It was much easier to stand up the next day. She had been able to get a good amount of sleep for the first time since she had gotten the news that Thomas would visit again. She felt safe here, in the Agreste Mansion, in Adrien's room. Adrien. She was so unbelievably happy when he had pulled her into a hug the evening before. She had been so scared he would reject her before she even got the chance to say a word. But he had listened to her and he understood her. He had forgiven her. Thanks to Ladybug.

Gabriel Agreste had been a little irritated by the sudden night visitor but he didn't say much about it. Apparently he wasn't too fazed by it, even though it had been years since Chloe last stayed over night. But she didn't complain because she really didn't want to think of an excuse for her nightly stay. Adrien just stepped in and told him she would stay some time. His tone of voice demanded no questions and his father got the underlying message.

Later at school, they were the center of attention. After all, last time they had seen the two together was when they were having a serious fight in Miss Bustier's classroom, with Adrien's last words being about how he was absolutely through with her and basically didn't want to waste his time with her anymore. So it was obvious that they would attract looks and whispers.
But for once in her life, Chloe didn't enjoy the attention she was getting. For once she actually just wanted to blend in, be invisible, have everyone focus on something or someone else.

In class, the next thing sought stares. Adrien walked up to Sabrina and Nino and asked whether they would mind switching up seats. Too shocked to reply anything else, they instinctly nodded.
Adrien held up one arm to show the entrance to the bank to Chloe, like a gentleman would do. Chloe couldn't resist a smile and slid onto the seat, followed by Adrien who sat down next to her.

At this point, one row behind them, Alya was nearly losing her mind and looking back and forth between her best friend Marinette, who was completely unimpressed by the whole thing which seemed incredibly suspicious, and the two in front of them.
''Girl, are you alright? Adrien just made Nino switch seats with Chloe and you don't have anything to say about it? Have you already died or what is going on?'', she hissed.

Marinette looked at her, smiling softly. ''No, it's fine. There's nothing going on between them. He's just being nice.''
Alya raised an eyebrow. ''And which little bird told you that for you to be so sure about that?''
''I just know it.'', Marinette answered.
Her best friend was obviously very freaked out by her omnious behaviour but she couldn't really tell her that she met Chloe last night as Ladybug and specifically brought her to Adrien, now could she?

Alya decided that she couldn't really get anything else out of her, so she gave it up. Eventually she did almost have a stroke though, when Adrien placed his hand on Chloe's and squeezed it a little. All the while Marinette stayed completely calm. Because she had a pretty good side view on the blonde in the row in front of her and she was able to tell that Chloe had been fidgeting with her hands nervously and been getting upset in general. So the hand squeeze was nothing more than a harmless, innocent attempt at comforting a friend who's going through a tough time - a very, very tough time.

Poor Alya through was not so calm. Marinette was starting to wonder if she was more freaking out over Adrien and Chloe bonding again or Marinette showing no signs of fury or sadness or any kind of negative emotion at all. It was a teeny tiny bit funny as well though. She just had absolutely no clue what was going on.

A break rolled around soon enough. Chloe was on her way to get a book from her locker when she was startled to a stop. Through the masses of teenage students, it was easy to see the grown man standing in the hallway, looking around with grim expression.
Chloe was basically frozen on the spot, not even giving snarky remarks to the kids bumping into her because they didn't notice she had stopped walking. Her eyes were fixed on the man - how and why was he here? Was she not even spared in school?

She tried moving her feet to run away, hide from him, but they didn't budge. It was as if they were glued in place.
A few feets away, a dark haired girl noticed Chloe's strange behaviour. When she followed the direction of Chloe's staring with her own eyes and saw the man, she was able to count one and two together. In seconds, she was at Chloe's side.

''Come with me.'', Marinette said and grabbed Chloe's hand, forcing her to stumble on behind her and follow in her path.
While quickly walking through the halls, her eyes skimmed the surroundings until they fell on the bathroom door.
''Go.'', she ordered, opening the door and pushing the blonde,who was not able to say anything, in. She slammed the door and leaned against the wall, trying her best to appear natural.

No sixty seconds later, Thomas marched into her sight. He sneeked around the halls, his eyes wandering over the students, like a luring animal ready to catch its prey.
When he was close enough, Marinette spoke up at him. ''Hi! Excuse me, can I help you? You look like you're searching for something.''
She smiled her best and most innocent smile.

He smirked. ''Yes. In fact, I do. Do you know a Chloe Bourgeois?''
''Yeah, sure, she's in my class. Should I tell her something for you?''
''No, but I could use some information about her whereabouts. Her father wants her to get this lunch bag. I offered to get it to her-''
''Oh, I can give it to her! Just-''
''No!'', he growled. Then he quickly rearranged himself and continued in a more gentle voice. ''I mean, no, thank you. I'd rather give it to her myself, if you understand. Do you know where she is?''
''Oh... Yeah, I get it. No, right, yeah, I mean, I think I saw her go that way.'', Marinette said, pointing into a random direction.
He grinned widely, showing his white teeth. ''Thank you very much.''
She giggled and waved behind him. ''No problem!''

After a few more seconds, the bathroom door opened again and Chloe stepped out, looking around and breathing out heavily in relief. Then she straightend herself and crossed her arms, through it looked more like hugging herself than actually being in an angry pose.
''Why did you do that?''
''Well, you looked very uncomfortable when you saw him and I thought I'd help you out. YOu know, that's what nice people do. They're nice and help others.''
Chloe looked pretty suspicious and tense. Marinette realised that it had no use since she was a terrible liar. So she tried to put in as much informaton as possible without revealing too much. ''Okay, I'll admit it. Ladybug may or may not have talked to me about you...''

Upon her clearly rising panic, Marinette quickly threw in: ''Nothing specific. Just something about troubles at home. Which is supposedly also the reason why you get along with Adrien again. Because he's helping you out. Anyways, she said that you could use some kindness, so-''
''Oh, so I'm your charity work? To show Ladybug what a nice girl you are?''
''No! I-'', she sighed. Chloe really was a hard nut to crack. ''Look, I just wanna help. We may not like each other but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you stand in the rain, okay? Really, if you have troubles, and Ladybug made it sound like it was really big troubles, then I'm gonna help out. I mean, we're classmates. And after all, if Ladybug trusts you, you must be worth it, right? Right. I mean, that's enough for me.''

She was aware that she was rambling like a madmen, trying her hardest to convince Chloe, she wasn't doing this for brownie points. But apparently she already did convince her. And kind of touch her, in a way?
Because the blonde looked to the ground, shifting her foot and nodded slowly. ''Thank you, Marinette.''
Marinette blinked a few times. ''Excuse me?''
''I said Thank you. For helping. I really needed the help. I would have been done for without you. So thank you.'', she said. ''Don't make me repeat that.''
''Okay.'', Marinette chuckled a little. ''Well, you're welcome.''
Maybe they weren't doomed to be arch enemies after all. They might not become friend, but who knows maybe they wouldn't hate each other in the future.