My new Mandarin Teacher

Learning as an alternative?

I slept so well that I overheard my alarm clock and got up five minutes before school started. Once again, I was way too late! Hurriedly, I got dressed and rushed out of the house. I can't mention enough how lucky I am to live so close to my school. I quickly made my way to the chemistry room and ripped open the door.

"Sorry for being late, Ms. Mendeleiev," I said as I ran past and sat down in the second row towards Alya. I was glad not to have gotten a lecture from Ms. Mendeleiev. The others were already copying a reaction equation from the blackboard. I was digging out my school supplies from my bag, which unfortunately was a bit of an overkill.

"Marinette, if you're going to be late, at least be quiet," Ms. Mendeleiev said, pretty annoyed, still looking at the blackboard. I winced slightly and wanted to get out of the room. Although it is already common practice for me to be late, I was super embarrassed once again. So I tried to be as quiet as possible and didn't say anything for the rest of the class, but just conscientiously did my assignments.

~~**~~

The lesson was surprisingly quite relaxed after the little incident. Alya and I handed in the assignments we had worked on during the lesson to Ms. Mendeleiev and left the room in the direction of the schoolyard. We sat down on the bench and I took out my breakfast from my backpack. After all, I didn't have any time to eat breakfast. I was about to start eating when Nino and Adrien approached us and not five seconds later they were standing in front of us. I looked up and saw Adrien smiling at me. Immediately, my usual tummy tingles kicked in again and my face felt hotter than the sun. Great, now I can't eat from excitement either. So I held my breakfast untouched in my hand and tried to come across as serious and authentic as possible. But in vain, because barely a blink later Alya had already sought the conversation with Nino and between me and Adrien there was a bit too awkward silence. I got quite sweaty hands and felt like I was soaking my breakfast with them. It couldn't be possible that I lost all my nerves before my crush and couldn't behave normally. I tried to formulate a proper sentence in my brain, but everything was either too mainstream, too weird, too incongruous, or just simply too boring. Just as I was about to try to start a conversation (if you can even call it that in terms of Adrien), I heard a voice that dropped a huge boulder off my heart.

"And Marinette, have you thought about when you would like to start your first Mandarin lesson?"

And there was that huge boulder again. Oh God, I had completely forgotten that Adrien had offered to teach me Mandarin in Shanghai. What am I going to do? Oh God, I'm about to lose it. I can't just say, 'Oh, right, there was a thing. Let's master the first lesson together right after school and then spend the rest of our lives together.' I had to find a way out and mention something quickly to buy myself time.

"Right after school, if you can?", 'WHAT?' I bit my tongue so hard that I pinched the flesh of my thighs to suppress the pain. In which world could something like this happen to me? I'm so stupid, this is going to be a disaster. As if I hadn't already done enough damage, Alya said something that was not in my favor either.

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Ms. Bustier already said before the vacations that the last period on Monday will not take place for a while. You could therefore do the lesson together at Marinette's house, and Adrien won't have to make extra time, since his secretary assumes he's still at school."

I guess that was it completely. Now I can't get out of the situation.I was giving Alya the evilest look without anyone else seeing it, but Alya just closed her eyes and put her arm around my shoulders.

"That's a pretty good idea. I'll go home with you then, Marinette.", Adrien replied with a smile and seemed pretty excited about Alya's idea.

~~**~~

I spent the rest of the school day thinking about how I should behave later. I talked very little and tried to come up with a plan to keep the spontaneous meeting with Adrien not to become a complete disaster. First and most importantly, I need to try to get my parents to act normal. Ugh, how am I supposed to do all that if I don't even have time for it?

The hour in said hour was getting closer and a moment later we were standing in front of the school building. Alya and Nino said their goodbyes and walked hand in hand up the opposite path, while Adrien and I stayed behind alone. I sought to look at Adrien only to just as quickly avoid him and saw that he was already looking at me expectantly.

"Are you still waiting for someone?" he asked.

"Who, me? Yes, I'm waiting for you. No, well... I mean, I'm not waiting for you. It's only when you're here, then I'm waiting for you.", I realized I was talking trash again and Adrien seemed to see it the same way. He looked at me more confused than questioning and kept his head tilted to the side. I became very quiet and tried to find help around me. But there was no one there, unfortunately. I guess fate had no interest in helping me. I sighed.

"Let's go...", I told him half-heartedly. This was off to a great start. It could only get better. I wanted to find the farthest way and run, but my legs felt too heavy. So I walked slightly ahead and Adrien followed me closely.

I opened the door of the bakery and my parents were just busy with a customer. Perfect, that was my chance to sneak Adrien in without a word. I was getting ready to sneak in when a voice sounded behind me.

"Hello Mrs. Cheng, hello Mr. Dupain. Nice to see you again!", I stopped and looked ironically confused. Yes I know, the love of my life is kind. After all, this is the reason I fell in love with him. But he doesn't have to be that kind either. So I straightened up and stopped next to Adrien. The customer thanked my parents and meandered past us. As expected, my parents beamed at our joint appearance.

"Adrien, come on in. Would you like something to eat?" said Dad, dragging Adrien inside. I was still standing at the front door. He pressed a fresh croissant into his hand.

"What brings you here?" asked Mom, who was standing at the counter.

"I'm teaching Marinette Mandarin."

"Oh how sweet of you! Marinette didn't tell us anything!" spoke Mom with joy, putting her hands on her cheeks.

"It was very spontaneous, we didn't know ourselves that we would be together today."

'Be together', it sounds too good to be true. I thought of all the beautiful moments I get to share with Adrien and now I saw this Mandarin lesson as something quite positive after all. Because of the fact that Adrien and I will now spend more time, we will also get closer. Oh, I am so happy that I did a whole dance of joy inside. Suddenly, I felt something grab my hand. I looked down and saw Adrien holding my hand and leading me towards the back entrance.

"Well, go ahead and have fun in Marinette's room," my parents called after us as we walked past them and I still couldn't believe my luck. I was floating in heaven. My feet literally slid across the floor and I felt so light and free. This may be the best day of my life after all, who knows?