Chapter Text
"Girl, tonights gonna be the best!"
I laugh as Alya wraps her arm around me as we walk down the hallway of our middle school. 8th grade was over. In a few months we will be in highschool. But tonight we were having a slumber party at my house to say goodbye to our friend Kagami who is moving back to Japan.
"I know! I can't wait. Papa baked some macaroons for tonight," I say giggling as we continue down the hallway.
Suddenly we are both jostled to the side by passing students, I feel myself bump into someone. I look up and see our English teacher, well former teacher now, Mr. Ramier.
"Oh, girls, I was just looking for you. I wanted to give you this list of books to read over the summer," Mr. Ramier says as he hands us each a sheet of paper.
I look down and see a long list of names. Gary Pulson, Mary Higgins Clark, and J.K. Rowling are a few names I notice before I look back up. Alya looks surprised, just like I feel.
"It's a list of authors who wrote their stories in english. Your English teacher in highschool will be a lot tougher than me, so I figured I'd help you graduating 8th graders by giving you a list of books in english to help you practice." The smile Mr. Ramier gives us is huge.
"Uh, that's super nice of you, Mr. Ramier," I say. Alya nods her head along. She looks like she is going to say something but suddenly a kid is jumping between her and I and spraying Mr. Ramier with a spray bottle before taking off. Mr. Ramier shakes his head to get the water off.
"Hey, you get back here!" He takes off after the kid. I look at Alya and we both break out laughing, continuing on our way to our lockers. As we reach them I see Kagami walking towards us, a frown on her face. She holds up a piece of paper soon as she gets close to us.
"Lyla Rossi is holding a slumber party tonight. She invited Chloe, which means Sabrina will go obviously, as well as Aurore. Tonight is going to be weird if there's only three of us at your slumber party, Mari," Kagami says as I read over the paper. It's an invite to Lyla’s party. "She tried to invite me," Kagami adds.
Suddenly there's loud laughter. I look up and see Lyla walking past with Aurore and her arms hooked together, laughing at something. Chloe is walking next to them, typing something on her phone and Sabrina is following behind, a huge grin on her face. Chloe suddenly looks up from her phone and glances at us. Without stopping she starts talking as she walks past, "Oops, sorry I can't make it tonight, you understand, right, Mari?" She says before she moves on.
"Oh, I can't stand that girl! I can't believe we used to be best friends with her!" Alya says angrily as she slams her lockers door. I jump and look back towards her. Before I can say anything though someone bumps into me from behind. I turn and see Mylene.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you okay, Marinette?" She says as she frantically looks me over. I grin at Mylene as I nod my head.
"Yes, I'm great!" I say laughing a little. I look over at Alya and Kagami, raising my eyebrows and looking towards where Chloe had gone and down to Mylene. Both instantly seem to catch on. We can just ask Mylene to come in place of Chloe so that the sleepover isn't totally ruined. 4 is super great for a sleepover, 3 would be lame and someone would be the 3rd wheel.
"But, hey, actually I was just looking for you. Did you want to come over tonight, say around 7 for a sleepover?" I ask Mylene. Her eyes go wide and she grins.
"Oh my gosh! Yes!" Mylene does a little jump of excitement. "Let me just text my mom to get an okay." She takes her phone out and types something on there. Almost right away I hear a ding signaling she got a reply. "She said yes!"
"Okay, great! I will just text you my address, okay?” I say as I pull out my phone, doing just that.
“Awesome. I gotta get going so I can pack for tonight,” Mylene says with a little giggle before she hurries off. I watch her disappear amongst the crowded hallway of students. Almost as soon as she disappears I hear loud laughs. I look over and see Nathaniel Kurtzberg walking past with his friends. I try to hide behind Alya and Kagami, hoping none of them see me. For some reason all seem to like me but Nathaniel seems to be crushing on me the hardest and it's annoying.
“Marinette, our fair goddess! I am so glad to see you!” Damn, Nathaniel saw me. I slide out from behind Alya and Kagami. “I was wondering if it is true that you are having a slumber party without inviting us!” I roll my eyes at him.
“Sorry, Maman said I can only invite three GIRLS. No boys allowed,” I say, “and even if boys were allowed, you three would not be invited.” Marc and Nathaniel actually pout at that. Max just looks a little saddened.
“Sorry boys, like the girl said, you aren’t invited, so bye!” Alya grabs Kagami and my arms as she says this and starts dragging us down the hallway.
At the doors leading outside Kagami says her goodbyes, as she needs to go home before she can come over for the night. Alya and I began walking to my house, Alya’s parents were cool with her just coming over to my house straight away. She didn't even need to bring a bag of clothes as she had a few changes of clothes at my house from past sleepovers we had. We talk about random things, like how we think tonight is going to go. Without realizing it a few minutes have passed and suddenly Alya is holding onto my arm tightly. I stop and look around, realizing that we are by the highschool we will be attending in a few months. She points to the water fountain that is in front of the school.
“I bet next year we will get to sit there for lunch,” She says with a grin. I shake my head.
“Ha, as if! Alya, you know we aren’t “popular” enough to sit there. We are too “nerdy” and will probably be stuck sitting by the trash cans!” I say, pointing to the left of us where there are picnic tables next to some trash cans.
Alya opens her mouth to respond but I don’t catch what she says. Because that's when I noticed him. Adrien Agreste, the guy I have been in love with since I was 9, is riding a skateboard on the sidewalk a few feet away from us by the fountain. There's a shout of his name from behind us and suddenly he is skating past us towards a group of guys. I just stare as he passes, he does not look at me once.
“Earth to Marinette!” Alya is snapping her fingers in front of my face. I jump back slightly and look at her, frowning as I do.
“How can I be so in love with him, but it's like I don’t even exist to him?” I feel slightly hurt. He has never looked at me before as far as I know. I mean, sure he is two years older, but damn I think I at least deserve a small glance. I am not too terribly ugly.
“Just forget about him for tonight and have fun!” Alya grabs my hand and starts pulling me along, away from where Adrien was with his friends.