Marinette strode over to the locker room, actually early to school for once. Even though she was supposed to be looking for Alya, she had too much to think about at the moment. Sighing slightly, she reflected upon how the last year had passed by. Last year, she was silly, bumbling Marinette who couldn't act sane around Adrien. Last year, she was worrisome, unconfident Marinette, constantly struggling to keep up with saving Paris and making sure she didn't fail every subject. Last year, she was different. At the end of the school term, Marinette had experienced a nasty wake up call as she saw her grades, all narrow passes, and had made up her mind to plan her time so that she balanced being Ladybug with her work. That meant no time to think about Adrien.

Once she had made the decision, she had told Alya immediately, and without hesitation, Alya had supported her. She really was the best friend ever. Marinette had even told Alya that she was Ladybug sometime around the end of the term when Alya had shown serious concern about her late coming. Since then, Alya had helped Marinette come up with much better excuses for school.

Right on cue, Alya sprinted into the locker room, pulling Marinette into a sudden and tight hug.

"Marinette! I missed you so much!"

Trying not to suffocate, Marinette managed a reply. "I missed you too Alya! How was London? You have to tell me everything!"

Lowering her voice to a whisper, Alya spoke again. "Never mind London. That last akuma attack had me terrified! You and Cat Noir really have to stop dramatically saving each others' lives."

"Don't worry about me. Besides, everything gets fixed when I say miraculous ladybug."

"Did I hear someone say ladybug?" Nino walked up to the two of them, waving happily.

"Right, isn't she your soulmate or something?" Alya said with an eye roll, sneaking a sideways glance at Marinette.

"What? You must be talking about Adrien. I swear he already named their kids," he said, causing Marinette to start blushing slightly. Alya laughed, but not loudly.

Nope. No more Adrien. She dug her nails hard into her palm before looking back up.

"Where is he anyway? We're going to be late," Alya asked.

"He told me he had a photo shoot or something. We should probably go on first," Nino said.

Nodding, Marinette and Alya followed him into the classroom. When they took up their usual seats, however, they were not prepared for what awaited them.

"What!" Alya said loudly.

On the board, instead of a lesson plan, was a seating plan. A seating plan. Beside it, Marinette could swear Miss Bustier was enjoying herself at Alya's look of horror.

"It's your new seats!" Miss Bustier said... chirpily? "It's only for literature, of course, but I thought you all needed a little more mixing around, especially after the last term."

At the mention of the last term, all heads turned to Chloe, who was shamelessly ignoring them, examining her nails instead. The environment suddenly felt heavier as Marinette and Alya passed a disappointed glance. For a while before spring break, Chloe had somehow managed to increase her bratty outbursts and caused more than half of the akumatisations that took place. It had gotten so bad that just as the term was ending, there would often be shouting matches in the class. The toxic atmosphere had grown immensely since these occurrences often resulted in everyone being sent to the principal's office. Except for Chloe. Even Sabrina had finally snapped, leaving Chloe friendless and alone before the holidays. Alya and Marinette had both agreed that it was actually quite sad.

"Now if you'll all kindly move to your assigned seats." Miss Bustier began, but was drowned out by loud protests.

Marinette ignored the protests and focused on the board. She couldn't help noticing that everyone in the first row had been chosen because of their bad grades. Kim was with Alix, Chloe with Nathaniel and Rose was with Nino, who had failed his tests spectacularly after deciding to "screw tests" and "crash out with music". Looking for her name, she almost gasped in happiness when she saw that she was in the second last row. Most of her grades weren't fantastic, but her literature grade was exceptionally impressive. What surprised her was that Miss Bustier wasn't trying to keep an eye on her after months of late coming, sleeping during class, or missing class entirely. Now she would be able to sleep without detection.

The seat was perfect. If she ever had trouble, she would have still have Alya, who was thankfully just across the aisle from her.

Once she had managed to find her place, she looked next to her. The seat was empty. Probably someone absent or late. Behind her in the last row were Sabrina and Max. Good. Emergency nerd supply.

Everything was going surprisingly well until about half the lesson had gone by. She felt someone try to be quiet as they sidled gingerly into the seat next to her. Even before she felt a bump on her arm, she knew who it was.

"Hi Marinette."

"Hey Adrien."

How on earth did I get into this mess? Adrien thought. After showing up half an hour late for school, he had hoped that he could find some familiarity in his usual seat next to Nino. Instead, he had entered to find a completely unrecognizable seating arrangement, and there was already someone beside Nino. Finding the only empty seat beside Marinette, he tried hard to be subtle about being that late, only to be slightly shaken by Marinette's first question.

"Another photo shoot?" She asked.

For a second, he had no idea what she was talking about. Then he remembered the lie he had told Nino.

"Uh yeah. My dad has me working more now since he released a new collection."

He couldn't possibly say "I was actually sneaking around my house trying to find more secret cupboards that my dad might be finding because the first cupboard I found had a book that might change my entire life as Cat Noir."

Marinette narrowed her eyes slightly at his response, and he felt his heart beat faster. She knows I'm lying.

"You're early," he remarked, changing the topic quickly.

Her eyes widened suddenly, as though realizing that her late coming hadn't gone unnoticed.

"You know what they say. Early bird gets the worm."

"So you're into worms now?"

She chuckled a bit, her smile a little warmer than it had been a second ago, and Adrien felt himself relax.

"You're into ladybugs. That's no different!" She hissed with a playful smile.

Adrien felt his ears turning pink, biting his lip hard. She laughed softly at his reaction. No more Ladybug, he thought. After he had been denied his advances for a countless number of times, he had decided to destroy his feelings for Ladybug. He was managing so far, flirting less often, and it was clear that this had led to more efficient battles. There was no turning back now. Ladybug was just a partner.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that something felt amiss. Marinette had just laughed at him. Marinette. Wasn't she usually uncomfortable around him? But he couldn't deny that seeing her laugh after such a long break was satisfying. Throughout spring break, he had tried hard to find more clues as to why his father knew about Hawkmoth and had that book, but hadn't been successful. The thought that his father may have something to do with whatever magic that he and Ladybug were part of made him uncomfortable.

Turning back to Marinette, he abruptly realized how chirpy she looked, as though there was an endless amount of energy and laughter inside her and all it would take was to break down some walls. Realizing that he was staring at her, Marinette turned her head away, and a new expression was set in her eyes. Adrien turned his attention back to Miss Bustier. Did he just activate another wall?

I want in, he found himself thinking. Maybe this was the way to get over Ladybug by making a new friend. Cat Noir could do this. Time to cataclysm through some walls.