𝐉𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐, jasonette

xiii. 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐰

When Marinette sank down onto Chloe's table, her best friend's eyes were immediately upon her, looking her up and down with concern.

"Hi," Marinette said, settling her lunch tray onto the table. Normally, she would be talking a mile a minute about how annoying Lila is or the latest fashion news, but today, any extended period of standing made her bones turn to jelly, so Marinette all but collapsed into her seat, breathing out of her nose heavily.

"Mon dieu Mari," Chloe said, frowning. "Are you okay?"

Marinette looked at her like she was mentally compromised before saying, "Of course I am." Instead of her usual cheerful enthusiasm though, today, her voice came out rough, and Nino peered at her over his glasses.

"Really, dudette?" he asked. "Because it doesn't seem like it. You're like, pale and no offence, you look sickly."

Marinette sniffed and then looked at him dryly. "Thanks, Nino, you really know how to make a girl feel good about herself."

"Just stating facts dudette," Nino shrugged off her snarky comment, returning to his food.

Marinette grumbled unhappily as she picked up a cucumber from her plate, her stomach roiling at the very thought of eating it.

Chloe pressed her hand firmly against Marinette's forehead and her frown became even deeper. "Marinette, you have a fever. Why are you even at school?"

Marinette didn't even think about responding. Chloe's hands were so nice and cool that even after they retracted, Marinette followed them, leaning so forward on her arms that they nearly slipped out from underneath her.

Kim steadied her by gripping onto her shoulder, sharing alarmed looks with Chloe and Nino when Marinette's eyes slipped shut.

"Mari," Kim said, shaking her gently. "You need to go home.

Marinette shook her head, leaning forward again. She was pretty sure her arms would be a comfortable pillow so maybe if she got a few seconds to sleep—

Chloe snapped her fingers in front of Marinette's face, eyes sharp and every inch of the queen bee she was. Marinette barely managed to muster up the energy to look at her with a bitter expression.

"Home," Chloe said in a tone that accepted no arguments, but Marinette decided to plea anyway.

"I don't—" Marinette started, but Chloe ended that right away.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng if you do not go home right now I swear to god I will murder you when you inevitably infect us all."

"Fine," Marinette said, sighing loudly. Her shoulders shook with a suppressed cough, and she pretended to not notice Chloe slowly inching away from her. "I'll go."

"You shouldn't be walking alone," Nino said, looking at her with concern in his eyes. "You might get hit by a car because you're so out of it."

"I could take her home," a new voice entered the conversation, and Marinette immediately straightened, although she nearly collapsed a few seconds later.

"No," she coughed out emphatically, refusing to be considered such an invalid that Adrien freaking Agreste had to take her home. "I'll be fine."

Chloe looked at Marinette uncertainly, eyes flitting between her and Adrien. "Well, you really shouldn't be walking alone—"

Marinette knew she had the upper hand here. All three of her friends couldn't leave because they had an exam next period and there was no way she was going to let Adrien let-Lila-lie Agreste take her home. So if Marinette really really tried, she could force her friends to let her stay till the end of the day.