Lucy sighed as Mylene screamed once again at the sight of Ivan with his monster mask on. The poor girl was so easily startled.
"Mylene! That's like the 10th take and it's only the first scene." Nino complained.
"14th actually, but who's counting?" Alix said in the background.
"You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!"
"I know, but..." Mylene stammered. "that monster mask he's wearing is so... realistic and scary!" It really wasn't.
"Just big ol' me, Mylene. Nothing to be scared of!" Ivan said, trying to comfort the girl. Behind him Chloe snickered.
"If you ask me, he doesn't even need the mask!" Sabrina laughed with her and Lucy rolled her eyes.
"What a snobby brat." Marinette spoke in distaste. Lucy snapped her fingers at Chloe.
"Zip it Skippy." Chloe made a face at her and crossed her arms.
Mylene tried to sing her happy song, a song Lucy had never heard of before, but as she did so she bumped into Adrien who was getting his makeup done by Julika.
"And the Oscar for best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to... Mylene!" Chloe jeered and laughed.
"Seriously Chloe?" Adrien asked annoyed with Chloe's attitude. The blue eyed girl rolled her eyes.
"Yeah. So what?"
Clearly upset from Chloe's mean words, Mylene dashed out of the room. Marinette called after her to no prevail. Lucy couldn't help but make a face at her though when she asked if anyone was going to go after her. Ivan of course was quick to act and ran after the crying girl. Lucy walked over to Chloe with her hands on her hips.
"Why are you like this? Why?" She asked raising her hands in frustration. "Your such a bitch for no reason. I don't get it!"
Chloe crossed her arms and glared at Lucy. "How dare you!"
"No! You know what? Just sit down and shut up Chloe, I don't wanna hear you talk anymore!"
"You can't just-"
"Ah ah! Zip it. Not another word." Lucy cut her off, walking up to Chloe and grabbing her by the shoulders and making her sit down. "All you wanna do is run that little mouth, well I'm over it. Be quiet or I will make you quiet. Get it? Got it? Good."
Chloe huffed but didn't speak again. Nino gave out a frustrated sigh.
"Just great Chloe. How are we supposed to finish without our lead actress?!"
"Who needs her, she was lame anyway." Chloe remarked making Lucy glare at her.
"What did I just-"
"Your lame!" Ivan shouted. "Mylene is crying her eyes out in the bathroom because of you!"
"Me?! Lame?" Chloe repeated outraged.
" Hey, hey! Everyone chill out!" Marinette said walking over to Ivan. "You're right, Chloe is lame." She whispered. "But fighting isn't gonna bring Mylene back. I'm the producer, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to finish filming tonight!"
"The deadline for the Parisian Student Short Film Festival is tomorrow evening, precisely 26 hours, 15 minutes and 14, 13 seconds from now." Max said, trying to emphasize the time restraint they were on.
"Thank you max!" Marinette said, not wanting the reminder. " And we still have editing, post-sound, soundtrack..."
"And who's gonna play Mylene's part?" Adrien asked.
"Well me of course!" Chloe stated walking toward the front of the class. Alya glared at her.
"You haven't even read the script!"
"Of course I have! The first scene anyway." Chloe went on, sitting next to Adrien on the teachers desk. "I can even tell you it ends with a kiss between agent Smith and officer Jones."
Lucy raised an eyebrow as Marinette seemed to have a panic attack. Lucy was the editor, she knew the script like the back of her hand. There was definitely no kiss in any version she had read.
"Hold up! I didn't write that!" Alya protested. Nino looked to his feet and shifted a bit.
"Actually, I did. It was just a little tweak, to move the story along." Alya gasped and got in Nino's face.
"You edited my script without even asking me!? That's low! Lucy did you know about this!?" Lucy gave her a 'seriously?' look, annoyed that Alya would even ask. "Of course not."
"Wait! Don't you mean our script!"
"Oh who cares who wrote what?" Chloe interrupted, taking the cup of juice Rose had just handed Adrien and drinking it herself. "We've got to film this thing, don't we?"
"She's right." Max added looking at his watch. "Principal Damocles is only allowing us to use school until 6 p.m. sharp. Which leaves us 9 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds. 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6... "
"Adrien and Chloe kissing cannot happen!" Marinette said harshly to Alya and Lucy. Alya flipped through the script and shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense anyway. The main characters emotional journey-" Alya didn't get to finish as a light bulb went off in Marinette's head.
"Hold on!" She said to Adrien. " We can't let Mylene just leave just like that, it's... wrong! We all chose her to play the leading female role! And... we're all in this movie together! She needs our support. I'm gonna go find her and bring her back."
Always trying to save the day, aren't you, Marinette? Good luck finding the filthy hole that scaredy-cat's hiding in!" Chloe called out as Marinette ignored her and left. Lucy shook her head.
