Adrien placed a finger under my chin and tilted my face up towards his so he could press his lips against mine. Never mind the fact that we were currently standing on the curb outside school and there were tons of people walking around us. I sure didn't mind.
"You know, if you say good morning like that every day, I won't mind." I said dazedly when he leaned back.
"I'll make a note of it," Adrien said, smirking. "Have a good day, Marinette."
I gave an exaggerated eye roll. "Have a good day, Adrien."
Adrien gave a laugh, leaning down to kiss me again, then turned and strode off through the front doors.
"So, he must be a good kisser, 'cause otherwise you wouldn't be blushing like that."
I glanced over my shoulder and gave Alya a wary look as I walked inside of school. She had a huge smirk on her face and looked all self knowing, walking along beside me.
I shrugged, clearing my throat. "He's alright."
"Oh, please," Alya snorted. "He looks like he has amazing lips."
I stared at Alya in amazement. "I thought you didn't like him."
Alya gave me a look akin to staring at some leech. "Ah, that would be a no. I think he's weird, not unattractive. On the contrary, he's quite attractive."
"Yeah, well..." I trailed off, looking away from her. "He is."
Thankfully the homeroom bell rang right that second, preventing any other awkward conversation that had been about to happen.
I bid Alya goodbye and walked off toward my homeroom class. I waltzed into homeroom with my head in the clouds, remembering the feeling of Adrien's lips against mine.
Yeah, he really was an amazing kisser.
I barely listened to the school announcements. I was too lost in my own thoughts.
I was thinking that maybe, just maybe, if things went well between Adrien and I until this Friday, then everything was going to turn out just dandy.
From what I could tell, relationships were always a bit rocky in the beginning, weren't they? And Adrien and I weren't really what you could call a normal couple or whatever.
There was a good chance we weren't going to make it, I knew that much. But I wanted to be with him so badly I was willing to take that chance anyway.
Wasn't he?
After homeroom, I floated my way along the hallways, ignoring the weird looks I was getting from the people at their lockers. I mean, I didn't even mind that I was going to chemistry— the next worst class besides physics.
But all that flew out of the back of my mind when a man walked through the class room door, brief case in hand, looking very pleased to be here. "Hello, class. I am Mr... Monroe. I shall be your substitute today."
It was Snakes.
Silence in the chemistry lab fell immediately and the entire class stared at the guy who called himself Mr. Monroe. He waltzed into the room like he owned the place, dropping his brief case onto the desk, and reached around to grab a piece of chalk off the chalkboard.
He scrawled the name Mr. Monroe on the board in an elegant script, dropped the chalk, dusted off his hands, and turned to the rest of us with an eerily wide smile.
There was no mistaking this man for anything.
I could clearly see his white hair, the southern accent like Colt's, his scuffed up boots.
This was most certainly Snakes.
I gripped the edges of the lab table and tried to keep from hyperventilating.
Why was he here? What was he playing at? Did he come here to finish the job himself and kill Adrien?
What was going on?
The girl next to me, Makella Moore, gave a girlish giggle. She seemed to forget that she was ignoring me of the late and leaned over to whisper, "Do you see a rodeo around? 'Cause I don't."
I ignored her until she giggled once more and began twisting her blonde hair around, "He is rather cute, though."
Oh god.
The man had to be at least in his fifties.
That's what I thought until I looked up at Snakes who appeared to look oddly familiar to Colt, just a tad bit older. He was tan and had dark hair that was brushed back and curled up right at his neck.
"No," I snapped. "He is not cute."
Makella snorted and rolled her eyes. "Right. I forgot you're dating the school's freak."
"Ha, ha," I muttered. "Share some of your oh so amusing humor some other time."
"Excuse me, ladies," Snakes said loudly, calling us to attention. "Is there something you'd like to share with the class?"
Makella flushed bright red and ducked her head. "Uh, no. There's not."
My first instinct was still to run from the room and hide and never come out. That, however, was not an option.
