𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴: Soul Bound - DISCONTINUED

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙩𝙬𝙤

-One Ice Cream, Coming Up!-

➳ 𝔰𝔬𝔲𝔩𝔟𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔡

Time passed so silently that Adrien didn't even notice that he had been staring at the unanswered questions on his paper until Ms. Davids' last call for the test.

Nino had been the one to snap him awake from his mind, shaking his best friend's shoulder worriedly as he took in his lack of response, which by the way, had been starting to gain frequency ever since Adrien was 'grounded' by father dear.

The boy's hand trembled slightly as the grip on his pen tightened. Adrien's eyes frantically scanned over the math problems, his wrist working as his brain printed out the answers. His mind got off track as the last three minutes of the time was announced, his vision blurring as his wrist stopped moving, the tip of his pen digging through the thin paper.

"Do not disappoint me again, Adrien." He didn't dare remove his gaze from the portrait behind his father. He always thought that his mother was very beautiful. Unfortunately, the portrait failed to capture the ethereal smile behind her eyes. "Your friends may have upheld your innocence, but only you can help yourself starting now."

Adrien's breath hitched, his heart rate picking up. Ms. Davids lightly tapped her meter stick on her desk twice, and the rustling of papers and chatter began to fill the once-silent class. Adrien swallowed the lump forming in his throat as he forced his hand to write down the last part of his solution, his pen feeling loose in his fingers as a thin layer of sweat encased his palm.

"Alrighty, class, pass your papers forward silently." At their Math teacher's command, papers were passed row-by-row to the front until those who sat on the front held the test papers.

Ms. Davids smiled at their compliance, walking over to the student's desk on her far right, where Lahiffe and Agreste were situated. The woman held out her hand as Nino passed her the neatly arranged papers before turning to Adrien, who was biting his bottom lip as he ungracefully patted the papers sticking out of his stack, his hands slightly shaking as he handed the poorly piled papers.

A frown momentarily crossed the woman's usually serene expression before she smiled down at the boy, patting his shoulder as she moved towards Chloé and Sabrina's seat.

Arranging the papers in her hands and securing them with a binder clip, Ms. Davids walked back to her desk, right as the bell signaling the end of their class rang.

"I will be grading your papers this afternoon and expect to know your scores next meeting before we start a new lesson, okay?" At everyone's nod, the corners of Ms. Davids' eyes wrinkled as she smiled. "See you around, students."

The students rose simultaneously and bid farewell to their teacher before packing their belongings, eager to leave the classroom.

Nino was still seated while he was organizing his belongings that were scattered on his desk. He put them back inside his bag and then took out the trash that he had kept from earlier. As he turned, he noticed Adrien was still sitting beside him with his shoulders as stiff as a wooden ruler.

"You okay?" Nino asked, his head tilting to his left as he adjusted his glasses. "You look far worse than yesterday, Adrien. It's making us worry."

"I'm fine," Adrien said while waving his hand, as he secured his bag over his shoulder. He then turned to face his best friend, gave him a slight smile, and said, "I'll see you around." Before the brunette could respond, Adrien stood up and walked out of the classroom. Nino's shoulders slumped slightly as the blonde left.

Nino let out a deep sigh as he stood up from his seat, feeling somewhat disappointed. He picked up his backpack and the handful of trash that had been gathering inside his bag since earlier morning. As he walked towards the garbage can, he almost collided with someone who was passing by. Nino let out a small shriek but quickly reacted and extended his hand to stop the person from bumping into him. He looked down to see it was his other blonde best friend, and he relaxed as he moved to throw his garbage in the can.