Adrien's Turn

Chloe here. Chloe there.

Chloe at the College. Chloe at the Lycee. And now, Chloe at the University.

In Adrien's point of view, Chloe Bourgeois sure is a persistent slimy eel.

At this point, Adrien is completely fed up. The blond Parisian wanted to leave the whining girl alone. No matter how hard he tried looking for good qualities of Chloe, the young model can't seem to find any - even though they have been 'classmates' for so many years already. Sure, he knows that Chloe is using her father's influence to be able to switch classes and change schools, depending on where in Paris he might be. And yes, it's creepy and unsettling but Adrien is used to it. He's used to all of Chloe's over dramatic acts so why is university ever going to be different? He sighed dejectedly.

The only good thing about University is that Chloe didn't get to have the same schedule as him, even if she managed to slither her way on the culinary program.

"Adrien! Are you listening?" Chloe demanded with a pout. Adrien tried his best to not imagine her as a duck, else he'll burst out of laughter and she'd be more irritating and annoying that she is already. "I said-"

"Yes yes." He replied quickly, deciding that now's the time to run. "I got to go now. Classes are probably starting, bye!" Adrien faked an apologetic smile. With that, he walked past the moving crowd of students and ditching the blonde girl. The boy didn't dare to look back until he was nearly infront of the administration offices, on the second floor. It was already halfway from where Chloe had 'accidentally' bumped into him.

His head was looking at the direction from where he came from, his heart beating fast from his previous brisk walk. Adrien stared for a few minutes, then sighed in relief as the thought of him successfully abandoning Chloe pass his mind. "Whew. Finally…" He whispered to himself and made his way up the stairs.

"Excusez-moi!*" A feminine voice cut the partly-silent atmosphere of the hall. The blond looked forward upon hearing the voice. From his angle, he could see a dashing figure of Sarabella. And when he meant dashing, he literally meant it. The woman was holding a file case, which was nonexistent when they had met earlier, and she was sprinting towards his direction, occasionally exclaiming 'pardon!' when a student is on her way. A look of surprise was evident on the young model's face. (T: Excuse me!)

He already concluded that Sarabella is an eccentric and amusing person… but he didn't know she'd be more amusing than he expected. The architect's pace didn't change whether or not there is someone walking infront of her or something is obstructing her way. The way she ran through the crowd of students and obstacles with such grace made Adrien think of how she'd probably beat Kim in a running contest.

Adrien smiled at her politely when she came nearer. Her eyes widened and exclaimed, "Handsome boy, éviter!" At first, the young Agreste didn't understand why she'd order him to duck… but when she's only a few feet away, a realization hit Adrien. Sarabella had no plans on stopping on her tracks just for him. He quickly squatted down in panic, hoping that she won't hit his head or trip over him. If that happens, then they'll both end up in the clinic at the first day of their university life.

Adrien hit his knee on the nose of the stair causing him to curse sharply. Another realization hit him that he's on the stairs and Sarabella's running straight ahead. It was a ten-step staircase, nearly over two feet in height and four feet in length. She'll hurt herself, he immediately thought. "Sarabella, stop—!" He started exclaiming but was cut when he saw the girl leap in a diagonal direction, flinging herself towards the stair-railing.

The Parisian felt time slowing down as the scene unfold. They were in the second floor, it was an eight feet drop and she's going straight to the danger zone. She's so reckless and suicidal! His mind exclaimed. However, the terror that plagued Adrien was soon turned into amazement. Her right foot made contact with the metal railing, her eyes trained on the stair landing. Sarabella kicked the said object, in a matter of a split-second, bringing herself back at the air.

The girl safely landed on the floor, much to Adrien's relief. "Mille fois merci!" She exclaimed, looking at Adrien and waving cheerfully as if she didn't face death while pulling off the daredevil stunt she had just did. (T: Many thanks!)

