Hello beautiful people! I've been trying to find time to write between school and well...school. I don't think I mentioned before that this takes place their first week of school and Miraculous Day is a Thursday, but the date is the same as exactly one year ago when they first became superheroes...does that make sense? Anyway, enjoy! :3

Chapter 13

After the swarm of ladybug's returned everything to normal and undoing all damage done from the fight, a faint beeping noise echoed throughout the gym. Ladybug touched her gloved fingertips to her earring as she looked at Chat Noir's ring.

"Well, look at that, we're about to change back," Chat jittered, "Um…see ya!" Just like that, he turned and bolted out of the gym doors.

"Wait, Chat!" Ladybug called out, "We're already wearing..." but it was too late as he was already out of sight after he left the doors swinging from his quick exit, "...masks." Ladybug turned her attention over to the boy who was on the floor, confused, where the Alibi Obliterator once sat.

"Wha…what happened?" Eric asked as if a haze of bewilderment clouded over his eyes. He brought himself to his feet as Ladybug gave him a reassuring smile and explained that he was akumatized, but no real damage was done—except for her breaking Chat Noir's heart, but she didn't mention that. In her experience, the akumatized victims tend to react poorly when they find out they did something that hurt someone, or anything along those lines. He apologized for his actions under Hawkmoth's influence and darted out the door to get the groups of people who were hiding outside the gym.

She dropped her transformation, the ladybug creature popping out of her earrings, and floating before her with a weak smile.

"That was a close one," the red kwami squeaked in her dainty voice. "Alibi Obliterator almost got you to reveal your identity!"

Marinette brought her gloved hand to her face and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt her homemade mask still rested there. The last thing she needed was for her to see her as Marinette and have everyone know who she really was. She brushed off the ruffles of her ladybug print dress and combed her fingers through the loose curls of her hair.

"Yeah, but now everyone knows how old I am…and that I go here," the bluenette whined, "How's that for starting off the new school year? Ugh, and there's still tomorrow! Why couldn't we have Friday off?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest as her eyes lingered to the stage where she dropped the microphone and rose. The rose. The ring.

"Are you okay, girly?" Tikki piped up, snatching Marinette back from her wandering thoughts.

"To be honest, no," she sighed and slouched as she crept towards the raised platform of the stage, reaching for the red rose with the black lace ribbon. She gently picked it up, like it was an article of delicate clothing, and twirled the stem between her thumb and fingers. "I think I really hurt Chat, I mean, did you see the look on his face when I said 'no' to him? That's probably why he booked it after his ring started flashing."

Marinette didn't have time to mope about how her brutally honest words sliced through her partner like a blade because people started filing back into the dance. Tikki zipped back into the the red pouch that hung at the blue-haired girl's hip. Of course, the universe sent in Chloe Bourgeois first to lead the crowd of Parisians.

"Ladybug!" she cheered gleefully, "I knew you'd save me!"

She lunged to embrace Marinette in a hug, her ponytail swishing from side to side, however the blue-haired girl dodged out of the way. Marinette didn't feel like putting up with Chloe, mostly because she was the reason behind Eric being akumatized...not to mention, she was the reason she revealed secret details about herself to the public and crushed Chat Noir's crush on her.

The heroine scanned Chloe up and down and was greatly unamused when she saw the blonde wearing a Ladybug-themed dress. It was rather short, maybe too short, as it barely came down to her thighs, and it seemed like it was sagging down in the front, like it didn't quite fit her. It was strapless and tight fitting, bright red with black, sequin-lined spots all throughout.

Being a designer, the tacky dress made Marinette internally cringe…but she couldn't do such a thing on the outside. She was Ladybug right now, not Marinette, and she couldn't go off picking a fight with her arch enemy—not counting Hawkmoth. Being Ladybug meant she couldn't be rude and push the bottle-blonde away when she leaned in to take a selfie with her, like she was doing right now.

"Smile, Ladybug!" she called out, a wide grin stretched across her face, as she extended her phone in the air and snapped several pictures of the two of them. It was incredibly difficult for Marinette not to strangle Chloe right then and there.

It would be so easy, she thought, Everyone would thank me.

Instead, she merely smiled unenthusiastically and let the girl in the tacky dress and scarlet platform heels take the photos—the quicker she took them, the sooner Marinette could get away from the growing mass of people in the gym.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to get back up there," the bluenette pointed up to the stage behind her and slipped away from the screaming fans so she could assume her spot on in front of the DJ equipment.

