Dead

A Prince's Princess

  I arrived at Marinette's parents bakery and climbed out of the car. I walked up to the bakery and, opening the door, stepped inside. I was hit by a wave of heavenly smells of fresh bread and sugar as soon as I stepped inside. I walked up to the counter where Marinette's mother welcomed me.

  "Hello, Adrien. How can I help you?"

  "Hi, ma'am. I'm just here to pick up Marinette for school." Sabine looked pleasantly surprised by this and asked me to wait while she went to get her daughter. I stood in the front of the bakery, looking around at all the food.

  Soon after, Sabine came back down, followed by a chaotic Marinette tying her hair up as she held a croissant in her mouth. She smiled at me around her croissant, which caused me to laugh. Her mom handed her her school bag and a paper bag as Marinette kissed her goodbye, holding the croissant in her hand.

  "Ready?" I asked Marinette as she walked towards me. She smiled and nodded, putting the croissant back in her mouth. I walked to the bakery door and held it open for her so she could step through and let it swing shut behind me. I wished she had offered me a croissant but shook it off. 

  I opened the car door for her and held her bags as she climbed inside. I handed the bags to her then climbed in and shut the car door before Gorilla started the car and started to drive us to the school.

  "What's in the brown paper bag?" I asked, peering at it. Marinette smiled coyly and opened it up to reveal...

  "Pastries! My mom said you came in and started drooling so she got a bag together for you!" Marinette giggled. "She said you looked hungry. Did you skip breakfast today, or something?"

  "Or something." I agreed, reaching into the bag and pulling out a pastry. I held it up to my mouth before remembering Gorilla was in the car. I looked up at the rear view mirror and saw him smiling at me before turning away and whistling casually. 

  Smiling, I took a bite of the pastry. Flavor exploded in my mouth and I hummed in pleasure. Marinette giggled again and handed me the entire bag. It was empty by the time we reached the school and Marinette stuck the empty bag into her backpack to throw out later.

  Waving goodbye to Gorilla, we climbed out of the car and headed for the school steps. We spotted Alya and Nino and headed over to them. When they saw us coming, their faces lit up with shock. We reached them and instantly, Alya pulled Marinette away. I felt sad without her by my side but they only went a little bit away.

  I saw Alya start talking vigorously to Marinette, gesturing to me from time to time. I shook my head, confused, and turned to Nino, who had his arms crossed, grinning at me.

  "What?" I chuckled. 

  "Dude, since when does Marinette ride to school with you?" He asks. I shrug and glance at the girls again, who were still talking, Marinette blushing. That's how I knew they were talking about me. 

  "She's always late. I decided to help her today."

  "Oh, so tomorrow, you two won't be riding together?" Nino asked, gazing at me. I looked at him with a sly grin on my face.

  "I didn't say that." I could tell he wanted to continue the conversation but the bell rang and we had to get to class. On our way there, the girls came up and we instantly separated, Alya with Nino, Marinette with me. Nino and Alya started chatting instantly, glancing back at Marinette and I from time to time. We ignored them.

  I wanted to reach out and hold Marinette's hand but I didn't know if that would be okay with her so I settled for bumping my shoulder against hers. She bumped me back playfully and we both started smiling like idiots.

  "Hey, so where have you been this past week?" I asked, acting like I didn't know. "People started getting worried, you know." She glanced at me and I smiled, relieving some of her tension. She shook her head and rolled her eyes, smiling.

  "There was something I needed to bring to a friend and mailing it would have taken too long. I wasn't thinking when I threw together a bag and left. The note I wrote to my parents fell behind my desk and that's why they didn't get it. I'm sorry for making you worry."

  I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her head, complimenting her on the brilliant lie she came up with. I remembered Ladybug had told the other heroes that she didn't give Marinette time to write it but it should be fine.

  We walked into class and I took my seat in the front and Marinette took her seat right behind me. Since Miss Bustier wasn't here yet, I pulled out my phone to text Marinette.

  Man! You're so lucky! -Prince

  How am I lucky? -Princess

  You get to stare at me the entire time but I can't look at you or people will notice! ☹️ -Prince

  You do realize I've been doing that, don't you? -Princess

  I raised my eyebrows at that and glanced over my shoulder at that to find her smirking at me. I stuck my tongue out at her and she returned the gesture before giggling. I turned back to my phone, not noticing the looks Alya and Nino exchanged.

  Well, well. Princess is quite the stalker -Prince

  "You have no idea." I hear her mumble. I glance back in surprise and find her face turning bright red. I was sure mine looked the exact same but before either of us could say anything, Miss Bustier came in and told us to put our phones away.

  Before she started the class, she welcomed back Marinette and the entire class got up to welcome her back. They all asked her where she had been and she fed them the story she concocted. They all joked about her forgetfulness, as she would have been able to give the friend the present in time if she had mailed it before.

  Everyone went up and gave her a big hug, even Chloe. Everyone began talking about this and Marinette smiled. Chloe protested, saying she was just glad she had someone worthy of her remarks but everyone knew the truth.

  Even someone as mean as Chloe was worried about Marinette.

  The entire time in class, I couldn't focus because of what Marinette said. What did she mean, I 'had no idea'? I knew she had pictures of me in her room but... I decided to question her about it later. After all, it wasn't like I didn't have quite the collection of Ladybug pictures and merch.

  Finally, class was over and I managed to get enough notes to understand what Miss Bustier talked about today. I gathered my stuff and stood up, bumping into someone. I accidentally dropped my bag and my books spilled out. I bent down to gather them when someone else bent down as well. I glanced up to see who it was and groaned inwardly.

  Lila.

  "Oh my gosh! Adrien, I'm so sorry." She said, picking up my books. She handed them to me and I took them back. I didn't remember her welcoming Marinette back.

  "Thanks." I guess. I stood back up and she stood with me. She was about to say something when she fell forward. Not wanting her to fall, I caught her. I expected her to flirt with me but instead, she turns around. I looked past her to see who she was looking at and found Marinette holding one of my books.

  "Nice try, Lila." She said, holding up the book. Lila stepped back as Marinette stepped up to me and smiled. "You dropped this." I felt my face heat up as she scowled at Lila before picking up her bag and walking out.

  That's my Ladybug.