Chapter 1 – The Joke
Chloe Bourgeois' life was perfect, in her opinion.
She was rich. She always looked great. Everyone adored her. She was popular.
Nothing could be better.
Except for maybe one thing.
Chloe had always been a huge fan of Ladybug and Cat Noir, but mostly Ladybug. She thought someone as famous as Ladybug had to be as rich and famous as her in civilian life as well. But she didn't know who Ladybug was in civilian form. It couldn't be any of her classmates, that was for sure...
Rose was too sweet and weak-minded. She couldn't be as quick a thinker as Ladybug.
Juleka was too dark and creepy. She couldn't be as friendly as Ladybug.
Alix was too boyish. She couldn't be as girly as Ladybug.
Mylene was too much of a scaredy-cat. She can't stand Nino's phone camera, never mind the millions of TV cameras that Ladybug faces.
Sabrina would never keep a secret from her.
Alya had her Ladyblog. She couldn't make a blog and film live footage of Ladybug on her phone if she was Ladybug.
And Marinette...where could she begin?
Marinette was most the worthless, insignificant, pathetic piece of garbage Chloe had ever seen.
Chloe smirked to herself at her description. Those words had never been put together by her before. How it described the Chinese-French doofus all too well.
There was a knock at Chloe's bedroom door.
"Enter." She stated. Her butler, Jeeves, entered the room.
"Miss Bourgeois, it's time to leave." He stated.
Chloe nodded and rose to her feet. She grabbed her very expensive purse from her desk and made her way out of the door.
How everyone would be jealous of her...
Chloe stepped out of her limo when it stopped in front College Francais-Dupont. All eyes were on her, which was how she liked it. Everyone was looking at how beautiful she was.
Sabrina joined her, and immediately took her purse as she walked inside.
Adrien was talking to Nino and Alya. Marinette was nowhere to be seen.
Like that was a surprise. Marinette was nearly almost late.
Chloe smiled, with a plan forming.
"Adrikins!" She shrieked with delight, running over to him.
Nino and Alya silently groaned as she glued herself to Adrien's arm. "I'll see you in class, Adrien." Nino stated. He and Alya left.
"Come on, Adrien, you don't have to hang around with those commoners anymore. Stop feeling pity for those who aren't as fortunate as you. I did, years ago." Chloe explained. Adrien silently sighed.
"I know you did, Chloe. But those commoners happen to be my friends." He stated.
"Aren't I your friend too?" Chloe asked, guilt tripping him with a sweet and sad sounding voice.
"I never said you weren't, Chloe." He replied.
That was right. Chloe was Adrien's first and only real friend. The others were just fake friends who didn't appreciate him enough.
"Adrien, my father's throwing a special dinner tonight, and I wanted to know if you'd like to join us...?"
"Sorry Chloe, but Nino and I have plans tonight. We're playing games all night, with no interruptions. That includes special dinners, I'm afraid. We've been planning this for weeks, and I won't let him down." He explained. "Not if it might cause another Acuuma..." He added quietly.
"Acuuma, shuuma. Relax, have a little fun, don't worry about something Ladybug can handle." Chloe explained.
The bell rang. They headed to class.
Luckily for Marinette, she arrived and sat down just before Miss Bustier walked through the door. She walked to the front of the class and started taking roll call.
"Adrien?"
"Present."
"Chloe?"
Present."
The names just kept coming. It was Alya, then Marinette, then...Chloe couldn't remember. She gave all of her classmates nicknames.
Juleka, the Vampire
Rose, the fairy
Marinette, the baker's girl
Alya, the blogger
Nino, the party animal
Adrien, Adrikins
Sabrina, her loyal friend
Alix, the tomboy
Nathaniel, the artist
Kim, the jock
Mylene, the eco kid
Ivan, the emo guy
Max, the nerd
She finished the list of nicknames when Miss Bustier finished taking roll call. She took her Maths textbook from her bag on orders and turned to page 23, as instructed. But instead of doing the work, she proceeded to apply her lip gloss, using a hand mirror to get it just right.
"Miss Bourgeois?"
"Yes, Miss Bustier?"
"Why are you applying makeup to your face instead of applying maths knowledge to your textbook?"
"It's not easy to look this perfect, miss. I'll start in one moment."
