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TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter contains some heavy implications of child abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
The next day, Marinette and Adrien both got reprimanded by their teachers and had landed themselves in more detention. They had to clean the toilets this time. It was thoroughly unpleasant but nonetheless, they got the job done.
The next few days afterwards, however, Adrien was absent.
No one knew why he hadn't come to school, so obviously he received loads and loads of calls and texts from others. None of those received any reply. They were probably not even seen.
Marinette guessed that he had some kind of photo-shoot or some fancy charity event to attend or whatever. She couldn't quite get him out of her head.
But then again, she had Luka to keep her distracted the whole week. She had a second date with him recently. It was more of a double-date, really, since Alya and Nino accompanied them. They went to a nice restaurant with lots of Italian dishes. They had fun.
But at the end of the date, just before Marinette was about to leave, Luka kissed her. Alya and Nino looked on smugly and teased them.
It was Marinette's first kiss, but she just didn't feel it. The kiss didn't excite her, or fill her with euphoric joy. She still felt as empty as ever. But she didn't dare say so.
Little did she know that Luka was only following the orders of Nino and Alya and that he had felt the exact same way....
***
Friday morning, last day of school that week. After simply not being allowed to go for the past few days, Adrien finally returned, looking insanely frustrated.
"What happened? You okay?" Nino had asked him almost immediately after seeing him arrive. Adrien just shrugged in reply, causing his friend to let the fact that Adrien obviously did not seem to be okay slip by.
***
'Why the heck was he acting so quiet today?' Marinette thought, staring at Adrien, who was sitting at the front of the class, whilst she was in the back.
"Uhh, Marinette!" said Alya a bit irritably, but her friend only continued to stare ahead at Adrien with a pensive, analytical gaze.
Alya decided that she'd had enough.
"Earth to Marinette! Are you listening to me?" she said, snapping her finger in front of Mari who immediately snapped back into the moment.
"Oh...uhh...sorry, Alya. I was concentrating a bit too much on the teacher's lecture! Sorry!" Marinette invented wildly.
