2: It's Down

Morning came and Mari's face looked like a carbon copy of a Panda's.

"Are you okay?" said Sabine as she hands a scone to her exhausted daughter. Mari was not too excited for today. This was just the first weekday they'd have to meet in school and she had a last minute panic last night on how she would act towards everybody. It wasn't a mystery for everyone in class who she had a crush on. And now it's big news that Agreste had started dating the Japanese chic.

"Yea mom. I just couldn't sleep last night." she replied sipping on her hot chocolate.

Dressing up was not much easy. Mari had to stare at herself in the mirror wearing her usual blouse and pink pants for school. But her problem was her hair. She didn't want to make a statement for the day. But at the same time she wanted a change. A look that could define how she feels now on what she wanted.

"Are you sure Marinette?" flew the little red kwami.

"I am Tikki." she replied laying down her brush. She took a deep breath and grabbed her backpack running down saying goodbye to her folks.

Arriving at school wasn't a problem when you're living across the street. But arriving at school with majority of the population knowing you and the big news is kinda problematic for Marinette. She wanted a lowkey entrance but then again who gets a lowkey entrance when you're Marinette―the girl who clumsily exposes herself to the public whilst the dork she has a crush on is so oblivious of her feelings. The door of the classroom to no avail had the power to make her invisible even for a moment.

"I see you've decided to keep your hair down." Mari yelped as Alya snuck up behind her.

"Hey, cut that out." she complained combing the tips of her hair with one hand.

Alya wanted to tease her a little bit but the cat was out of the bag and she knew her dear friend certainly had been bothered all weekend by it. Bothered could even be an understatement for how Marinette feels.

"You okay?"

Mari knew exactly what she meant. It was to no surprise that the sensational vlogger-reporter knew everything even when only stares had been served all morning the moment she entered the classroom. Marinette subtly smiled.

"I'm good Alya. Really." she replied.

"Good morning, Marinette." a familiar voice greeted. The two ladies quickly turned around and saw the blonde model coming in from the door.

Alya peeked at her best friend trying to decipher what face she was making. But surprisingly Marinette did not stutter nor panic in the sight of the boy.

"Good morning Adrien." Mari greeted as simple as she could.

The boy notices a change Marinette and could definitely tell what it was.

"I know I already said this before back at the party but, your hair is beautiful." Adrien gestured pointing at her hair.

Marinette lightly brushed her hair and sheepishly smiled at the sweet boy. But surprisingly there, she couldn't feel any butterflies at all.

She giggled a little and thank the lad then immediately slipped into her seat.

Adrien smiled back also sitting at his designated place beside Nino in front of Marinette.

Alya couldn't help the scene she just saw. Just like that? It's over? She quickly sat to her seat on Marinette's right and lightly tapped the boy in the cap playing video games so early in the morning.

Nino turned around and saw her girlfriend mouthing talk to him in the most discreet way. Alya was not pleased of how the two simply cut their conversation to just that. There will be a bunch of awkward silences starting today for sure.

Alya's face grew displeased every second Nino could not think of a thing to do. He had to talk to Adrien, but what? He wasn't the type to be lowkey making things better. Chattery was also not his strongest point. He's the type of person who blurts anything that comes out of his head.

"HEY... ma' dude!" Nino puts his arm around Adrien's shoulder. Well that was a start.

Adrien chuckled from Nino's playful remark.

"Good morning Nino. What's with the HEY? You're cheerful in the morning." he lightly punched his shoulder. The two boys laughed at each other.

"I heard big news." Nino immediately interrupted.

Adrien raised a brow, "About what?"

"So you're dating Kagami now?"

If the people in the room had a glass of milk right now and everybody was drinking it all at the same time as Nino spouted that, all of them might have choked and spit the milk. Sensitive topic there Nino. Marinette tried to ignore their conversation which was really impossibly difficult with the fact the two ladies were literally just the seat behind the lads. Alya was visibly face palming from her boyfriend's choice of topic.

Great Nino. Such a delicate topic for our friend over here.

The chatter of early morning gathering from all over the room had died down obviously wanting to hear the truth from Adrien's mouth. Nino's eyes lit up as he waits for his best friend to respond. Alya groaned silently as her eyes rolled in disbelief. Adrien was certainly caught off guard and stuttered for a bit before giving a concrete answer.

"I-I guess you could say that."

Marinette stayed silent. Even when Adrien couldn't say it out loud, she knew there was something going on between the two. She already caught glimpses of them feeding each other ice cream at the park. Adrien would never do that to just any girl. And of course this explains Kagami's spontaenous invitation to hang out after school. Nino's reaction showed he wasn't satisfied of his best friend's answer. It was too vague and everybody in the room reacted the same way. Confused.

"But you like each other right?" added Nino trying to get a clear answer.

Adrien shyly smiled, "Yes. We do."

CRACKLE

Nino and Adrien turned around hearing a sudden crackle from behind them.

"Dude..." Nino reacted seeing Marinette opening up a fortune cookie.

Marinette's eyes widened as she stuttered, "Sorry! Dad made a batch of fortune cookies this morning and I could only get one. Hehehehe."

"It's okay Marinette," smiled Adrien, "the crackling sound just surprised us."

"Haha yea dude," Nino chuckled, "for a second there I thought it was your heart."

"What?" Adrien and Marinette said in shock. They were surprisingly at sync.

"What?" Nino played the amnesia card.

Alya groaned to herself disappointed of how this conversation turned out to be. Her body moved without thinking and immediately pulled Marinette up from their seat.

"Marinette can you come with me to the restroom for a bit? I need to fix something."

"But Alya the bell.." Marinette whispered.

"Come on." Alya commanded and the two girls stormed out of the room.

Nino's phone vibrated and Alya's name popped up. He clicked it wondering what it was and read a message that was certainly not amusing nor sweet:

『You had one job Nino. Fix this or I won't talk to you for a whole month.』