Chapter 10: Chloé

Kim showed up to school without a word the next day. Chloé showed up in the complete opposite manor. After missing almost a week of school, more or less because of Marinette and Adrien dating, she was back and worse than ever. She looked a little too proud of herself. Of course she probably heard about the little fight Mari and Adrien had the previous day, but it was nothing that should've gone to her head. Adrien tried to talk to Marinette before school, but he accidentally slept in and was almost running late. He blamed it on the loud akuma last night. Even after he was defeated the pulsing headache he gave Adrien wasn't until two in the morning. Fortunately he didn't sleep in to the point where he would definitely be late. He bursted in to the classroom just before the final bell rung and tried to calmly make his way to his seat. The teacher was still taking attendance when he made eye contact with Marinette and paused. She immediately looked away, but he set his back down and took a deep breath.

"Morning, Marinette," he spoke. She glanced up at him and then back down.

"Morning," she replied coldly.

"Hey, um…I'm really sorry about yesterday," he said.

"Mm-hm," she replied blandly.

"And…you're right." That caught her attention.

"I wasn't trying, and I should've. I shouldn't have tried to hard to push you away when you're only trying to help me. I guess I don't really know how to do this…but I'm really grateful that you've taken the time to try and make this work for me," he continued. Marinette hesitated and then sighed.

"I accept your apology, and…if you still want I'm still willing to help you," she responded calmly. He smiled.

"Thank you, Mari. I really need all the help I can get."

"You definitely need help on how to be a good boyfriend," she teased with a smirk playing on her lips. He chuckled.

"Well how would you suggest I become a good boyfriend?" He questioned.

"Talk to me, and let me help you out. I'm not just here to listen, y'know? You don't have to stress out about your problems with me. We can have fun too," she answered. He nodded.

"Yeah, okay. I can do fun. Um…how about we go out on a date?" He asked.

"A date?" She lifted a brow.

"A fake one. For the press," he whispered.

"That makes sense."

"But we can still have fun too. It doesn't have to be strictly for business."

"That's very true," she nodded.

"We could stroll through the park and get something to eat. Then we could go to the louvre or something," he suggested.

"Yeah?" She questioned leaning closer and intertwining her fingers with his. It took him a little off guard, but he quickly reminded himself to be convincing. He smirked at their fingers as he rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand and looked up at her.

"Yeah…and then we can get ice cream and I'll walk you home after we watch the sunset from the top of the Eiffel Tower," he murmured flirtatiously. She giggled.

"How corny," she teased.

"The cornier the better."

"Morning class. Let's get started!" The teacher greeted enthusiastically.

Adrien tore his hand away from Marinette's and turned to face the board. Mari rolled her eyes. He was trying, but it wasn't exactly perfect. They say through the rest of the lesson in silence while the rest of the class whispered and gossiped. A few of them talked about how cute Mari and Adrien were and how happy they were that the "couple" made up. The majority were going over how this was just further proof that the relationship was fake. Chloé only glared at Marinette without a word.

"What does he see in her? Nothing. Nothing at all! It's so obviously fake it hurts," Chloé hissed to Sabrina.

"How can you tell?" She questioned.

"Ugh, if they were really dating they would be all over each other. There's no way Adrien would pay attention to this boring lesson if he truly had feelings for her, duh!"

"Well, I talked to them when you were gone, and Marinette told me he had to be careful about how affectionate he was incase the press happened to snap a picture of him," Sabrina reported.

"Ugh! As if. Gabriel wouldn't care. He'd be ecstatic over the popularity he would get from the tabloids for walking around with his "girlfriend"…ugh there's just no way," she complained.

"I dunno, I think they're kinda cute-"

"Shut up, Sabrina."

"Yes Chloé…"

"Oh snap! I forgot something in the teachers lounge conveniently at this time to further the plot! I'll be back" the teacher said before leaving the classroom. The kids looked around confused from what their teacher had just said before conversing and socializing with each other. Adrien had turned around to face Marinette again when Chloé clears her throat as the attention was on her.

"Oh how cute! You two actually think we believe in this circus act?" She spoke with bitter venom in her voice. Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes.

"I dunno what you're talking about, Chloé," Adrien replied.

"It's not worth it," Mari whispered as she remembered the last time someone confronted them about their relationship being fake.

"Don't try to fool me, Adrikins. We all know you're still hooked on me," she winked. He cringed and shook his head.

"Sorry, Chlo. I only like you as a friend," he replied awkwardly. Chloé was the one to roll her eyes now.

"Yeah sure. I doubt you two have even kissed yet," she said blandly. Mari turned pink.

"I-it's none of your business if we've kissed yet or not!" Mari snapped.

"Whatever. If you guys were really dating you wouldn't care if the entire world saw you kissing."

"Y-yes we would! That's private stuff, and we don't need to share it with you," Mari continued to argue. Adrien looked board with Chloé's pathetic attempts to prove their relationship to be fake, as well as Marinette's poor and nervous comebacks.

"Who cares about privacy anymore? Just prove that you guys are really dating right now with a kiss," Chloé challenged.

"This is ridiculous! We don't need to prove-" Marinette was suddenly cut off when Adrien cupped her face and connected their lips. Mari's cheeks burned as he kept their lips pressed together for quite a while, even tilting his head to fit with hers, before pulling back. Adrien looked over at Chloé with a smug smile, and she responded with a scowl and red cheeks.

"Sorry. We like to be polite with our public display of affection. But if you would prefer we would be more than happy to show off some more. Mari is just gonna have to get used to the public exposer," he spoke smoothly while Marinette tried to recollect her brain.

"Don't hold back," Chloé grumbled.

"Are you sure about that?" He questioned with a devious smirk.

"Go crazy!" Chloé barked.

"Gladly!" Adrien hissed and pulled Marinette back down to him.

"W-wait, Adri-" once again his lips stopped her words right in their tracks. This kiss was a little bit longer, and even enjoyable. Not that the last kiss wasn't enjoyable, Marinette just had less time to appreciate it. She timidly ran her hands over his shoulders and gently curled her fingers in his hair. When he pulled back she blinked at him and still felt fuzzy from his lips. He chuckled and pulled a strand of hair from her mouth.

"Ça va?" He asked gently. She nodded.

"That wasn't a stage kiss," she whispered quietly.

"These guys may be idiots, but they'll spot a stage kiss faster than my father," he pointed out. She nodded.

"So I guess we just…gotta get used to that?"

"Yeah…I guess so."

"Alright kids! I'm back and just in time for the story to come to a stop for now. I'm such a useful plot device," the teacher announced as she entered the room again. What in the world was happening?