Jean ran his hand down his face in embarrassment as he walked back over to his own car where Connie was waiting for him.
"How'd it go?" Connie asked with a shit-eating grin.
"Shut up," was all Jean said as he got in his car and started the engine.
----
Jean spent most of the night analyzing his interactions with the girl. He remembered her name once he got home - Holly - but now he needed to figure out how to convince her to talk to him. She was right that he originally only talked to her because he wanted to fuck her, but now he was a little intrigued. He usually considered himself fairly suave and smooth, but she had seen right through him. She wasn’t the typical ditzy girl he went after, despite her blonde hair and pretty face making her look exactly like a ditzy girl he would typically go after. Eventually, he realized that his usual method of seduction wouldn’t work. He would have to be her friend first and then work from there. He estimated that he’d get to sleep with her by winter break at the latest.
Jean walked into Literature class the next morning to see Holly already there. Her notebook, pen, and novel were out on her desk and she was wasting the last few minutes before class playing on her phone.
“Morning, Holly,” he greeted with a smile as he sat down at his desk behind her.
“You remembered my name?” She asked without looking up from her phone. “Good job.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ve always been really bad with names.”
She hummed back in response, unconvinced.
“I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. I forgot your name and that gave the wrong impression,” he said. “I’d like to start over fresh if you’re okay with that.”
She let out a sigh and finally put her phone down. Turning around in her seat, she said, “Fine.”
He smiled at her. “Great. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jean.” He stuck his hand out for her to shake.
She responded in kind, letting her small hand get dwarfed inside his large one. “Holly.”