Ring Ring Ring. Waking up I sit up and mentally prepare myself for the possibility Alya knows that i'm Ruff Rider, Pluto seeing me stress about the situation offers some advice "Hey if she knows she knows nothing can change that now"' taking that to heart I get ready and head off to school. Walking into class I see Alya and flinch internally while going to my seat in the back, seeing that there was no reaction when I walked past her I realize she never watched the video. Grabbing a pencil from my bag I whisper to Pluto "Remind me to get Alya macarons later" "See everything worked out" Pluto says encouragingly from inside the bag, "Okay class today you will work in pairs of your choosing or by yourself but everyone of you are expected to turn this sheet in" after the papers were handed out I didn't even bother to look for a person to partner up with instead choosing to work by myself. "Hey Caleb want to work on this together" Adrien asks sitting next to me "Yeah, if you want" after we got the assignment done we had still had a few minutes till class ended. "So Caleb I was wondering if you want to hang out sometime" "Sure, any idea when" "Well me, Nino, Marinette, and Alya hang out every friday after school under the guise of a studygroup" "Okay, i'm game so where do you meet up" "The park you're welcome if you want to come" "Sounds like fun guess I will have to take you up on the offer." After class finished and everyone was leaving Adrien handed me a French language quiz and said "Pop quiz" "You're giving me a pop quiz, I might have to rethink hanging out tomorrow" I joke as I take it and start filling in the answers. After I was done Adrien took it and graded the quiz "Well you did fairly well but you missed two" "Which ones" "Numbers four and five" "You put 'Mon fromage préféré est rouge' for what is your favorite color although 'fromage' means cheese, color is 'couluer' and i'm not even sure what you put under number five is even French." Looking at number five I see that two years of Spanish class made it through onto the quiz "That's because it's in Spanish" "Why did you answer this question in Spanish" "I may not be fluent in French but I am pretty fluent in Spanish" "So by the time we're done you will be fluent in three languages" Adrien asks looking at me like he just reevaluated what he thought about me "I guess so" "You are full of surprises aren't you Caleb" "Yeah" that's an understatement.
After lessons that day I head home and check the LadyBlog for any activity, seeing that they are taking a poll I click the post with a header that reads 'Who is your favorite superhero' the three options are 'LadyBug' 'Cat Noir' and 'Ruff Rider' immediately voting for me it shows the results so far. "Pluto this is majorly unfair, only one other person has voted Ruff Rider and this has been up for half a day" Pluto floats over and looks at the screen "Hey at least you have one fan." "Pluto are you always optimistic" "I try" going down to the comments I type 'Why is no one voting for Ruff Rider' under the pseudonym Doggo Rider almost instantly my comment is flooded with several other comments 'This is most definitely Ruff Rider' and a whole bunch of other people leave a quick reply saying this is without a doubt Ruff Rider. "Pluto I don't understand the world" "Me neither and I have been on this planet for a very long time" clicking off the poll and returning to the main page just in time to see Alya post a new article. Opening it up I see it is some footage from an anonymous source from the last Akuma fight, about to click off I see it has one comment. Alya mentioning how she can't get over this one bakery with the best macarons Pluto still peeking over my shoulders sees it and sighs "Well guess that's the signal" "Time to Play" transforming I jump out my window onto the ground and jog over to the bakery. Reaching it I walk inside and see Alya and Marinette sitting at a table looking at Alya's phone "Hello, fancy seeing you here" I greet them while walking over to them "See I told you he would come" Alya says ignoring me and speaking to Marinette "Well maybe it's a coincidence" Marinette shoots back "Ruff Rider why did you come here" Alya asks knowing full well why I did. I could side with Alya but i've never seen Marinette mad and I won't start today or I could side with Marinette but then Alya would get embarrassing videos of me and post them. "Can I phone a friend" they just look at me and start laughing I feel heat rush to my cheeks "Alya I think we have officially broke Ruff Rider" "Marinette you can't break him he is impervious to everything" "Except having to side between two teen girls." They manage to say before they start laughing again "So I hate to interrupt but what is happening" Alya hearing me answers my question after calming down "Marinette didn't believe I could get you hear within ten minutes with just a single post" "And what is so funny" "You got here in four" realizing what I caused with my eagerness I start laughing right along with them.
Once we all calm down Marinette offers to go and grab some macarons and goes leaving only me and Alya at the table "We go to the same school" "Yeah we do" "So do you ever see me and the hallway or maybe even in class" "Yes actually" "I can barely get my head around this are you telling me that you go to my school as your normal civilian self and act like you're not a hero, how do you do it" "It's easier than it seems if you keep your lives separate" which you are totally failing at right now I tell myself "If you try to keep them separate then why hang around me" Alya asks looking down at her feet "Because I couldn't stop hanging around you if I tried." "Why didn't you delete the video when I told you about my phone" "Did you watch it" "No, I couldn't bring myself to click play I thought it would ruin our friendship and I realized that for the first time in over a year the LadyBlog didn't take top priority" taking my hand I reach across the table and lift her head up our eyes locking together "Nothing can ever ruin our friendship and if you find out who I am when i'm not Ruff Rider nothing would change if anything it is one less secret I have to keep from you" and I don't like keeping anything from you I add silently as an afterthought. "So guess who has freshly baked macarons" Marinette says as she walks over with a plate of fresh baked sweets, Marinette stops in her tracks when she sees the site before her. Me and Alya looking at eachother with my hand underneath her chin, both of us with blushes. Taking my hand away I say "T-T-They look great can't wait to try them" "Y-Y-Yeah I bet there the best" Alya also stammers out, Marinette sets the plate down and sits back next to Alya leaning over she whispers to Alya "We are so going to talk about what just happened" I overhearing this due to my increased hearing that I sometimes remember to utilize when i'm not messing up somehow manage to get even redder. "It was great visiting but I should go I have...to house sit some plants bye" running out the bakery I find an alleyway to detransform leaning against a wall I slowly slide down it until i'm sitting on the ground. "Pluto I have no idea what i'm doing" "I find that to be the case with you most of the time" "Pluto that's not helping" "Kind of like someone I know" "Pluto I need guidance not jokes" "You're just jealous your jokes aren't on paw with mine" "Pluto why" "If you want me advice Caleb just keep doing what you're doing but don't just whatever you don't tell her who you are, and try to avoid her when you're not Ruff Rider" "It's too late for that Adrien invited me to hangout with them remember" "Caleb why do you try everything in your power to get found out." Arriving home my parents still aren't home from work which I still have no clue what it is about, I head to bed with Pluto taunting me about my crush on Alya. This is going to kill me on the inside whenever I see her outside of being Ruff Rider.
This may be home now but I went straight from the frying pan and into the oven.