Y'ALL. THE EPISODE. DARK OWL. I'M DEAD.

Monday, December 4

"Class, please calm down. I know it's the last twenty minutes of school, but let me at least finish up." Miss Bustier sighed again. This was hopeless. "It's about your Christmas project."

The class immediately went silent, their attention aimed at the teacher.

"There we go," she laughed. "So anyway, what I what was trying to tell you all was that there will be a small project in the theme of Christmas. You do it alone and it needs to be handed in on the twentieth. You'll present it in front of the class."

Rose raised her hand and the teacher nodded in her direction, giving her permission to speak. "What will the project be about?"

She smiled. "Ah, very good question. You all need to write a short poem or story, Christmas themed obviously. It's not that hard. It's more of a project for fun, but you still get graded for it. If you want, you can get started on it now. Think about characters or what style you want to write in until the bell rings."

The teacher went to her desk and started to grade some leftover tests, while the class started to excitedly talk and brainstorm.

"I like this project!" Alya said to Marinette, but the latter didn't seem to listen. She was pulled inside her phone, intently scrolling. "Hey, are you even listening?"

Marinette hummed in response, but didn't look at her.

"I take that as a no," Alya retorted and sighed. She eventually plucked the phone from her friend's hands and hid it behind her back.

"Hey! I was searching for something." Marinette reached for her phone behind Alya's back, basically climbing her.

"What are you looking for then?"

"Fabric."

She paused for a while. "Fabric?"

"Fabric."

Alya removed the phone from behind her back and looked at the screen, the phone was luckily still unlocked. A search bar for a fabric with a fancy name she didn't even want to try to pronounce was opened. "Fabric?" She questioned again.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I'm a designer, Alya. It's not that weird. I've been dying to get my hands on this, but would you look at the price? The darn stuff is so expensive. I check every day if there is a discount on it on every website I can find that sells it. So far nothing, still the same ridiculous price." She collapsed on the table, head hidden between her folded arms.

Alya put the phone on the table and petted Marinette's head. "How much have you saved up already?"

"Not nearly enough," Marinette grumbled. "My parents even said they would want to buy it for me for Christmas, but I said no. I know they're just trying to be nice, but this is something I want to do for myself, you know?"

"I get it, girl. But think about it! It might take a while, but if you eventually buy it you feel so satisfied that you did this on your own."

"I know, I know. It's still frustrating though."

"Hey, Marinette?" The said girl squeaked when she heard the voice from the boy in front of her. She would recognize that voice anywhere, anytime. Even if he would wear a mask she would recognize it.

"Y-yeah?"

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. You looking for fabric?"

"Yeah," sighed and shoved her phone in his direction. "Can't afford it yet, so I have to wait, I guess."

Adrien looked at the screen for a short period of time before putting the device down and looking her in the eyes. "I can get it for you, you know?" He smiled sweetly.

"What? No! Adrien, I wouldn't want you to do that. I know you're probably gonna say 'It's all right, I can miss the money" but I don't care. I don't want you to spend money on me, you should buy something for yourself!"

Adrien patiently waited for her to be done with her rant before continuing. "What I meant was that I can ask Father if he can get it for you and then you pay him for it. It'll probably be cheaper if I tell him you're my friend."

Her heart melted at Adrien calling her his friend. She knew they could be considered friends, but it still felt nice to hear it from him. "Oh. You really would do that?"

"Of course, Marinette! What if you come home with me tomorrow and then we can ask him? I know from the top of my head that my schedule is free, so it'll be fine. He'll probably say yes sooner if he knows who's asking for the favor."

Marinette contemplated the offer. She would have the chance to talk to her favorite designer about fashion! And going to Adrien's, spending time with him, alone…

She wasn't sure if her heart would be able to handle it, but she wasn't going to let this opportunity slide.

"Oh my gosh, thank you!" She grabbed his hand unconsciously and hugged it to herself. "Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'd love to come!"

Just on time, the bell rang.

Removing his hand from her, Adrien grabbed his bag and slumped it around his shoulder, getting up from his spot. "No problem. See you tomorrow then!"

The situation finally catching up with her, Marinette turned beet-red and waved dreamily at him, albeit awkwardly. "Y-yeah. Tomorrow. Me see you there."

Alya hit her back, getting her out of her stupor. "Wow, girl. Didn't think you had it in you. You and Agreste finally going on a date, huh?"

"W-What?" She stammered. "It's not a date, Alya. I'm just coming over to his place. Nothing more." She stared at her hand, the hand she had held him with.

"But what if it could be more!" She exclaimed. "You're the one hopelessly in love with him, why not take this as an opportunity to finally let something happen? You guys will probably be alone in his room, maybe listening to music or watching a movie. It'll be cold so you guys share a blanket, all cuddled up together. The possibilities…"

Marinette shoved her friend. "You and you're wild fantasies."

"Don't give me that! I'm sure your fantasies about him are way wilder." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Marinette turned red for the second time that day. "Alya!"

"I'm just messing with you, you know that,'' she laughed.

''I get that, but stop making me more nervous than I already am. I don't even know how I managed to say yes! I'm so gonna die tomorrow. I can't handle it." She whined in defeat.

"Just relax, girl. What if you think about the things that won't happen? Sure, it'll be just the two of you, but you'll be doing friendly stuffs as friends. Nothing to be nervous about."

She fumbled with her fingers. "I guess that helps…"

Alya put an arm around her. "You know it does! Just relax and take deep breaths. It'll be fine, I promise."

Alya was right and Marinette knew it. There was nothing to be nervous about, but her mind just couldn't get over the fact that she was going to hang out with Adrien! The hanging out part probably wouldn't be that hard, but calming her mind… that ought to be a challenge.

She was just hoping she wouldn't mess up tomorrow.

She could handle it.