So this is gonna be a series of one and two-shots that focus on 'what if' semi-alternate storylines.
I.O.N.
Without further ado! This is What if…
Marinette was in a different class
Marinette was so happy. Sure she'd almost woken up late, nearly destroyed her family's kitchen, and dropped half of the treats she had planned to bring to class saving an old man from getting run over by a texting driver, but she wasn't in the same class as Chloe this year so that immediately made everything better.
The day had definitely taken a strange turn for Marinette. First, a giant stone monster shows up and starts attacking Kim, an old friend of Marinette's, causing school to get canceled. Then she finds a weird box in her room that apparently holds a magical piece of jewelry and a tiny fairy/god type creature that calls herself Tikki who tells Marinette that she can now turn in a superhero called Ladybug. After all of that, she ends up messing up the one job she had.
It turns out that the stone monster, who called himself Stoneheart, was also a former classmate of Marinette's, named Ivan, who was angry that Kim had called him a wuss for not confessing to Mylene, a girl in their class.
In the process of becoming a superhero, and finding a fellow teenage superhero, Marinette had failed to cleanse the Akuma which had caused dozens of other innocent citizens to become infected. Marinette was so ashamed, but she couldn't give up. She didn't even know anyone who would be interested in being a savior of Paris.
It had been three weeks since Chat Noir and Ladybug had saved Paris from Stoneheart twice. And Marinette was meeting up with her childhood friend, Nino, who wanted to introduce her to some new kids in his class.
They were meeting in a cafe near the school for lunch. "Yo Marinette!" Nino shouted as he waved from where they were sitting. The two he was with was blushing from embarrassment. The designer just laughed.
"Hey, Nino. Who're your friends?"
Nino smiled as he patted the blonde boy sitting next to him, "This is my man Adrien! And next to you is Alya."
Marinette smiled as she turned to Alya, "You're the one who runs the Ladyblog right?"
"Yep! And you're a fashion designer right?"
With a blush, the bluenette nodded.
Nino laughed as Marinette and Alya got caught up in some conversation or other, becoming best friends in the time it takes to eat lunch. Not wanting the boys to feel left out, Marinette seamlessly involved Adrien and Nino. The four got so caught up in talking that they were almost late for school.
Marinette laughed as she headed back to her own classroom. She had a feeling that the four of them were going to be good friends.
Something felt off when Marinette walked into school. Everyone was buzzing about some new girl. Some of the things she'd heard sounded so outlandish, that it just seemed impossible, but who was she to judge.
Before class started she caught sight of Adrien, who was talking to a girl Marinette had never seen before, must be the new girl. With a smile, she headed over and met Lila Rossi. She seemed nice enough, if a little braggy, but the way she went out of her way to try and excluded Marinette from the conversation spoke volumes. Lila had a crush on Adrien and wanted Marinette to go away so she wouldn't have any competition.
Then the designer saw the book Adrien was carrying. It was beautiful and old, but the strange thing happened when she saw what was inside. What appeared to be a detailed account of Miraculous holders. The fact that Adrien had it gave her a bad feeling. How did he have something like that? Was Adrien an enemy? Could he be Hawk Moth? Marinette didn't want to believe it but there was no doubt that he knew who Hawk Moth was, even if he didn't know.
So to clear a few things about this chapter up: Marinette being in a different class would mean that she'd hadn't met Alya and Adrien that first day, so there was no misunderstanding and no umbrella scene. No umbrella scene means that she never developed a crush on Adrien. She also wouldn't have been able to think of a suitable replacement for herself when she messed up. I firmly believe that they would've still met and become best friends. Since she doesn't have a crush on Adrien she also wouldn't be jealous when Lila puts the moves on Adrien and would be more concerned with the book that had pictures of Miraculous.
There you have it!
See ya next time!