>>Past

"I'm gonna get you!" A sunshine blonde boy laughed.

"You wish!" A midnight blue haired girl giggled.

The two children played a friendly game of tag. As they ran around the park, the little girl became increasingly tired and the little boy was slowly catching up to her. She could have called a timeout, but due to her competitive nature, she did not want to stop the game for her own benefit. As she ducked underneath the slide, she decided to hide behind the giant sycamore tree to catch her breath.

"Where'd you go Mari?" The little boy asked worriedly. As he ducked underneath the slide, he realized that he had lost sight of her and started to search around the area.

The little girl, Mari, was still hiding behind the tree, stuggling to contain her laughter as she started to regain her breath. The little boy kept searching, but he couldn't find her. He was alone. With no clue as to where she had gone, he, coincidentally, sat on the opposite side of the sycamore tree, curled up into a little ball, and started to cry. He was terrified that something had happened to her. "Mari. Marinette. Please come back." He whined and pleaded for her return.

Mari, whose real name was Marinette, felt guilty for making him so worried to the point of crying. She ran around the sycamore tree to where he was sitting. She saw him curled up into a ball and sat down right next to him, hugging him."Don't worry Adrien, I'm right here. See!" Marinette comforted him as he cried. As the little boy, Adrien, calmed down, he hugged Marinette back, grateful to have her back safe and sound.

"You're cruel." Adrien mumbled, rubbing away the tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Marinette apologized. "I didn't mean to make you cry. I was just tired and decided to hide so that I could catch my breath."

"Just please, promise me this. Promise me that you won't leave me. It was really scary and I don't want to lose you again." He hugged her as if she would leave him again if he let go.

She smiled, "I promise. I wouldn't want to lose you too." She hugged him back.

Adrien, now calmed down from the event, smiled. "And I'm also sorry."

Confused, Marinette asked, "Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"For this." He tapped Marinette on the shoulder. "YOU'RE IT!" he yelled and ran away.

"Adrien!" She yelled, laughing at the turn of events. "I'll get you! Just you wait!"

>>Present

Adrien pushed Marinette, her back hitting the wall. She clung onto her books tightly, tears running down her cheeks. 

"Pathetic." Adrien scoffed, grabbing her backpack on the floor and throwing it across the room. Marinette ran to where he threw her backpack and picked them up, putting her books into the bag. "Where do you think you're going?" his voice resonated though the hall.

"No where." Marinette's voice was raspy but was loud enough for Adrien to hear. She walked back to where Adrien was and was met with a shove to the wall, causing her to drop her bag. He walked up to her and punched in the stomach, causing her to fall to the floor. Marinette held her stomach as she coughed. "Please stop." Marinette whimpered, barely managing to get the words out.

"Stop? STOP?! WHY WOULD I STOP! You know exactly what you did. You brought this upon yourself, so don't you dare speak up to me." Adrien yelled, kicking her since she was down. As he continued to kick her, he spat out words of hate. Words like "you deserve this" and "it's all your fault." She did nothing to stop this. In her mind, she believed every word. It was her fault and she did deserve this. Classes had ended and the school was empty, so no one would be a witness to this scene.

"UGH!" Adrien groaned as he looked at his watch. "I have to go to a photoshoot." He looked at Marinette as she started to regain her things. "Nathalie is gonna pick me up for my photoshoot. Leave and don't you dare mention a word about this to anyone."

Marinette nodded, following the directions he told her. She finished gathering her things, zipped up her bag. But before she ran away, a question slipped from her tongue. "Is this all that's left of us?" Once she realized the words had slipped, she covered her mouth. "I didn't mean-"

Adrien had heard her. He walked up to her, glaring. "What's left of us?" He mocked her words. "Just because we were friends in the past does not mean anything. What's in the past is in the past. This is the present now. We," he gestured between the two of them, "are NOT friends. Not anymore at least. It's your fault and yours alone. It's your fault we aren't like we used to be. So don't you dare bring up the past." He scoffed, "Just leave already. Nathalie will be picking me up soon anyways and I don't want to deal with you anymore." He walked away from her and to his locker to grab his things.

And with that, she ran out of the school, tears spilling, body aching, but she didn't care.

She wouldn't change a thing.

*FINISHED EDITING (3/9/19 at 6:57PM)*