"That is it! Come here!" She shouted at Chloe but Nino held her back. "It's not worth it Lucy." Lucy shrugged Nino off her and scoffed.
"Fine, I'm going to go help Marinette." She declared but first walked toward Adrien. "That's your little friend right there," She pointed to Chloe. "I suggest you convince her to get it together, because if I come back here and gotta do it, she's gonna be the one crying in that bathroom." Adrien gave her a wide eyed look and leaned back a little before glancing at Chloe who gave Lucy the stink eye as she left to go find Marinette.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoo
Lucy caught up to Marinette pretty quickly, who looked at her with a small smile, happy she came along.
"I swear that girl.." Lucy muttered making Marinette laugh a little.
"You get along with her better than most people. She doesn't really bother you."
"Yeah we kinda had a moment." Lucy told Marinette. "I while back when we had that science project."
"When the Evillustrator was after her?"
"Yeah. It wasn't much really but it felt like she considered what I had to say to her. I obviously don't know Chloe that well but typically when people are as spiteful as she is there is some deeper reason for it."
"Or she's just evil." Marinette spoke bitterly.
"Evil isn't born Marinette, it's made. Everybody's got problems."
"That doesn't make it right." Argued Marinette.
"Of course not. I'm not saying put up with it, I'm just saying the Chloe's shitty attitude may be a shield from herself. People who love themselves, don't hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer. I can't help but feel sorry for Chloe most of the time. How terrible her sense of self must be, if her only joy is to take other peoples happiness."
Marinette frowned and sighed. "Well when you put it that way...I don't know Lucy. With the way she treats everyone, its just hard to feel anything but hate towards her."
"That's understandable." Lucy said with a shrug. "When someone has been mean to you, why would you want to be good to them? You wouldn't want to. That's what makes it hard. You do it anyway. Being good is hard. Much harder than being bad. Chloe is hard headed. I will gladly kick her off her high horse if it is necessary but that doesn't mean I'm gonna leave her laying in the dirt either. People are like plants. They get weedy sometimes and when that happens you remove said weeds, you don't trash throw away the whole thing away. You help it grow."
"Your a better person than I am Lucy." Marinette said shaking her head. Lucy draped an arm around her shoulder as they approached the bathroom. "Don't worry Marinette, I'm here to help. I'll be your Yoda." Marinette laughed as the two entered the bathroom.
"Mylene?" Marinette called out. If she was in there, she didn't answer.
"Uh, Marinette?" Lucy called out. Marinette looked at Lucy to see her standing in front of one of the mirrors of the bathroom. On it was a pinkish purple goo that neither girl could identify. Lucy made a face as Marinette went to touch it and examined it on her finger.
"Guys!" Alya shouted suddenly, bursting into the bathroom. "Did you find Mylene?"
"That's a negative." Lucy replied with a frown.
"Well you better come quick because there is about to be some serious lip puckering going on!" Marinette gasped and quickly made her way out the door with Alya. Lucy shifted her hands between pointing toward the door and the goo on the mirror.
"What about...? Okay, I guess that's not concerning. Put it on the back burner for now."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
When Lucy arrived back to the classroom everyone was arguing again.
"We're out of time, and from what I can see, Mylene is MIA. Let's take it from the top, people." Nino said trying to get everyone back in place.
"Here we go again..." muttered Adrien and Lucy gave him a sympathetic smile.
Alya placed her hands on her hips and glared at Nino. "This is beat! Agent Smith does not need a man in her life right now! Sniffles just got munched right now, remember?!"
"Do you wanna finish this film or not?"
"Then let's just make Agent Smith a nurse instead!" Chloe chimed in. "That'll fix everything."
"Um, I'm sorry. How, exactly?" Alya asked skeptically. Chloe shrugged.
"I don't know, but I'm sure I'd look amazing in a uniform."
Lucy rubbed her temples and Adrien patted her back.
" Oh, come on! We're not gonna rewrite this script again!" Nino argued, making Alya claim she wasn't going to put her name on the credits. Chloe went on to say no one would care about her name anyway which of course enraged Alya.
"That is enough!" Lucy suddenly shouted. "Everyone needs to take a damn breath! Right now! Everyone in!" She said taking in a deep breath, the majority of the room following suit. "And out!" She commanded letting out her breath, everyone following. Lucy turned to Alya and pointed at her. "What's done is done Alya, let it go."
"Thank you!" Nino spoke but Lucy shushed him.
"No, no. Not anything from you. You went out of your way to make a major change without consulting anyone and that's shitty. You are a part of the problem. This is a group effort people. If we can't work together, what are we doing here?"
"Lucy is right! This is a group effort!" Marinette agreed. "Chloe your idea is perfect!" Lucy squinted at her.
"Of course its a perfect idea! Because it's mine!" Chloe approved.
"But you don't have a uniform." Marinette said sadly and Alya rolled her eyes.
"That's just another reason it doesn't make sense." Marinette ignored Alya and continued on.
