Monday afternoons meant Chinese lessons. After the day he had, Adrien was less attentive than he usually was. He couldn't think about sentence structures, he could only think about Marinette.

What did she think of him now? Did she absolutely hate him for lying? How was she supposed to fall in love with him after what happened?

When the lesson was finished he went to dinner. He took a couple of bites, but once again he wasn't hungry. His brain was tormenting him too much.

Back in his room, he went straight to his bed and plopped down.

"Are you going to visit Marinette tonight?" Plagg asked gently.

Adrien sighed and looked over at him. "I don't think she wants to see me right now."

"Oh come on, Adrien. Cheer up! Everyone has secrets. I'm sure Marinette will understand," the kwami said.

"I feel horrible. This is not the way I had planned on telling her who I am."

Plagg narrowed his eyes at Adrien. "You were going to tell her?"

"I mean, not right now. But yeah, eventually," he admitted.

"Well you're not planning on telling anyone else, are you?" he demanded.

"No, of course not," Adrien said. "Just Marinette."

"And why just her?" Plagg asked, a smirk overtaking his face.

Adrien turned his head away. "Are you seriously going to make me say it outloud?"

"Uh huh," the kwami replied, flipping upside-down.

The blond groaned. "Because I'm in love with her," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't quite catch it."

"BECAUSE I'M IN LOVE WITH HER!"

"Okay, okay. No need to yell, I'm right here," Plagg teased before flying off to find a snack.

************************************

Adrien's heart was racing as he walked into school the next morning. He found Alya and Nino in the courtyard like usual, but Marinette wasn't there.

"Hey guys," he said, walking up to them. "Have you seen Marinette?"

"Uh, yeah. She went to talk to Miss Bustier about missing class yesterday," Alya said.

"Oh good. I'm going to go check on her and see if she's feeling okay," Adrien said, starting to walk towards the stairs.

"We'll come with you," Nino said, following him.

Adrien cursed internally. He really wanted to speak to Marinette in private.

He felt better when his eyes landed on the beautiful girl talking to the teacher.

She had her back towards him but turned around once she heard the three friends enter the room. Her eyes immediately went to him, pausing for a moment before she turned back.

Adrien sat down as they continued talking. Miss Bustier handed her some papers, which she put in her backpack. Then she made her way to her seat, keeping her eyes down to avoid looking at him.

He turned around to face her when she was in her spot. "Hey Marinette," he said quietly.

"Hey," she replied weakly, not making eye contact.

"How's your head feeling?" he asked.

"Um, much better." She still didn't look up.

He didn't know what else to say so he turned back around. This wasn't going well.

As the day went on Marinette barely looked at him, let alone talked to him. And during lunch she went around to all the teachers, collecting all the school work that she had missed. Adrien desperately wanted to talk to her, but he wasn't having any luck.

When school was over the four went to the locker room together.

"Now let's review, Marinette. One foot in front of the other. There you go!" Alya teased as they walked to their lockers.

"You are absolutely hysterical today Alya," she replied, not laughing.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist!" Alya said, chuckling. "Anyway, the party starts at five tonight so don't be late."

"What?" Marinette asked, confused.

"The party I'm having. I told you about it when I called you Sunday night. Don't you remember?"

Marinette's face suddenly turned bright red. The call Sunday night. The call that interrupted...

"Yes I remember," she said, a little bit too loud. She didn't dare look over at Adrien, who was close by, overhearing the entire conversation.

"Okay, well it starts at five," Alya repeated.

"Oh, ah... actually I won't be able to go," Marinette mumbled.

"What do you mean, you can't go?" the redhead demanded. "You told me you could!"

"Yeah, but uh... now I have all this schoolwork to catch up on! Yeah, and it's going to take me all night. I, uh... I'm sorry."

"You're unbelievable, girl. Blowing me off for homework? You must have hit your head harder than I thought." She turned towards Adrien. "You're coming tonight though, right Adrien?"

"I'm sorry Alya, but I won't be able to go either. My father said no," he told her.

Alya groaned as they all closed their locker doors.

"I'll still be there, babe," Nino said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

That didn't seem to cheer her up. She crossed her arms as they made their way outside, with Marinette and Adrien following behind the couple. Neither of them looked at the other as they walked side by side.

Once outside Marinette gave a quick wave and hurried off to her house. Adrien watched her go again before getting in his towncar.

************************************

Marinette went home and started on her work. Surprisingly it wasn't as much as she was expecting, so she was done within an hour and a half. She sat back in her desk chair and stretched when she was done.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," she said to Tikki.

"Since you're done early, why don't you go to Alya's?" the kwami suggested.

"I don't think so," Marinette replied, putting the papers in her school bag.

"But you heard Adrien. He won't even be there tonight."

Marinette closed her eyes. "Yeah I know."

"Come on, you deserve a fun night out with your friends," Tikki insisted.

The blunette smiled and opened her eyes. "What did I do to deserve you, Tikki? You always have my best interest at heart."

The red and black kwami flew over to Marinette and hugged her cheek.