Chapter 10: (3231 words)

Monday morning went by quickly for one Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She woke up at six. She didn't set her alarm for six but she woke up then anyway. It was a good thing too; Nino's outfit took a bit longer than she thought, just less than an hour.

She was looking forward to seeing her parents again, but that was the moment when she received a text on her phone, making it light up in the dimly lit room.

- 6:49AM – Maman

Maman - Hello, pumpkin. I know that it's probably sunny and warm there in France but it's snowing here in Britain. Our flight's been cancelled and I don't know when we'll be able to get back. Think you can take a few more days?

- 6:53AM

Maman - Your father and I know that you can be strong, but we understand how stressful it is since we do work there. We can call Aurélie to man the bakery if it's needed.

- 6:55AM

Maman - I'm sorry, Pumpkin.

Pumpkin - It's fine maman

- 6:56AM

Pumpkin - Though I wouldnt mind Aurélie stopping by! ;)

- 6:59AM

Maman - I'm glad that everything is going well, but I know that you have that singing contest. Are you sure that you'll be fine?

- 7:01AM

Pumpkin - Yeah maman it'll be fine

Pumpkin - See you when you come back!

It's hard to tell from the texts but Marinette was freaking out.

She was so stressed and the bakery was supposed to be open. She'll just have to leave it closed until she comes back.

Auditions were after school, and will probably take one or two hours, so the bakery won't be open until almost six, most likely. She doesn't think that she can take another day of working so hard with so little sleep.

She was in such a panic that she ran outside to the park that she went to the previous day, which was right in front of the bakery, and she started to cry on one of the benches there.

Luckily, she had put on clothes so she didn't just go outside running about with her pyjamas on; that would have gained the attention of a few judgemental looks.

Marinette hoped that no one would find her there, that would be so embarrassing, and she would have to explain why she was crying in the first place. She was just hoping that she'd stop crying before someone came to the park. It was still early, most people would be waking up at this time, really.

Even though she was Lady Luck, she really wasn't that lucky.

She had her knees up to her face and she had her hands wrapping around her head, so she didn't know who those footsteps that she was hearing belonged to.

"Mari?"

God, that was Chat's voice. Or Adrien's voice? It was hard to tell, they were the same person. He ran over to where she was and got on one knee. Or both knees. She couldn't tell just from the noise.

To make sure that she didn't call out the wrong person, she lifted her head slightly to see if he was transformed or not.

In front of her was Adrien Agreste on one knee in front of her. 'Well that's a sight I never thought I'd see.'

"Mari?! What's wrong?" he rushed. She couldn't lie to him.

"Um…" she sniffed a bit, though tears were still running down her face, "my parents texted me," she sniffed again, "they're not," another sniff, "they're not coming today."

"Were they supposed to?"

Unable to respond because of the excessive number of tears on her face, she simply nodded to the question.

"Oh, are you stressed?" another nod from the black-haired girl and his frown deepened. He was extremely worried for the girl in front of him, and he never wanted to see her hurt again. "I'll come after school, like Friday. I only have photoshoots tomorrow so I'm free. That way, we can pick songs."

He smiled at her in a comforting manner and held out his hand as her tears faltered slightly. "Yeah," sniff, "I'd like that."

Marinette smiled back and took his hand so she could stand up. She used her sleeve to wipe off the majority of the tears on her face and she quickly jumped on Adrien, hugging him tightly in thanks.

This resulted in them falling on the floor but they didn't care.

He then began tickling her and the whole thing became a competition of Adrien tickling her and Marinette squeezing him as tight as she could and screeching out for him to stop.

After a few minutes of this, they suddenly realised that they were in a public space and stopped. That just left them lying on the floor, Marinette lying down next to him on the grass. They were both breathing heavily and Marinette's cheeks were flushed red from the energy that she used in the silly competition.

"Soooooo… can I see the outfits?" he asked cheekily, grin in place.

