Neglect Me No More

c r o w d

As promised, a chapter on Sunday! Hopefully, I can keep up with this schedule. Also, please read the author's note at the end.

Marinette was out of breath. It had been a while since school had ended, but because Adrien needed to talk to her, Marinette was not able to leave right away.

Her blood boiled at the words Adrien had thrown at her.

After class had finished, Adrien asked to talk to Marinette. It turned out that the 'talk' was just him telling her to not provoke Lila again like she did a few days ago.

Marinette sighed. She seriously felt like crying. Imagine the boy you like- no love, telling you to just keep your emotions in check. What a shitty situation she was in.

And now she was also late to her meeting with Felix. Hopefully, Claude was still here.

As Marinette fast-walked through the halls, she noticed that the halls were surprisingly empty. Usually, even though school had ended, students would hang around at least until the sun started to set. To say the least, something must have been happening at the front of the school.

Marinette was right. A ridiculously large amount of students were gathered in the same spot near the stairs. What was going on?

Marinette shook her head. She didn't have time to find out. Marinette had to find Claude before he left.

As she scanned the area, she saw no sign of the handsome boy. Plus, the crowd near her was extremely distracting.

After searching for a whole minute, Marinette decided to just call him. While waiting for him to pick up, she noticed that the crowd was getting bigger.

Finally, Claude picked up.

"Hello?" Marinette asked.

"Uhhh hey, Marinette. Where are you?" Claude asked from the other side. Marinette winced at how much noise there was in the background. It must have sounded the same for him since she had a crowd near her.

"I'm actually in front of the school. There's a huge crowd right next to me." She replied.

"Ohhhh! Haha, that's funny! I'm actually inside the crowd. Just give me a sec."

Marinette raised her eyebrows. "Wait, what?!" she exclaimed, but the boy had already hung up.

She turned her head to look at the crowd.

Low and behold, after a few seconds, Claude emerged from the crowd. The people in the crowd followed Claude as he made his way towards Marinette.

"Uhhhhhhh...." Marinette was baffled at how things had turned out. Claude gave a gentle smile and Marinette realized that she was staring.

"Oh! Hi Claude. Sorry again about being late!" Marinette quickly composed herself and grinned like she hadn't been gaping at the handsome specimen.

"No problem mademoiselle." He took her hand and lightly kissed it like Chat Noir would have done.

The crowd behind gasped, even though the gesture was pretty common.

Marinette giggled. Claude's attitude didn't seem flirty, but friendly instead. He did have a girlfriend after all.

Claude let go of Marinette's hand. "Should we go now? Fel- ahem- my bro hates being left waiting."

Marinette nodded. Claude must have known that this was a private meeting between the two of them.

"Then follow me, Mari."

Marinette tilted her head at the nickname. She smiled. She had a feeling that she and Claude were going to be great friends.

As Marinette walked next to Claude, she felt the eyes of everyone in the crowd. So much for keeping it down low. Some were even taking pictures. She just hoped that no scandals came out of this like the one with Adrien, even though she knew that there probably would be one.

She sighed and glanced behind her one last time. A pair of dark brown and olive green eyes caught her gaze for a second. They were like sharp knives piercing through her, but Marinette forced herself to look up in the front.

It seemed that Alya and Lila had something to say to her when school started again on Monday.

Author's Note:

Pretty short chapter this week, I know.

I'll make up for it next chapter or the one after tho. 

-I feel, no think, that this story is moving at a realllyyyy slow pace. I'm really sorry about that but thats just the way I write. I think the characters need to be properly introduced first so that the story can begin moving at a faster pace. We're only 12 chapters in tho, so please be patient. This is actually the first fanfiction that I've written more that five chapters for.

-I added an explanation of why I wrote this fic and placed it before chapter one. If you guys haven't read it yet, plz do. It's not relevant to the story but I need to know if I'm the only one who thinks that way or not. I've also put my update schedule there.

-I've been starting to draw digitally. If you guys want I can make some digital fanart and post it here... please comment below.

-Soooo...I had my first college class (ZOOM) this week. As you all know, I'm a sophomore, but am taking college courses. I had to talk to some of the other students as an assignment and it was soooo awkward. I connect really well to people if I want to (I switch between being an introvert and extrovert), but it was impossible to since I was the only one who had my camera and mic on.

Anyways... share an awkward or embarrassing story about yourself. I'd love to know more about you guys! 

Have a great day!