"Perfect," Snakes said with another eerie smile. "Now I'm going to take attendance, and when I call your name, please raise your hand."
Snakes went through the class list with ease, saying everybody's name with a polite air, almost like he was ecstatic to be here. I felt a shiver of disgust slip down my spine when he said my name. His lips had curled into a smirk and he looked very amused.
I had said a silent prayer right then and there that everything was going to go fine and that I was going to walk out of here unscathed.
"Now," Snakes said once he was finished calling attendance. "In the sub plans, it said that you're currently working on chemical reactions consisting of aluminum, copper, iron, and chloride?"
"That's right," Caleigh Barnes giggled from up front. "It's a pretty tough lab. We might need help with all of those dangerous chemicals, you know."
I smacked a hand to my forehead.
They had no clue they were crushing on a middle aged man.
I wasn't too particularly smart when it came to science or math, but I knew well enough that copper (ll) chloride wasn't going to kill anybody.
"Right," Snakes said, shooting Caleigh an indulgent grin. "I'm glad to be of any help. Now, class, please get to work."
Beside me, Makella instantly threw herself into action, grabbing all of our chemicals and safety goggles off the counter. I pulled out my chemistry notes, trying to get rid of the creepy feeling that Snakes was watching me.
"Ready?" Makella asked chipperly when she joined me at the lab table again.
"Yes." I told her.
Makella and I got to work, mixing chemicals together to try and find the mass of the reactants and the percent error from the equations we constructed. It wasn't too terribly difficult, but it required all of my attention— most of which I couldn't afford to give at the moment.
My hands kept trembling and I had to dig my teeth into my lower lip to keep from sobbing outright.
I'd been wondering what I would do if I ever had the misfortune of running into Snakes again. Most of the thoughts involved violence, shouting about how I was going to help Adrien and then throwing Snakes into a deep hole and burying him alive.
As much as I'd like that to become a reality, to actually maim Snakes or something, I knew that was definitely wishful thinking. No way that was ever going to happen.
"And how are you two young ladies doing?" I caught the beaker of aluminum chloride before it could slip off the table and glared at Snakes as he leaned up against the lab table.
"Just fine!" Makella said brightly, shooting Snakes looks, like she found him very attractive.
"You, Marinette?" Snakes continued, looking over at me.
"Fine." I muttered, refusing to look up from my notes.
"Tell me, Marinette. How is little Shane doing?" My fists clenched and I sunk my teeth into my lower lip. I refused to say anyone to this creep.
"You can't evade me forever, Marinette," Snakes continued, giving me a smile. "Adrien is troubled. Do you really think you can succeed?"
"Yes," I snapped. "Yes, I really do."
Snakes sighed, drumming his fingers on the lab top. "That's daring of you. I would've thought Adrien almost losing his life on that bus would have been enough to make you leave him alone."
I had known right from the beginning that bus wreck had been Snakes fault, but that didn't mean I was any less surprised hearing it straight from the source.
"Well, you thought wrong," I said through gritted teeth. "Don't you have better things to do than to antagonize teenagers and little boys?"
Snakes made a thoughtful noise, dipping a finger into one of the beakers on the lab table and flicking the liquid on my notebook.
I glared up at the creepy guy in annoyance, and was shocked to see that he had somehow morphed into his older self, I then turned to Makella to see if she had noticed the old man standing in front of us.
Makella was frozen in place, one of her hand outstretched as if she were going to pick up the beaker at her finger tips. The sight of that was enough to make me scream and fall off my stool, but then I saw that every other person in the classroom was frozen in the same state of movement. It was eerily silent, enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
How had I missed this?
"What did you do to them?" I demanded, looking up at Snakes.
Snakes smirked, giving a nonchalant shrug. "Oh, nothing. Just froze time."
Of course. I should have figured that he had the ability to do something as crazy as freeze time.
"Can you leave now?" I asked as pleasantly as possible.