It was then Marinette remembered someone. The person she came to the dance with. She remembered that he wasn't with her when the attack happened. Come to think of it, she didn't recall seeing him in the audience during the open questions. Marinette's bluebell eyes frantically looked over the crowd for Adrien, wondering if he was hurt, or missing, or worse.

Maybe he just went to find help for his nose? It did look pretty bad…he probably hates me for messing up his face and just left! she babbled in her head to herself.

"You okay, M'Lady? You look purr -ty upset," a voice as smooth as butter chirped from behind her.

The bluenette nearly dropped the rose as the the voice spooked her and uttered the horrible pun. However, the mass of people before her found it adorable and hilarious the way the blond had snuck up on her. Before Marinette even had the chance to reprimand her partner for scaring her, Mayor Bourgeois' voice silenced the giggles coming from the crowd of Parisians in the gym.

"Well, after that fiasco, I'd like to turn the mic over to Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng, our eleventh grade class representative. She helped reorganize this glorious dance after the change in forecast."

Crap.

"Marinette?" the mayor questioned, searching the crowd of people as they looked to their lefts and rights for the class representative. Leave it to Marinette to forget she needed to say a few words about the two superheroes at the event. In her defense, she was told last-minute on the first day of school, which only gave her a four days' notice.

She told Tikki she wasn't cut out for being student representative and Ladybug for the second year in a row—it was too hard to balance both leadership roles, especially in situations like this. However, she wasn't panicking nearly as much as Adrien was.

No, no, no, no, no! he internally screamed, I forgot about Marinette! Alya is going to kill me! I never found her, I didn't even see her! Oh God, what if she's hurt, or missing, or worse?

"A-Actually," Marinette blurted out, "I, um, saw Marinette during the fight…she said she, um, had an emergency to take care of…yeah, that's it! So she told me what to say—on her behalf, of course." Mayor Bourgeois stared wide-eyed at her but passed the microphone over to the blue-haired heroine anyway.

The blond's worry dissipated, knowing Marinette was safe and out of harm's way. He trusted his lady, and figured Marinette hadn't even been here when the fight broke out between Hawkmoth's victim and the duo of heroes.

"Hello, Paris!" Marinette confidently shouted into the microphone, triggering a loud cheer from the men, women, boys, and girls on the dance floor. "Marinette would like to apologize for not being able to be here in person, but she wanted to say a few things. First, you guys are amazing! You put your trust in Chat Noir and me every day to keep you safe, especially from Hawkmoth. You stay here, in Paris, even though there is a constant risk of akuma attacks. But, we can minimize the threat of outbreaks by limiting our negative emotions. Don't let hate, envy, fear, or any other negative feeling control you…this way, Hawkmoth can't use that against you. Instead of you thanking us, we want to thank you for being amazing citizens, especially this past year."

The crowd erupted into more hollers and cheers as Marinette tossed the microphone to an unsuspecting Adrien, whose quick reflexes allowed him to barely catch it. He stumbled with the mic a short while before flashing his lady a puzzled look.

After she mouthed 'say something', he cleared his throat and began to speak, "Um, thanks? You guys rock?" He didn't know what to say, and the uncertainty in his voice only made that more clear to the blue-haired girl, but the large group of Parisians found it amazing as they cheered his and Ladybug's names.

Mayor Bourgeois plucked the microphone from Adrien's bare hands, too shocked to register what happened. He wasn't prepared for Ladybug to make the announcement Marinette was supposed to and he most definitely was not prepared for when she handed him the mic. He usually was so good at public speaking; it was easy for him to make a well-rounded speech out of nothing. So why was it so difficult for him as Chat Noir just then? He figured it was because Ladybug, who had just denied his feelings, was right next to him and expecting some grandiose speech from him.

"Now, what you've all been waiting for," the mayor began, "Ladybug and Chat Noir will now take to the dance floor for the first slow dance of the night!" A spotlight shone down to the middle of the gym floor, and the crowd of people split down the center and around the outline of the light to create a path for the pair to walk down.

"Wait, what?" the two screeched.

Please leave a review about what you like, what you don't like, what you want to see happen, and or any predictions you have for future chapters. I'm still working on "The Next Generation", I haven't abandoned that story, but I am still trying to find time to write that one as well. Until next chapter, toodles! :D