Chapter Four: Party

Marinette's POV:

I managed to arrive on time today.

Florence and Alya are already here, and both of them waved. I run to join them under the tree, careful not to drop my cake.

Florence, Alya, and I were going to meet up with Adrien and Nino and head over to the park, where our class was going to hold a party for Alix.

Alix Kubdel is our skating athlete in our class, but she just came back from the nationals. Besides from roller skating, Alix is a hardcore parkour champion. She placed 2nd in the youth division, so we wanted to show our pride for her.

"Thanks for inviting me, A-Alya," stutters Florence, who still blushes. "Florence, there's no need to be shy," I say, and she smiles brightly.

"Oh, we need you, Florence, just in case we need to catch Marinette fainting from the sight of Adrien," Alya giggles.

I madly blush. "Alya!" I whine.

"Oh come on, the whole school except him knows about your crush. She's going to find out sooner or later." Alya defends herself. Groaning, I catch Florence's reaction. Her face is seems to glow more red. "You…have…a…crush…on…him?" she stammers.

The light dawns on me. Oh. That's why she was acting weird. She must have a crush on Adrien, too. It's not surprising, since half the girls in Paris do. Well, I'm not going to ruin our friendship because of that.

Alya doesn't let that moment pass. She raises her eyebrows. "Marinette, looks like you've got more competition," she notes, "although she's a much friendlier blonde than Miss Vanity."

Florence frowns. "Chloe has a bad reputation around here, doesn't she," she murmurs. I nod. "Yesterday was a good example of what she does."

"I didn't mind, M-Marinette. I appreciate it, but you didn't need to stand up for me. Believe me, I've had worse." She awkwardly laughs.

"Had it worse?" I think. "What does she mean?"

Before I could ask, Alya butts her phone again. "What do you guys think of the new superhero Mélodie?" she excitedly asks. "She was kind of clumsy, but she made such a grand entrance to the battle. Did Ladybug and Cat Noir know about her? What if she steals Cat Noir away from Ladybug? What if there are more super powers out there?" Alya fires question after question, and never pauses to take a breath. That girl has incredible stamina. I sigh, and Florence just stays red.

"I see you're not bored anymore, Alya."

Nino pokes his head out the tree, and grins widely as he's facing Alya. She hysterically shrieks. She looses a grip on her phone, and it would have fallen if it weren't for Adrien. His hands aren't slippery, so he catches Alya's lifeline to cyberspace. Like a gentleman, he promptly gives it back to her.

"Nino!" wails Alya, and it's her turn to blush. I guess we were so absorbed in Alya's curiosity that we didn't see the two.

"Sorry, Alya, but Nino really wanted to do that," Adrien apologizes. Alya huffs and crosses her arms like a toddler. "You don't need to say sorry." She points at Nino. "But he does." Nino proceeds to stick his tongue out.

I laugh openly; their humour making me forget the fact that Adrien is a few feet away from me.

Florence doesn't know what to make of the situation. She stopped blushing. Jumbles of thoughts seem to be going through her mind, as if debating what to say.

She finally goes with a greeting. "Hi, Adrien and Nino."

Adrien shakes her hand. "Good to see you too, Florence." Happiness glimmers in his eyes, and I wonder if Alya is right. Maybe Florence is competition.

It's not time to worry about that now.

"Come on guys, we're going to be late!" I yell, and race up ahead. I don't want them to see me blush.

We arrive at the park, where the others are finishing off decorating and preparing refreshments. Nathaniel, Ivan and Mylène are blowing party balloons, while Juleka and Rose work together to put up a banner. Kim, Sabrina, and Max are setting up the cupcake stand, and I run off to add my red velvet cake to their collection. I notice Chloe isn't with Sabrina.

"Sorry for the hold-up, guys," I apologize, and I place my addition to the collection of desserts.

"It's fine, our guest of honour isn't here yet anyway," says Kim. Despite all the competition he and Alix had in the past, the two were on good terms. Kim was the one who actually thought of the idea to host a party in the first place. He said it was his way of "serving Alix", a deal on their previous bet.

Speaking of Alix, she was rolling on the sidewalk, heading towards our place. "Positions, people!" ordered Kim, and we all hid in our positions.

Alix's eyes go wide, and she skids to a stop. "What the-"

"Surprise!" everyone says cheerfully.

That's when Florence stumbles to the ground and vomits.

Sorry that this is short. ^-^'

The chapters will vary in length. One day you'll be seeing shorts like these, and the next you'll get huge ones.

I ship Nyla A LOT, and I think I made myself a Maxina shipper XD. What about you guys?

What do you think is wrong with Florence?

Hope to update soon!

~Kurama Kaitou