I was most definitely stressing over my horrifying encounter with Snakes yesterday, along with the cute little note he left me. I had decided that I needed to take a break from living in supernatural, and actually try and fix my real life.
"Zoé!"
I sprinted through the clumps of people crowding around on the street, trying to catch up to one of my estranged best friends. I'll admit it had been a little weird, going so long without talking to Zoé and I really did miss her. And besides, she'd been totally right. She sometimes was, even more so when it came to guys.
Wow. It was time for some serious groveling.
"Zoé!" I gasped out, clutching at her forearm when I finally caught up to her.
She stopped midstep and whipped around to glare at me, an angry look on her face. I would've been completely freaked out if she didn't look just the slightest bit ridiculous, all angry and ticked off when she was dressed in her totally glamerous designer clothes.
"Well?" Zoé asked, her eyes narrowed.
"You were right." I panted, trying to catch my breath. "You were totally right."
Zoé frowned, momentarily distracted. "What do you mean?"
I took a breath of air, "I love Adrien," I blurted out. "I love Adrien, like, a lot."
She stood there with a completely baffled look on her face for several moments, long enough for me to think something was going wrong with her thought processing. But then she surprised me beyond belief when a huge smile broke out across her face and she clutched at my shoulders with a squeal, giving me a little shake.
"I so knew it!" She shouted, making me wince. "I was so absolutely right!"
My face turned a little red against my will and I scowled, looking away from her in embarrassment. "Yep. You were right."
Zoé smirked, looking insanely smug. "Of course I am. I'm so right about everything all the time."
I fought back a laugh. Right. Okay.
We shuffled onto a bus, lucky enough to actually snag seats towards the back and not have to stand up. I clutched my school bag to my chest while the bus took off, just the slightest bit nervous.
Zoé had this look on her face that would've given the Cheshire cat a run for its money and I knew this couldn't be good at all.
"So?"
I glanced over at Zoé , biting my lip. "What?"
Zoé stared at me me in an are-you-really-as-dumb-as-you-seem-right-now way. "Don't just what me! How can you drop a bombshell like that and expect me not to ask for details?"
I blew out a sigh, rolling my eyes. Clearly that was a mistake on my part. "Well..." I trailed off.
"What exactly do you want to know"
Zoé gave me a shove, making me knock into the surly looking woman beside me. I quickly apologized to the now scowling woman before glaring over at Zoé. She didn't look phased in the slightest.
"What?" She said innocently, shrugging a shoulder.
I rolled my eyes again with a scoff. "Nice, Zoé."
"Well!" She squeaked again, shaking my shoulders. "Tell me! Does he like you? Does he know you like him?"
I thought about that for a moment and then my face burned bright red. I decided not to answer that question. Unfortunately, that told Zoé more than she needed to know.
"Oh my god!" She squealed. "He so likes you!"
"You don't even know him, Zoé," I laughed without thinking. "So you couldn't possibly tell whether or not he likes me. He's honestly the most confusing person I've ever met."
Zoé heaved a sigh, as if everything that was wrong in the world with men rested on her shoulders. "My dear, dear Marinette, cleary you have much more to learn about boys if you're just now beginning to think that they're confusing."
I snorted out a laugh. "Right, Zoé. Okay."
"Details, Mari, details," She said, snapping her fingers. "I need them."
"There's not much to tell," I said as easily as I could manage. "We just started hanging out over break. That's about it."
"Just hanging out?" Zoé said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Just hanging out!"
Well, apart from the time where we made out in the kitchen of his grandma's house. But that was about it.
"The look on your face says otherwise," Zoé said shiftily, crossing her arms over her chest.
Please let this bus ride be over soon, please let this bus ride be over soon.
That phrase was going through my head like a mantra over and over again while Zoé continued to give me a look that made me feel like I was standing underneath a hot spotlight.
Fortunately for me, the bus came to a squealing stop a moment later, before Zoé could interrogate me any further. I jumped to my feet and quickly fought my way off the bus through clumps of people. Zoé wasn't far behind, following suit, and I had a feeling she wasn't about to let this subject drop in the near future. Considering her tenacious attitude, it was bound to have happened sooner or later.