Adrien was speechless, still squatted at the stairs. Sure, he's done a lot of stunts like those with Ladybug but Sarabella's different. She's no superhero. She doesn't have the advantage of strength borrowed from a miraculous. "She's— She's a weirdo…"

Adrien was disinterestedly looking through the planner that his secretary had prepared him. He can't even say no to any of these photo-shoots, no matter how corny the clothes and themes are. His father had specifically picked these brands and companies for him to represent. The blond fought himself to not groan out of boredom. Aside from being Chat Noir and loving his work as a model, his life isn't that exciting – unlike how his fans would portray him. Indeed, he loves his work as a model but Adrien's aware that he's starting to lose interest, one of the two reasons why he insisted on attending university.

"Ohhh- You!" Adrien looked behind him, not surprised to see Sarabella walking towards him with a slightly awkward smile. He noticed that the foreigner had been giving him uncomfortable smiles ever since that morning. "We crossed paths… again!" She added warily, nearly faltering at the last part of her sentence. "M-Mind if I sit beside you?"

"Sure." He nodded. Sarabella's one of the few who had treated him like a normal person so he might as well stick with her. Adrien was also curious about her. He stared at her tanned face, searching her eyes if there's a tinge of sadness with in her. He unconsciously thought, being a foreigner in a country you don't know must be very emotionally taxing – not that I had ever experienced that before.

Surely, he knew that he'd have to be the first one to talk but he kept his silence, still looking at her face with a hollow stare. He made a mental list as to why she'd still probably be really wary about him. The girl didn't seem to notice his gaze -that or she's deliberately avoiding it- and Adrien was easily getting bored. "You know, I heard you call me 'handsome boy' again, earlier, Mademoiselle." He teased with a devilish smile, hoping to get amusement from her.

Yeah, it was a bit cruel but his inner Chat Noir was waking within. Sarabella looked fun to mess and joke around with, had she not been a bit too conscious about herself on their first meeting.

The ravenette looked at Adrien and laughed a little carefree than before, "I was running late for an appointment with the counselors so I had to sprint." She explained briefly, shrugging as if her way of 'sprinting' was like a normal thing.

"Ah, you ran like the wind." Adrien complimented. "It's amazing."

Red tinted her cheeks, followed by a bashful merci. "I used to run as a track athlete… and I kinda do other stuff related to that. It's fun but it's been very taxing recently."

The blond tried his best to hide his surprise. From his view, Sarabella seemed to be the shy woman who'd be interested in painting or writing poems rather than sports. She looked like it was the case until she said that she's an athlete. "Really?" He blurted out unexpectedly.

Sarabella nodded nonchalantly, replying with a dismissive 'meh'.

Before Adrien ask her more about herself, the door opened to show a stout man with salt-and-pepper hair. "Hello, students!" He said with a shadow of a smile on his face. He was holding a suitcase with his right hand and a folded apron on the other. The class was silent, observing and gauging their professor's character. "I'm Mr. Boucher, your professor for your knife skills classes-"

An abrupt 'yes!' cut through their teacher's introduction, who stopped in his words.

Adrien whipped his head towards Sarabella's direction. The black-haired woman was smiling from ear-to-ear. The blond Parisian felt a very awkward tension around the room, as if every student were holding their breath. The architect blinked and looked around. She met the eyes of everyone in class, oblivious to the offended and terrified looks of her classmates.

"Yes, mademoiselle?" The professor asked her with a terse voice. He seemed irritated. Adrien feared for Sarabella because he heard that some professors would give a student a failing grade if they find the student too 'annoying' - despite having them excel in class. "Why did you cheered when I said 'knife skills'?"

The young model was scared that Mr. Boucher would instantly grab a knife and skewer Sarabella on the spot. He was also half-expecting Sarabella to blush hard, like she did on their first meeting, and panic. Instead, the girl scratched the back of her head sheepishly, laughing uncomfortably with all the eyes fixed onto her, "I like playing with knives."