"I'm waiting."
Chloe finished applying her lip gloss and, just to stop Miss Bustier from staring her down, actually got on with the work. Basically, she looked at Sabrina's answers when Miss Bustier wasn't looking at her and wrote down the answers and the working out that Sabrina had done.
Miss Bustier collected the textbooks in as the break bell went. Chloe let Sabrina carry her bag as she made her way outside after the rest of her classmates. Juleka and Rose were talking together on a bench. Marinette and Alya were elsewhere outside, on another bench. Marinette was flicking through her design book. Nino was with them. She couldn't see Adrien, and didn't really care much for her other classmates.
That was, until Kim and Ivan ran past her, pushing her out of the way.
"Well, excuse you!" Chloe yelled after them. She wasn't heard. She rolled her eyes. "People these days, no manners at all..." She muttered, sitting down at one of the tables.
She searched through her bag for her phone and pulled it out. She immediately started to make several calls to the maids and butlers in her house.
"Yes, Miss Bourgeois?"
"I want a full course meal for tonight's special dinner, and I want quality meat, potatoes and vegetables, not the tasteless, watery stuff that comes in common grocery stores, do you understand?"
"Yes, Miss Bourgeois. It'll prepared for you at the usual time."
"Good to hear. I'll be expecting a full three course meal; starter, main and dessert, by six o'clock this evening."
"Yes, Miss Bourgeois."
Chloe hung up and snapped her phone shut. She smirked as jaws were on the floor, all eyes on her once again. Adrien had appeared, and was talking to Nino, who was now with Marinette and Alya.
That was something Chloe did NOT like or want to see.
She got to her feet and walked over to the group of four friends. However, she made a pit stop along the way.
"If it isn't the vampire and the fairy." She stated.
Juleka and Rose folded their arms and turned away from her, continuing their previous conversations. Was this some kind of a joke?
"Excuse me, I was talking to you." Chloe stated, irritated by their complete ignorance of her perfect being standing before them.
They ignored her again.
"Ahem, as I was saying...I AM TRYING TO TALK TO YOU!" She announced.
Three times and they were out. Chloe hmphed and strode away. Her Adrikins would show better appreciation for her than all the people at the school put together. She made a beeline for him.
"On Cat Noir, you say? Let's have a look..." Adrien requested. Marinette passed him her sketchbook. Chloe sped up a little, and before Adrien could look at the sketch, she knocked the sketchbook out of his hand by gluing herself to his side.
There came small, audible groans from the three commoners. Adrien made no expression or comment as the sketchbook hit the floor. Marinette turned as red as a cherry with anger as Alya picked up her sketchbook. They ignored her appearance and continued to talk about the design. Unfortunately, Nino and Alya could think of nothing to help Marinette. Adrien tried to move his left arm, but Chloe's attachment had made impossible for that to happen. Instead, he took the sketchbook in his right hand and looked at the design.
"Hmm...maybe you could add some sort of leather texture?" Adrien suggested.
"Or a tail and ears." Nino added jokingly.
"That's not a bad idea, Nino. It would make it more cat-like." Alya suggested.
Marinette took her sketchbook back and started to sketch.
"I'm not sure if I can get some leather-like material of good quality for a low price, but the ears and tail aren't a bad idea." Marinette explained as she finished her design. She showed Alya, who gave a sign of approval.
"It looks perfect, Marinette! Why don't you make a dress based on Ladybug?" She suggested, passing the sketchbook around.
"Ladybug has loads of attention nowadays and I don't think Cat Noir gets enough appreciation for helping her out in tight spots, so I'm going to focus on this one for now." Marinette explained.
"What are you talking about? Cat Noir never does anything to help. All he does is destroy things and bring bad luck. Chloe remarked.
She was ignored again, even by Adrien.
She detached herself from Adrien's arm and clicked her fingers. It got nobody's attention. The vampire and the fairy were still talking, paying no attention to her. The tomboy was talking to the jock and emo guy. The eco kid was talking to the nerd and the artist. And Sabrina...
Actually...where was Sabrina?
Chloe looked around to find that Sabrina had left her bag on the table, and was talking to the vampire and the fairy.
The pathetic little girl had the guts to leave her bag unattended and talk to two of the people she disliked?
