When You Switch Upon a Star

Chapter 20

Adrien stepped inside the relatively empty classroom, where his best friend sat in the very front row this time. Alya sat behind him, her eyes locked onto the screen of her phone. Upon Adrien's entrance, Nino perked his head up from his laptop as if he had some Adrien detector built into him.

"Hey man, you can take a seat here."

Nino pointed to the empty seat on his right一Marinette's old seat. With a subtle shrug, Adrien slid his backpack off. He stepped farther in the classroom and sank down in his new seat.

"Is there a reason we're sitting here now?" Adrien asked.

"Because you're blind," Nino answered casually, returning his attention to his laptop.

Adrien blinked, somewhat offended by Nino's statement.

"Excuse me? I believe my eyesight is fine."

"I don't know, a lot of people from another world are saying that you're blind," Nino shrugged, "Just go with the flow, dude."

Adrien laughed, "Whatever you say, buddy."

Kim and Max arrived through the doorway. One of Kim's eyebrows lifted in disbelief at what he was seeing. The tall boy stepped in front of Adrien's desk, standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Oh, so now you move?" Kim snapped, "Not to mention you're sitting in Marinette's seat. How disrespectful of you two."

Before Adrien or Nino could speak up, another voice came in from the doorway.

"Actually, I'm totally fine with switching seats with them."

All four of the teenagers turned to the source of the voice. Marinette has made her entrance, but something was different about her today. Instead of her usual clothes, she wore a black overshirt, a white T-shirt with pink flowers, and pink jeans一the same color scheme that Adrien used to wear.

"Marikins! Welcome back!" Kim exclaimed, throwing his arms around the petite girl.

Marinette stiffened at her childhood friend's unexpected burst of enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Adrien narrowed his eyes at the boy with blond streaked hair. Nino, upon seeing this, placed a hand on his shoulder in hopes of keeping him calm.

"Good to see you too, Kim," Marinette said, scrunching her face, "It would be nice for you to get off me, though."

Thankfully, Kim obeyed and removed his appendage from her. Deciding he didn't want to deal with sitting beside Adrien, Kim ascended up the steps to pick a new seat with Max following behind.

Marinette slid into the aisle seat right next to Alya, whose eyes examined her new appearance up and down. More students began filing into the classroom, filling the rest of the empty seats around them. Marinette pulled her textbook out of her backpack, just in time for the blond in front of her to turn in his seat and look at her.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien began shyly, "I... Uh, really like your outfit. It looks good on you."

Taken aback by this sudden compliment, Marinette's cheeks grew the color of Misterbug's suit. Marinette lifted her textbook up to her face, shrinking behind it in hopes of hiding her embarrassment.

Since when did she become so flustered around Adrien? He was just a friend, wasn't he?

"T-Thank you," Marinette managed to get out.

Although, she had to admit he looked really good ever since he got that haircut and switched his clothing style.

Luckily, her awkward blushing moment came to a cease when, near the back of the room, Kim rose from his seat. All the students in the room turned their attention to him.

"Guys! We should do Secret Santa!" Kim suggested enthusiastically.

Adrien sighed, "Kim, sit down. It's not even close to Christmas."

"Actually, I think that's a great idea!"

The students shifted their attention to the front of the room, where Mlle. Bustier stood in front of her desk.

"Christmas or not, Secret Santa is a fun game regardless."

Holding a tin can full of popsicle sticks, Mlle. Bustier stepped up to the right side of the classroom, where Chloé and Sabrina now sat in the front row. She held the tin can in front of them, allowing the girls to pick out a pair of popsicle sticks.

"All of you will draw a popsicle stick to receive your partners," Mlle. Bustier instructed, "You'll have until the end of this week to get a gift for your partner."

Mlle. Bustier stepped in front of Adrien and Nino's desk. Without complaining, the boys reached into the can to randomly select their partners for this fun little activity. Adrien stared at the name written on his stick, nearly gasping the second his eyes took in the combination of letters.

"Who did you get?" Nino whispered.

Adrien turned the flat side of his popsicle stick for Nino to see the name written on it. He had a reaction identical to Adrien's when he read the name.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Right behind them, the bluenette pulled a popsicle stick out of the tin can. Her mouth opened slightly at the name of her partner. She looked from her stick to the blond boy in front of her, the heat from earlier returning to her cheeks.

~

"I don't know what to get her!" Adrien said frantically, "Help me, Tikki!"

"Well, there are lots of options," Tikki started, "You can bake something, make clothes for her, or maybe even write her a poem."

"A poem would be too cheesy so that's a no," Adrien muttered.

Adrien's indigo eyes traveled down to his desk, where a piece of red string had been sprawled out. His fingers reached for the string, holding it up to his face. His eyes ran farther along his desk, falling upon a duck shaped bead that had been colored yellow. Around that bead sat a number of circular beads in different shades of blue, as well as larger yellow beads.

Adrien picked up a yellow bell shaped bead, examining it from different angles. A bright lightbulb the color of that bead flashed above his head. He slid the thin piece of string through the small hole at the top of the bead, allowing it to slide down a small section of the red thread before tying a tight knot to hold it in place. Tikki watched from the side as her miraculous bearer slid the other beads down the string.

At a nearby mansion, Marinette sat at her desk with a pencil clamped between her teeth. Her elbow rested on her table, her cheek leaning on the palm of her hand. Her thoughts roamed around for an idea on what to get for Adrien.

"Why don't you give him some cheese?" Plagg suggested, "Not mine, though. Buy another wheel for him."

Marinette lowered her hand from the table and leaned back in her chair. She slid the pencil out of her mouth and tossed it back on her desk.

"Not everyone is a huge fan of cheese, you know," Marinette sighed.

Marinette looked down at her pencil, where a piece of red string sat beside it. Perking up, Marinette pushed herself off from the back of her chair and scooted closer to the table to get a better look at the various objects that had been sprawled upon the surface.

As if it had magically appeared, a large green bead with a flower print embedded into it sat beside the string. Surrounding that square shaped bead was a number of smaller beads ranging from various shades of pink to white.

With the string in one hand, Marinette reached for a light pink bead that was roughly the size of her pencil's eraser. Holding a wheel of camembert, Plagg watched curiously as his holder slid the thin thread through the hole in the bead, allowing it to slide down. She proceeded to do the same with the rest of the beads on her table.

Perhaps she just figured out the perfect gift for him.