From School Girl To Superstar

Chapter Four Overnight Sensation

Tomas' POV
        I am backstage, watching as Marinette stands there, panting and smiling at the crowd. The crowd is screaming, their energy enough to power a small factory. Suddenly a producer comes up to me and motions for me to get on stage so we could sing our duet. I take a deep breath and jog out on stage, once the crowd catches sight if me they begin to calm down in anticipation of what comes next. I reach Marinette and she looks up at me smiling, her eyes sparkling. I smile back at her and turn back to the crowd. "So now you all understand why I was so excited for this, " I say and the crowd cheers. So to close off the show, we are going to sing a duet that both of us had a hand in writing, " I say, but before I could motion to the sound guy to start the audio Marinette speaks.
"Stop lying Tomas, we both know that you can't write duets for crap, " she says mockingly. I slowly turn my head to glare at her and the crowd laughs. I shake my head and signal the guy and audio starts playing.

Marinette and I end the song looking deep in to each other's eyes, almost as if we were deeply in love. I barely register the audience practically shrieking in our ears at the way we looked at each other. Suddenly a light blush coats Mari's cheeks and he looks away from me in embarrassment. I chuckle and look at the crowd as well. I take Marinettes hand that wasn't holding the mic and raise our arms. She takes it as a signal to bow and we do. When we stand fully I call out to the crowd. "Thank you, Paris!" the crowd goes nuts and I run off the stage with Mariners in tow. I feel her almost trip behind me but she regains her balance and keeps running. Once we're backstage she tackles me in a bone-crushing hug. Somehow I end up against a wall and I blink in surprise before wrapping my arms around her waist and hugging her back. She let's me go and looks at me, bouncing on her heels in excitement.
        "That trick you taught me actually worked, I was a little skeptical at first but wow, I didn't know that would feel so awesome, it was pretty much electric. I never ever thought that that would happen to me. So thank you, Tomas, thank you so so much." she says before wrapping her arms around my waist and hugging me again. I look at the producers to see them looking at us with like we were the cutest thing they'd ever seen. I give them a playful glare and put my hand on Mari's head, which was snuggled up to my side.
          "Ok Mari, I know you're really happy right now, but I still need to know whether or not you want the record deal or not?" I ask turning to look her in the eye. I can see the immense pressure that she feels and I pat her head. "Look you don't have to decide right now, I just need to know in two weeks, alright?" I say. She nods and I smile. "Ok then, now we need to figure out how we're going to get you home without being mugged by the press." I say thoughtfully, crossing my arms.
Adrien's POV-A Week Later
Marinette has been under house arrest since the concert, and I completely understand why. Since the concert, she told me that Tomas had been calling her about how all these different people want her on their shows. Personally, I don't mind Mari being this famous, but what I do mind is the fact that Tomas has been talking to her. I don't care if I sound jealous, I just don't like other guys calling up my girlfriend. "Adrien, " a voice calls from my right. I sigh and barely look over my shoulder at Natalie. I haven't talked to her since she slapped me, well not in complete sentences anyway. And right now, I was getting some serious Deja vù. We were in the car, driving to the interview that she had rescheduled, and the whole time I had planned to ignore her until I had gotten over my anger. "Adrien, " she calls again, this time more insistent. I let out a frustrated groan and finally look at her.
"Yes, Natalie, " I say, not even trying to be nice. She sighs.
          "Are you going to keep pouting like a toddler, or are you going to be an adult about this?" she asks.
           "Not sure, are you going to slap me again if I try to decide that?" I shoot right back at her.
           "Adrien, I understand why you're mad, really, I do. But that is no--" I cut her off.
           "Really? Because I think that I have every reason to be mad at you, Natalie. You actually struck me, because I fell in love. I want you to tell me what gave you the right to tell me how I should dictate my life?" I ask, my voice raised to a light shout with enough bite to get my point across. Natalie narrows her eyes at me.
"What gives me the right is that that legally, on paper, I am your mother, " she says, a triumphant note in her voice. I scoff.
"I already knew that Natalie, " I said flatly.
