I woke up Monday morning feeling as if I should be true to my lie, like I should actually appreciate the dark skies that I had said were beautiful.
I probably felt this way because it was raining outside, water droplets pounding against the top of the bakery, when I cracked open my eyes.
I had slept in late, which really didn't matter, being that my first three classes were online today. But I still had to go to school later on in the day which ultimately ruined my mood.
After pathetically dragging myself down the hallway, I threw open cupboards in the kitchen, trying to find some breakfast.
I settled on a small bowl of cereal and a quick glass of orange juice, both of which I finished in no time. I sprinted back to my room after finding an outfit in the laundry room, heading toward the shower.
I stormed my way out of the bathroom about fourteen minutes later and threw on a pair of jeans, a light pink hoodie, and grabbed my waist bag.
The conversation that Adrien and I had Saturday was still emblazoned firmly in my mind, as well as everything Colt had told me as I walked down the level of stairs in my house.
One could only hope that today was going to go perfectly fine with nothing at all to throw me off track on my mission.
I stormed out of the bakery, quickly grabbing a fresh cookie off of an unwatched pan, and then took off running.
It was Monday once again and I was absolutely disappointed in myself because I had decided that I wouldn't do anything fun on my weekend off and that I would sit in bed all day and jot down an actual plan for my whole situation with Adrien.
By the time I had reached the school, everyone who had online classes this morning were piled outside, waiting for the doors to open.
I blinked myself back to reality and realized that Alya was standing before me, "Where were you? You weren't up all night crying because of that idiot Codger were you?"
I actually let out a real, unexpected laugh, "Codger, Alya? Really?" I said while crossing my arms over my chest.
Alya frowned, "Well, losers who cheat on my best friend don't deserve to be called by their hideous names."
I laughed again and pulled a bag of macaroons out of my waist bag, "I wasn't on an actual date with Colt Breyer, Alya, he didn't cheat on me." I assured her while placing the bag into her hands.
"I think you're lying ," Alya said, pointing a manicured finger at me. "You totally liked him. I seen the way you were looking at him."
In disgust?
She began to babble more but I patted her on the shoulder causing her to stop, "One, ew. I don't like cowboys," I began. "and two, don't be mad, but, when I left the bowling alley I went to the park to study and accidentally lost track of time, then Adrien kicked me out because he had to model, then we talked for a bit before I finally managed to get home and now I think I like him even more now, but I never liked Colt Breyer in the first place." I explained in a rush, hoping that she wouldn't take in all of what I'd just said.
"Great, so you build up the courage to talk to Adrien now that he is a huge jerk?" She asked in a snap, I narrowed my eyes at her, and stopped an incoming eye roll.
"You don't even know him like you guys think you do. He's not a bad guy."
Okay, so maybe I was lying just the slightest bit when I said that, because it was plainly clear to me that Adrien was a jerk.
It was going to be a tough job convincing myself that maybe something much bigger had happened to Adrien recently that made him develop into the way he was.
"Look, I'm going to tell you what I told Nino. Adrien is... he seems like he's sort of a lost cause now." She eased the words on to me, continued speaking. "I don't think you need to get involved with his bad habits."
I resisted the urge to smack her with my bag and instead took a deep breath. I had to decide I would walk to stand by Rose and Juleka so I didn't make any a bad decisions.
About twelve minutes later, I plopped myself into a chair in my physics class and sighed, feeling like I could happily sleep for the next two years and be okay.
I had a feeling that this was going to be a super awesome day full with fun filled events. Maybe I could go to a parade or even a concert? Just kidding.
Once the bell rang after a long, slow, lesson that my physics teacher, Mr. McCann, was giving, I sprung up and out of the classroom in the blink of an eye.
If I was going to be honest, I was trying to avoid Alya and her impending awkward questions and rude comments on Adrien's behalf. Besides, I really wanted to see Adrien.
There was this part of my mind that kept freaking out, reinforcing the thought that Saturday had been a dream and that I hadn't actually built up the confidence to talk to Adrien and he had gotten into that "trouble" Colt had mentioned.
I needed to see Adrien and luckily for me, that would be in a few minutes when the bell rang for junior lunch.
I wish I had every class with Adrien, but with my luck I had none whatsoever.
If I'm being honest I hadn't ever actually seen Adrien at lunch before, not even with Nino, but he had to be somewhere. And as much as I was freaking out about this, I knew I had no choice but to find him.
He clearly gave me the impression that he was no interested in talking to me on Saturday, so I had a feeling he wasn't going to be so happy when I appeared at his lunch table today.
When the lunch bell finally rung, I grabbed my things, and began my slow walk toward the large double doors that belonged to the cafeteria.
I pushed my way through the crowded lunch line and eventually managed to grab a tray of gross looking nachos and a bottled water.
After paying for my food, I stood awkwardly off to the side of the cafeteria, standing on my tiptoes, looking for Adrien. I almost threw my tray in the air when I was startled by the familiar voice of Zoé beside me.
"You coming, Mari?" She asked.
Zoé, Alya and I normally sat with another group of junior girls, which were, Juleka, Rose, Alix, and Mylene; Who were nice and pretty friendly, but they were just as gossip prone as Alya half of the time, which could get a bit annoying.
"Mhm, go ahead without me." I muttered, dropping my gaze to my feet. Zoé shrugged and looked like she was about to say something in response, but that was at the exact moment I managed to spot Adrien out of the huge group of students eating lunch.