"Oh, I don't know if I'll be able to do that," Snakes sighed, grim-faced. "This is becoming much more serious than I thought it would. You're quite the persistent little devil, aren't you?"
"Sure," I snorted. "Whatever. I'm doing what I'm doing because it's the right thing to do. Everyone deserves to live their whole life."
"That may be, Marinette," Snakes agreed, "but it's the way the world has worked for thousands of years. To change that would mean to change the laws of nature."
"Yeah, you've mentioned that before," I said. "But each human is special and unique in their own right."
"I could go on and on about a lot things with you, Marinette, but I'm not going to," Snakes said. His voice had taken on a menacing tone and he was leaning towards me, a dangerous look in his brown eyes.
"Tell me something, Marinette. Would you rather it was you that died instead of Adrien Agreste?"
My heart sunk in my chest and my hands turned clammy. Snakes had just admitted that Adrien was going to die.
"N-Neither," I stammered out. "I'd prefer it if you just left."
Something in the look that came into Snakes' eyes told me that I shouldn't be pushing this unstable guy like this, but my mouth was getting the better of me and I wanted to say the first thing that came to mind.
I nearly fell over backwards in my seat when Snakes reached out and grabbed my wrist, pulling me up and out of my seat. "You think you can succeed? I don't know if you knew, but Gabriel is planning on completing his task this Friday."
I felt sick that he was touching me. Little did he know, Adrien and I were leaving this Friday.
I tried to yank my arm back, but he just tightened his grip on my wrist, his fingernails digging into my skin.
"Let go of me," I said as firmly as possible. "You're wasting your time."
Snakes raised an eyebrow, his lips curling into a smirk. "Oh, really? I don't think I am."
Never in my entire sixteen years had I ever felt like my life was about to end. But it was right in that moment that I thought I was going to die.
Everything seemed to stop and move into slow motion and then Snakes' hand was moving from my wrist to my throat, and just as I was about to break a beaker over his head or duck or do something to save myself, a hand shot out of nowhere and wrenched back Snakes' arm.
Snakes' upper body was forced down onto the table, and then Colt's furious voice rang out crystal clear through the entire classroom.
"If you so much as lay a hand on that girl, I swear I won't waste any time in ripping you limb from limb."
Snakes burst out laughing. "Long time no see, Colten. I see you're still the same cheerful bloke as ever. How've you been lately?"
"I'm warning you," Colt snarled, tightening his grip on Snakes' arms. "Knock it off. Leave the girl alone."
I struggled to stay standing as I watched the display between the two men in absolute horror. This wasn't a confrontation I wanted to deal with. Unfortunately, it was one that was centered around me.
"Oh, I can't do that," Snakes said. He was making this all seem like he and Colt were all just Father and Son bickering. "If you get to break the rules, I get to break the rules."
"This isn't in your jurisdiction," Colt said, lowering his voice. "Don't tell me you need to be knocked down a peg so soon. Remember your place."
"Well, I don't know about that." Snakes sighed. "Marinette just reminds me so much of Dakota, you see, and then there is Agreste who reminds me so, so much of Wes and I don't want—"
There was a loud snapping noise that sounded like a breaking bone. Looking at Colt for one moment, the expression on his face actually made him seem like he was... anything but human.
"Don't you dare say their names."
"Oh, have I touched a nerve?" Snakes taunted, a smirk gracing his features. "It's been over one hundred years, Colten. It's time to move on, son."
It looked like Colt was going to say something in return, but after a moment of silence, he released his grip on Snakes' arms and stepped back.
Snakes picked himself up, all prim and proper, dusting off his shirt, his left arm dangling awkwardly at his side— apparently it had been broken —paying no mind to Colt or myself.
"Get out of here," Colt ordered, his voice dangerously low. "I don't want to see you anywhere near her again."
Snakes sighed, clasping his hands together. "If you say so."
He disappeared from sight a moment later, but not before shooting me a smile so eerie I felt like I was covered in slime.
I slouched against the lab table and let out a huff of air, running a hand over my face.
