One Miraculous Circus

Chapter 2

"Hey, guys!" Marinette called out to everyone as she walked to her desk.

A few years had passed since Adrien had joined the school. Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Nino, Kagami and Luka were now in high school together. All of them were 18 years old and searching for colleges, cherishing the final year they had left together as a group.

In the new class for this year, Marinette was sat next to Luka, Adrien next to Kagami and Nino next to Alya. Originally, they had a seating chart where they were separated but they were still always talking. Their teacher eventually gave up and they all sat together in rows so as to not cause too much commotion throughout the class when they randomly burst into laughter or when they passed notes and giggled at what was written on the paper.

"Do you guys want to meet at that café later, me and Luka are going so you can join?" Mari asked as she sat down.

"I'm up for it and I'm guessing Alya will come too," Nino responded and Alya nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry guys but Kagami and I have extra fencing practise after school," Adrien said sadly and Kagami leant on his shoulder, frowning slightly.

"Okay everyone, sit down now, I have a class to teach and you have the stuff to learn," Miss Bustier said in a fake happy tone in hopes of getting the class hyped - it didn't work but the talking quickly came to a stop.

After school, the group met up by the library and walked down to the café together. The sun was beaming down at their happy faces as they skipped along the pavement. They all pushed through the door and the bell rang, warning the owner that people were coming inside. Everyone except Marinette sat down. She got distracted as she noticed a for rent sign on the window. She turned to face the owner.

"You're selling the bakery?" she inquired.

"No, honey," Claire responded giggling, "I've put the apartment above the bakery for sale is all, no need to panic the bakery will continue to stay open, sweetie."

Marinette went a little red in embarrassment at the mistake but her attention quickly moved towards her friends when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"What do you want to eat Marinette?" Nino asked her once she spun around to face him.

"I'll just have a hot chocolate if it's okay, I'll be paying next time though," she replied smiling and Nino smiled back before heading to the counter to buy everything.

Marinette then sat down in the empty seat next to Luka and she felt a hand slither around her shoulders, holding her closer and she snuggled into the embrace. When Nino came back from buying the stuff, he sat down next to Alya and handed everything out. Marinette drank her hot chocolate eagerly while talking to Alya and Nino but Luka just sat silently on his phone ignoring the hot croissant in front of him.

"Earth to Luka!" Nino said while waving a hand in front of his face, "What was that about dude?" he questioned, taking another sip of his iced tea.

"It was nothing, don't worry about it," Luka responded but he still seemed distracted.

"Babe, are you sure you're okay?" Marinette asked and she comfortingly rubbed his arm.

He shook her hand off and shouted, "Nothing is up, I'm fine okay!" Everyone in the café went silent. "I'll be back in a minute," Luka said quietly as he put his phone on the table and walked outside.

"What was that about?" Marinette asked the others but they just shrugged.

Luka's phone lit up and a familiar name was on the screen, Chloe. Alya grabbed the phone and read the message.

"You shouldn't be doing that Alya, it's not your phone," Nino said but he shut up quickly when Alya showed him something that was on the screen.

Marinette sat across the table so she had no idea what they were looking at.

"What is it Alya?" she asked but Alya didn't say anything in return, she just showed her the phone with a sympathetic look on her face.

A message from Chloe was on the screen. Mari grabbed the phone from Alya's grasp with more force than she had expected and stared blankly at it before tears rolled down her cheeks slowly. She scanned the words of the message, unlocking the phone to get a better look. She scrolled through the chat coming across photos and videos sent between the two as well as multiple conversations between them. 

"He's cheating on me."

She looked up from the screen to see Luka stood at the door once again. He rushed over to her quickly as she began to stand up and collect her stuff to leave. Tears continued to force their way out of her tear ducts.

"I can explain Marinette, that's not what it looks like," he said to her before he was cut off.

"No Luka, that's exactly what it looks like. She's the reason you've been so distracted recently and the reason why you keep cancelling on me and ignoring me! She is the reason why we are now over!" Tears poured from her eyes faster as she shouted at Luka.

He grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving, "Please don't go, Marinette!"

At this point, everyone in the café was watching.

"Get off me, Luka!" she yelled at him.

"It's not like this is my fault! You're the one spending every day with other people when we're supposed to be the ones together! Adrien this, Adrien that. It's bullshit!" he shouted back.

"He is my closest friend. He has nothing to do with this," she said, getting protective, "Never bring him up like that, you know he's just a friend."

"I don't think you know that," he spat back.

"I never want to see you again, Luka. Just leave me alone."

Marinette ran out of the bakery, crying uncontrollably.