Neglect Me No More

l u n c h

I'm getting really hyped for this story... yay!

Also, readers even if I don't reply to comments much anymore, I still read every single one. You guys' support for this story is what keeps me going! TYSM

After finally understanding the long and boring lesson of the properties of logarithms, Marinette was ready to have her lunch break.

Luckily, the class ended as soon as her brain started losing brain cells.

"That was literally one of the hardest things I ever came across in math." Chloe whined.

Marinette stretched her stiff limbs then laughed. "If you need help, you can borrow my notes or I can explain during lunch."  

Chloe shook her head quickly. "Naw, let's just enjoy our lunch without math."

Both girls quickly cleaned their desk area. As they left their seats and made their way to the door, most of the class was still chatting away. 

"Marinette! Hey, wait up!" A voice behind them called. Both girls turned to face the speaker. It was Adrien.

Chloe instantly took a defensive step forward. "Yes, Adrien?" Marinette asked.

"Um.. well, would you, um..." Adrien trailed off, seeming unsure about something.

Marinette tilted her head. "Yes?"

"What he means to say is, would you and Chloe like to each lunch with us?" Alya said behind him.

Both Chloe and Marinette raised their eyebrows.

"That's a great idea!" both Lila and Rose exclaimed at the same time. Nino had an anxious expression on his face while the rest of the class agreed with Alya's idea.

"Ummm..."

Marinette turned to Chloe. Chloe shook her head at Marinette. Marinette turned to look at Adrien.

Suddenly, her time in the blizzard flashed before her eyes. Her near-death experience had made her regret not fixing her relationship with her friends. If another time came like that, one where she would not have been as fortunate, she would want her relationships to be fixed.

While the class did talk behind her back and expect a lot from her, she didn't think they were the worst people in the world. Instead of their friendships breaking, she thought of it more like they had fizzled out. They had lost interest in interacting with each other.

So why were they inviting her to have lunch with them, now of all times?

Realizing that they were still waiting for her answer, Marinette panicked.

"Uhhh, sorry. I spaced out for a second." Marinette shook her head. "Sure, I'll eat lunch with everyone, but only if Chloe agrees."

There were some uncertain glances from the class towards Chloe. 

"Please, Chloe?" Sabrina, who was near the back, asked timidly.

Chloe cringed, then sighed. "Okay."

The class brightened. Everyone began to talk over each other, trying to get Marinette's attention. The only people who didn't rush towards Marinette were Juleka and Nino. 

Alya pushed through the crowd and grabbed Marinette's hand. "C'mon, we should get a table before they fill up." 

The class agreed and started walking out of the classroom.

As almost the whole class lead Marinette to the cafeteria, Chloe silently stayed a pace behind everyone, while walking next to Adrien and Nino.

"Just so you know, trust is really hard to rebuild once it's broken. I would know." Chloe said, quiet enough so that only Adrien and Nino could hear her. While both Marinette and Chloe were slowly building trust towards one another, Chloe knew it would take a long time before it was fully at a level of a healthy friendship. Marinette was not naive.

While Nino flinched, Adrien spoke up. "I'm sure Marinette still trusts us. We just kinda realized that we want to have fun with Marinette again like before." Adrien smiled at Chloe. In Adrien's mind, he felt that he was closer to Marinette than Chloe was. Marinette was their everyday ladybug, she would always care about them. 

Chloe clenched her fist. She had a gist of what the model was thinking since she partly grew up with him. 

Adrien was taking Marinette way too lightly. It would definitely come back to bite him.

While in the midst of her classmates, Marinette couldn't help but look around for Chloe. To be honest, the moment Alya took ahold of her hand, Marinette felt unbearably uncomfortable. 

Unfortunately, Chloe wasn't anywhere in sight since Marinette's classmates were all around her. Marinette's heart was beating uncontrollably fast and she had goosebumps all over her body. Perhaps this was a temporary reaction since she hadn't been coveted like this by her peers in a while.

Although she wanted to grab her hand back from Alya's clutches and get out of the crowd, Marinette knew it would bring a negative reaction. She really wanted everything to turn all fine and dandy between her old friends.

So, instead of doing what her instincts told her, she decided she would hold on until it was over.

Marinette would put a fake smile upon her face and bear it.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the super short chapter (around 700 words). I feel like this is another really confusing chapter since I wrote this when my brain was fried. 

Anyway, IM SO SORRY THAT ITS TAKEN ME A WHILE TO UPDATE!!!

Me and my family are vacationing at San Fransico right now for a few weeks. We've been traveling to tons of places every other day. I think the weather is really nice here compared to where I live!

Is it bad that I've become really obsessed with Pinterest? IDK but I'm on there for hours. My parents don't count it as social media, at least. If ya want yall can visit my profile. My username is sammisena   (pinterest.com/sammisena/boards).

looove yall, have an amazing day!