Growing Up

A Display Of Confrontation

(Please Note: Incase you haven't realized, the college in this story is an actual school, but most of the information such as dorms, classes and majors are fiction and not available.)

They ate and headed their separate ways for classes. Each person had their own schedule and they couldn't stay together for their required course. They did luck out by taking the same elective.

"Alright brats." Their teacher clapped their hands together and stomped onto the floor. "I'm sure you saw the name, Arts Extracurricular, and thought it would be easy." The teacher plopped themselves in the chair and propped their feet up. "Well, hate to break it to you, but it's not going to be anything of the sort." They smirked. "I've got a few ground rules I need to set so... Hey!" The teacher jumped to their feet and slammed their hand on the table. "You there! Your name." They pointed to Felix.

"Uh, F-"

"Stand up!"

"Felix Graham de Vanily." Felix looked at the teacher with his usual blank face.

"What's with the mug blondie?" The teacher walked to the board and grabbed chalk.

Adrien raised his hand and stood up. "I'm sorry professor, I'm Adrien Agreste, Felix's cousin, and he doesn't usually like to express himself... It's nothing against you, it's just that-"

"Does he not speak for himself either?" The professor rolled his eyes at Adrien and started writing on the board.

Marinette couldn't stand watching Adrien get put down. As she tried to stand up, Alya grabbed her arm and tried to pull her down. Marinette shook her off. "Excuse me, but Adrien was just trying to stand up for Felix, I don't see anything wrong with that." She stood firm in her decision.

Slowly, their professor turned to look at the three of them standing up. "If you would let me finish talking to Felix, I was going to say that if he kept the mug, he would be our model for the day since we are going to be learning, or re-learning for some of you, the basics of drawing but I'm sure that the two of you would like to volunteer instead." The teacher chuckled a bit and stopped writing. "Alrighty then, take your seats." The teacher laughed. "I'm not that tough of a grader. Get my assignments done and get a good grade. I want to see effort and attention to detail. I will refuse work if I feel like it." The professor took a seat again and pointed to the board behind him.

The students sat there amazed at what their teacher had done. On the board, a drawing of Felix done entirely of adjectives that would be used to describe him was neatly covering a small bit of the board.

"Your first assignment if to do a self portrait that shows me who you are and gives me an idea of where you are starting. I don't want stick figures. I don't care if you never plan on drawing in your career. You are an artist who should at least know a bit about each section of art." He laughed again and dismissed the class just as his timer for the end of class rang. "You three, stay."

Felix, Marinette and Adrien walked to his desk at the front of the room and awaited their scolding.

"Let's start backwards. I assume you are friends or something with Mr. Agreste?" He looked at Marinette unimpressed. "Or are you some sort of fangirl?"

Marinette could feel her face turn red with a mix of anger and embarrassment. "We are good friends sir." She looked the teacher in the eyes. "Why does it matter?"

He leaned forward to the three of them and said something they didn't expect. "Well, I've been a teacher for a while now, and I can tell how you feel about him."

Marinette blushed a beet red and automatically denied it. "I have no idea what you mean sir. We are friends and that's that. Right Adrien?" She knew that Adrien had always thought of her as friend and wouldn't look deeper into the question.

Adrien accidentally hesitated when she asked him the question he had answered multiple times before. "U-Uh, yeah! She was my first friend ever!" He recovered with an innocent smile.

The professor raised an eyebrow and let it go. "Okay then... Now, Mr. Agreste, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and shook it when Adrien grabbed it. "I enjoy your modeling work, I'm delighted that you've decided to attend this college." He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "On the other hand, as your teacher, I think you should learn to mind your business." The professor directed his attention to Felix. "I've watched your father's films. They were splendid. I hope you can uphold the reputation he had made for himself before the accident."

The room was silent. Marinette wasn't up to date with her knowledge on directors, but she was aware that Gabriel Agreste used to provide costumes for a Mr. Graham... Had he passed away?

"The three of you, since you seem to be so close, will be working together and instead of drawing self portraits, you will be drawing another person by lottery." The professor pulled names from a hat and came to the conclusion that Marinette would be drawing Felix, Felix would be drawing Marinette and Adrien would continue with the self portrait project. "That's what the universe wants, that's what the universe will receive." He stood and walked out the room.