Nine Lives~A Marichat Story

Chapter 2

Marinette went to bed that night feeling better than she did earlier that day, but also a little confused. Why was she suddenly blushing around Chat? She liked Adrien right?

Right?

These thoughts swirled around her head throughout the night until she eventually drifted into a restless slumber.

When the alarm went off in the morning, Marinette was in no way prepared. Tikki had to practically drag her out of her bed in order for her to wake up. It was when she finished rubbing her eyes and her vision had cleared that she realised that she still didn't finish her homework after Chat left. "OH MY GOD TIKKI!" she yelled. "My homework!" she groaned and started madly rushing to finish the reading that was set the previous day. Tikki flew over and began to do Mari's hair. Just as she bunched half of her hair together was about to tie it, Marinette exclaims, "No time!" and jumped up and out of her chair and promptly began getting dressed before sprinting down the stairs and out the door of the bakery into the bustle of Paris.

When she arrived at Collège Françoise she maked it just in time to hear the bell ring and book it to the lockers. She was unfortunately greeted by Chloé and Sabrina. "Well, well, well." says Chloé. "Look what we have here Sabrina. Little miss perfect is falling behind in school."
"How did you-" Marinette began.
"That's not important. What's important is that you're going to fail this year so I can have Adrikins all to myself without your bratty-ness getting in my way," she said with a smirk. Marinette looks at the floor. "There's no way that'll happen Chloé," remarked a voice from behind them. Marinette turned around to see Adrien leaning in the doorway and almost faints. "Oh, Adrikins!" exclaimed Chloé, "You're on the wrong side here! We've known each other for-"
"Chloé, stop this. Marinette has done nothing to you and is a smart caring person who is one of the only people I know who can stand up to bullies like you," he said firmly.
"Wha-...but...." Chloé choked out.
"Enough. Besides, it's impossible that Marinette could fail," he says smugly with a sideways glance at Mari. "Pffft, why do you say that?" Chloé crossed her arms and pouted. Adrien slid his arm around Marinette's shoulders and said: "Well, because she has an amazing tutor; me." Mari felt her cheeks flare up and Chloé and Sabrina's jaws hit the floor. "WHAT?!" Chloé screamed and stared intensely at Marinette, she wondered if she could see her soul. "SABRINA! WE ARE LEAVING RIGHT NOW!!!" and with that, she and her minion were out of the locker room and Mari and Adrien were alone once again, (although Marinette doesn't know that). "Uhhh thanks for saving me just then, you're awesome-I MEAN-it was awesome, not that you're not awesome because you are I just mean that was really nice of you to do that for me and um, yeah thankssomuchforofferingtotutorme....." she trailed off laughing nervously and trying to control herself and looked up at Adrien. He smiled. "It's no problem, really. I'm always happy to help!" Marinette returned his smile and felt his arm slide off her shoulders. "We have Science now, want to walk to class with me?" he asks her. Marinette had to fight the urge to squeal with delight in response. Instead she nodded with a grin and he took her hand, causing her cheeks to burn even more than before. They walked out of the locker room together and are immediately spotted by Alya and Nino who are also holding hands. They both stared at the two innocent teens and decided to make their way to class also. Once inside the classroom, Chloé saw Adrien and Marinette and was out of her seat in seconds. Sabrina attempted to stop her but to no avail as she lunged towards Marinette just as Ms. Mendeliev walked into the classroom, stopping the blonde girl dead in her tracks. "Miss Bourgeois! Why are you out of your seat?"
"But-"                                                                                                                                                                                   "No buts! Back to your seat so we can begin please. Now today we will be continuing with our unit on cells, I hope you all did your reading last night!" at this statement Marinette was so  thankful for her speed reading this morning as she answered most of the questions she was asked correctly, (some with a little help from Alya). The bell rang and Mari expected to once again be pulled aside by the teacher to tell her she is falling behind. She slowly walked past Ms. Mendeliev but was surprised when she was simply smiled at. With that, she happily walked out of the classroom with a spring in her step and ran immediately into Adrien. She felt her face heat up instantly. "Hey, Marinette!" he said cheerfully. "I just wanted to ask if after school today was an okay time to tutor you?" Mari could barely contain the disbelief she still felt knowing that Adrien Agreste was going to tutor her! She noticed that while he was talking he was also playing with his hair and - could her eyes be deceiving her - blushing? No, it couldn't be. She shook the thought from her head and chalked it down to her eyes just playing tricks because she was still overwhelmed. She nodded in reply to his question, maybe a little too enthusiastically. "Okay, great!" he said in response. "How about four? That'll give you time to get ready right?" he asked. Marinette still couldn't believe that this was actually happening. "Mmhm," she hummed. "Cool! See you at four Marinette!" he said as he walked away. For a moment, Mari just stared off into the distance dreamily. It wasn't until Ayla waltzed over that she could be dragged away from the door of the classroom. The two girls were excitedly chatting about how Marinette was finally going to get her chance with Adrien while also making sure she was going to pass the year and not have to leave all her friends. The rest of the school day continued normally, apart from the occasional times when Chloé looked close to punching Marinette. By the time school ended Mari could barely conceal her excitement. "Alya! I'm actually going to be tutored by Adrien!" she hugged her friend and practically ran home.

