"Yo, Adrien!" shouted Nino. "Good to see you, dude!"
Adrien smiles. "Weekends are too long!"
"If your old man ever let up, we could still hang!" said Nino. "If we broke into your pad once, we can do it again, dude!"
Adrien laughed. "Sure, Nino."
"Class! Hush, now!" Miss Bustier clapped her hands to get the class' attention. "Lila, that means you too!"
"Oh! I didn't hear you, Miss, I forgot to tell you that my tinnitus has returned!" lied Lila. "I may need to sit in the front again."
Adrien turned around and he and Marinette shared a smirk.
"Well, why don't you take Sabrina's seat? I'm sure she doesn't mind, do you?" She then turned to Sabrina and asked her to move.
Chloe gasped, quite dramatically, "No! I need Sabrina!"
Miss Bustier answered, "Then you can move with her to the very back. Lila, I'm sure you're alright sitting alone."
Lila growled and moved to Sabrina's old seat.
"Nice to see you, Chloe!" cheered Rose, who now sat in front of her.
Chloe glared at her. "Don't waste your breath."
Miss Bustier sighed and continued on with the lesson. Nathaniel doodled, Nino air-DJed (with Alya watching him from behind), Chloe filed her nails, and Sabrina painted them, Lila scowled, Juleka and Rose were whispering to each other, Max and Kim were chatting invisibly. Marinette and Adrien were the only ones that were paying attention to Miss Bustier.
"So does anyone know who wrote the book?" asked Miss Bustier, making most of the class jump.
Adrien and Marinette shot up their hands.
"Adrien?"
"Technically, Shakespeare inspired it, but it was adapted into the French version, and nobody knows who translated it," he answered.
Miss Bustier answered, "Very nice, Adrien!"
Adrien smiled to himself.
***
It was lunch time before the class knew it, but it didn't feel like it. Alya was sitting with Nino alone, and Marinette was sitting at the edge of the cafeteria all by herself. Adrien walked into the cafeteria and automatically noticed that Marinette was down in the dumps. He got his lunch and joined her at her lonely, isolate table.
"Hi, Marinette!" he said. "Is anyone sitting here?"
Marinette shrieked. "Well- um- haha, sure!"
"Marinette, you feeling okay? You seem sort of sad, or am I just clueless?" asked Adrien. "Please don't take that as me being nosy! I really care about you, Marinette."
Marinette thought, So you do care about me, Adrien! Ah! He says my name so much!
She replied, stuttering, "U-uhh, well, Alya and I had a fight. We haven't been speaking since you- yesterday. It feels so different without her. She's my best friend."
Adrien said, "Wow. I couldn't imagine school without Nino. Or you, Marinette."
Marinette turned red. She giggled nervously. Even Adrien seemed to have begun to blush slightly.
"Well, are you ready for the history test in two days?" asked Adrien.
"What?!" shrieked Marinette. "There's a history test?!"
"Yeah, you didn't hear?" replied Adrien. "Miss Bustier mentioned it at the beginning of class."
Marinette groaned, "That's the only part of class I didn't listen to!"
Adrien answered after a while of silence. "Would you like some help studying?"
Marinette gasped. "What? S-study? With. . .you?"
Adrien smiled. "Yeah. So, would you like a study partner?"
Marinette smiled dreamily. "Partner. . .I- um, yes!"
