The next week was going to be rough. After some initial assessment, the doctors at the clinic offered her a place in their trial program, which initially included a week-long stay at the hospital. This way they could monitor her 24/7 while they adjust some new medicines she will take. She wasn't a big fan of the idea, partly because she hasn't told anyone at school about her condition yet, and partly because how was she supposed to get out of there if Ladybug needed her… Even though it hadn't happened for weeks now. Still, you can never be sure about this.
And about her classmates… She didn't know how to approach anyone to ask to send her the schoolwork while she was away. Or who to approach. She just wanted to get over it as quickly as possible. Given that she was not an expert at social situations, or how to handle basically anything like that, she was just contemplating about this issue for days.
"Hey, girl" Alya called out to her during lunch break. "Are you okay?"
"She's been awfully weird lately" said Alix, who thought something completely different was behind her friend's strange behaviour.
Back in the zoo Danielle acted really strange toward a certain hero and acted suspicious almost every time there was an akuma attack. And that exchange between them… Alix thought she figured everything out. There was only one solution. Danielle must be in love with one of the famous Parisian heroes. In particular, a certain snake-themed superhero.
"Yeah, she seems distracted" said Nathaniel with a worried tone.
"Well, you mean even more distracted then usual" squealed Rose, clutching her hands below the table.
Danielle was deep in thought, not even acknowledging the others talking to and about her. The only thing that she noticed was the apparent silence and everyone just watching her around the lunch table. Looking around the confused and worried faces, she panicked. And what moment can be the best to ask for help than this?
"Uuhh… Can you guys help me out a bit?" Dani asked with more confidence than she thought she had.
"I knew it!" Alix exclaimed happily.
"Huh?" came the shocked reply from almost everyone, expect Danielle.
"What?" Dani asked with a confused grin.
"Or… Maybe I didn't?" Alix replied with a questioning voice, as Dani started explaining her situation to them.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
As per usual, Matt would not stop asking Luka about Danielle, especially that she was at the clinic for the past few days. They spent the day at a museum where the geography teacher brought them. He said this will help them learn more about the processes of how the earth was formed, but so far it was just a very old guy talking for a very long time. But now they finally had some free time to roam around the museum and the exhibits.
"So, how's Danielle doing?" asked Matt as soon as there was only the two of them.
"Fine, I guess" Luka replied, examining some of the displayed rock types.
"You guess?" Matt asked back with an accusatory tone. "When was the last time you talked to her?"
"A few days ago" Luka replied. "But Jule keeps me updated every single day" he said, making Matt more at ease.
"Oh, good. That's good" Matt replied in a much calmer voice, looking at Luka strangely.
"Have you thought about, I don't know, maybe messaging her or something?" asked Luka, genuinely wondering why Matt hasn't tried that yet.
"I have" he replied, biting his lips. "But what do I tell her? How do I even start? Hey, do you remember me? I'm Luka's weird friend who just inserted himself into your movie time" he groaned. "I feel like an idiot."
"Maybe you are" Luka chuckled, making his friend look at him with fake offended face.
"I guess… I mean I can send her a friend request, right? Will she even remember me? What if she thinks I'm just a creepy weirdo?" Matt asked, almost panicking.
"What are you talking about?" giggled Luka.
"I don't know" Matt sighed. "She's just, so, different. And I'm not sure how to approach her. It's so weird."
"Do you…" started Luka, after a few silent moments. "…want me to talk to her now?"
"Oh, that would be awesome" Matt replied instantly, with a huge grin.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
Danielle was sitting on her bed, finally having some energy to do some homework. The first few days were rough and took out a lot of energy from her. Breezing through the chemistry lessons, she felt her phone vibrate. Checking it, she saw a message from her favourite guitarist.
L: * Hey Dani*
D: *Hey*
L: *Hope I'm not disturbing anything...*
D: *Nah. Just catching up with some hw*
D: *What's up?*
L: *I need your assi-stones with something.*
She re-read the sentence a few times, thinking it was maybe some weird autocorrect issue. But the more she thought about it, the less sense it made.
D: *?*
Luka smiled to himself, before snapping a selfie with Matt and a bunch of the exhibited rocks in the background.
L: *We're on a field trip to a rock and mineral exhibit.*
Checking the photo, she could see just how much fun the boys were having in the museum. Based on their expression, zero. On the other hand, she would've loved to be at the museum. Or basically anywhere else but in the clinic.
D: *Wow. That's a lot of rocks.*
D: *I bet they have so much sedimental value…*
D: *So what can I help you with?*
Luka wanted to facepalm himself, but didn't do it in front of Matt. He was sure that Dani knew why he wrote her, based on her comment, but he thought hard how to word his sentence, especially with Matt peeping over his shoulder. When he wrote it, he could hear Matt snickering behind him.
L: *I just had a feeling that talking to you would really magma day.*
Dani almost fell off the bed, laughing. After composing herself, she cracked her knuckles, as if she was preparing for a text-battle, ideas already forming in her head.
D: *Oh… Let me guess. You wanna exchange some geology puns?*
D: *Alrighty*
D: *Let me dig some up real quick…*
"Smart girl" Matt said to Luka as they grinned at each other.
"Oh, you have no idea…" Luka commented, as he started writing about the exhibit.
L: *We already had a presentation by the curator of the exhibit. It was quite boring.*
D: *It couldn't have been that bad… Do you wanna chalk about it?*
L: *He talked about some minerals that can be identified based on their bad smells.*
L: *Maybe they should use some geo-dorant.*
D: *Eeeww!*
D: *You're making me lose my apatite!*
L: *Sorry, sorry… :)*
L: *But, the curator also said that his favourite fruit is pome-granite… But beside Matt and I, nobody laughed at his joke.*
L: *:(*
"Come on. It was really funny" Matt said to him. "The others are just being boring hypocrites" he added, making Luka lightly chuckle.
