Adrien threw himself feet first through the open window as his transformation wore off, the ethereal green light quickly moving from head to toe in reverse, replacing black boots with red converse and removing feline ears from his hair.

His leap into the school left him on the third floor of the building. Adrien checked his watch.

8:59.

Letting out a steady stream of incoherent curses, he took off down the hall. Reaching the stairs, he jumped feet first onto the rails, not even slowing. Adrien slid all the way down the rails on the balls of his feet, and tumbled into a standard safety roll when reaching the bottom.

Quickly hopping back up on his feet, Adrien bolted for his classroom.

Ten more seconds to think of an excuse...two more feet to open the door.

Adrien burst through the door at high speeds, gasping for breath. He opened his mouth to breath his excuse to the teacher but was cut off mid-gasp.

Adrien had slid into the room at top speed, and crashed into someone already standing at the front of the room (who was probably giving their own terribly thought of excuse), sending them both sprawling across the floor. The world spun for a good three seconds, neither person fully understanding what had just happened.

Adrien's vision stopped swirling and he felt a dull throb at the back of his head. "Ow..." He winced. "Did I fall off the roof again?...." his comment was met with complete silence.

Adrien cracked open his eyes only to see the most heavenly blue bell orbs staring back at him. His first thought was, My lady?

No...no. His lady's eyes were full of confidence and mischief, these were full of uncertainty. He then recognized the patterned floor around him and connected the dots.

He blinked at her, still gazing into her eyes. "Hello, Marinette."

The splash of freckles that dusted her nose were quickly and completely covered by a hot red blush. "Uh..H-Hi, A-Adrien..." she squeaked.

Adrien tilted his head at the girl. He could never understand why she liked him so much...

Marinette's face was turning redder by the second as nobody moved. "Marinette..." Adrien asked worriedly.

He then realized the very suggestive position the two of them were in, him straddling her on the cold tile floor, both arms on either side of her head. A pink tinge slowly crawled onto his face as he assessed the situation, then quickly jumped to his feet.

"Heh...sorry for running into you like that Mari..." Adrien laughed nervously, reaching down to help the poor girl to her feet. He was all too aware of the stares of his other classmates on his back, but chose to ignore them.

"I-Its okay." Marinette breathed, dazed.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck subconsciously. "No, no really! It was my fault! I should have- I-I mean, I didn't mean to...I shouldn't have- s-sorry!" Adrien yelped, and rushed to his seat beside a surprised looking Nino.

Adrien sat down and proceeded to cover his head and face with both arms.

Nino glanced at Marinette, who still stood at the front of the class confused. He gave Adrien an odd look, who looked as if he wanted to slam his head against the wooden table multiple times.

STUPID, IGNORANT, RECKLESS BASTARD! Now everyone will think you're a perverted creep, you idiot! Adrien scolded himself mentally.

Nino spared another glance at his friend before his frown gave way to a sly smirk. Nino shook his head and gave Adrien a sympathetic pat on the back.

>××××<

Adrien frowned as he entered the school courtyard at lunchtime. Spotting an empty bench, he walks over and lays across the bench, looking up at the clouds. He was tired and bored, and he didn't want to go back home to waste his free time there.

Nino had disappeared a while ago, probably to enjoy eating at his favorite sundae shop for the first time in weeks.

There was no explanation as to why Adrien wasn't hungry, but there was a reason why he was late, and is still so tired.

Hawkmoth needs to meet an angry, sadistic Chat Noir at 4AM, so Chat can teach him what the phrase 'not a morning person' means. Even his beautiful partner had been surprisingly meaner than usual at the early wake up call. Even the person they were fighting was Akumatized because someone woke them up really early, only to tell them terrible news.

Long story short, don't wake up Parisians. They will kill you.

Adrien is brought out of his thoughts as a high pitched laugh sounds around him. He sat up and frowned, quickly taking in the chaos that was mere feet away.

Standing by a tree near the bench he was on, Adrien spotted none other than Marinette and Alya.

