The Little Games We Play [CANCELLED]

Chapter 7

"Brutal honesty right there." I commented when she finished.

"So you agree." She said arrogantly. "You know I'm right."

"Yes, you're right." I said. If only it really was this competition that was getting inside my head, but there's no way I'd tell Kagami what's really troubling me. I picked up my mask again, hoping to distract myself from thinking of Ladybug by fencing. "Shall we?"

"En-garde." She replied with a smile as she picked up her mask. Soon the two of us were back to practicing.

***

Marinette's POV

"Alya!" I groaned. "What am I supposed to do?!"

I heard snickering as her response. "First of all you need to realize that Adrien isn't as perfect as you make him out to be."

"But he is!" I exclaimed as I threw myself back on my bed, my hands on my forehead. "He's so kind, and sweet, and caring, and funny, and cute, and- HE'S TOO PERFECT!"

I could hear the quiet laughter from Alya continue. "You focus too much on his good qualities." She said. "Haven't you noticed any of his flaws?"

"Like he has any." I muttered sarcastically. "So no, I have not. Please, O Great Observer of Adrien, do tell."

I felt Alya lightly hit my arm and I looked at her in amusement. She rolled her eyes as she let out small breaths of laughter. "Very funny."

I took my hands off my forehead and grinned at her. "I'm hilarious, I know." I said teasingly. "But seriously. Adrien is flawless."

"Of course the boy has flaws." Alya said with another eye roll. "For one, that boy is totally clueless."

"What makes you say that?" I asked her. "He is very smart."

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean he is the most aware of what's going on." She pointed out. "I mean, you've been trying to tell him how you feel for a few weeks now and he hasn't noticed."

I didn't answer as I frowned slightly. "That's my fault not his." I said. "If I could just get the right words out, or not act like a complete dorkasaurus around him, he'd know by now."

"Blondie just can't take a hint, Marinette." Alya told me, and I could tell she was trying to make me feel better about it. "Anyone would know that you like the guy, he's just oblivious."

As she spoke my eyes widened in panic and I started blushing. "Anyone would know?!" I demanded. "You mean anyone and everyone who's noticed how I act around him knows that I like him?!"

"Well..." Alya hesitated, her own cheeks turning a faint red color, revealing her embarrassment. "I wouldn't say 'everyone'..."

"Alya!" I said as I sat up on my bed, my face only burning more. "How many people know that I like Adrien?!"

"Just the other girls in our class..." Alya said, and by the guilty look she still had on her face I could tell there was something she wasn't telling me.

"And?" I prompted. "Who else knows?"

She hesitated a moment longer. "Nino...?" She said as a question, and I knew she was questioning whether or not I'd be angry about it.

I took a deep breath as I felt my emotions rising. Worry, stress, fear, anger, I don't know what I felt. I just knew I wasn't happy. "And how did Nino find out?"

"Remember when Ladybug shut me up with Nino at the zoo when my dad was akumatized?" She asked, and I could tell she was reluctant to tell me. She continued when I nodded. "Yeah... I sort of told him."