Disclaimer: *sarcastically* OF COURSE WE DEFINITELY OWN MIRACULOUS LADYBUG, NOT THOMAS ASTRUC =)
The next day, it was time for the quiz. However, most of the students were prepared. That was, except for Chloe, Riley, Ivan, and Kim.
Adrien had stayed up all night reviewing his textbook and looking through Lesson 2.3. He had learned the hard way that quizzes were difficult if you did not study. He wanted to be a good student and maybe even make his dad proud. That night, Nino had also helped him study by reading the unit chapter with him in a video chat.
Adrien yawned after getting ready and walked down to the breakfast table. He saw that the room was empty as always.
He frowned. He had been hoping that his father would be there and they could be able to talk about school like a normal father and son would do. Ever since Adrien's mother had died, Adrien's father (Gabriel Argreste) had always been more distant from his son and rarely spent time with him.
Plagg flew out of his pocket and saw that the room was empty. He turned to Adrien and said, "Camembert now!!"
"What?" Adrien said with a confused look. Plagg was addicted to eating camembert (a stinky and disgusting cheese).
"Give me camembert NOW! Camembert! Camembert!" Plagg yelled as he marched on the smooth black table.
Adrien rolled his eyes. "Be patient, Plagg." He opened the cupboard and pulled out a bag full of camembert from the very back. The reason it was so far back was because he didn't want anyone to see it and wonder why it was there.
Adrien pulled out one piece of the stinky cheese and handed it over to Plagg.
Plagg shoved the whole piece into his mouth because he didn't want to waste even a crumb of it. The cheese got lodged in his throat and he started coughing violently.
Adrien's eyes widened and he shouted, "PLAGG WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?"
Plagg pointed at his throat which had a huge lump in it. He was still choking and it was getting worse by the second.
Adrien grabbed Plagg and, not knowing what to do, punched his back in hopes of dislodging the cheese.
The cheese flew out of Plagg's tiny mouth and slammed into Adrien's face.
"Ahh," Adrien said as he tried to take it off his face. In his struggle, he stumbled backward to the doorway just as Natalie Sancoeur was walking in with his breakfast.
Adrien fell into Natalie and she tripped over him, the tray in her hands went flying and food splattered everywhere, especially on Adrien's clothes and face. Natalie crashed to the ground. Plagg quickly flew into Adrien's pocket with a nervous laugh.
This was the exact moment Adrien's father decided to walk into the picture. Gabriel slipped over a banana peel and slammed into the ground right behind Natalie.
"WHAT is going on here?!" Gabriel hollered at the top of his lungs. "This is PREPOSTEROUS!!!"
Food slid down Adrien's face as he wiped it off and stumbled up to his feet. He took one look at his father and Natalie and sprinted out of the dining room.
"Adrien get back here right this instant!" Gabriel yelled at his son's retreating back.
Natalie picked up the tray and called, "Adrien at least let me get you some breakfast!"
Adrien looked back and replied, "No thanks. I need to get to school. I have a quiz today. Sorry about the mess!"
Natalie shook her head. "At least get a change of clothes!" But Adrien was already out the door.
Gabriel got up off the ground and grumbled, "What am I ever going to do with that boy." He then turned to Natalie and said, "What is this clumsiness?! Clean up this mess right this instant!"
Natalie pushed her glasses up. "Right away sir."
Adrien sprinted out the front gate of his house and onto the sidewalk. He ran into Nino on his way to school.
"Hey dude, I was just about to come to your house so we could walk to school together."
Nino looked at the food stains on Adrien's shirt and jacket and said, "Whoa dude, what happened to you?"
Adrien looked down at the stains and replied, "Uhh I spilled some food on my shirt and I was in a hurry to leave the house because of the quiz. Ha..ha." Adrien saw the weird look on Nino's face and added, "Remember? We were studying all night."
"I thought you were supposed to be Mr. Perfect," Nino said as they started walking down the street towards school. "And I don't remember you being so clumsy."
Adrien shook his head and sighed. "I can't be perfect all the time."
"Dude you should've at least changed. I'm sure Miss Bustier won't be happy to see you like this," Nino said.
"Hopefully she'll understand," Adrien replied.
They reached Collège Françoise Dupont and walked inside. Adrien attracted many stares from students as he walked into the school. He felt embarrassed but gave the same reply that he had given Nino when people asked him what had happened.
After grabbing the things he needed for Miss Bustier's class, Adrien went up the stairs to his classroom and strolled inside with Nino just behind him.
Miss Bustier looked up from her desk and stared at Adrien in shock.
"What happened to you, Adrien?" She asked as she examined him further.
"Uh I spilled some breakfast, no big deal." Adrien replied. He looked down at the direction of his pocket and whispered, "Thanks a lot Plagg."
"What was that?" Miss Bustier said with squinted eyes. Adrien was acting very odd today.
"I said 'thanks a lot'. You know, because of how caring and sweet you are." Adrien let out an awkward chuckle, knowing he sounded stupid.
Nino gave Adrien a weird expression as Miss Bustier smiled and went back to typing something on her computer. They both took their seats in the front of the classroom.
Kim walked in a few minutes later and immediately started laughing hysterically when he saw Adrien.
Between laughs he managed to say, "Hahahaha did you take a dive in the dumpster this morning?"
"No, I just spilled some breakfast, that's all," Adrien replied. He was trying not to let Kim get to him.
Marinette and Alya walked in just as the bell rang and Marinette did a double-take when she saw Adrien.