At this point, Adrien was gaping at her. No sane person would say that infront of a professor, or moreso, no sane person would ever admit to 'like' playing with knives, he thought. The blond looked at Mr. Boucher's expression. The professor's face seemed to change from irritated to interested in a matter of seconds. "Would you like to introduce yourself to us, couteau-fille?* And why you took the irregular classes in culinary arts?" (T: knife girl)

Sarabella stood up, she smiled as she faced the class, "I'm Sarabella Morin, nice to meet you all!" The girl bowed towards the whole class with new-found confidence. It was at that moment that Adrien wanted to know more about her. It had been years since he met such an interesting person. The last one was Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette would always be wary around him but she was very very fascinating to say the least. She's talented yet very humble. She's cute yet very self-conscious. She's very intelligent yet can sometimes be air-headed. It was as if the Parisian girl was a walking contradiction. The thing about the character contradiction is starting to happen with Sarabella, too.

"I'm taking culinary arts as my second-degree so I have to work and, at the same time, study here." Sarabella added to her introduction which snapped Adrien from his reverie about Marinette. He shook his head at himself for getting distracted by Marinette, of all times. The blond model turned his focus towards his seatmate, who was still talking. "And I cheered at the knife skills classes because I'm excited to learn how to hold and use a knife efficiently and effectively."

"Well, you're the first student in years to be excited about my class!" Mr. Boucher said in excitement. The man must not get very enthusiastic students, huh, Adrien noted mentally. "Since Miss Morin started the introductions, might as well proceed with the rest of you. That pretty boy beside her, you're next."

He did his best to hide a sigh but he'll have to suck it up. First days of school are always the worst for him because he has to tell every single person in class who he is, which is something like putting a huge neon sign on his back with the words 'Notice me, I'm the famous model'. Adrien stood up, "I'm Adrien Agreste. It's a pleasure to meet you all." He gave their professor a smile and gave his classmates a nod of acknowledgement.

Unknown to Adrien, Sarabella was eyeing him, mentally stating, 'Oh, so that's his name, huh.'

"I'm also taking this program as an irregular student because, same as Sarabella's reasons," Adrien spared Sarabella a gaze, who blushed hard, her expression looked at if she was inwardly saying, 'What? What me?' "I'm working and studying at the same time."

"To think that we have a celebrity here… I'm expecting a lot from you." Mr. Boucher nodded at him and looked at Sarabella pointedly, "That goes for you, too, couteau-fille."

The ravenette stood up in surprised panic and gave a salute to their professor, "¡S-Sí, Señor!*" She blurted out. (T: Y-Yes, sir!)

Their professor stared at her, confused, but let her slip nonetheless, "Next!"

"Ah damn," Adrien heard Sarabella mutter, the girl had her face covered with her hands while crumpling on her seat. "My instincts are kicking back again... This is all dad's fault...!"

Adrien chuckled at the sight. It looked worse than when she was trying to hide her face back in Marinette's family patisserie. "Nice impression to give on our professor, couteau-fille." He teased her once again, a friendly tone evident on his voice.

"Shut up." She retorted without a tinge of sarcasm or hostility. Sarabella gave him a light punch on the shoulder, a faint embarrassed smile gracing her face. They shared eye contact for a few seconds, in which Adrien had set a world record for the longest time that Sarabella ever looked at him directly without having the foreigner to blush deep red.

The black-haired woman suddenly had a realization and said, "Hey, I just realized. I have never known your name before."

"What?" Adrien got confused. Surely, he'd have told her, right? "Haven't I introduced myself before?"

"Nope." The architect shook her head, "Today's the first time I heard your name."

"What?!"

"Adrien, huh." Sarabella looked towards the chalkboard infront of them, nodding to herself, "That's a handsome name, handsome boy." She stated with out any malice on her tone, an innocent grin present on her exquisite and foreign face. This time, it was Adrien's turn to blush.

A/N:

EEEYYYYY! A little fluff to end the chapter? Please kill me now before I get out of control with these scenes. hahahahha. (just kidding, please don't kill me.)

Anyways~ Thank you to the huge support I'm getting! I can't thank everyone enough for inspiring me to keep writing this~! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Do review or follow or favorite!

I'd really appreciate any reviews, too, because I'll know where I'll improve on~ Thank you once again, my lovely fellow ladybugs and tomcats~