She glared at him, "No, no you can't. You'll just have to wait until later, I guess."

He then glared as she smirked triumphantly. "Come on, Mari," he told her and then he stood up and held out a hand. "It must be about half seven by now. Do you want me to go with you to the bakery?"

"Sure, come on," she grabbed his hand and used it to stand up again.

They then went to walk over to the bakery as Marinette explained in more depth why she was crying, especially since she could speak now.

She gave him some bread and jam, "Mari, you do realise that I'm on a model diet."

She just waved a hand at him and snorted, "As far as I can tell, you don't want to be on one. And anyway, you used up a lot of energy with what we were doing outside, you need the energy."

Adrien's eyes widened at her resourcefulness, it was just like Ladybug's. God, why did he have to fall for two resourceful, sassy, strong women? They were practically identical! How was he supposed to choose? "Good point," he rushed quickly when he realised that he had just been staring at her. He then resolved to eat the bread and jam and god was it good.

"Marinette," he began, "This… this is incredible!"

She blushed at his praise, "Thanks."

They were sitting on the counter of the bakery when Aurélie walked in.

"Hello, Marinette, dear. And you too, Adrien," she cheerfully greeted them.

She then turned to Marinette and told her, "Your mother told me what happened. They're probably not coming until Wednesday, so I'm going to help out in the mornings, okay?"

Marinette grinned with relief and nodded furiously, pleased that she was going to get some help, though she doesn't mind spending some alone time messing around with Adrien, but you can't have everything.

She turned to the boy that she was previously thinking about and stated, "I'm going to get the outfits and I'm putting them in body bags so you can't see them until later."

Marinette winked at him, using the eye that Aurélie couldn't see and she raced up the stairs so that she could get a move on, school would be starting soon, after all. What she didn't know was that she caused Adrien to blush slightly, she didn't see it though, but Aurélie did.

(-Line break!-)

While she was upstairs, Aurélie questioned Adrien about their 'relationship'. He just blushed some more and answered, "Uhh… um, there is none."

She smirked at him and raised an eyebrow, "And would you like for there to be one?"

His eyes widened and his blush deepened, "Uhh… maybe?"

Aurélie then burst out laughing, apparently finding his answer amusing, "Oh, god. Kid, you're so obvious that it hurts."

"Yeah, I know, but I still don't think that she knows," he sighed hopelessly, though he smiled when the woman before him called him 'kid', since she reminded him of Plagg.

She walked over and put her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry. She'll figure it out eventually. Just don't lose hope."

Aurélie smiled at him and he smiled back. His smile then turned into a confused frown, "I keep having this conversation with people."

She burst out laughing once more and asked, "Who? How many?"

"Well," he began, "about three, I guess, you're the fourth. First was Chloe, my other friend. Then my driver, who hardly speaks so I was quite surprised when he asked me about it, and then my photographer. Marinette was walking in the park where I was doing a photoshoot and the cameraman made her stay. Then when she left, he had the same talk that you're having with me."

Aurélie kept laughing.

He sighed as Marinette walked downstairs and asked for help with the outfits.

(-Line break!-)

Marinette had a kind of… inner wardrobe with wheels. Like, a pole with hangers on it. She then hung the five outfits that she made on there but it was too heavy to take it down herself so she needed help.

Eventually, she and Adrien got the outfits down to the bakery.

It was now about twenty minutes to school and customers were already collecting outside so Marinette and Adrien went to school as Aurélie tended the bakery.

Marinette set the outfits in a changing room for those who would be auditioning. Most will just buy some outfit and wear that, but she liked to go to the extreme. She just thought that this was taking it a little far. It's hard to make five outfits in such a short time, even with Adrien and Chloe's help.