Four rolled around eventually, but to Marinette every minute felt like an eternity. When her clock read "4:00pm" she started to panic. "Oh no, Tikki!" she exclaimed sadly. "What if he's changed his mind? What if-" she was cut off by the doorbell. She breathed a sigh of relief and made her way down stairs to greet Adrien, who had been let in by her mother. She noticed with horror that the two were chatting away and almost fell down the stairs trying to get down them as quickly as possible. When she made it to the pair she finds them talking about Chinese and how difficult it is to learn if you're new to the language. Marinette just stood there awkwardly for a moment before deciding she'd had enough. "Okay!" she said once her mother finished her sentence. "Well Adrien and I need to go now, don't want to fail and whatnot!" she says a little too happily. "Here, Adrien. I'll show you to my room," she mentally facepalmed at that. Of course he knew where her room was! He had been to her house before. Gosh, how silly of me! she thought to herself. They made their way upstairs and sat down at Mari's desk. "So, where would you like to start?" asked Adrien. Marinette nervously tucked her hair behind her ears and pink dusted her cheeks, "Well I'm struggling with math the most at the moment, so maybe start there?"  "Sure thing!" he replied with a smile, causing Mari's blush to darken. They began to work and all went smoothly. If you could call Marinette smiling too widely the entire time and stuttering almost every time Adrien asked her a question smooth. They eventually finished and Marinette was dismayed when the doorbell rang signalling that is was time for Adrien to leave. He gave her a sad look and they went down the stairs together and exchanged their goodbyes at the door. Mari watched as Adrien got into his car and waved with a smile. As he pulled away she turned and went back to her room where she found Tikki waiting for her. "That went so well Marinette!" she said excitedly. "I'm so proud of you!" Mari grinned at her kwami and flopped onto her bed. She gave a happy sigh as she stared through her skylight at the quickly darkening sky.
All of a sudden she saw two bright green eyes looking into her own, and then a cheeky smile appeared and she smiled back. Marinette opened her skylight to allow her silly kitty to come into the warmth of her bedroom. "So how was your study session with Mr. Dreamy?" Chat asks with a quirk of his eyebrow. This remark earned him a whack in the face with the pillow Marinette had chosen as her weapon. He chuckled and Marinette pushed him and says, "Very well, thank you. I bet you're so much better though," adding a cheeky wink as she slid off her bed.
"Do my ears deceive me? Or is that a hint of sarcasm I hear?" he said with a smirk.
"What? Sarcasm? I would never mon chaton! How could you even suggest such a thing!" she sighed with a dramatic hand gesture. They both dissolved into giggles and Mari finished laughing to see Chat's chartreuse eyes staring into her cerulean ones. "You know, Marinette," he said. "I like you," he paused, "A lot." For a moment Marinette said nothing. Chat felt the panic rise up inside his chest and faught to surpress it. She looked directly into his eyes and says: "I like you a lot too, kitty," she whispered. And then in a flash she was embracing him and he breathed a sigh of relief and returned her hug. Mari was the first to pull away, "You're my best friend," his heart sank. "I feel like I can be whoever I want when I'm around you. I can tell you anything," she beamed at him and he forced a smile back. "And I you," he said. And so much more, he thought as he enveloped her in his arms once more.

Yay! Chapter 2 complete! I am so sorry this took almost a year to come out I just haven't had the motivation and there's been a lot going on in my life. Anyways I hope you enjoy this chapter even though it's a little shorter than the last! Please feel free to comment any mistakes I have made or any feedback! Thanks for 20+ reads on the first chapter by the way! I was honestly not expecting it at all!

- Eboni

Word count: 1835 words