2.
'I've got to hurry!' Marinette thinks to herself, packing her things into her backpack and hurrying out the door. 'I'm going to be late for class!' With a piece of toast in her mouth, she makes a mad dash across the street; almost bumping into a car in the process. "Sorry!" She squeaked, and continues her way to school. Just as she rushes up the stairs to the building, she reaches the door and enters inside. Letting out a sigh of relief, she doesn't notice when someone taps her on the shoulder. "Marinette! There you are, girl. What kept you so long?" Her best friend, Alya, greets her with a wave.
Marinette almost jumped out of her skin upon hearing her name.
"Alya!" she pouts, "don't scare me like that!"
Alya laughs, and says sheepishly, "I'm so sorry, but...where were you? It's been 15 minutes. You took forever just to get here," she complains with a hand on her hips. Hearing her phone ring, she pulls it up and giggles excitedly. "Oooh! OMG, I almost forgot! Look at these pics real quick! I think I've found a new lead on who Ladybug really is!" She rambles on and on, but Marinette blanks out and sighs.
The fangirl's feed seemed to be littered with info about a certain famous superhero. From the latest news, to articles literally devoted to Ladybug. The blogger seemed to know everything about Ladybug. Well, key word, almost. That is, except for who she was behind the mask. As for her secret? It wouldn't be exposed anytime soon. So far, her alter ego was in good hands.
Marinette awkwardly smiles back and hurries off to the classroom with Alya behind her. Marinette nervously sidesteps into class; just in the nick of time. Sitting down in her seat, she stares ahead and waits for the teacher. "Alright, everyone."
"Before we begin, I believe it's time to turn in your homework," They all exchanged nervous glances. Seeing this, she frowns in dismay, "You mean to tell me you all forgot?"
"Uh, sorry, miss! But, it's Friday! You know, Friday? No one wants to work on Friday!" Some teen says from the back. And he wasn't wrong. It was a time to kick back, relax, and have fun. Working just seemed like a waste. "Friday doesn't mean anything, class!" Miss Bustier huffed, folding her hands in front of her desk, "I realize the weekend is right around the corner, but that is no excuse to completely forget all your civic duties! You will all be put under detention for this." Feeling rage at the fact that her students were flat out rejecting their homework was...disappointing to say the least.
'Deep breaths. In. And out...' She cools herself. She couldn't let her dark emotions cloud over. It would only create destruction on Paris, in the end.
She fans herself and fakes a smile, though it's obvious she's in distress. Marinette decides to intervene before things got out of hand. "Uhm, miss? I - I brought mine. For extra credit," Marinette offers. The whole class stares at her; Adrien included. Feeling lightheaded, she stands up and strides over to her awaiting teacher. Holding out her project, she blushes.
"Oh, my." Miss Caline Bustier stares in awe at the object in her hands, "What is this, Marinette?"
"This is for you," Marinette tells her teacher. "It's a ladybug I crafted. Alya once told me it's a symbol of luck and I figured since Paris' number one super hero is Ladybug it'd be a perfect prize. You...like it?"
"Of course I do! Thank you. This is an amazing gift." Her teacher gushes, clasping her hands together. The dark emotions she had lessened gradually, and the akuma fluttering near the ceiling backed away into a corner. Luckily, it hadn't been spotted yet, so Hawkmoth was in the clear for now as it hid away.
'Urrgh!' Hawkmoth growls, staring through the eyes of the dark butterfly. 'Her emotions are still positive! This isn't over, yet. Stay close, little akuma...'
"All of you. Let's give an applause to Marinette Dupain-Cheng here for doing the right thing," Miss stresses the word with great emphasis, staring at the others in particular. The students looked down guiltily, but they were happy all the same for the bright girl; who never once gave in to the darkness and become a super villain like all the others had.
"Go on, my dear. Show them what you've got." She gave the girl a light push forward and Marinette gulps. She wasn't used to this much attention
"Huh? Whoa, Marinette! That looks super cool. How'd you do it?" Adrien's best friend, Nino, beams at her brightly. Flustered, Marinette shows it around the class, who all gape in awe. "Oh, this?" She holds it out for all of them to see. "I created it last night actually. It wasn't that hard at all, hehe." She laughs, feeling a slight bit better. "It's awesome, Marinette." Adrien compliments, clapping her on the back good-naturedly. Marinette flushes and scurries back to her seat, embarrassed. "Hmph. Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous." Chloe Bourgeois struts over to the girl in question and scoffs at her, "THIS is called a ladybug? Please. It looks like a squashed dung beetle."
