A Miraculous Story Book 1: Verity Queen

• Falsity Queen •

[ Monday morning, at Françoise Dupont High School ]

"C'mon girl! You gotta tell me what it was!" Alya begged her best friend as they weaved their way around other students through the courtyard. She gripped Marinette's arm and shook it playfully. "The reporter in me needs to know!" she cried dramatically.

Marinette laughed and tore her arm away. "No! I can't tell you!" She swooned with her hand over her heart, playing along. It was a bad idea for such klutz like her, as she lost her balance leaning back. She stepped back a little bit in an attempt to keep herself up, but failed, and ended up falling into something soft yet sturdy. Her hands fell onto two warm ones, and when she looked up, she almost screamed.

"Woah! Are you okay, Marinette?"

No no no. Oh my gosh.
Marinette slowly looked up, knowing exactly who it was based on the way they smelled. She'd recognize that scent anywhere.
"Adrien! Ahh!" She leaped back, her heart pounding.
HOW does this keep happening??

Adrien Agreste, the one and only. Marinette has had a hopeless crush on this fashion model since the start of the school year.

"I'm so sorry! I guess I just lost my balance," she chuckled. "Are you okay?"

He glanced at Nino, who stood beside him. "Yeah, I'm fine! Are you okay though?"

"Yeah yeah! I am, thanks!" Marinette felt her face go red from embarrassment.

"That's good!"

...

Adrien coughed.

Marinette sniffed.

The two just stood in an awkward silence for a moment. Adrien found he couldn't get the smile off his face for some reason.

"Adrien, dude, we need to get to class early today, remember?" Nino interrupted. "Lila said she was gonna tell me about that famous DJ she met during her trip to Texas."

Marinette's face fell at the mention of Lila and she looked at Adrien to see his reaction. The boy simply sighed and began to walk away with Nino, turning back to wave at Marinette. "Cya in class!"

She nodded. "Yep! See ya!"

"What, not foaming at the mouth? That's a first." Alya chuckled behind her, setting a hand on her shoulder.

"Shut up!" Marinette teased, elbowing her friend.
In reality though, she knew Alya was right. She'd seemed to stop stuttering and acting awkward around Adrien recently. It still happened sometimes, but not all the time. Why was this happening? Was she falling out of love for him? Is that good???

"I will... if you tell me what you were doing this week!" Alya's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "You aren't getting away with that, you know," the brown-haired girl pointed out. "I lied to your mom about this! Plus your lie involved me. And I'm your best friend! You gotta tell me! Or I'll go reporter mode on you and find out what it is myself," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Marinette chuckled and pouted. "Fine, I'll tell you."
She'd bought enough time to come up with a plausible excuse. "This week I was making a sweater for my grandpa's birthday! And I wanted it to be a surprise!" It technically wasn't a lie, it just wasn't answering Alya's question directly, so she had no problem saying it.

Alya cocked her head, confused. "Why would you need to keep that a secret after the fact though? Like- the party's over."

Marinette shrugged and walked away. "You asked, I answered." She smirked, knowing she'd won this battle.

Alya groaned and dropped her head in defeat. That was not the juicy tea she'd been expecting. "Okay, okay- I'm coming!" She ran to catch up to Marinette as they walked the rest of the way to class.