Neither Colt or I spoke for several moments. The class around us continued to remain frozen in place. The only sound I swore I could hear was my furiously pounding heart.
"Marinette,"
"I'm okay," I said quickly, looking over at Colt. "It's okay."
"I hope you know I didn't mean for this to happen," Colt said, a serious look on his face as he stared at me. "Not at all."
"I know," I agreed. "But it's not your fault."
"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Marinette."
"Yeah. So do I."
Colt squeezed my shoulder reassuringly and then turned to leave the room. But I had something to get cleared up first.
"Colt, wait!" I called as he reached the classroom door.
I think he knew what I was going to ask and I hadn't even spoken yet.
He took a deep breath like he was trying to calm himself before speaking, "Wes was my brother. And Dakota was my Mom"
"What happened to them?" I asked, not sure if I even wanted to hear the answer.
Colt didn't answer. He leaned against the door with a sigh and remained silent. For a moment, I thought he couldn't answer. Like it was too painful to even think about, let alone voice it aloud.
"Couldn't you do something to Snakes? Like, make him stop?" I asked, quickly changing the subject.
I wanted to divert the situation as fast as possible. I didn't want to upset Colt.
"No," He finally answered. "No, I can't. It isn't in my power to do anything to... and his name is Wren, don't call him that idiotic stage name."
"Oh," I sighed. "I wish there was something I could do to—"
"You don't need to be worrying about me, Marinette," Colt said. "Worry about yourself. Worry about Adrien. You have four days left until Friday. That's not that much time."
"I know," I said, averting my eyes. "I know."
The thought of losing Adrien just wasn't one I could deal with and being reminded of it wasn't helping.
"I'll keep Wren away from you for as long as I can," Colt said, snapping me back to reality. "But watch your back, Marinette. I'm already in enough trouble as it is."
"Oh, believe me," I said, blowing out a sigh. "I'm definitely going to be watching my back."
There were a lot of things I had to figure out in these last four days. If Snakes... Wren were out of the picture, this would all be significantly easier.
"Alright, Marinette," Adrien sighed, dropping his dish rag onto the counter. "Tell me what's wrong."
I gave Adrien a curious look. "What do you mean?"
He raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at me.
I was bent down on the floor of the bakery, emptying out the pastry case, but that didn't stop Adrien from crouching down beside me a moment later.
"You've barely said anything the entire afternoon," Adrien told me. "You didn't even tell your friend Zoé to shut up like you normally do."
I fought back a snort of laughter. He was right.
"I just have a lot on my mind." I said.
And that really was true.
The entire occurrence in chemistry class kept playing over and over in my mind. Colt had showed up out of nowhere just when I thought Snakes had been about to kill me and he'd saved my life. He'd said he wasn't allowed to help me, but I'd consider saving my life helping me out.
I didn't know what to think about that.
I was mostly thinking about Dakota and Weston, Colt's family, too. I could tell from the way that Colt spoke of them in that one sentence that he was still obviously hurting from what had happened to them. Snakes said it had been hundreds of years since Weston had killed himself. But yet he was still in pain?
I dropped the box of old pastries and sat on the floor, leaning up against the front counter. Adrien watched me for a moment, and then took a seat beside me.
"Do you think that good people sometimes have to do bad things?" I blurted out.
Adrien gave me a curious look. I stared back, looking a little sheepish.
"I don't know, Mar," He finally said, staring straight ahead. "Lots of people have to make decisions that are sometimes bad. It doesn't matter if that person is good or bad."
"But what if somebody has to do something bad in order for something good to happen?"
"Are you confessing to cheating on a physics test or something?" Adrien asked, dropping the serious air.
"I do not cheat on my physics tests!"
He burst out laughing and almost toppled over backwards onto the floor. "God, I know you don't, Mari, but your reaction is totally worth saying that."
"Thanks, Adrien," I said, heaving a sigh. "I'm so glad I'm such a source of entertainment for you."