He was sitting towards the far end of the cafeteria, his things scattered around the small table, almost as if he was trying to give off an offputting air so nobody would approach him. He was leaned back in the chair, book in hand, feet propped up on the table.
Disrespectful.
I quickly made my way across the cafeteria, heading in Adrien's direction. The closer I got the more it became more difficult to breathe, but I forced myself to get over my nerves.
When I arrived, Adrien whipped his head up at my presence and stared at me incredulously as I dropped into the seat across from him, throwing my jacket and bag on the chair beside me.
"Great." He mumbled sarcastically, licking a finger and turning a page in his book.
"I know, right? I'm so great." I agreed as if I were self centered, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice.
"That's not what I said." Adrien commented, just the slightest bit annoyed. After he said that, that's when I noticed the bruise Nino had been talking about.
It wasn't huge but it was noticeable, just a medium-sized bruise appearing on on his temple, which must've been covered with makeup when I talked to him Saturday.
I shook away my thoughts and cleared my throat. "Would you put that book down?" I demanded, "I'm supposed to be getting to know you, not watch you as you read."
"And why would you want to get to know me?" The underlying layer of emotion in his voice made chills cross my body. There was this look in his green eyes that clearly said he wasn't about to take anything less than the truth as an answer.
"Well, that's because I-" I said with almost what sounded like fear in my voice, "You seem like a very interesting guy that I'd like to get to know better."
Adrien made a thoughtful noise as he grabbed one of my nachos, soaked in cheese, and took a bite of it, his brows pulled down in a way that made it seem as if he were deep in thought. There was still the same frown on his face but now his dimples had appeared, which I had convinced myself that meant he was fighting back a smile.
Dimples.
"That... seems like an acceptable answer," He said after a moment. "But I don't exactly believe you. You never talked to me before Saturday. Has your opinion changed of me that fast?"
Well, yeah, I mean I couldn't talk to you, it's not like I didn't want to. I thought with a mental eye roll.
I had no idea he could be so rude. I was going to have to put that behind me, however.
"Well, you walked me home." I pointed out, raising an eyebrow. "That was sweet of you. What if that was the whole reason I'm talking to you?"
"Don't remind me of Saturday," Adrien muttered, with what looked like a flench almost. I then noticed he shook it off and slammed his book closed.
"That was stepping out of my comfort zone, being nice to you. You might as well forget that ever happened, because it's not going to again." He stated.
I let out a short laugh, rolling my eyes again. He was probably dead on about that one.
I watched Adrien for a few moments in silence while he took his feet off of the table and grabbed my nachos and started eating them for himself, wondering why on Earth he was being so antisocial.
I was being nice, wasn't I? Or maybe it was just me?
"Look, Adrien Agreste." I said suddenly, "Why are you so opposed to the idea of being friends?"
Adrien scrunched his perfect nose while he chewed on my nachos, staring at his closed book, deep in thought.
"Because you're a tongue-tied, popular, ignorant little brat that doesn't know a thing about anything." He finally said and I was in complete and utter shock by his words. "That's probably why I'm so opposed to the whole idea of being friends." He added, breaking me away from the hurricane that was my thoughts.
Who was this? And what had he done with Adrien?
"First of all," I ground out through clenched teeth. "I am not Chloé Bourgeois. I am not popular, and I do too know things. I'm about as far from ignorant as you can get." I spat out.
Adrien smirked, not a smile, but a very annoying smirk. "Oh, really?" He asked, sounding almost pleased with himself.
"Really!"
"I don't believe you."
"You don't even know me. Why are you being so hardheaded?"
"You don't know me either, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
This entire time I had no idea that we'd been unconsciously leaning across the table towards each other, our eyes locked in a furious glaring match. And he'd nearly finished all of my nachos, which I didn't care too much for since they looked disgusting.
But I wasn't going to be the one to back down so easily from this, "Can you please just give us being friends a shot, Adrien Agreste?" I asked quietly, sounding desperate, trying hard to keep from blushing.
Adrien let out an aggravated sigh, leaning back in his chair as far away from me as possible, and crossing his arms over his chest.
"Fine." He huffed in defeat. "We'll give being friends a try. But just so you know, you're annoying and you get on my nerves easily. I'm not so sure if I'm going to like you."
That, for some odd reason, made giggle. "All right, cool." I said, just the slightest bit sarcastically. "If you think I'm annoying now, just wait until we get to know each other more. You haven't seen nothing yet."
At that moment the bell rang loudly, signaling the end of the lunch period and the start of out next classes.
Hm. Lucky lucky Adrien.
"Go ahead and have the rest of my nachos," I said, trying to make him feel guilty. "You've already eaten most of them anyway."
"Thanks..." He replied slowly. "I'll be sure to steal your food more often."
I scoffed and stood up, grabbing my things off the chair beside me, tucking my water into my bag. I'd probably just end up chugging it after my run home to the bakery.
"Well, this marks the first day of our being friends," I said to Adrien as I stood awkwardly beside the table, mostly so I'd make a mental note to count the days in the actual notes on my phone.
"Lucky me." Adrien said sarcastically after swallowing the bite he just taken out of a nacho, I tried to fight back the blush on my face and took a deep breath.
"See you later, Adrien," I trilled in an annoying voice. "Stay out of trouble." I quickly turned and joined the herd of students leaving the cafeteria for class.
"Well." I sighed to myself, my gaze fixed on my feet. "Progress."