How rude.
How ignorant.
How...wait a minute.
Something was tapping at Chloe's mind as she went to collect her bag.
Was this their idea of a joke?
Was this something everyone had been a part of?
Were they just going to pretend like she wasn't there?
She narrowed her eyes, and climbed on to the table. She had only practiced this a few times, but she knew she could get it to work.
She put her fingers to her mouth.
And she whistled.
It was the most high-pitched whistle she had ever made, and it got everyone's attention. They covered their ears sharply. Chloe smirked. Only the weak needed to do that.
Everyone turned to face her.
"Alright you imbeciles, listen up! If this is some kind of joke, I'm not finding it funny! You know you can't ignore someone as perfect as moi, so stop acting like you can!" She barked angrily.
Everyone stared at her blankly.
"Did you hear something?"
"Thought I heard a whistle."
"And someone shouting?"
"But no one's there."
Chloe growled with frustration.
"Nobody is there."
She snapped.
"You incomprehensible pathetic, idiotic, arrogant, ignorant gargoyles! Listen to me!" She screeched.
There were a few flinches from many, but no one paid attention to her.
"That's it, I've had enough! If none of you will pay me any of the respect and attention I obviously deserve, I'll have my father tear down the school!" She announced. She stepped down from the table.
When she left the hall, Rose peeked out of the hallway to make sure she was gone. When she was completely out of sight, she closed the door. Others closed the other doors as well.
And then the entire burst out into laughter. Even Adrien was laughing, which was something he did rarely.
The person – no, people – who were laughing the hardest were probably Marinette and Alya.
Marinette climbed on to the table that Chloe had stood.
"You incomprehensible, pathetic, idiotic arrogant, ignorant gargoyles! Listen to me!" She imitated. This bought around louder and harder laughter.
More than one person ended up on their knees, holding their sides because the laughter hurt so much. Marinette chuckled as she climbed down from the table.
"Great plan, Marinette. I didn't know you had the entire school involved." Nino remarked.
"That was where Alya came in. She's the gossiper, and got everything out to everyone in the school, no less, and even managed to convince the teachers to do it as well!" Marinette explained, more laughter coming to her as the entire hall was still recovering.
"Well, that plan sure did something. How long do you think it'll take before she realises that everyone in the city was part of it as well?" Alya asked.
"The entire city? Alya, what in the name of Paris did you do?"
"I only got the mayor to send emails to everyone in the city. The email to everyone was 'an apology for his daughter's behaviour, and an idea of how we can make her taste her own medicine'." Alya explained.
"You got the mayor in on this?" Nino asked, laughing.
"Wow, she is not going to be happy." Adrien declared. This bought about more chuckles from the recovering people.
"But, maybe that will teach her not to always want to be the centre of attention." Marinette stated.
"Maybe, maybe not. You never know what going through that girl's head." Alya remarked.
This earned more chuckles.
Chloe found the bathroom and was literally shaking with anger as she looked in the mirror to reapply her makeup. Suddenly, a purple butterfly shaped light outlines her eyes.
A black and purple butterfly fluttered across to her, and sank into her purse.
"Queen Bee, I am Hawke Moth."
"Unless you can get me the attention I deserve, then I'm not interested."
"But I can get you that, but I'll need a small favour in return."
"Get the miraculouses off of Ladybug and Cat Noir, I know..."
The black and purple sludge like cloud surrounded. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a golden tiara, which was a huge improvement for a start. She also had a yellow skin tight with black lower arms and legs. She also had a pair of bee wings. Last of all, her purse was attached to a black belt, which was around her waist. She looked in her bag and smiled.
"This is going to be very fun, indeed."
She cackled evilly.
In the hall, everyone heard the cackle.
"I think she's finally lost it." Nino muttered.
"No, that's not a crazy cackle." Adrien stated.
Everyone looked at him.
"What? Come on, I've known her since I was 4, so I know what she laughs like."
"Well, what kind of laugh was that?" Marinette asked.
"That was...an evil one."
A figure flew above them. "You all will pay dearly for what you've done to me! And I'll start with whoever made this ridiculous plan for a joke in the first place!"
"Uh oh." Marinette, Alya and Adrien muttered
"Yep, she's officially lost it." Nino mumbled, chuckling.