"Mar! Hey, wait up, Marinette!"
I turned and waited impatiently for Zoé to catch up with me through the clumps of people on the bus, while she continued to look like a lunatic.
"I don't understand why you're getting so worked up over this, Zoé," I told her as we fought our way up the stairs. "It's not like you even like Adrien, anyway. You've made your opinion on him perfectly clear."
"So?" Zoé snorted. "I've been waiting for you to actually have some sort of involvement with a guy ever since I met you. I could care less who the guy is."
I gave her a raised eyebrow look. "Thanks, Zoé."
Zoé scoffed and rolled her eyes, giving me another shove. "Oh, you know what I mean, Mari."
Funnily enough, I suppose I did.
Things seemed to be falling back into our normal routine between Zoé and I as we headed towards school. I continued to stand around like an idiot while Zoé blabbed on and on about how her break went, what new things she got and how thankful she was for them, the usual.
Zoé didn't seem to mind so much, as she didn't see anything was wrong. I was "Hmm"ing and "Ah"ing at the appropriate times, so apparently that was good enough for her. But truth be told, my mind was on other more important matters, rather than Zoé's new obsession with hightop converse.
Sometime over the past two days of Christmas vacation, I'd come to the conclusion that I was going to have to talk to Adrien about our kiss, and almost kiss, whether I wanted to or not.
I was a little surprised when Zoé and I walked through the main entrance of the school, being surrounded by other teens that looked just as enthused and ecstatic about starting school back as we did. I'd been so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't even been paying attention to where my feet were carrying me.
"So," Zoé said, practically skipping along beside me. "Are you going to talk to Adrien today?"
I scowled. "Yes."
"And what are you going to talk to him about?" Zoé asked, giving me another suggestive look.
Honestly, like I said, I wanted to ask him why he'd kissed me that night. As much as I wanted to kiss Adrien again and again, there were more pressing matters at hand.
"Nothing of consequence," I finally told Zoé, shifting my school bag awkwardly.
Zoé didn't look convinced and gave me a defeated sigh, "Fine," she was frowning now making me feel bad almost immediately. "I'll see you later, then," Zoé said, her voice now full of the suggestion before she flounced off down the hallway.
Well, that was one thing over and done with. Now on to stressing about this "Snakes" guy for the whole day. He haunted my dreams last night and I wouldn't be surprised if I had nightmares every night for now on.
I stopped by my locker to drop off all of the textbooks I'd taken home with me over break and then headed to homeroom, my heart beating all the more faster as I walked.
Why did I have this feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong? Maybe I was just that stressed.
My hand was still burning from where it'd been cut Sunday night. Whenever I had a minute to myself, the conversation I'd had with Snakes would replay itself in my mind. I was beginning to get very scared of everything that was happening. Not only was I afraid for Adrien, but I was beginning to get afraid for myself, too. The gash on my hand was pretty disgusting and if that was anything to go by, I might be in for a lot more trouble.
Ms. Sowell was seated at her desk when I walked into the classroom. Her glasses were slightly askew and she looked lost in thought, her lips moving with slight words as she read a book in front of her. This was normal for Ms. Sowell and i'm glad I finally get to experience something normal for the first time in a few weeks.
I took my normal seat in the back of the classroom, setting my bag in my lap and clutching at it tightly. Everything seemed to be going along normally today, but I couldn't help but feel that something was very different now. I had no idea what it was, but I wasn't so sure I liked it.
The bell rang on schedule a few moments later and my classmates around me quieted down enough for Ms. Sowell to get up and start reading off the list of annoucements the staff thought we needed to hear each day.
I barely paid attention to what Ms. Sowell was saying at all. I just kept staring at her with a fascinated look on my face, well, a look to convince her that I was actually paying attention and I jerked in surprise when the bell rang, signaling the start of second block and the teenagers around me started getting to their feet and leaving the room.
I was feeling awfully tired, so, I slowly shuffled down the hallway and toward the ladies bathroom. I needed to splash some cold water on to my face.