"Hey, girl. Soooooo… how was your weekend?" Alya asked her when she entered the changing rooms. Alya thought that her best friend would be in here with her precious outfits, though she wasn't expecting Adrien to be there. Suspicious…

Marinette glanced at Adrien, though Alya didn't notice, and responded, "It was just fine. A little stressful because of the outfits and all, but it was fun," she smiled at Alya.

Alya have her a hug, "Aww, girl, you're so selfless to make all of us an outfit."

Nino and Chloe nodded. They entered just after Alya. Even Adrien nodded, Marinette just sighed though, "Not really. I made myself an outfit anyway."

The other four laughed at her comment and tried to sneak a peek at the outfits but Marinette was a ruthless guard and would only let them wear it when auditions were about to start. "Please! For me!"

She gave them her puppy-dog-eyes and they all groaned. "You can't just use your secret weapon, Mari!" Adrien complained.

Marinette just giggled and waved her hand at him. Then she told them that they could have a nice long look when they were supposed to prepare, just before auditions.

The three others that weren't Marinette and Adrien looked on with interest at Mari's comfortable actions with the famous model. They really shouldn't be surprised, what with how much the black-haired girl had been speaking to him, but the action was still new and the knowledge that Mari could have done this more than once already didn't stop their eyes widening in curiosity and astonishment. Even Adrien's eyes widened slightly.

They decided to follow their friend's advice anyway and head to their lessons, looking forward to the auditions from after school.

(-Line break!-)

It was now half past four, the end of the normal school day, and the five friends were walking to the changing rooms, Marinette leading the way.

"You guys ready to see your new outfits?" she asked.

She received four noisy 'YEEESSSSS!'s and opened the door. She gave each person a body bag and told them to go into the individual changing rooms to put them on. "Don't look at them until you're inside. Then we'll walk out and see each other and what we look like. Good plan?"

"Yeah," Chloe told her and rushed inside to put on her dress.

The others soon followed and all around her, Marinette could hear gasps. Whether they were of delight or of disappointment, she didn't know, though she hoped it was the former.

She had decided against wearing the ladybug necklace, as Adrien would probably figure it out and she was too scared for that, so she had decided to just not wear any necklace. It was the safest thing to do, really.

Her mind was then brought back to the gasps and the now obvious noises that are from the fabrics used in the outfits.

"I take it that you guys like it?" she asked nervously.

Adrien was in the little room to her left but he stayed silent.

Alya was on her right though and she was gushing about how incredible it was, just like Chloe and Nino were. "I stuck a sheet of paper on the body bags that tells you things about the outfit, y'know, if you're curious," she informed them.

She was worried about what Adrien thought. 'Why didn't he say anything?'

(-Line break!-)

Adrien was in a panic, hence the silence.

His suit… was Chat Noir coloured. 'Did she figure it out? What made it obvious?'

He was very clearly worried about what this meant. 'Maybe it's just a coincidence. Yeah, that has to be it. I mean, I wouldn't mind if Marinette knew, but Ladybug wouldn't like it at all.' He doesn't want to disappoint his lady, so he'll just not say anything about it.

He put it on and, 'Wow, perfect fit. Marinette sure is a good clothes designer. She could give my father a run for his money.'

He looked very stylish, but he still looked like Adrien, he noticed.

Adrien thought this because his hair was combed neatly unlike Chat Noir's messy hair, and he wasn't wearing a mask.

Very suddenly, he wanted to know what the others looked like. Especially Marinette.

He heard her tell everyone, "You guys ready to see each other?"

He heard murmurs of agreement around the group and he heard Marinette's door unlock, so he did the same to his.

He stepped out and looked at everyone…

And he instantly forgot that everyone was there because, 'Wow… Marinette, she looks like a… an angel! Y'know, in a red dress… but still! She looks so pretty like that. It's like she's trying to kill me!'

His jaw was figuratively dropped, but he was lucky he had at least a bit of self-control. He just blushed slightly, and he was lucky that Marinette didn't realise.

She was too busy checking to outfits of everyone else, checking if they fit and if they were happy with it.

