Breaking The Rules (Under Editing)

Sixty - Two

"And this. . ." Marinette lifted the outfit she had made as she proudly showed it to Adrien. "-is my third male outfit."

"Wow," Adrien stared in amazement, before he smiled widely at Marinette. "You have to do a lot for the finals, huh? You must be really nervous, having to perform so many times, and on top of that, having to be asked questions by people you don't even know of. I sure wouldn't have been able to handle it."

Marinette carefully placed the outfit down on the table and took a seat. "I swear I was on the verge of giving up, but. . . With all these things that's been happening, gaining new enemies, and, well, falling for someone, I guess I've just learnt to keep trying." She smirked as she looked up at Adrien. "Now Ella and Emily can't get to me anymore."

"They almost did at the presentation." Adrien pointed out. "I noticed how they were distracting you and-"

"I know, I know," Marinette sighed. "I almost let them get to me, but I did. I promise this time, I'm not going to allow them to pull another trick, and if they do, I won't fall for it. I'll be smart enough to get through them. Besides, it's almost over."

"That's my girl." Adrien leaned over towards her, but Marinette was quick to stop him with a small smile.

"The rules still stand, Adrien."

"Right," Adrien leaned away from her. "No kissing. I get it."

Marinette stood up and checked the time. "I have 15 more minutes left. Do you wanna do something together?"

"Actually, I-" Adrien looked down at the floor, wanting to choose his words wisely as he thought about what he was going to say. "See, before this whole presentation started, I caught. . . I caught Nathaniel stepping out of your room."

Marinette frowned, giving Adrien her full attention now. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, he seemed to be in a rush. He looked nervous. You know when you were coming downstairs from your room when we showed up. Where you looked really excited to see us? Well, I looked past your shoulder and I saw Nathaniel walking towards your room," Adrien stood up as well, wanting to make sure he sounded clear of what he was saying. "You must have really been busy talking with the others, because you didn't even notice me slip away. I walked up the stairs, and saw Nathaniel stepping out of your room. I walked back down quickly, rejoining the group. I was going to tell your sooner, but-"

Marinette wasn't even listening anymore. Her full attention was on the thoughts of Nathaniel, and what he could have been doing in her room. Adrien said he came back downstairs quickly. Ella and Emily must have went inside my room after that.

"Marinette? Marinette, don't be mad. I-"

"I'm not mad at you, Adrien. Honestly, thank you." Marinette gave him a small smile, before making her way out of the room. It's time I talk to that boy and see what he's up to!

Finding Nathaniel wasn't that hard. He was in his room, spending his last 14 minutes with his friends that had came over to watch. When Marinette walked up to the door, she saw it opened, and allowed herself in. Inside  the boys looked up to see Marinette. She looked determined, making them frown and wonder why she was here.

"I need to talk to Nathaniel," Marinette spoke boldly. "Alone!"

Nathaniel suddenly turned nervous, seeing Marinette standing in front of him with both fists clenched. She looked pretty mad, so the only thing he could do at that moment was stand up and follow Marinette outside of the room.

Once they were there, Marinette closed the door so the other boys wouldn't listen in on them. Then she turned to Nathaniel again, this time arms crossed.

"I wanna know what you were doing in my room before the presentation!"

Nathaniel frowned. "Who told you that I was in your room?"

"Is it true or not?!" Marinette hollered, not wanting to take any more garbage right now. All she wanted was the truth!

Nathaniel looked down at the floor, breaking eye contact with Marinette, before he finally looked up, but refused to look at her. He then slowly nodded. "Yes, it is true."

"You wanna tell me what you were doing in there and how you got in?"

"I just. . . I took the key from Gabriel's office. He was so busy he didn't realize and I doubt he's found out."

Marinette glared at him. Now it was all making sense to her. Nathaniel had stolen the key, unlocked the door, giving Ella and Emily an easy way of breaking inside her room. "You knew the twins were going to go in there, right? Is that why you unlocked my room?"

"Marinette-"

"Just answer the question. Nathaniel, the faster you answer the questions, the quicker you'll be out of this situation. Now, tell me. Why did you unlock the door? Was it to help the twins or not?!"

Nathaniel didn't answer, instead he kept his mouth shut as it someone else was going to answer the question for him. Marinette looked at him hard, before turning away.

"I see how it is. I actually thought we were friends, Nathaniel. I can't believe you would stoop that low." She looked back at him, hoping — no, wondering — if Nathaniel was even going to apologize or not. "Now that I think about it. . . After I finished making my outfits, I put all materials in the same room as I put my outfits. Ella and Emily obviously used a pair or two pairs of scissors to year all my clothes apart. Either they brought those scissors from home, or. . . Or someone put them there specifically for them to use."

Nathaniel didn't need to open his mouth to say anything, Marinette already knew it all. To say she was disappointed was an understatement. She felt more than that. Way more than that. Without another word, Marinette turned around and started walking away.

Gosh, I need a drink. Taking another break, Marinette headed for the stairs. While she walked down the first five steps, she thought about how Nathaniel had literally broken one of Gabriel's rules, and how he could get eliminated for it.

Rule #7: Never go inside Gabriel's office without permission. You'll only get a warning for that, but if anything is stolen from the office, do know that you will be eliminated.

Suddenly Marinette felt something. She felt two pair of hands touch her back. No, not just touch her back. Those hands slammed into her back, pushing her as hard as they could. Marinette felt herself slip from the steps, and the next thing she knew, she was tumbling down the stairs.

- not edited -