Chapter 9: School Days

"YAWN!"

"Dude what's up with you?"

"Nothing Nino, just a long time." It was 4:10 a.m. by the time Adrien got back from his meeting with Ladybug. He fell asleep almost immediately after laying down on the bed only to be awoken 2 hours later by his alarm clock. Exhausted Adrien got up, showered, dressed, and headed to school.

"Well it looks like you weren't the only one who had a long night." Nino gestured to Marinette, who entered the classroom with a yawn as well. Despite applying cover up on her eyes, Adrien could still see the bags beneath them. As she continued to her seat, Adrien noticed a slight limp in the way she walked. I wonder if she hurt her leg. Adrien thought, but was too tired to bother asking the specifics. He assumed she hurt herself tripping over her own feet, after all Marinette's clumsiness was legendary. Marinette greeted both Adrien and Nino before sitting down in her seat.

"Girl, what happened to you?" Alya asked as Marinette sat down beside her.

"Nothing, just a long night of studying."

"Not what I was referring to." Alya gestured towards Marinette's leg.

"Oh this, I hurt myself going down the steps this morning; nothing too serious."

"How is it possible that you can be so clumsy when it comes to everyday tasks, yet so precise when it comes to crafting? The details that you put on that shirt you made for me was exact and phenomenal. You'd think stitching designs and sewing clothes would be a lot harder to do then going down a flight of stairs."

"What can I say," Marinette shrugged. "It's just the way I am."

"ADRIKINS!" Chloe burst through the classroom doors and pulled Adrien into a tight embrace.

"Good morning Chloe," Adrien replied giving Chloe a small, reluctant squeeze in return. "What's got you in such a cheerful mood?"

Chloe looked up at Adrien with a grin on her face. "Why wouldn't I be happy when I managed to secure your freedom for the entire day next Saturday!"

"WHAT!" Adrien, Nino, Alya, and Marinette all exclaimed at once.

"Hmph! Stop listening into my conversations with Adrien. Didn't you ever learn that it's rude to ease drop."

"It's not exactly ease dropping when you're having a conversation right in front of us and within ear shot." Alya snapped.

"If Chloe says its ease dropping then it's ease dropping and you need to stop." Sabrina demanded with her arms folded across her chest.

"I could care less what Chloe says," Alya replied waving off Sabrina's remarks.

"You should care more about what Chloe says. She's the mayor's daughter after all, what she says holds a lot more weight than anything you say."

"What does being the Mayor's daughter have to do with anything?" Nino growled. "The mayoral position is her dad's accomplishment, not hers."

"It has to do with pedigree and class, not that you'd know anything about that Nino." Chloe stated.

"Chloe," Adrien exclaimed as he gently pulled out of her embrace. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"Oh Adrien, you're way too naive for your own good. It's due to Nino's bad influence that this date was planned in the first place."

"How do you know about that?" Adrien inquired.

"My father received a call from Nathalie. Apparently your dad is concerned about the negative influence Nino had on your performance for the past few weeks and wanted to ensure that you started spending time with a suitable friend. Nathalie completely cleared your schedule and arranged the entire outing. So now we get to celebrate completing our finals together all day long!"

"Bad influence, what's she talking about?" Nino turned towards Adrien with a confused look of his face.

"Um," Adrien nervously placed his arm behind his neck. "About that…"

"Okay class please take your seats and turn to page 150 in your textbooks." Ms. Bustier entered the classroom as the final bell rang. Chloe turned around with a *humph* and proceeded to her seat with Sabrina close behind her.

"I'll tell you at lunch." Adrien whispered to Nino while taking his seat.

"I cannot believe her!" Alya growled as the lunch bell rang. "And him to for that matter. Something must be seriously wrong with his head if he thinks Chloe is a good influence on Adrien."

"It is odd that a guy with such an eye for fashion would be so blind when it comes to the people Adrien associated with." Marinette reasoned. "Maybe Chloe is a different person around him then us."

"I guess."

Marinette and Alya continued conversing as they packed their bags and headed out to the park to enjoy lunch with Nino and Adrien. After buying their respective lunch choices from the food vendor, they sat down in the grass. Adrien then told them about the fight with his dad and how he blamed Adrien's poor performance on Nino's bad influence.

"Dude, that guy is seriously the worst!"