"And being your mother means that I can raise you with whatever method I see fit. So you don't get to question my decisions for you. You just need to obey me and we won't be in these kinds of situations." she says before turning back around.
              "Yeah right, I would actually see you as my mother after what you just did?" I scoffed. Adding to the serious Deja vu I was already feeling, I looked to the front of the car. "Stop the car, " I said firmly. The car pulled over and just as I was about to open the door Natalie grabbed my wrist. I turned to find her looking at me angrily.
               "Adrien, I swear if you walk out of here again I can and will tell your father about all of this, "  she practically growls at me. I look her dead in the eye, my face blank.
               "And if you do, I'll make sure that my father knows about everything you've said to me. I don't care what you are legally, but you are NOT, my mother." I open the car door and walk out before walking off, my hand going into my pocket to grab my phone. I look at it, smiling as I turn off the voice recorder and open the contacts. I press on Mari's number and hold the phone to my ear. It only gets halfway through the first ring before she picks up.
"Adrien, great timing. Do you think that maybe you could come over, I have something I really need to talk to you about, " she says. I smile.
"I'll be there in 5 minutes, " I respond before I hang up the phone. Suddenly I hear a scream from behind me and I whirl around, coming face to face with a teenage girl.
"OMG, IT'S ADRIEN AGRESTE!!!!!" she squeals, attracting the attention of bystanders who immediately recognize me too. Before any of them can swarm me I break out into a run. Slipping into alleyways and any place without a lot of people until I reached the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. I throw the door open and burst inside to see Marinette and her father emptying the display case of the few baked goods that remained. Mari puts down the plate and runs over to me with a smile.
               "That was quick, " she points out. I shrug.
               "I got recognized and had to book it here. Speaking of recognized..."I say before moving our conversation to a side of the bakery away from the windows. "Aren't you supposed to be incognito?" I ask. She shrugs.
"Yeah, but unless someone looks through the window, nobody will notice me in here. But that's not very important right now, I need to talk to you." Mari grabs my hand and races up the stairs to her room before sitting us down at her desk. She sits as well and her expression turns almost gravely serious. "So I've been thinking about this since the concert, and my parents and I have already had a very serious conversation about this, so I thought that you should be the first to know that I'm accepting the record deal," she said looking me square in the eye. I blink in surprise before launching forward to pull her into a hug. She stiffens in surprise before hugging me back, burying her face into my chest.
                "I'm really proud of you, you know that?" I ask rhetorically. Mari let's out a soft chuckle.
                "I'm happy that you support my decision, its one of the many things I love about you, " she says before tilting her head up a little."Kitty." She whispered in my ear. My face flushes and I pull away from her in embarrassment, holding a hand to my ear. Mari giggles. "Now you know how it feels." She crossed her arms triumphantly and sticks her tongue out at me.
                 I smirk at her before grabbing both of her wrists, uncrossing her arms and leaning in, our noses not even an inch apart. Her eyes go wide as she is caught by surprise and she blushes in embarrassment as she beholds our position. I was standing in front of her, one of my legs bent and placed on the chair she sat on. I had pinned her hands beside her head on the back of the chair. I chuckled. "Are you trying to tempt me, Princess?" I ask. Mari shakes her head no and I lean in so our noses are touching. "Really because I think you're lying to me." Mari closed her eyes as her breathing became labored. I moved in closer to her ear. "Do you know what happens to people who lie, " I say, pressing a kiss to her cheek, Mari squirms a little. I move back up to her ear before whispering, "They get punished." I blow on her ear and she whimpers in surprise, I pull back and sit in my chair across from her. I watch as she puts a hand on her heart before glaring at me.
"Would you please stop doing that Adrien, it's not fair." Marinette crosses her arms and pouts like a child, I let out a hearty laugh.
"I make no promises.