When I was through, I barely made it to first block chemistry on time. Mr. Rife, the slightly balding, bespectacled teacher, shot me a scary look as I barelled my way through the door as the bell rang. I mumbled out an awkward apology before hurrying to my seat.
I hated being late to chemistry, because quite frankly, Mr. Rife was sort of a scary teacher and liked to whack rulers on people's kuckles if they fell asleep during class. Normally I would've made sure to pay extra attention in class, but today I could care less.
My talk with Snakes had me see a different light on this whole helping Adrien thing, especially now that I knew about Weston Breyer. What I was planning on doing was probably going to end up being my downfall, but I couldn't bring myself to care right then.
It was very, very stupid of me and I was well aware of that fact. But the way everything was playing out in my mind made it seem like it made just the slightest bit of sense and that I could somehow manage to pull it off. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but this late in the game, anything was worth a shot, right?
After I'd come to this rather unexpected decision, I found that I actually wanted to do it, too. And who knows? Maybe it was going to work out.
Oh, well, I thought dryly as the third block bell rang. Here goes nothing. Literally.
I quickly gathered my things together and marched out of the classroom, a specific destination in mind and my nerves were starting to get the better of me, but I forced myself to keep walking with a purposeful stride, heading down the hallway towards a portion of lockers by the cafeteria.
When I finally did see Adrien, he was standing at his locker, grabbing homework folders.
There were tons of people in the hallway, some even having the gall to be shooting glares in Adrien's direction.
They were in for a surprise.
Adrien just about jumped a foot in the air when I came to a stop beside him, slamming a hand on the locker next to him to get his attention.
"Holy— Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes. "What in the world are you doing?"
I swallowed back my fear and put on a business look before answering his question. "Why did you kiss me?"
Adrien stared at me with a blank look on his face and then went back to messing with his locker. "I already told you why."
I rolled my eyes. "'Because it felt right'' isn't a good enough answer for me."
"That sucks for you, then," Was Adrien's wholeheartedly reply.
"Why did you kiss me?" I repeated firmly, leaning up closer towards him.
He dropped what he was holding in his locker and turned to me with an exasperated expression. Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden? So I kissed you. Big deal. It's your problem if that bothers you."
This was, of course, a typical Adrien response. I'd been expecting him to say something like that. I just didn't think he was expecting what my actions to that was going to be.
"Why're looking at me like tha—"
"Would you shut up, Adrien?" I told him before I grabbed his shirt collar, yanked him down to my level and kissed him.
To say Adrien was surprised by my actions would be putting it lightly. He was frozen against me and his eyes were probably wide open. It felt like several minutes had passed— minutes were my heart was pounding wildly and I thought I was about to pass out. He slowly started to kiss me back and his arms wrapped around my waist to tug me closer.
Somehow my fingers managed to braid themselves in his hair and I pretty much lost myself as we kept kissing, hardly breaking apart for air. We probably stood there for a minute or two. I certainly didn't care one bit and I doubted Adrien cared, either.
When we finally did have to break away for air, I was absolutely breathless and Adrien had a dazed look in his eyes, which I'm sure I had, too. Neither of us said anything for a few beats, just staring at each other in shock. I was pretty shocked with myself that I'd had the courage to up and do that out of nowhere.
"They're probably going to hate you for that," Adrien said after a moment, sounding winded.
I frowned. "What?"
He moved an arm away from my waist and gestured towards our surroundings as an explanation. I sheepishly glanced around and saw that pretty much every person standing about in the hallways were staring at the two of us in what could only be described as open-mouthed horror.
"Oh," I said. "fancy that."
Adrien cracked a smirk and I could've sworn there was a look in his eyes that seemed a bit like admiration. "You've sure got a lot of guts to do that, Mar."
I shrugged indifferently. "What can I say? It somehow... Felt right."
I was honestly surprised at how calm I was being. Considering how fast gossip traveled in this school, in about five minutes the entire student body was going to know I'd made out with Adrien in the middle of the hallway.
I didn't really care, in all honesty. Kisses like those more than made up for it.