Marinette woke up with her face pressed against a wooden desk. All around her were drawings and designs. The one she had worked on the day earlier - well, a few hours earlier - had fallen on the floor. Marinette yawned and lifted it up. The paper had many doodles in the corners and the essential design at the middle.

A young lady was wearing a red dress to the knees and carrying a round, black handbag. Marinette had given her a mask just to make sure everyone would realize it was supposed to be Ladybug. Marinette didn't feel like the mask was subtle enough, but didn't want to end up drawing a completely random person who sort of reminds people of Ladybug.

Marinette sat up and looked at the clock on the wall. I'm gonna be late! Marinette quickly got changed, put on her black earrings and ran down the stairs. She grabbed a muffin on her way out of her family's bakery.

"Au revoir!" She hoped her parents had heard her and sprinted towards the school.

o - o - o - o - o

Marinette ran through her class's door and was happy to see that the teacher hadn't arrived yet. But so hadn't her best friend Alya, and therefore she took her seat feeling odd. Alya was never late and Marinette never had to sit alone. She took out her notebook and began to draw various shapes.

"Hey, Marinette."

She startled as she heard the voice behind her back. She was supposed to be used to it, as it was normal of Adrien to greet her. Yet, she could never bring herself to act natural.

"H-h-howdy, Adrien! What's cookin'?" Marinette was frustrated with herself but didn't know whether she should try to correct herself, or if she would only make things worse.

Adrien smiled at her. He is so polite, Marinette admired Adrien's skill of being able to be nice to an idiot like her. "Probably nothing, I don't see any food."

Alya walked in Mrs. Mardi right behind her. Marinette felt glad Alya made it.

The wavy haired girl sat down next to Marinette with her phone on her hand. The teacher started talking and so did Alya.

"Girl, I've been so caught up with writing for the blog that I was almost late!" She said and flipped the phone so Marinette could see the familiar site. Ladyblog.

"And I've been so caught up with designing for the blog that I was almost late," Marinette laughed. She really liked how her friend was always cheerful.

"Right! How's that turning out? Am I gonna be able to publish it soon?

It had become a fairly regular thing for Marinette to design what-if costumes for the heroes of Paris when there wasn't much for Alya to report on. Marinette wasn't as keen on their lives as Alya but still enjoyed making outfits for them. Not that they would ever wear them.

This time she was making date outfits for Ladybug and Chat Noir. She hadn't quite figured out what she wanted to do with Chat's just yet.

"I'm only finished with the design for Ladybug, so it'll take a while," Marinette glanced at blackboard and wrote down some notes. "But I'm guessing there isn't much of a hurry if you have a lot of other stuff to write about right now?"

"Well actually I only had the akuma attack of yesterday, the first one in a few weeks. But take your time, honey," Alya smiled.

Marinette felt a little guilty. She didn't want Alya to have to keep waiting to have things to report on. She had ended up working on it all night, but it wasn't enough. She needed to do more.

"God! Can you guys like, be quiet?" Marinette heard a high-pitched complaint.

Chloe's blue eyes glared at the two girls. Marinette didn't like her approach, but knew it wasn't right to talk during lessons.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. We'll stop talking now," Marinette said and turned back to her paper.

"Uhh, well you should be! It's not like you ever have anything important to say anyway."

Marinette didn't say anything and looked at Alya trying to tell her not to respond either.

"I'm the daughter of the mayor, you're just a nobody. I recommend you never speak again, as people will only

Alya and Adrien opened their mouths but Marinette was faster.

"I literally apologized. You don't have to make everything into a fight, Chloe. You should try being nice to people for a change," Marinette said.

"And where has that gotten you, Dupain-Cheng?" Chloe asked. "Nowhere. Absolutely nowhere," She answered to her own question and turned away from Marinette with a mean-spirited grin of her face.

"That little..." Alya kept staring at Chloe's back. Marinette just let it go and acted as if she didn't care. She did.

o - o - o - o - o

To be honest, it was hard to imagine Chat Noir in a date outfit. Marinette knew he flirted a lot with Ladybug, but for her information they didn't go on dates. Who knows, maybe they did. With Ladybug's outfit it was a bit easier, as Marinette was very familiar with women's clothing and could just adjust that to be Ladybug themed.

But what did guys even wear on dates? What did Chat Noir wear on a date? Marinette's thoughts shifted to Adrien, and how he would look like on a date. Cute, as always.

She could never ask him out. She couldn't even say hi. Marinette buried her face in her hands. There she was, designing outfits for superheroes, and she was still such a loser. She wasn't like Chat Noir, she wasn't like Ladybug. How did Ladybug save people's lives when Marinette couldn't even talk to her crush? Or be useful to her best friend? Or stop getting picked on?

She did stand up for Chloe, but nothing ever came out of it. Nothing changed. She would have to keep standing up for herself over and over again. When really, what Chloe said was right. I am a nobody. All I do is draw in my room and bake.

Marinette couldn't focus on designing anymore. She chose to lie down on her bed and sulk. Why can't I be more like Ladybug?