Imperfect Future [ON HOLD]

chapter eight | alya cesaire

"Hey, girl."

Seeing her best friend standing there, waiting for Marinette so they'd enter the school together, Marinette instantly rushed over to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her. She had called Alya a few minutes ago, telling her to wait in front of the school. Alya laughed a little as Marinette broke the hug. "Like, I know I'm pretty awesome and all, but do you really miss me that much?" Marinette furiously nodded her head at the question. She tried not to lose her smile as she remembered her older self telling her that Alya had died during the fight with Hawk Moth 2.0. 2029. That was still nine years from now; Alya would be 26 years old at that time. You may have gotten nine more years to live, girl, but this time, I'm going to make sure you live for much more longer than that.

"Don't look now, Marinette, but here comes Lila."

Even with the warning, Marinette turned her head, seeing Lila walking over to the school. The brunette didn't bother sparing a glance towards both of the girls, instead just walking past them and walking up the stairs. Marinette and Alya followed her towards the school door, although keeping their distance. Marinette still remembered about the pages Lila had ripped off out of her notebook, but she was sure by now, it was already too late. Lila had most likely read everything, including the words about who Hawk Moth was, both the first and the second.

"Take your seats, students."

Marinette sat down in her usual spot, next to Alya. Looking up and seeing Adrien walk through the opened door and take a seat after giving her a small wave and smile as good morning, made all the memories rush back in her head. Adrien agreed to date Kagami although he had feelings for Ladybug. She had to admit, this did make her blush, as Ladybug was practically herself. But still, would Adrien like who it was under the mask? Well, he must have, because he ended up marrying to her and having three kids with her in the future despite knowing her identity, plus, even if he didn't like who she was under the mask, Marinette wouldn't have cared less. She let out a chuckle. It would be his loss for missing out on all of this. She was a nice girl, nothing wrong with her; she had finally come to see that instead of putting herself down about it all the time.

"Gosh, you're smiling again, Marinette," Alya looked back down at her desk as Marinette turned away with a blush. "You must be really happy today, especially with the fact that you even came early. You know, when you texted me telling me you were almost done getting ready for school and I should wait for you, I legit thought someone stole your phone and was pranking me."

"Oh my goodness, Alya!" Marinette couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, I can't be early now without you thinking my phone got taken away?" She had to admit, she really missed all of this; Alya joking around with her and her joking back. Having to lose her best friend at a young age would have been hell, and hearing about it was. She could still hear the words in her mind, which she tried so hard to forget, but it wasn't something that she could forget easily. She had wondered to herself what would happen if she failed all of this, but she had immediately brushed that thought aside, not wanting to be negative. Marinette then turned her head, her eyes landing on Lila, only to see that the brunette was looking back at her. Lila gave her a smile, but it wasn't one of those friendly ones. Marinette looked back to the front.

"Anyway, your parents called me yesterday," Alya spoke up again, getting Marinette's attention on her once again. The ombre continued to look back down at her desk, this time, her smile seeming to fade off. "Apparently, you weren't in school yesterday and they were worrying about you, so they called me. Where were you then? I-I wasn't in school yesterday, which is how I had no idea that you weren't here either."

"Why weren't you in school?" Marinette turned the question around, not wanting to answer Alya, because she was still thinking of an excuse. She may have told her parents she went over to a friend's, but for some reason, she could tell they didn't fully believe her. Alya was a smarty-pants; if Marinette used the same excuse, Alya would immediately figure it out. Her best friend turned to look at her, and suddenly, Marinette could sense sadness in the small smile she had given.

"No, nothing serous. Just a stomach-ache."

"Are you feeling better now, though?"

"Yeah."

Marinette was about to ask another question, but was immediately cut off by her teacher who started speaking about their assignment. All of a sudden, her stomach wasn't feeling so good either as she had such a bad feeling in it. She wasn't completely convinced with what Alya had just said, especially with the sad smile she had just given, but she decided to ask about it after class, or maybe over lunchtime, so they'd have plenty of time to talk without getting interrupted. She peeked over at Alya again, and for the first time ever while in school, Alya actually looked upset.

•~•

Marinette's phone beeped, and even without checking it, she knew it was just the schedule app she had put on her phone, reminding her of what she had to do at this time. "Alya, I'll meet you up at the cafeteria." She waved at her best friend, and after getting Alya's nod, she started walking over to the boy she had wanted to talk to ever since the beginning of school. "Hey, Adrien, wait up." She caught up with the blonde before he could step out of the school, knowing that Adrien didn't eat in the school at lunchtime. She could already see Adrien's limo waiting for him outside. "I'm so sorry to stop you now. I'll make things quick, okay?"

"I-" Adrien looked surprised, and Marinette knew exactly why. She wasn't stuttering like she usually did around him before. Maybe it was just the fact of knowing that her crush sort of liked her back was why she had hopes and absolutely no reason to stutter anymore. "Yeah sure, Marinette. Go ahead."

"I just wanted to tell you. You can see this as some kind of a reminder or something, I don't really care. You should try to figure out your feelings first before going to a girl. I've heard of a bunch of boys that have a crush on more than one girl, but they pick the one girl they think they like more, although ending up hurting the girl. I find it better and easier to sort out feelings first, know who you like more, and definitely not saying yes to a girl just because you feel bad for her, or because you'd feel guilty if you said no. Your actions could hurt someone, so it's better to think first before making a mistake." Marinette had been looking down while speaking, and when she looked up, Adrien frowning was the first thing her eyes caught. "What?"

"The heck are you on about?"

"I- This is a special day when I'm going around giving people some advice, ha-ha," Marinette awkwardly laughed as she scratched her head. "Listen, I've heard you talking about your crush, although I have to admit, I don't know if it's more than one crush, so I wanted to give you this last advice, since, if I remember correctly, you said you needed some to help you out. Well, this is me helping you. Just in case you do like more than one girl, just make sure you think, or else you'll make a mistake that could result to some consequences. Alright, I'll be going now." Marinette turned around and ran back to the cafeteria where Alya was waiting for her, before Adrien could stop her. When she reached the cafeteria, she stopped running, breathing in and out. I can't believe I just did that.

Of course, she remembered her older self talking about how Adrien ended up dating Kagami while he still had feelings for someone else. Kagami found out and left him for it. She must have seriously been hurt, and it had been some of her fault, Marinette admitted, so she didn't want Adrien making the same mistake from the beginning. Adrien probably saw her as weird now, although it was no doubt that he had already seen her as that before, but Marinette couldn't care less as she walked over to where Alya was standing line. "Hey girl," Alya waved her over. "What were you talking to Adrien about?"

"Oh, you know. . .stuff."

Alya frowned. "No, I seriously don't know. I don't see you as the type to go over to Adrien and start a conversation with him, except if it's that serious."

"Ha-ha, you know me well." Still, Marinette ignored the question and started a new conversation with her best friend. Alya was able to forget about it soon enough, which relieved her. Marinette was not ready to tell any of her friends about what she had experienced.