Cupid's Canvas《Marinette Dupain-Cheng》

˚₊· Her Test

˚₊·

DESPITE EVERYTHING THAT HAD HAPPENED, one little detail still remained in Claire's mind.

Who's leaving all these notes on my paintings?

They had been too focused on figuring it out, but now that they had a moment, they finally realized that they'd never taken the moment to ask that question.

"The sticky notes all look the same. Pink, lacey notes, with a heart drawn in white sharpie. I wonder who has stationary like that," they wondered out loud. Marinette's absence meant they were alone in the art room. There was a sense of quiet that they couldn't shake off. Almost as if they missed her.

Before Claire could shake off the feeling, she was distracted by the sound of a pair of footsteps walking down the hall. Her body froze as those same stepped into the room.

The first thing that stood out to Claire was the girl's hot pink hair, tied to one side with a black hair tie. Her black and green cap nearly covered a set of sparkling blue eyes.

The girl's eyes widened when she realized she wasn't alone.
"Ooh, you're skipping," she teased.

"No, I'm not, I.."
Every word instantly left Claire's brain. How was she supposed to explain that she technically was skipping, but for a perfectly good reason? At least, she hoped that whoever this was would think it was reasonable.

"Relax. I'm not gonna rat you out or anything," the girl said, carelessly waving a hand. She noticed the watercolors and gestured toward the canvas. "Hey, you paint? Awesome!"

It took Claire a moment to recover from her surprise. And when she did, all she could do was stare.

Say thank you, you moron!  "Oh, yeah, thanks," she said quickly.

Pink-haired Girl gave her a playful smile. "Are you usually this quiet?"

"Sorry."

"Sorry for what? Oh, right." The mysterious girl stuck her hand out. "I'm Alix. I'm the one who did that mural right there." She gestured to the wall that Claire had been admiring before.

"Claire," they said, taking her hand. "And, as you know, I paint."

Alix's eyes seemed to light up at that. "You ever try spray painting?"

Claire didn't even get the chance to respond. Before they could utter another word, Alix was already moving around the room, grabbing things from drawer after drawer. It almost made them dizzy trying to keep up.

"You're gonna love this, trust me," she said in between stops. She was like a little kid who had just had too much sugar, and that was an energy that Claire didn't know how to process. One moment Alix was pulling out spray can after spray can, the next she was standing by the wall with a mask on her face and black gloves over her hands.

Alix tossed her a can and turned around before she could see her barely catch it.

"Well, you go first."

"Wait, what?"

"You looked bored. So, you go first. Understand?"

No. No I do not, Claire instantly thought, putting on her own pair of gloves.

She aimed for a random spot in front of her, and pressed down. She wasn't really sure what she'd expected to happen, so she couldn't help but stare in awe as a messy line of purple dripped down the wall.

"I...don't think I'm doing this right," she said awkwardly.

"You are. And even if you weren't, who cares? Go nuts." When Alix noticed the confused look on Claire's face, she gestured for the can of paint. Claire watched as the skater girl aggressively shook the can and aimed for a spot on the wall. "You look like you need to let loose a little," she explained. "When I'm like that, I like to do art projects that don't need me to think."

"I guess I have been kind of out of it lately," she admitted. "Thank you." Suddenly, a thought came to mind. "Hey, this is random, but do you know anyone who would have stationary like this?" Claire dug through her pocket, pulled out one of the sticky notes, and handed it to Alix.

Alix paused her painting and narrowed her eyes at the note in front of her. "Pink and frilly and cute," she said to herself. She handed the piece of paper back to Claire. "Well, there are a couple of candidates I can think of. You know Marinette?"

Claire's eyes widened a bit. "Y-yeah. I do. She's my neighbor."

"Well, she's a fashion designer, but she sucks at keeping things organized. She uses these kinds of notes all the time, so cute notepads seem right up her alley. She probably has something to say."

Once again, Claire wasn't left with time to come up with a response. Alix pulled off her mask and her gloves, placing them somewhere before grabbing her bag.

"Welp, I'm out."

"Wait what?"

Alix stopped mid-step and gave her a "seriously?" look. "Maybe we should work on your vocabulary while we're working on your spray painting," she muttered under her breath. When she realized Claire had heard her, she flushed with embarrassment.
"Yeah, um, one more thing."

Alix looked her up and down before she continued. "Do yourself a favor and get out of this room, will ya? Not even I can stay here all day."

Despite the previous comment, Claire offered her a small smile. "Right. I will," she said.

Alix took her leave with one more wave goodbye, and Claire was alone once again.

Not as alone as she thought, though. Her thoughts were already running wild, beginning to keep her more than enough company. Alix had told her to ask Marinette if she knew anything, but something in the back of her mind wanted her to consider another option.

Could Marinette be the one leaving the notes?

.....

Wow. I really just thought that, didn't I?

There was no way it was her. Claire almost laughed at herself for thinking such a thing. But despite trying to keep her thoughts under control, Claire realized that she wouldn't mind if it was Marinette.

She took a breath to stop the blush on her face. She wouldn't be able to get this done if she let her imagination get the way.

And yet, she couldn't help the smile on her face as she laid out each of the notes on the table.

Let's find my secret admirer...I really hope it's a secret admirer.