"So Marinette, tell me the truth!"

I wanted to so badly stand up and tell Lila to leave, knowing that Marinette was put in a tight spot, but I found myself not moving. More silence filled the room, and I was beginning to think that Marinette was never going to answer the question, or say anything else for that matter. Lila may have realized that too, because I then heard the door opening and when I looked up, I saw her standing beside the opened door.

"So you choose not to answer my question? Fine!" She looked furious. "Even after everything we talked about. Even after everything you told me about not liking him, about how I didn't have to consider you as a rival. . . you still went and did that. It's starting to become pretty obvious that you do like him. Say, Marinette. . . Am I going to have to start distancing myself away from you?"

"It was just to help him. It wasn't real, he told me to play along," Marinette finally replied, although she didn't look that much confident while she spoke. She sounded like a maid, afraid to speak back to her master. Maybe Marinette didn't want Lila as a friend, but because of what she thought Lila was going through, she felt guilty and wanted to make sure Lila led a happy life. Maybe she was only friends with Lila because she felt pity for her. Now this is what I was starting to believe. Maybe Marinette knew how much of a bad person Lila was but chose to ignore it because of her guilt.

"Help him with what?! And why would you do that in front of me?" Lila was obviously not letting this go. How would she react if she knew the boy she was talking about was actually sitting here, listening in to her conversation? She would probably feel embarrassed, never want to speak to me again, probably mad as well.

It was because of you! I wanted to say out loud. I wanted to answer her question, the question I knew Marinette wouldn't be able to answer. It was because I didn't want people to misunderstand the both of us, so I had to make them think Marinette was my girlfriend. I'd much rather have Marinette as my girlfriend than you, and besides. . . you knew people were talking behind us yet you went and hugged me in front of them to create an even bigger misunderstanding. You think that's how you're going to get me, Lila? By making other people think we're dating? Well think again, because you're wrong!

Lila let out a sigh when Marinette continued to stay silent. She gave Marinette one last glare, before stepping out of the bakery and shutting the door behind her. I felt really bad for Marinette. Just seeing her standing there, not moving at all, the package still in her hand, I could obviously tell the conversation had hurt her. I could tell Marinette had always been careful not to hurt Lila's feelings, or make her feel upset just in case she'd do anything. I may not have known the full story, but seeing the picture frames of the two young version of them smiling at the camera while holding hands or hugging, I knew they went way back, and now it was possible their friendship was going to break because of me.

"I. . . sorry you had to witness all of that," Marinette turned back around, a bitter smile on her face. "You should probably. . . get going." She placed the package on the living room table, and I had a bad feeling she wasn't planning on sending it to me anymore. Lila may have managed to change her mind. . . What if she started ignoring me at school because of Lila's words? She would probably stay far away from me, or even worse, try to convince me to go out with Lila. I've read these type of books where the good best friend tries to make the other girl happy by doing what she'd like. Or she would distance herself from the boy she liked just because of the guilt she feels from the fact that her friend likes that boy too.

I stood up from the couch, knowing it was time to go as well. Marinette looked like she needed some alone time, and she'd probably not want it if I stayed and tried to talk to her about it, especially with the fact that to her, I was a stranger she picked up from the streets. Waving at her goodbye, I headed towards the door. I then turned back around and looked at the package being left alone, sitting on the table, with the words written on it.

Please, send it, Marinette. And with those words in my head, I left the bakery.

~

7:00 A.M

I stuffed my hands inside my pocket, taking my keys out. Behind me, Felix was waiting patiently with a wide grin on his face. While I fumbled with the keys because of how cold it was since it had rained last night, at the corner of my eyes, I saw him taking out his phone. He widened his eyes when he turned it on, and he muttered, "it's 7 A.M!"

I let out a small gasp, finally able to unlock the door. Our plan had been to sleep over at someone else's house, which we had done. We slept over at Nino' house, and I have to admit, it was the bestest fun I'd ever had in a while. Our night was filled with jokes, laughter, games and scary stories. Nino told us about him and Alya, Felix told us about him and Bridgette and I came clean about my crush on Marinette. Nino hadn't looked surprised when I admitted my feelings, and he told me that he and Alya already knew about it, which was really embarrassing to hear, but at the same time, I was relieved they were pretty okay with it.

Our next plan had been to make it back home by 6:00 A.M, but Felix and I had slept longer than we had planned, and we ended up arriving back one hour later. I opened the door and walked inside silently, Felix following close behind. I heard him close the door behind him, but besides that, the mansion was pretty quiet. I gave Felix a thumbs up, both of us realizing that neither Nathalie nor Gorilla were awake yet, and Father was probably not even home. As quiet as possible, Felix and I climbed up the stairs, which squeaked more than usual, but we were able to make it inside my room without being caught.

When I opened the door and stepped inside my room, the first thing that caught my eyes was the large package on my bed. My mouth was wide opened in shock, but I walked over to my bed and picked the package up. Just like I had thought, on the package were the words, "From: M. DC." I didn't realize I had such a wide smile on my face now until Felix poked my shoulder and asked me what it was.