D: *And let me guess, his favourite animal is a rock-topus?*
"Oh my god" Matt said, trying hard not to laugh out loud in the big echoing room.
L: *I hope so. I also love rock-topuses.*
D: *But you shouldn't take them for granite, you know. I've heard that they are an endangered species*
D: *:\ :(*
"How does she come up with these?" Matt chuckled, earning only a smirk from Luka.
As Luka was typing his next pun, the teacher approached them, excited about another presentation by a geologist who helped finding some of the rock samples and then putting together the exhibition.
L: *Sorry, I have to go… The teacher's calling.*
L: *We have another presentation to listen to.*
D: *K*
D: * Just don't forget to keep you coal*
L: *I guess I'll try...*
L: *Thanks, Dani :)*
Danielle got under her blanket, re-reading the messages, so that the hiding Buzzy could also read them. As the kwami held her mouth, silently laughing, she got another message from Alix.
A: *Yo, girl!*
A: *How are you doing?*
D: *Hey, Alix :)*
D: *Fine. A bit bored*
D: *What's up with you?*
A: *Same. Wanted to go and try out the new rock-climbing place in town but nobody is willing to come with me…*
She had no idea there was a rock-climbing place. Not like it's her style, she's not a big fan of extreme sports. And not like she should do things like that, especially in front of her hero classmates.
D: *Bummer*
D: *Are they scared? :P*
A: *HAH!*
A: *I bet they are*
A: *Just a bunch of scaredy cats :D*
A: *(sends screenshot of a group chat she re-named 'Scaredy cats' with a cat emoji at the end)*
D: *NO YOU DIDN'T*
D: *:D :D :D*
A: *Oooh, yeah I did*
A: *And now they're bombarding me with messages, asking what I mean by that… (eyerolling emoji)*
D: *Oh nooo :D*
A: *Sorry, talk to you later*
A: *I have some things to settle with the kitties*
D: *:D :D :D*
D: *K, good luck with that*
A: *(changed chat name 'Danielle' to 'Danielle' with an elephant and a poop emoji)*
D: *ALIIIIIX :D :D :D*
"Oh my god, this girl" Danielle laughed, imagining how the others might react to Alix calling them scaredy cats.
"She's such a fun girl to be around" Buzzy whispered, glad to see her friend smile after the last few days.
"Yeah, most guys in the class are cool" Dani whispered back, laying down, holding her kwami in her palm.
"I can't wait to get out of here" Buzzy whispered with a yawn, making Dani yawn as well.
"So do I, Buzzy… So do I…" she replied, closing her eyes to take a short nap.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
During lunch break, Max was scanning his notes from the classes to send to Danielle. Getting his tablet out, he carefully packed everything into its own folder, with all the pages numbered.
"I guess it's for the best that you send her the schoolwork" said Alya watching him partly with amazement and partly with bewilderment.
"I bet this makes it much easier for her to understand things" said Marinette with a smile. "If I were to send my notes… I don't think anyone beside me would understand it."
"Same, girl" Alix said, showing them some of her notes from the history class.
"I… I can't even read it" squealed Rose with a blush.
"Yeah, sometimes it's hard, even for me" Alix laughed, making everyone question how on earth she could study from these.
"Wait a minute" Alya grinned at Max's screen. "Her name is 'Glitch hunter' for your messages?"
"What?" Nino asked, checking it out with some other classmates.
"Yes" Max replied simply, looking back at them, like this was the most obvious thing.
"Umm… care to explain?" asked Alya, tilting her head to the side.
"Oh, I asked her to help with testing my new game prototype" explained Max enthusiastically.
"Wow, you're making a new game already?" asked Marinette with an excited grin.
"Yes, but it is still in the early stages of development" Markov added.
"Exactly" continued Max. "But when I showed my previous game to Danielle, she didn't play it right. Not like anyone else would. And she kept sending me videos and photos of glitches and bugs and all kinds of issues."
"Is there a right way to play a game?" asked Adrien, scratching his head.
"Of course" Max replied. "In most games, there is a linear gameplay that you have to follow. Do things in certain order, going through the places in a given order… But she just… Didn't want to do that. And then I got a bit angry at her first… I thought that she was making fun of my game."
"She wouldn't do that" murmured Juleka.
"Yeah. That's not like her" added Alix, ready to defend her.
"Exactly" replied Max. "I also realised that she was just trying to help me and that's why she informed me about these issues. So, when I started making the new game, I knew that if there were any issues with it, she would definitely find them."
"She's already helped a great deal with making the game experience better" Markov said, earning a nod from Max.
"That's so cool of her" said Nino.
"Yeah, she's always so helpful" smiled Adrien, making Marinette feel a little bit jealous.
In reply, Juleka silently mumbled something, clutching left her arm with her other hand.
"Oh, that's a great idea, Jule" Rose squealed happily.
"I'm sure Danielle would love that" Alix added excitedly. "I bet she needs some fun after this week."
"I'll ask my parents to prepare some macarons for us" Marinette offered with a big smile.
"And I'll ask my mum to make some food" added Alya, already messaging her mother.
"Oh, let's prepare some cute decorations as well" said Mylène. "This will be so much fun."
"But it should be a surprise, right?" asked Nino. "So how are we going to make her come?"
"Leave it with me" said Alix cockily, as the bell rung, indicating the start of the next class.