"I know," Adrien groaned.

"So now you have to spend the entire day with the Wicked Witch of the West, I feel for you Adrien." Alya gave Adrien an apologetic look.

"It's not so bad," Adrien reasoned. "Chloe may not be perfect, but she's still my friend."

"Oh please, you know you enjoy our company more than hers." Alya boasted.

"Man, I still don't get how you manage to get along with her." Nino stated. "I can't stand being around her for more than 5 seconds without wanting to puke."

Adrien shrugged. "She does have a kind side, you just haven't seen it before. She tends to keep it hidden at school."

"I'll believe that when pigs fly," Alya huffed and rolled her eyes.

"But man grounded until the end of the school year, that's harsh. I guess this means no group study this Saturday." Nino glanced down at the grass, his disappointment clear from his tone.

Adrien placed a comforting hand on Nino's shoulder. "Sorry Nino, I doubt that my dad will along me to hang out with anyone even if it's to study."

"That bites. Marinette and I were so looking forward to you helping us out with our math, right Marinette?" Alya gave Marinette a small elbow shove.

Marinette shrugged, "I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm great at math and you have the best writing skills Alya." Alya just stared as Marinette turned towards Adrien. "You don't have to worry about us Adrien, we'll be fine."

Adrien gave Marinette an apologetic smile before standing up. "We should start heading back to class before we're late."

Adrien and Marinette proceeded towards the school building.

"You guys coming?" Marinette inquired when Nino and Alya failed to follow.

"We'll be there in a second, you two head back first." Nino replied.

"What's with Mari?" Nino whispered in Alya's ear after Marinette was out of earshot. "She's been pretty quiet about Adrien's assigned plans with Chloe and the cancelation of our study date. You'd think she'd be more upset."

"Especially since just a few days ago she was on a one woman mission to cheer Adrien up." Alya thought back to Marinette's behavior the past several weeks. Up all night crying, then obsessing over cheering Adrien up, taking down all his posters in his room, and now completely nonchalant about not only not being able to spent time with Adrien, but also him being forced to spend time alone with Chloe. "Something is seriously going on with her and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."

"Babe, didn't you decide not to pry?"

Frowning, Alya crossed her arms. "I know, but this is seriously bothering me and her as well. Whatever's going on with Marinette isn't just blowing over like with Adrien. I need to go on the offensive."

Nino stood up and held out his hand to help Alya up. "Well if there's anyone who can discover the truth, it's my ace reporter girlfriend."

A grin spread around Alya's face and her cheeks turned slightly red. Nino always seemed to know exactly what to say to put her mind at ease. Turning towards the school, the two love birds walked back hand in hand.

"Madame Bustier said the final would cover chapter 3-5 extensively. Considering how I did on the tests, I should focus on…yeah." Marinette mumbled to herself.

"You're making some really good progress Marinette."

"Thanks Tikki." Marinette glanced at the clock for the sixteenth time that night. 8:43, just a few more minutes.

"Worried about Chat."

"Is it that obvious?"

Tikki flew down and placed her arm on Marinette's hand. "You don't have to worry, Chat will be okay I promise."

"How can you be so sure? They have guns Tikki and they're not afraid to use them. Our suits aren't bullet proof and if there's one thing I've learned from yesterday it's that our superpowers can protect us completely."

"You're powers may not protect you completely, but they are pretty effective against gun fire. It was just unlikely and unlucky that you were hit by a ricochet. The probability of it happening again are slim to none."

"With Chat Noir's recklessness though, I can't help but worry about his safety."

"Chat Noir maybe reckless, but I'm sure he'll be on his guard for the next few weeks while you're out of commission. He's not an idiot, he must realize his own vulnerability after seeing you get hurt. Besides, there's no guarantee that he will even run into the criminals over the next few days."

Marinette paused for a moment. What Tikki said did make sense logically, but it did little to sway her worry. She couldn't help but worry about Chat Noir even if worrying did nothing to change the situation. 9:02, at least now I can contact Chat and maybe put my mind at ease. Chat Noir always did have a way of reassuring me when I needed it. Marinette thought back to the return of Stoneheart and how Chat Noir helped her when her confidence was waning.

"I just hope that nothing happens until I return and we can bring down the criminal syndicate together as a team. Tikki transforme moi!"