She sent it. Even after I thought she wouldn't, she still sent it. She must have sent the package right after I had left the bakery, and Nathalie was probably awake at that time to take the package and put it in my room. I sat down on my bed and I started to open it up, excitement suddenly overcoming me. I mean, it was just a package. Yeah, but it's from Marinette.

After I opened it up, I reached in and pulled out what was inside. Just like I had thought, there were a bag of chocolate chip cookies, a bag of croissants, and a bag of macaroons. Whoa! I blinked in surprise as I stared at the three bags right in front of me. Even Felix looked to be a little jealous at the goodies I'd just gotten.

"Oh, look," Felix pointed. "There's a note." He reached his hand towards the note taped on the bag of chocolate chip cookies and ripped it off the bag, before reading out loud. 'Adrien, you told me you enjoyed the last chocolate I gave you, so I decided to give you more. Don't worry, if you don't like this, you can tell me, and I'll just stop. Anyway, I heard that your cousin had moved in with you. Share with him.'" Felix stopped reading and he looked over at me with a grin. "Yes! She cares about me too! Marinette must really like you that much."

I blushed at his words. Marinette never really did answer Chloe's and Lila's question about having a crush on me, but could it really be possible? Maybe she's not just sending me these pastries because she thinks I deserve them, but perhaps, it's her way of telling me she likes me. . .? I was a little confused, but I decided to not think about it for now. Maybe it's better if I just ask her tomorrow at school. . . That is, if she's willing to talk to me even after that conversation she had with Lila.

Felix opened a bag and took some macaroons out. "Anyway, you should be getting ready for school. Nathalie and Gorilla will wake up soon." He stuffed a macaroon inside of his mouth, before pointing a finger towards my bathroom.

"Right! I'll eat these after I come back from school." I stood up from my bed. "You can only have 4 macaroons. Leave the rest of the other snacks in my closet. I want to take the macaroons to school for lunch. When I come back from school, we can share the others." I explained to him. I knew there were 10 macaroons in total, and if Felix got 4, then that meant I would get the rest of the other 6. He didn't seem to complain though because he just nodded and did as I said. I walked inside my bathroom, and proceeded to take my shower.

•

I walked inside English class and took my seat beside Nathaniel. Beside me, Chloe also sat and gave me a wave of good morning. I waved back, glad that she wasn't in her crappy mood again. Beside me, Nathaniel was focused on his sketchbook as usual, but this time he actually muttered a good morning to me, and I couldn't help but say it back. This morning was already turning out better than I expected.

And then the door opened, and Marinette walked in. Instead of her usual giddy self, there were dark circles around her eyes, and her eyes seemed to look sleepy as well. She walked in such a slow motion, like she was some type of a zombie, and when she walked to her seat, she barely gave me a glance before she sat down. I started getting worried that my predictions were coming true. Marinette was going to start ignoring me now.

"Wow, you look terrible," Chloe commented when she took a look at Marinette's face. At first, she gaged, then she looked away with such a disgusted look on her face. I gave her a warning look not to be too mean. I knew what Marinette was going through, so I wasn't about to let Chloe make her feel worse about herself.

"Okay, students," Miss. Bustier walked up to the front, holding a cup of something. Probably coffee. Marinette could need that right now. "So, you guys should have already started writing your bio. I've given you enough time to get to know your partner. For today's class, you will focus on writing the rest of your bio, though you don't have to finish it today, as you still have a few days left." She finished talking and headed back to her seat. "You may start."

I took out my paper and pen. Truth be told, I had started my bio, but I didn't like the way I had started, so I decided to rewrite it. I knew I was far behind. Heck, even when I turned to see Chloe's paper, she had something down, which really showed me that I was far behind. I leaned in closer to her to whisper, "who did you finally decide to do?"

". . . Nathaniel. . .but don't tell him," She whispered back. I was a little surprised that she ended up doing Nathaniel. "I asked around about him and got information from people. I didn't exactly want to ask him, since he's so quiet and it'd probably be awkward between us." She scratched her head, a sudden guilty smile up on her face. "Though I feel bad for the way I treated him, I don't think he'd ever have the heart to forgive me."

I could tell she really felt bad just by looking at her face. I patted a hand on her back. "You'll never really know unless you talk to him yourself." I remembered what Marinette had told me before, when we have been working together in the hallway. She had said Nathaniel had a crush on Chloe, but after hearing what Chloe had to say about him, he became so distant. I keep wondering to myself. . . If Nathaniel had never heard those harsh words, would he be a more cheerful and bright person?

I looked down at my paper and picked up my pen, trying to decide on how I should start. Finally I smiled as I got it. I leaned in towards my paper and started scribbling down words that had popped inside my head, and the more I wrote, the more words popped up and I just had to write them down before they vanished from my head.

In the next 20 minutes, when I looked up, I already had half a page. I knew that wasn't enough, but I still for glad that I got something down. I was about to start thinking again when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see Nathaniel staring back at me. I looked down at his paper and gasped a little. Nathaniel already had a full page, but maybe that was because in the middle of the paper, he drew a marvelous picture of the girl he was doing. I didn't quite know her, but I knew it was the girl sitting right in front of us.

"I. . ." Nathaniel gulped as he looked down at his paper. "After class. . . I have something to tell you."