So far, everyone was delighted, and it wasn't going to end anytime soon.

The problem was that Chloe saw him blushing slightly, but Marinette taught her so well that she was kind enough to not tell Nino and Alya, and especially Marinette, that would be so incredibly embarrassing.

Alya was wearing a Pocahontas inspired dress, it was dark orange and was one-sleeved, he couldn't explain dresses in designer 'language', like Marinette, or his father.

Chloe was wearing a princess dress that touched the floor and the top part was covered in… what was it called? Lace? He wasn't sure, the only thing he did now was that she was rocking the yellow, it went well with her hair, he thought. And he sure hoped that it was her who bought that jewellery and not Marinette, that stuff is expensive!

Nino wore a suit like him, it seemed black but if you look closer, it was actually dark blue.

He had an orange tie, and it actually went well together with the dark blue, and it matched Alya without most realising it if they were apart. It was a well-thought-out detail, one that only Marinette would think of.

And speaking of the girl, her dress was… red! It matched her very well, even better than pink does, he was pretty sure.

It was one of those dresses when you turn and it goes up and looks like a tutu when it's spinning around. He loved dresses like that, they always seem so fun!

She was wearing the ear-rings that she always wears, the ones that look familiar somehow.

He couldn't even think straight, all he knew was that Marinette was the most beautiful person that he has ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Except Ladybug. Well… actually, they tie. They both wear red and they are both so beautiful.

Marinette turned to look at him after checking everyone else. "Umm… do you? Like it, I mean."

He snapped out of his little daze and turned to look at the girl that he was just thinking about, "Uhh, yeah! It's wonderful! I love it!"

Adrien gave her a big smile that be thought was going to be fake because he was that worried at having Ladybug angry at him for accidentally having someone know his identity, but it was real, because, to be honest, the suit was perfect.

She probably didn't know, right?

Black and green was just the colour that he went with best. Marinette was a designer, it must just be a coincidence!

Lots of people in Paris look good in black and green, and have blonde hair, and bright green eyes. He just happened to be one of them. Doesn't mean that he's Chat Noir, everyone thought that he was too reserved for that.

Yeah, Marinette just thought that he looked paw-some in black and green, that's all.

The black-haired girl looked around the group and nodded to herself. Then she checked the clock on the wall and announced, "Okay guys, it's twenty to five, auditions start in five minutes. Let's go!"

Everyone nodded and they made their way to the big room that had a stage.

It was usually used for assemblies or big contests, and the singing competition was one of those, so anyone who wanted to audition should go there at quarter to five.

They reached the theatre room and saw over twenty other students from their school sitting in the chairs near the front. The judges had special chairs at the back, so that it's easier to judge how loud that those who are auditioning can sing.

There were three judges: Mr. Damocles, the principal of their school; Françoiz Breut, a famous Parisian songwriter; and also, Etienne de Crecy, another famous songwriter. She's famous for dance music.

Most of the students sitting down on the seats were looking back to see their favourite musicians, while the five friends went to sit down.

Mr. Damocles would announce who would go next and what song they would sing, and then the three judges would hold up a number, one to ten; one being the worst and ten being the best.

Marinette was nervous.

Sure, she could be confident, and she had sung in front of her friends and they thought that she was positively brilliant, but still.

Singing in front of others was nerve-wracking and she was sure that the others thought the same way as her.

They sat down and waited patiently for their turn.

A/N: Okay, so no songs this chapter, sorry to disappoint. There will definitely be songs the next chapter though, and the majority of that chapter will be songs.

I'm not from France, I only know a little bit of French and I've only been there two or three times when I was younger, around seven, so I don't know any famous French people to do with music. I had to search them online so I'm sorry if I got any information on them wrong.

Anyways, see you next week, enjoy! (Hah! You have to wait a week! :D) (Sorry, I'm so rude! :'( ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' Tears!) (BYE!)