I'm Here { Lukanette FF }

21 - Something's Wrong

Marinette's POV:

Today is the last day I have to find the real culprit. I talked to Mr. Damocles about finding out Kagami was responsible for part of the framing.

For some reason, Mr. Damocles won't lift the deadline until I find out exactly who hired Kagami. I'm going to find Kagami today. I'm going to force the truth out of her, no matter what.

I can't bear the thought of leaving in the middle of my first year here. I can't bear the thought of leaving my friends.

Then I scoffed to myself. What friends? Everyone is against me. I don't have any friends.

The image of a gentle, smiling redhead flashed through my mind. Nathan. He's a good friend.

Another image flashed by, Luka this time. Shimmering aqua blue eyes filled with worry.

I smiled to myself. I have two of the best people I could ever ask for by my side.

I tucked a loose strand of my dark hair behind my ear as I closed my sketchbook and tucked it in my backpack.

My face darkened when I spotted a group of four, whispering in a dark corner.

They could be talking about me. Or not?

I shook the negative thoughts out of my head with a deep exhale. If I keep thinking every little group with their heads close together is talking about me, I'll never leave home at all.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the lunch break. I sighed and packed up my things.

When I walked into the classroom, I felt someone tap on my shoulder.

I stopped walking and turned around, not expecting to see two bright green eyes staring at me.

"A-Adrien," I said.

He gave me a small smile, "Hey, can we talk?" he murmured. My gaze traveled up to see a pair of attentive aqua blue eyes focusing on us from the back of the class.

I gulped, "Uh, maybe later?" I turned back to Adrien.

He nodded, then walked past me and took his seat.

I exhaled and saw Luka's shoulders relax.

Silent as an owl, I swept quickly across the room, suddenly feeling everyone's eyes on me.

A few minutes after the class started, a tiny piece of paper was flung onto my desk. I looked at the direction it came from and saw an expectant Luka jerking his head at the paper.

I carefully opened it and read the words it held inside; "What did Adrien say to you?"

I glanced up at the front of the class, Ms. Bustier had her back turned.

I quickly jotted down my response on the other side of the paper; "He just said he needed to talk to me. I'll talk to him after class."

When I saw Ms. Bustier turn around back to the board again, I flung the paper back to Luka, he caught it soundlessly.

I saw his lips turn up slightly as he read the message.

He crumpled the paper when Ms. Bustier's gaze brushed past his table.

~ After class...

"Marinette..." Adrien kept shifting his eyes away from mine, he fumbled with his hands a lot.

Why does he look so nervous?

His cheeks were a slight pink color. Is he sick or something?

Finally, he locked his eyes with mine. His emerald green gaze warmed. He searched my eyes for something. I'm not sure what he was looking for but he seemed rather disappointed when he couldn't find it.

"Marinette," he said again, letting out a long sigh. My hands were at my sides, but they shuffled uncomfortably.

Adrien held my gaze as he took a step closer.

"I... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he began.

The world around us seemed to darken out of my vision, all I could see was him.

"I-" he paused, his eyes shaking. Was he even blinking??

"I can't express how much I resent myself for being so blind, and so stupid." his shoulders shook as he looked down at his feet.

I was starting to get confused. Is he apologizing for accusing me of stealing?

He looked away momentarily before turning back to look into my eyes. "I... I know you like me... and honestly,"

I sucked in a breath, wait... how does he know? My heart was racing.

"I didn't think of you like that," he said quietly. My heart dropped.

"until now." Adrien continued, his face redder than I'd ever seen before. I'm sure I was pretty red too.

"I've been dealing with a lot of negative thoughts in my head, and I just kind of... spilled out my anger on you. And that was wrong, I'm sorry." Adrien explained.

I was speechless, I opened my mouth, but I couldn't say anything. I was trapped in his watery emerald eyes. It looked like he was about to cry.

Adrien took another step closer. He was so close I thought the tips of our noses would touch.

It took me a while to notice his face was getting bigger. He was leaning in.

I had no control over my body, I wanted to step back, but at the same time, I wanted to stay still. My brain couldn't comprehend anything as his face got even closer.

At the last possible second, before his lips met mine, a loud CRASH interrupted. Adrien pulled away and whipped around. I silently thanked the gods for the very convenient interruption. 

"I'll go check it out!" I told Adrien, running off into the direction the sound came from. Honestly, I just wanted to get away.

Luka's POV:

I spat out a quiet string of curses as I dashed away from the courtyard. I accidentally crashed into a trash bin.

My heart felt heavy and painful, I didn't know why. I shouldn't be feeling this way.

But after seeing Adrien just confess his feelings so suddenly out of nowhere made me suddenly be at loss of oxygen.

The way he leaned in to kiss her.

The way she didn't back away or stop him.

I was suffocating myself and I needed to breathe. Once I was outside the school, I took the biggest inhale I ever took. As though I just held my breath underwater for longer than I could take.

Clenching my chest, I crouched down and held myself upright with my hand on the ground to support me as my vision blurred.

I began to feel nauseous and short of breath. Why was this happening? It felt like my chest was pressuring itself to collapse and drag down the rest of my body with it.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead and I felt light and airy like I was about to pass out.

"Luka!"

Through my clouded, fading vision, I spotted a familiar silhouette as my body swayed.

Marinette?

I finally blacked out and felt the cold floor meet my cheek before I lost consciousness.