Breaking The Rules (Under Editing)

Fifty

Later that day, Marinette and Nicole came back. Everyone else seemed to be asleep. Marinette looked over at Nicole, knowing that they were late to see the two boys that had made it, and the two boys that had gotten out.

"Hey Marinette. Nicole."

Marinette snapped her head up to see Nathaniel walking down the stairs towards them. "Nathaniel? You made it?" Nathaniel just nodded, and right there, right then, she wanted to ask who the second boy was that made it, but was too afraid to ask. Nathaniel seemed to have seen the look on her face, being able to guess her question without her asking.

"Don't worry. Adrien is still in."

There seemed to be sadness in his eyes when Marinette's eyes lit up. She ran up the stairs like a little kid, wanting to see if Nathaniel was lying to her or not.

"Hey, you okay?" Nicole looked to be the only one who noticed Nathaniel and how he felt.

"I don't know. Sort of?" He sat down on the lowest step of the stairs, looking down. "She looked so happy to hear that Adrien made it. Kinda hurts, you know?"

"Well, she's not going to be happy for much longer," Nicole replied, making Nathaniel look up at her with a small frown on his face.

"Why do you say that?"

Nicole stared at him for a few seconds, before she adverted her eyes away from him. "I did something horrible," was the only thing she said, before starting to head to her room.

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Marinette opened the door to Adrien's bedroom and peered inside, wanting to see if he was awake. When she walked inside the room, Adrien was lying on his bed, his eyes closed shut and his mouth slightly a little opened. She breathed in relief, not knowing how much the suspense had been hurting her until now.

She closed the door behind her and started walking towards Adrien. Then she stopped, deciding not to bother him because he was sleeping, she opened the door again and stepped out, closing the door the way it had been before. Then she walked inside her room next door.

The next morning Marinette woke up early, which was a little weird, even for her. As soon as she had landed on her bed last night, she had instantly fallen asleep, showing how tired she had been. Stretching and yawning, , Marinette started walking over to her desk, seeing a piece of paper on it.

Today is a break for everyone. Have some rest, catch up with old friends, go out, do whatever, I don't care. The girls' and boys' designs will be shown at the same time. As you may have already known, one boy and one girl will be going out. You can start designing tomorrow.

The new designs will be formal. Formal dresses, formal suits. Happy designing.

- Gabriel

Marinette put the paper back on her desk and got ready for breakfast.

Walking down the stairs minutes later, Marinette noticed Nicole coming out of Gabriel's office. Marinette was about to wave when she noticed the way Nicole's face was shaped like. She gave Marinette an apologetic and guilty look, as if she had done something terrible but didn't want to say or talk about it.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Fine," Nicole muttered, walking past her without another word. Marinette stood there, a little confused but worried that something serious was really going on with Nicole. She turned around again, but Nicole had already entered her room, the door closed behind her.

That's when Marinette noticed the wallet that Nicole had dropped. Picking it up, she knocked on Nicole's door, but nobody answered. She then slowly opened the door after realizing it wasn't locked, and peeked inside. Nicole had her back facing her, speaking into her phone.

"You're not eliminated yet, are you?" A voice came from the other end.

"No, I'm not."

"Good. I don't want to see you at home until you've won that competition, or else you know what will happen. Do whatever you can to win, just as long as you don't get caught. I'm serious about this, Nicole!"

"Yes, I got it, Mom."

Marinette widened her eyes, realizing that she was eavesdropping. Before she could turn and leave, Nicole turned around and gasped a little to see her.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Marinette held up the wallet she was holding. "You dropped this. I just came back to return it. Sorry, I didn't mean to listen to your conversation."

Nicole sighed and took the wallet from her. "It doesn't matter." She threw her wallet over at her table, the wallet landing on top of it, before she turned and faced Marinette again.

"Something's been bothering you. Why won't you talk about it?"

Nicole took in a large breath and let it out. "I never wanted to be here. My mom is always so serious about competitions, and she wants me to win this one so badly, seeing the prize the winner gets from it. She won't stop bugging me about it!"

"You never wanted to be here?"

"No. I don't like competitions, especially when pressure is being put on me, you know. I don't want to continue, but then again, if I lose," Nicole shivered, "I can't imagine what my mom would do to me."

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that."

Nicole looked at Marinette, before letting out another sigh. "Sorry." She took Marinette's arm and pushed her towards the door. Opening the door, she pushed Marinette outside of her room. "I'm sorry for whatever happens next. Just remember your promise you gave me." And she shut the door in Marinette's face.

- Edited -