"For the last time, I don't want you near me anymore!" He shrugged her handmade gift away and marched away from the school agitated. Without turning back, Felix walked straight home and up to his room to practice his piano.

Left behind, the let-down Bridgette walks home with her small wrapped box in hand. "Another rejection," she sighed. Walking down the streets of Paris, she looked up to the sky and whispered, "when will I stop feeling this way about you?" She looked down to kick stones while walking home.

"How was school, honey?" Her mother's voice came from behind the counter of the family bakery.

Straightening out, she scratched the back of her head and tentatively spoke, "well same as usual...I'm just a little tired is all." She couldn't make eye contact with her mother as she lied to her face. "I think I'm gonna finish my homework early so I can get to sleep faster!"

Without waiting for a response, she rushed up the stairs and slammed her door shut in a huff. Leaning against her bed, she slipped down until her butt hit the floor with a soft thud.

"Why am I like this?" She buried her head in her knees and began to softly sob. "First, I decide to make a gift for you," Bridgette grabbed the box and chucked it across the room as tears fell to the floor. "Second, I just stand there like an idiot as you insult me!" She grabbed a pillow from her bed in a fit of rage and threw it at her closet door, "and third..." She trailed off as she realized the third reason didn't need to be said out loud anymore.

She slouched back onto the floor to lay there for a while.

Seconds of staring at her ceiling turned into minutes, while minutes turned to hours and those hours turned into her once lit up room now covered in a blanket of darkness.

Sitting up, she felt something light on her leg. Looking down, she saw Tikki curled up sleeping.

I bet she was worried.

Bridgette picked her up and placed her on the bed softly, not wanting to wake the small and caring Kwami up. Walking downstairs slowing, she went down with her usual happy-go-lucky spring in her step for dinner.

"Ah~ There's my darling daughter! I haven't seen you since this morning!" Before she could even sit at the table though, she was swarmed by her father and entrapped in a big, warm bear hug.

She didn't mind. This is what she needed most in the world right now. People that weren't going to take what she gave out for granted, even if it was just her presence.

~~~

Walking into the school gates, Felix felt that something wasn't right. He looked around and waited for something to happen, but nothing came but the bell.

Had he been dreaming? Did Bridgette really not come to school today?

No, no, no! He thought, what am I saying? As long as she's out of my hair, why should I care?

But...what if she's sick? The tiny voice in the back of his brain sounded concerned.

He thought for a moment then pushed it all out of his mind as he slid the door open to his class. Upon doing so, he saw the girl he was trying to forget talking to a red-haired boy in the corner of the classroom. Her face lit up with a grandiose smile as the two talked about things he could only think off of the top of his head.

"What the--" He shut his mouth and turned he on his heel to take his seat behind the two. Unpacking his things, he unconsciously began picking up tidbits of their conversation.

Bridgette giggled and pointed to something in her notebook, "oh you think it'd look better with some green? I hadn't even thought of that!" The two laughed and carried on as Felix tried to direct his attention elsewhere until he saw out of the corner of his eye Bridgette taking a familiar little box out of her bag.

Is that--!!!

Without thinking, Felix stood up and grabbed the box out of her hands. "F-Felix? What are you doing?" He looked back at her feeling uneasy and...angry? Not knowing why he was angry, he shoved the box in his bag and stomped off to another corner of the room.

Before she could go get it back from him, the second bell rang and the teacher began class.

As time ticked away throughout the day, Felix kept his eye on Bridgette and the quiet boy she sat next to. Even when the bell rang for everyone to go home, he kept his eyes trained on her without realizing it.

Before he could stand up, he realized Bridgette was walking up to him with a slight blush upon her cheeks. Straightening out, he began to pack up his things. "Uhm...Felix?"

He flinched at his name but kept his gaze trained on his bag.

"C-can you uhm," she twiddled her thumbs nervously and blurted out, "C-CAN I HAVE MY BOX BACK?"

Felix looked up at her sudden outburst.

She too looked shocked by her tone and shyly looked away, "S-sorry...It's just that, you took it from me while I was talking to--"

"Don't," Felix stood up and towered over her. "Don't say his name in front of me." Turning back around, he began to pack his things up again.

Bridgette stood there puzzled not knowing what to say. Does he not get along with Nathaniel? She pondered on the thought for a while until she saw Felix walk down the aisle of the class. "W-wait! I need my box back Felix!" She scurried after him as she used to days before his outburst yesterday.

Maybe that's why she hadn't come to talk to me this morning...

Felix walked briskly out of the room without realizing he had left Bridgette behind. Thinking of why she's been acting strange today, he didn't hear her calling after him.

"Felix! Please give it back to me, I need to--"

He stopped and whirled around, crunching the box in his hand, he sneered at the girl that had pursued him for weeks before, "need to what? Give a gift you made for me in the first place to that red-haired basket of shyness?!" He was agitated for reasons unknown to himself.

Feeling out of place, Bridgette fidgetted with her fingernails and looked to the side, "I uhm...wasn't giving it to him." She looked up into her crush's deep green eyes and shuttered at how fiercely they were towards her. She mumbled out, "I was asking him what I should add to it..." She trailed off realizing that her creation was being crushed between the fingers of the boy that she had longed for, "but if you want it that much you can keep it..."

Why does she look a little happy all of a sudden? Felix, puzzled where he stood, had nothing to say as Bridgette briskly walked out of the school.

Looking down at the crumpled box in his hand, he began to walk home to start on his homework before fencing, each time he was doing something of importance though, the curiosity of what was in the small red and black box killed him just a tiny bit more.

~~~

Hours passed as Bridgette was at her sewing machine all night making up a new design that would fit her partner in crime. "How does this one look Tikki, does it remind you of him?"

The small Kwami laughed and softly said with a yawn, "of course! The black, gold and green clash together nicely! Too bad he'll never be able to wear it..."

They both frowned at the thought until Bridgette heard a knock at her window. Shoving everything into her desk drawer, she walked up to her window and opened it to see a flirtatious Chat Noir waiting. "Why hello there~"

Feeling a little confused, Bridgette just stared at him not knowing what to ask first. "Uhm, aren't you Chat Noir...the uh, partner of Ladybug?" She awkwardly tried to make it sound like she was excited to see him but she was more nervous than excited.

"Why yes," the cheeky cat stepped inside her room with his green eyes glowing in the dim lighting. "I've come to rest here and to talk to a citizen of Paris. We've met before, no?" He lifted her chin with his index finger then flicked it up.

Bridgette stood there shocked by his actions thinking that he found out who she was.

"Uhm...Bridge—?"

"Y-YES WE HAVE!" She snapped out of her trance and cut the cat off.

TO BE CONTINUED...