Because He Loved Me First

13

"Marinette, how was school today?" Sabine asked when Marinette entered the bakery.

Marinette faked a smile. Though she had skipped the rest of the school day and went to the park instead, she replied, "mom, it was amazing. I really like this school." And she couldn't have felt more guilty for lying.

~

"That. . . Is completely different from what Chloe told me in her limo," Adrien gasped a little. "I never knew it was that bad."

"That's what Chloe tells everyone; that she tried to help me but I didn't accept her help because I hated her. She tells everyone that so they would like her and start hating me," Marinette inhaled and exhaled. "And so far, you're the only one who didn't believe her." Marinette looked up, this time with a small smile. "Thank you."

Adrien looked to be a little surprised by her words, but he cracked a smile, before getting closer and pulling her into a surprising hug. Marinette wanted to pull away, tell him never to do that again, that they were in public, but instead she found herself wrapping her arms around Adrien and hugging him back. She found herself giving in, which was the number 1 rule she had strictly given herself ever since she came up with her plan. And then she started breaking the second rule. Tears. Tears started flooding out, wetting the back of Adrien's shirt. She sniffed, trying to stop herself from crying before Adrien found out, or at least cry silently and try to keep it away from Adrien, but Adrien was too smart and found out rather too quickly.

"Aw no, Marinette, it's okay." He wiped her tears with his thumb. "If only I had a napkin. I didn't mean to make you cry."

Marinette let out a chuckle anyway and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, not caring if that disgusted Adrien. When she looked at him though, he didn't have the slightest care of what she had done, instead he kept on his smile and watched her.

Then his eyes adverted over to behind her back. His smile faded away when he noticed in the distance, a white limo, Chloe leaning against it, watching him. When they made eye contact, Chloe looked even more upset, before she peeled her eyes away and headed inside her limo. She had been following them. Now Adrien understood. Chloe had secretly been following them just so she could catch Marinette breaking her rules, just so she could cook up another reason to tear the bakery down.

"What is it?" Marinette followed his eyes and looked behind her, seeing the limo before Adrien could even stop her from looking. The colour drained from her face, but Adrien quickly held her close, whispering to her that it was going to be okay.

"Don't worry, you have me," He said, then lifted his head. "Since we have time before my father comes back, I suggest we start right away on our plan to save your bakery. How does that sound?"

"The sooner, the better," Marinette nodded, before standing up from the bench. "So, what's our first step?"

Adrien smirked at the question. "Just leave it to me, Marinette." He got out his phone from his pocket, staring down at it. "All I have to do is make a post about the news. My followers are sure to read what's happening and try their hardest to stop Chloe."

"Right, of course," Marinette sat back down on the bench. "The Lady-Blog. You have tons of followers on there." She then sighed as she stared off into the distance. "It was my friend's ever first achievement. I remember how happy and excited she had sounded while we were texting each other. Creating a social media, a popular one too, one that everyone liked to go on. . . She may not have been with me, but I could just imagine that huge grin on her face on the other side of my laptop."

Adrien looked up. "Your friend. Alya, was it? From what you've told me about her, she sounds pretty amazing."

"She was," Marinette nodded without looking away. "The last time I saw her was on my first day of school, and I may not have known her that well then, but she really helped me out a lot. And then when she left. . . Everything came crashing down. I tried keeping her words in my head, but it became harder and harder to follow them each day. And then one day I completely gave up. If she were here, she would be disappointed in me. Completely disappointed."

"But she would know that you tried-"

"I didn't try hard enough. I should have fought harder, and then maybe I wouldn't be in this situation right now." She looked down, afraid she was going to start crying again. I wouldn't have that calendar in my room, with those awful words written on them. I wouldn't have my plan!

After a few seconds of silence, Adrien looked up from his phone again. "Okay, I've done it. Look." He showed her his phone with the post on it. Marinette could notice that a bunch of replies were coming in already, which didn't really surprise her.

"I've heard the news about Chloe, and her sudden hatred for the Cheng family. I also heard that soon she's going to have the bakery torn down. If you love the bakery as much as you say you do, this is your chance now to fight against Chloe and save the bakery!"

< Replies >

- omg, she's tearing the bakery down?! That's just going too far!

- I heard it was just to get back at Marinette, her enemy from school.

- I also go to the same school as her. Chloe is becoming more and more hateful and I'm beginning to hate it.

- she doesn't have to attack the bakery, even if it's just getting back at her enemy. That's just pathetic.

"Marinette," Adrien spoke up again. "Trust me, after this, Chloe will learn not to bother you again! I'll make sure of it!"

Marinette smiled, her heart calming down. "Thank you. I really appreciate everything you're doing for me." Words that she never thought she would be saying, especially to a rich person, but now here she was. Did this make Adrien her friend now? She wasn't sure, but whatever it was, she was beginning to like it.