Marinette's POV-The Next Day
I sat at my desk, just staring at my phone, it's sleek surface shining in the fluorescent light of my desk lamp. It was almost 4 am, but I knew Tomas would still be up. I haven't been able to sleep since I told Adrien about my decision. I just had to tell Tomas now. I didn't know why I was hesitating, this was what I wanted, but I guess that my overthinking side was just worried that something bad would happen in the near future. But I knew that I was just worrying for nothing, I had my parents and Adrien, and all the rest of my friends who would support me no matter what. I would be fine. Burning this statement into my head, I finally picked up the phone. Dialing Tomas' number I held the phone to my ear, it rang twice before a yawn greeted me.
                "Hello, " Tomas said yawning again. I panicked.
                 "Tomas, it's Marinette, I'm sorry didn't wake you?" I ask guiltily.
                 "No, I'm just exhausted, so why are you up this late?" I take a deep breath.
                  "I'm accepting the record deal," I say firmly. Tomas doesn't say anything for a good minute.
                  "Well then, welcome to Miraculous Records."
Marinette's POV-Three Days Later
I was running down the street, a black hood over my head concealing my face. Since the heat of the concert still hadn't died down, I couldn't risk being recognized now. I make a sharp turn into an alleyway that leads to a nearly deserted street. Pulled over to the side was a black vehicle with tinted windows. I walked over to it, making sure to keep my face covered. I tap three times on the window and the door opens. I look around before climbing in and closing the door. Pulling off my hood I look to see Tomas smiling at me. "Glad you made it, " he says before thumping on the roof of the car, signaling to the driver to go. "Just so you know, the Miraculous Records HQ is in the most densely populated area of Paris, which is about an hour away. So I'm not sure how that's gonna work out." I nod, knowing that there would be a lot of things to figure out before we could start, but we'd jump those hurdles when we get to them. The car moved smoothly along the road while Tomas briefed me on what was going to happen. "So after you sight the contract, you will have to pick and agent and a publicity manager, then I will show you around the building and show you all the places you would be visiting the most. And lastly, we are going to start planning your first concert, interview and album. Sound good?" I nodded dumbly at him, suddenly realizing that there was a lot of things I needed to work on.
After driving for the promised hour, we park in the underground garage of the Miraculous Records building. Tomas gets out first before opening my door and helping me out. He leads me to an elevator that he says would take us straight to the CEO's office where he was waiting for us. As the elevator rises I take off my oversized black hoodie and smooth out the blue dress beneath it. I look at my reflection in the glass and begin to fuss nervously at my hair. I hear Tomas chuckle and I shoot a side glare at him. "Stop laughing, I'm trying to make a good impression here, " Tomas shakes his head.
"I'm not laughing at you Mari, it's just that you kind of remind me of me when I came here for the first time, " he says wistfully. I stop toying with my hair and look at him in confusion. "When MR offered me the record deal, I was so nervous about it. I didn't know what they were going to think of me, so I tried to make the best first impression as I could. But then I learned that they weren't the kind of people I was expecting, they were really nice and they made me feel comfortable here. So try not to worry too much about it, I promise they're gonna love you, " He says before tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. Suddenly the elevator dings and the door opens to reveal three men sitting behind one desk. Tomas gently nudges me and I walk forward before sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the enormous desk. The man in the middle looks at me with a smile.
"It's very nice to meet you Marinette, I'm Logan and these are my partners Richard and Michael, " he says, gesturing to the people on his left and right.
"It's very nice to meet you as well. Thank you so much for this opportunity, " I say politely. Looking at the three most powerful men in the French music industry, I didn't feel intimidated like I thought I would. Instead, I felt like I was just talking with my father. Richard began explaining to me how they would start my career and that it would make my life very hectic. Then Michael started explaining that the contract gave them partial reign over my music production and everything that came with it for the next ten years, meaning that however much money I produce with one song, the company would get 25% of the total profit. Running it through my head it wasn't a bad deal, I would just have to make sure that I worked hard to make sure I wouldn't let them down. Finally, Logan pushed the sheet of paper toward and along with a pen, the paper that would solidify my decision and made sure I never looked back.  I turn my head as Tomas puts a comforting hand on my shoulder, giving me one of his signature smiles. I smile back at him before turning back to the paper, picking up the pen and signing in the dotted line.