"Adrien are you ok?" Marinette asked as she took her seat.
"Yeah yeah I'm fine," Adrien said. He was getting sick of answering the same question over and over again.
"Class, settle down," Miss Bustier said as she got up with a pile of papers in her hands. "You have a quiz today. I hope everyone is well-prepared and studied last night."
Riley thought in his head This quiz is going to be a piece of cake. I don't even need to study.
Miss Bustier walked by everyone's seats and placed a paper in front of them.
Chloe whispered to Sabrina, "I don't even need to study. I'm going to get an amazing grade. Let me copy the answers on your quiz. I didn't have any time to study...I was working on something that requires more attention."
Sabrina nodded enthusiastically. "Of course Chloe. We will both get wonderful grades."
Miss Bustier gave Lila and Riley their quizzes and went back to the front of the classroom.
"You may begin the quiz. You have 30 minutes and then I will be collecting the quizzes back. Oh and be sure to write your name." Miss Bustier sat down in her chair and began to plan more assignments and write things in her grade book.
Riley looked down at his quiz and immediately regretted not studying. He didn't understand anything on it. Maybe he should've payed attention and studied a little more.
Riley struggled through the quiz and guessed on all the answers. For some questions, all he scribbled was a big question mark and moved on.
After 40 minutes (teachers NEVER collect quizzes at the exact time they say xD) Miss Bustier got up and started collecting back all the quizzes.
She placed the pile of papers neatly on her desk and said, "Class, you can talk quietly while I grade these quizzes. Don't be too loud or I'll fail you," she joked.
"I bet I got an A," Chloe said. "I'm just so smart."
"Yeah," Sabrina agreed. "You are amazing Chloe."
After 35 minutes of loud chatting (Honestly though, who ever listens to the teacher?) Miss Bustier handed back the quizzes and let them have the rest of the class period to themselves.
"What the-..." Riley said when he saw his grade. At the very top of his paper, F- was written in big red letters.
Chloe had an A and displayed it proudly to the students around her.
"See how smart I am?" She bragged as everyone looked at her quiz in envy.
Sabrina smiled and showed Chloe her quiz. "We both did amazing!"
Chloe rolled her eyes. "The only reason you're so smart is because you hang out with me."
Sabrina looked down sadly and tried not to let anyone see the tears forming in her eyes.
Suddenly Chloe smirked. "Riley, what did YOU get on the quiz? You're being awfully quiet."
Riley tried to hide his quiz as Chloe walked up and snatched it out of his hands.
"Ooh an F-...you really ARE stupid." Chloe snickered and others joined her in laughing, including Lila. "You have to be the stupidest person I've met in my entire life. Go back to kindergarten!"
Everyone in the class howled with laughter except for a few. That few included Marinette and Adrien, who would never make fun of a student.
Riley's face reddened. He snatched the quiz from Chloe's hand and stomped out of the classroom, ignoring Miss Bustier and anyone else who tried to stop him.
He stormed outside and walked as far as he could before finding a bench to sit on. He slumped down and stared at the ground angrily after crumpling up his quiz and clenching it in his fist.
"I'M SO STUPID!!" He shouted up at the sky. "EVERY SCHOOL I GO TO, PEOPLE ARE BULLYING ME AND CALLING ME DUMB! I'm sick of it!"
Back at the Argreste household, Gabriel Argreste saw the opportunity and transformed into Hawk Moth. He went through a secret passage in his wall into his akumatizing room.
"A student who fails his quiz and is made fun of for it...what a tragedy." A butterfly flew into Hawk Moth's hands and turned into an akuma. "Fly away my little akuma, and EVILIZE him!"
The akuma flew out of the big circular window and down into the the streets of Paris. It stopped at Riley's bench and flew into the crumpled piece of paper, turning it black.
The akuma symbol appeared on Riley's face as he looked up in confusion.
"...Questioner." Hawk Moth said from where he was standing. "I am Hawk Moth. I will give you the ability to be able to show everyone just how smart you are. You can confuse them and make them lose their memory so the only smart person in town will be you."
Riley smiled wickedly. "That sounds like a great plan."
"However, I will need something in return from you. Ladybug and Cat Noir's miraculous."
"I can do that," Riley said with an evil laugh. He started to transform and his crumpled quiz turned into a big white gun.
After the transformation was over, Riley had a black mask on his face. A black top hat with a big yellow question mark in the middle popped onto his head. He had on a long-sleeved purple shirt with a yellow question mark in the center with black gloves on his hands. Riley also had purple tights finished off with black boots with yellow question marks at the sides.
Riley laughed evilly and shot the gun at a lady passing by, walking her dog. A yellow question mark shot out and disappeared once it reached the woman's head.
Her expression turned confused and she looked around with a puzzled look on her face.
"Where am I?" The lady said after a moment. "Why do I have this...thing...on a rope...?" The lady released the dog and it dashed down the street. "What's going on? ...Who am I?"
Riley smirked. "You are my servant and you will do as I say. The rest of your questions don't matter. You work for me."
The lady nodded without a second's hesitation. "Yes, master."
"I could get used to this," Riley chuckled as he walked down the street and shot everyone he passed, telling them the same thing he had told the lady. After a while, Riley had a whole group of people following behind him.
Riley only had one destination in mind, and that was Collège Françoise Dupont.
Hey everyone, sorry that this chapter is a little late. We couldn't decide what object should get akumatized and had to make some changes. Our next chapter will be out this Sunday as expected so don't worry =) Again, sorry for keeping you waiting -
