Superstar (The Elites Book 2)

Broken

"No! I was correcting your grammar, dumb-dumb." Marinette facepalmed. Where on earth was her boyfriend?

"There's no way you're dating Luka," another girl chimed in. "You're not his type."

Suddenly it seemed like the whole crowd was against her. Marinette's chest grew tight. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Marinette tried to back away, but she was pinned in. 

"Excuse me. I need to get out," she said.

"Oh, scared we'll call the cops on you?" the first girl asked.

The second pulled out her phone and mimicked dialing a number. 

Marinette's breathing grew erratic. She pushed against the people pressed up on all sides. "Please," she whispered.

They just laughed. 

"What's going on here?" Luka demanded. 

The students parted as he walked up to Marinette. "Are you okay?"

"She was saying she knew you," one student scoffed. 

"She's my girlfriend!" Luka said sternly. He glared at the kids closest to her. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Nothing! We didn't know. Honest!"

Luka looked ready to beat someone up. Marinette tugged on his sleeve. "It's okay. Let's just go," she said, feeling like a little kid.

Luka grunted. He put his arm around her and walked away from the crowd. "I am so sorry."

"Where were you?" she exclaimed. "You were supposed to meet me out front over an hour ago."

Luka's eyes grew wide. "Sorry, Marinette. I went to work on some songs and lost track of time."

"I called you so much! I even went by your dorm!" The tears Marinette had been holding back started to spill down her cheeks.

"My phone was off—wait, you went by my dorm? Did you see Adrien?"

"Yeah, he was the one who told me you were here." Marinette wiped away snot and tears with her sleeves, but she couldn't stop crying. 

"Look." Luka stopped and faced Marinette, looking her in the eye. "I'm really sorry I forgot. And I'm sorry about the crowd. That's just the way it is now."

"Well, I don't like it." She crossed her arms. "I'm your girlfriend, and you just forgot about me."

"I promise I'll make it up to you."

"Luka, I just got trapped by a crowd of your 'adoring' fans. I was so scared," Marinette paused. "I just don't think I can do this."

"You are not serious. You're dumping me again?" His eyes burned. "You know I love you, Marinette."

"Yeah," she whispered. "But I don't think I love you."

***

Adrien wove his way through the throng of students in the cafeteria. He scanned the area for Kagami but didn't see her signature bob anywhere. Suddenly, his foot caught on another student's leg.

Adrien slammed into her, and both of them almost fell to the ground. He grabbed a chair with one hand and the girl's arm with the other. After he'd pulled her up, he found himself staring into the face of Marinette.

"Oh sorry, M'lady." Immediately, Adrien didn't know whether to blush or faint. 

He hadn't meant to call Marinette that. It had just slipped out.

"No problem." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Bye." Marinette barely gave him a cursory glance as she hurried away. 

Adrien groaned. He had heard about her breakup the day before, and she probably thought he was making fun of her.