"Psst! Don't listen to her, Marinette. She's just trying to get a rise out of you." Alya warns from beside her, but Marinette doesn't care. She's not going to let the filthy rich snob boss her around like some doormat!
"Chloe! No one asked for your opinion!" Marinette frowns at the other girl. How DARE she act like this! "I bet you didn't even bring anything, did you?" She knew she had the upper hand when a look of disbelief crossed the other's face. The blonde brat looked taken aback, her jaw dropped and eyes wide. But they all knew her by heart; she'd never be so generous as to do something like that. Guilty as charged.
"Are you kidding? Of course I did."
"Now, now. Class, settle down." Miss Bustier says, calmly, "On the contrary, I think it looks nice." Baffled, Chloe stares at the other students as they cheer for the other girl and not her. "UGH! Daddy isn't going to like to hear about this..." Chloe cries, bursting into fake tears as she takes out her phone from her purse. "CHLOE! Let's not bring your father into this!" Castine exclaims, almost jumping out of her desk to stop her.
"Please, don't..." she pleaded. "Hmph." The blonde says reluctantly, shutting her phone off. Clicking her tongue, she commands, "Sabrina, hold my phone just in case."
"OK!" The redhead girl nods, her head bobbing back and forth excitedly. And so the lesson begins. Marinette stifles a yawn and listens, the double life of being a super hero getting to her. The school bell rings and all the students file out in a line to exit. As the class ends, Marinette picks up her things and heads out of the room. 'This is so strange. I haven't seen any akumatized victims lately. Hawkmoth must be planning something big if he's taking this long...I wonder what he's up to now.'
The akuma flies out of the window and out into Paris back to the Agreste estate. At the basement's open window, it flutters inside. Hawkmoth cups it into his hand and transforms it into a white butterfly again. "Hmm…" Hawkmoth stands in his basement, staring outside of his window solemnly. "No one in Paris seems to be negative at the moment..." Sighing, he places his jewel down and clenches his fist. 'I suppose the search for my wife can wait until some other time...'
"Mademoiselle?" Chloe's butler, Jean, asks as she enters into her limousine. All of the classes had ended, and now that the day was over, she could come home in peace. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. 'Finally! I've waited so long just to get here, it's killing me!'
"Ugh! Can't this go any faster! I'm tired of waiting..." She kicks the seat in front of her in anger, but winces once her foot throbs in pain. "Ooww..." She lets out a light whine, as she holds the sole of her bruised feet. 'This REALLY hurts...'
"I'm bored..." She slumps against her seat with an exasperated sigh of defeat. "Is there anything I can do?" She looks imploringly at the driver in the front.
"Forgive me, but not now. Maybe some other time," Jean answers "However, I do have some examples of what you could do once we arrive at your place..." he suggests.
"Oh, yeah? Like what?" She grumbles. "Perhaps a good deed would be to help those affected by you in your class." Seeing her curl her lip in disgust, he adds, "Might I remind you that others have been akumatized because of you, mademoiselle? They would not feel negative if it weren't for you. It wouldn't be right to leave them in the dark, in the foncé."
'Hmph! He does make a good point,' she thinks to herself, 'Too good, actually. Still, It's not like I'd do something so lowly of me. Not in a million years!'
"Ok, fine! You got any bright ideas, then?" She huffs, crossing her arms. "Perhaps you can be nice to the ones you've hurt in the past. Giving them something might be a good start."
A vision of Marinette pops into her mind and she nearly screams with fright. "WHAT?! No way! That baker girl? Please." Chloe scoffs, waving a dismissive hand, "Why would I do something like that?"
"It's what Mr. Cuddly would do~" He cooes, offering her golden teddy bear.
"AAH! This is a complete disaster! A disaster, I tell you! But, alright. I'll do it..." She says bravely. '...For Adrikins!' They drive over to the front great entrance of Le Grand Paris where they stop at the suite.