Jerk in Sheep's Clothing

The Party's Over

Lila had engaged a group of her peers in a tale where she had been offered to open for Clara Nightingale, and had even dreamt up the choreography for her latest video. Everyone was soaking it all up...except for Alya, whose ears were deaf to the tale as she watched Marinette from the corner of her eye.

Since coming here, Marinette had avoided Alya, and by extension Nino and Lila, like she had rabies. She still spoke politely to her other friends, but whenever Alya came closer than three feet, she took off and moved onto something else. She barely even met gazes with her former friend.

But what really bugged Alya was that he was attached her hip the entire time. Henri stuck by his woman's side like glue. Even the friends that Marinette spoke nicely with felt uncomfortable in his presence. It was hard, with all the dirty history between them and the bully. It took a lot of willpower to hide their hatred and pretend that everything was okay with him around, so close to Marinette.

Soon, the upbeat pop music turned into a soft, soulful ballad, slow but full of joy. People at the party started going off in pairs, putting their arms around each other and swaying to the melody. Nino got his girlfriend's attention and pulled her onto the dance floor, leading the way in the dance, hoping that this would lift her spirits.

To his credit, it did distract her from her woes for a minute or two. But then she glanced over his shoulder to see Henri and Marinette a few feet away. They were holding onto each other for dear life. No one had to go over and shift their hands to the more affectionate positions, like Alya had done last time with Mari and Adrien. She already had her arms coiled around his neck, her head on his shoulder, while Henri had his hands pressed on her lower back, pulling her closer to him.

Nino saw his girlfriend's disgusted expression and followed her line of vision to see the two lovebirds, all cozy with each other, numb to the rest of the world, and his face changed to match hers.

"He holds her any tighter, we'll need to butter them up to get her loose.", remarked Alya, spitting with every other word like she had a bad taste in her mouth. Nino nodded, his upper lip curled in disdainful agreement.

Henri pulled back slightly, meeting Marinette's eyes. Alya wanted to puke when she saw the warm, gooey, lovey-dovey looks they gave each other. Henri mouthed the words, "I love you.", and, not wasting a second more, lowered his head to meet her lips. Marinette accepted him, cupping his face to deepen their kiss, choosing to ignore the gagging sounds from some of her classmates, who knew Henri.

The only one not focusing on the "lovely" couple was the hostess of the soirée. She was focused on finding Adrien's face among her guests. But he never appeared. "What is taking him so long?"

Suddenly, her phone rang. She saw Adrien's photo appear on the screen. "Finally!" She accepted the call without a second's hesitation. "Adri-kin's! Where are you?! The party's half over!"

"I'm not coming, Chloé."

"What?! That's ridiculous! Utterly riduclous! Tell your father I'm hosting it! I'm sure he'll let you go if he knows I'll be here!"

"My father has nothing to do with this, Chloé. I'm not coming to your party because I don't want to."

Her heart jolted. "WHAT?!"

She was so loud, everyone immediately stopped dancing and turned their heads in her direction. Even Marinette and Henri broke their kiss to see what all the hoopla was about.

"What do you mean you don't want to come?!  Adrien, if you're playing a joke on me—"

"Its not a joke, Chloé.  You think I was born yesterday?  You're doing exactly what you did the last time I broke off our friendship."