Marinette looked angry and uncomfortable, with her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. Alya stared down the enemy with her hands on her hips and a sarcastic 'come at me' glint in her eyes.

Chloe Bourgeois smirked at the two girls, her arms crossed over her chest. Chloe was the mayor's daughter, a girl with lots of money and influence, who would've been considered very popular and beautiful.....if it weren't for her rotten, inhuman, 'holier than thou' attitude, that is.

Marinette huffed and ground her feet into the dirt. Chloe had just barged in on a private conversation!

Chloe shook her head in disbelief. "You seriously think that my Adrikins would ever go so far as to even call you his friends?! That has got to be the funniest thing I've heard all day!" She then proceeded to laugh the most annoying laugh that anyone would hear for a while.

Alya literally growled at the platinum blonde brat. Marinette blushed bright red, defending herself. "Well he called me Mari earlier, so that has to go for something! And he looked lonely so I decided to go and ask if he was okay-"

"Which is a lot more than what you're doing, Chloe." Adrien cut in, walking over to them.

Marinette spluttered and Alya smirked harder. Adrien turned to Marinette with a sweet half smile.

"And thanks, Mari. I'm not really feeling that good today, and it's nice to have someone worry for once. Thank you." he smiled. Turning back to Chloe, his expression turned blank.

"For the last time Chloe, I am not your Adrikins," he grimaced, "And neither will I ever be romantically involved with you. Ever. I am tired of you treating everyone like dirt, and I'm especially tired of you messing with my friends." he glared at her. He grabbed Marinette and Alya, pulling them both behind him.

"Alya and Marinette are my friends." he stated earnestly. "So are Max, Alix, Nino, Juleka, Nathaniel, Ivan, Mylene, Rose, Kim, everyone!" he glared.

"And until you stop acting like such a brat," he sneered at her, "I'll play the same cards you are. We'll definitely see who's father has the most influence over Paris."

Chloe looked angry and offended, but the look faded away under a calm snobbish expression. "Yeah right, what can a fashion designer do to the Mayor? My father will hear about this, just you wait."

Adrien's anger let some of his true personality snake to the surface through large cracks in his facade. A dark chuckle escaped his lips.

"You'd be really surprised what we can do..." he laughed, eyes gleaming. A sneer curved on Chloe's perfectly tanned face.

"Well, babe? I'm still waiting!" Adrien grinned wickedly. Chloe turned her nose up with an indignant huff and marched away.

Adrien shook his head at her departing figure. "Like I thought. How did I ever put up with that brat by just ignoring her..." he muttered, turning back to the remaining girls.

Alya was looking at him differently, with a suspicious gleam in her eyes. Marinette was looking down at her feet, basically anywhere but him.

"You girls alright?" he asked. Alya nodded. "Yep. Nothing hurt us but the brilliant glare of that hideous yellow fashion disaster."

Adrien nodded in agreement. You would think a spoiled brat would have a better fashion sense...

Marinette fidgeted. Adrien's eyes swept over to her.

"Hey Mari, listen. I still feel bad about what happened earlier, and I want to make it up to you." Adrien said truthfully.

Alya nudged Marinette who jumped. "O-Oh, yeah...I told you, don't worry about it.." she murmured.

Adrien shook his head. "No, seriously. How about later we both go get some ice cream sundaes?" he suggested. "Nino is paying, because he ditched me today." he added thoughtfully.

Marinette stuttered. "O-Oh...well, y-you see.. I've already p-promised Nathaniel that I w-would h-have a croissant with him during break..."

Adrien ran his fingers through his hair. "That's okay. A beautiful girl like you wouldn't stay single for long, huh?" he said absently, seemingly dazed.

Alya frowned, then stepped forward. She waved a hand in front of Adrien's face, and he blinked and swayed away from it, a little late.

"Must have hit your head hard, huh pretty boy?" she mocked him.

Adrien frowned. "Must have...hit my head hard. Yeah. Bye." he muttered, then wandered off.