"Oh, you're more than that." He said, quirking an eyebrow in a way that had me flushing bright red.
"What is with you today, Agreste?" I said, giving him a playful shove. "You seem... happy."
All traces of humor left Adrien's face as soon as those words left my mouth. He gave me a serious look, his lips turned down in a frown.
"I blame it all on you," He finally sighed. "You've taken my family from me and now you've taken my sanity, too."
"Shut up, Adrien!"
That time we both burst out laughing.
I didn't remember the last time I'd actually laughed. So much had been going on these past two weeks or so I hadn't thought about something as trivial as laughing.
It felt pretty good to be laughing again, in all honestly. And the fact that I was laughing with Adrien made the entire moment just a little bit more special than it might have been otherwise.
"It seems like the holidays really do bring out the best in people, eh?" I said, giving Adrien a nudge.
"That reminds me. I still need to give you that Christmas present I got you."
It felt like I'd just been doused in ice cold water.
"You got me a Christmas present?" I gasped, my jaw dropping.
"I have to be the doting boyfriend, don't I? Even if the gift is a few weeks late." Adrien said, looking offended.
"Well, thank you very much, but I didn't even get you a Christmas present! You shouldn't—"
Adrien smirked. "Got you,"
"Very funny, Adrien."
Thinking back on this moment years from now, I'll probably never know what made me act so impulsively. I was guessing it was because I'd been driving myself crazy trying to get close to Adrien and now not minutes before, I'd been laughing and joking with him.
Adrien caught on a second later, tilting his head as I leaned towards him so I could press my lips against his.
The more I kissed Adrien, the more I was beginning to see why people described kissing as melting or being consumed by a really good sort of fire or something.
It felt like I was melting against him the more we kissed, the more I had the urge to be as close as possible to him. My fingers curled in his hair and I barely gave myself any room to breathe.
Call it insane or irrational, but I had this urge to make sure that Adrien was actually here and not somewhere else. That he was here, that I was actually touching him, and that he wasn't some fleeting image in my head that was going to disappear as soon as I opened my eyes.
I could tell Adrien was enjoying the kiss just as much as I was. His hand at the small of my back made me feel like I was burning and the fingers he kept brushing over my cheek made something in my stomach curl as well as comforting me at the same time.
Just when I thought we were about to both burst from lack of oxygen, a rather surprised voice said, "You know, when I asked you to clean up, this isn't what I had in mind."
It took an immense amount of strength not to drop my head in shame and run off to hide in some closet.
My Mother was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a Tupperware bin balanced on her hip, a flat expression on her face as she stared down at Adrien and I on the floor.
"S-Sorry," I stammered. "We were just..."
"Taking a break," Adrien finished for me.
Mom raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. I could've sworn that there was sort of a satisfied look in her eyes as she examined us.
"Anything you two want to tell me?" She asked, a frown breaking out across her face.
I looked at Adrien in absolute horror.
"If you don't count the fact that Marinette and I've just started dating, then no ma'am, we have nothing to tell you," Adrien said briskly, getting to his feet.
He leaned over and grabbed a croissant out of the pastry box while I stumbled my way to my feet and then he walked through the kitchen without so much as a backwards glance.
"So... Mom... you don't mind the fact that I'm... that I'm dating Adrien?" I said awkwardly, rocking back on my heels.
Mom burst out laughing and nearly dropped the Tupperware container she was holding. "Oh, heavens no," she chuckled.
"I just hope he's good enough to date my little girl. You must really like him, don't you?" That was the last thing I was expecting Mom to say.
I managed to keep the blush working its way to my face to a minimum and not fall over backwards into the pastry case.
"Yeah," I admitted embarrassedly. "I do." Mom smiled and walked into the dining area without another word.
I really don't know what made me think to ask Adrien that question about good people having to do bad things. But I was beginning to think that sometime in these next few days, I was going to be faced with a bad decision.
Like, a decision I'd have to make to talk to Adrien about his father.