"Nate, are you okay?" Marc saw my weird facial expression.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," I giggled awkwardly to cover my actual mixed up emotions.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. I forgot that I have to help my mother with chores. See ya!" I must get out of the situation before I lost control.
"Wait! I have to tell you something. I'll be in Ireland next week for the Irish Writing Competition. My parents encouraged me to join, so I won't be around for about a week," Marc said.
"What about our comic?" I asked.
"You can draw your own ideas and tell me about it later to finish the script dialogues," Marc suggested.
I smiled and nodded before I went home with joy for Marc, and confused at the same time.
Once I got into my bedroom, I sat on the bed and looked into the book again. I looked for the owner's name, but there was nothing.
Wait, so my sketchings were in my book. Did we accidentally switched our book when we fell to the ground? Oh, no. All of my embarrassing sketches!
Thankfully, I didn't draw her in that book since we didn't realise we switched them. No wonder the book she was holding was pretty similar to mine! I searched for the notebook's brand. Yup, it was the same as mine. Even it has the same glittery green cover too.
My heart was wondering if I should explore the book even further or not. What if something was embarrassing or private stuff was written in the book? I couldn't just look into people's stuff without their permission.
I couldn't do this, I must find that girl and return her book. It was her privacy and I had no right to look into it. But, the only problem was... where can I find the girl? I didn't even know her name!
I started panicking, who should I tell my problem to? Alix would make fun of me and Marc was busy with his competition. And I didn't want to interrupt both of them just for this.
My mind began to wander. What should I do?
Marinette! She was the only one that came to my mind. I immediately grabbed my phone to text her.
"Hey, Marinette. I have something to talk about. Would you mind meeting me at the Louvre?"
"Oh, hi, Nath. I'm on my way to see the Kitty Section. Luka has something to tell us. Maybe you can join us here,"
Marinette had some work to do with the Kitty Section. So, I decided to join her on Anarka's Liberty boat. Maybe I could release my stress of thinking about that girl.
It was my first time joining them. Not gonna lie, I was pretty nervous even though they are all my classmates, except for Luka obviously.
Marinette stopped at my house so that we could walk together since I didn't know the direction that well. Not enough with that, she brought me macaroons too!
"What is that thing you wanna tell me?" she asked.
I was still being indecisive. Should I trust her?
"I... actually feel bored. Marc and Alix are busy," I lied.
"Aren't you always spending your time at the Louvre alone?" she asked again.
"Uhh... yes. But, I wanna try something different, you know," I scratched my head.
Marinette just nodded and showed me the direction to Anarka's boat. I saw my friends were sitting on the stage, they were probably waiting for Luka's announcement.
"Nathaniel?" they all were confused to see my presence when Marinette and I reached the boat.
"He wants to join us today. Marc and Alix are busy," Marinette explained.
"Of course, Nath. Everyone is welcome!" Rose said while everybody just smiling at me.
"Thank you," I thanked them.
"Where is Luka?" Marinette asked while taking a seat next to Alya.
"He'll be here soon. He is preparing for something," Alya answered.
I suddenly remembered the book. I teared the page I drew the girl's portrait and kept it in my bag.
"Hey," Luka came out from his room with his electric guitar. Everyone answered his greet.
"Hi, Nathaniel," he saw me sitting next to Marinette.
"How... did you know my name?" I asked hesitantly.
"Juleka introduced me to all of her classmates before," he replied. I just nodded.
"So, what was that important thing you wanna tell us?" Alya asked.
"As we all know, Clara Nightingale is making a pop music competition. Whoever wins gets a chance to be in her new upcoming single. Rose told me that she can't sing pop music that well since she is into Rock N Roll," Luka stated.
"What are we supposed to do, then?" Nino asked.
"I asked for my friend's help and she agreed to help us. She will help Rose to train her voice," Luka said.
"Your friend? Who?" Marinette asked.
"She is on her way. Zoe will bring her here," Luka said.
"There she is!" Luka pointed at the stairs. We all chinned up to see who is he pointing at.
The... girl! She is Luka's friend? No wonder I had never met her around the city before. She was shocked to see me, maybe she still remembered the Ladybug's moment.
We stood up to greet her. Meanwhile, me and her were still gaping to see each other again.
"You! You have my book! Here's yours!" we said simultaneously again while passing each other's books in an awkward rush.
"Thank you. Did you read it? No, I didn't," we asked and answered our question at the same time again.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Luka asked.
"Ladybug trapped us in a cage this morning. Hey, stop copying me!" we couldn't stop saying things at the exact same time.
"Eek, uhh... She probably didn't notice," Marinette scratched her head.
The girl then ignored her and approached Luka. I came back to my seat next to Marinette.
I looked into my book, nothing was missing, except for a page. I saw some traces of ripped paper. She probably teared up the page that she used like I did with her book.
I carefully took out her portrait I haven't finished drawing and slide it in my book. I made sure nobody was looking when I took it out from my bag.
"You... like her, huh?"
Gah! Marinette saw!
"What? Me? No, I'm not," I lied for the second time while Marinette was just laughing at me.
"It's fine, I can keep your secret. It's obvious, Nath," she said.
"Is... it?" I was terrified if someone else noticed my obvious action too.
"Well, your lies didn't work," she casually said. I silently sighed.
"Please do not tell anybody," I whispered to her.
"I promise!" Marinette raised both of her hands, showing that she would not betray her promise.
"So, this is (y/n). My friend from London," Luka introduced.
(y/n), that's her name! I finally got to know her name after dying so many times.
"Hi, (y/n)!" all of my friends greeted her except me. I was really excited to know her name that I froze.
"Hi, I'm (y/n) (l/n). Nice to meet y'all," she smiled. You have no idea how insane my heartbeat was when I saw her smile for the first time.
"Nice to meet you too! I'm Rose!" Rose quickly stood up and shook hands with her.
"So, you're the one Luka told me about," (y/n) said. Rose just nodded passionately.
I was already cradling in my daydream, imagining Mightillustrator is saving her from danger. And she fell in love with him and she kissed him and they got married. Okay, I went too far.
Luka passed her a guitar. She sat in front of us, ready to play something. She is so amazing!
"(y/n) has a talent where she can change the actual lyrics into something else really quick," Luka explained.
"What? No, I'm not. That's not even a talent in the first place. Music is just my hobby, but my heart is for something else. You know that, right?" (y/n) answered.
"What is that something else?" Alya's turn to ask.
"Uhh... it's... complicated! Yeah, complicated. Sorry," she giggled awkwardly.
Alya looked at Marinette in confusion. I wondered what is actually that "something else".
"Speaking of changing lyrics, can you do Taylor Swift?" Zoe changed the subject.
"Sure, give me a topic," (y/n) answered.
"Ooh, I know! Akumatised villains! You can start with the Evillustrator!"
Marinette! She just exposed me!
"What are you doing? You promised!" I whispered.
"Chill, I'm sure she doesn't know," Marinette said, making me sighed again.
(y/n) smiled again while looking at Marinette. She seemed to agree with her.
"I like that idea!"