"Chloe, you and your assistant should go down to the nurses office and try on some uniforms."
Chloe pondered on it a moment before agreeing. "Hmm. Kim, Max, come with me. You've just been promoted to wardrobe and bodyguard." Sabrina and the two boys, who looked hesitant to follow, left with Chloe.
"Nice going miss producer, now we have no lead. Again." Nino huffed in annoyance.
"But we got rid of Chloe." Marinette argued, trying to show that that was the main goal.
"Fine." Nino them went on. "Lucy, you can be Agent Smith." Lucy raised an eyebrow at him.
"Me? Why me?"
"You know the script." Nino said as if it was obvious. "And with the attitude you've had today, taking charge and putting your foot down, its exactly what we need in an agent Smith."
OR! Oooor, Marinette could do it." Alya suggested making Marinette panic again.
"What?! No! I'm the producer."
"And Lucy is an editor, who cares, and besides," Alya said leaning into her friend. "Don't you wanna kiss Adrien?" Marinette shifted uncomfortably as she glanced in Adrien's direction. "Yes, but not like this..."
Lucy looked over at Adrien who now held a light blush on his face. They made eye contact and he gave her a reassuring smile. The idea of playing the role didn't bother Lucy to much. Kissing Adrien for the sake of acting didn't really faze her. It was how the people around her felt about it, that made Lucy hesitant. Adrien himself, didn't seem opposed to the idea and she assumed that like her, he saw this as a job. It wasn't real so there was nothing to be weird about. Marinette on the other hand...the pig tailed girl looked conflicted. Like she didn't want to kiss Adrien simply because of the movie, but she didn't want anyone else to kiss him either.
"It's up to you Marinette, I don't care." Lucy offered, smiling gently at the girl. Marinette looked between Lucy and Adrien and sighed. As much as she wanted to kiss the blonde boy, she wanted it to happen under the right circumstances. Because he wanted to, not because he had to. Marinette also knew that her acting skills were not very good, and she didn't want the movie to come out poorly because of it. She wasn't a fan of the idea of Lucy and Adrien kissing either, but she supposed she liked it better than Chloe. She trusted Lucy and knew that she would take the part for what it was. Pretend. With that in mind Marinette nodded at Nino.
"Lucy should do it." Nino smiled and nodded.
"Great, awesome! Lets do this."
Alya sat next to Marinette as everyone got ready to film with a frown.
"I thought you wanted to kiss Adrien?"
"I do, but I want him to kiss me because he wants to. My time will come." Marinette said with confidence. "Lucy will make a great agent Smith. I know it."
Alya gave her a soft smile and patted her back. Off to the side Lucy watched Julika apply more powder to Adrien's face.
"Got enough makeup on there princess?" She jested with a smirk. Adrien rolled his eyes and smiled.
"Sorry not all of us can be as naturally pretty as you all the time." Lucy raised both her eyebrows at him and Adrien felt himself choke on his own spit as he realized what he just said. "I mean! I- you just-"
"Easy tiger, thanks for the compliment." Lucy said with a hand up to stop his rambling. Adrien let out an awkward laugh and scratched the back of his neck as Nino called out for everyone to get into place. He wasn't prepared for this. Adrien hadn't planned on kissing anyone for this movie but he definitely hadn't planned on kissing her. He knew it wasn't real of course. It was for the sake of the movie. Lucy wasn't kissing him, Agent Smith was kissing Officer Jones. Still, as she stood in front of him, looking up to meet his eyes, Adrien couldn't focus on the words she was saying. The lines she had memorized went in one ear and out the other. Instead his focus was on the serious look on her face. That and her closeness. Closing his eyes, Adrien moved in. He could feel her nose brush against his when the door swung open and Chloe ran in screaming cut. The two pulled away from one another startled by the out burst.
"I knew it!" Chloe shouted pointing to Marinette. "Well played, Marinette! All that speech about working together, then you stab me right in the back! Well, your stupid little movie won't make it into the festival if I'm not in it, because my daddy is one of the judges! And you!" She went on pointing to Lucy. "You already have Chat Noir! Now you need to make moves on Adrien too?!"
Lucy grimaced at Chloe. "Excuse me?" Adrien looked visibly uncomfortable and Lucy assumed it was because of the small altercation he had with her when he himself made the assumption of her relationship the Chat. Before anyone could say anything else screams were heard in the distance.
"Did anyone else hear that?" Adrien asked quietly.
"If this is another one of your ploys to get rid of me you can forget it!" Chloe ranted. "Beside I-" She was interrupted with another set of screams.
"Well that can't be good." Lucy sighed.
"We should scope this out!" Marinette declared and Lucy couldn't help but internally disagree. In the end it seemed not to matter though as everyone followed her out of the room and down into the court yard. The students gasped as they saw goo all over the place. Marinette, noticing a wristband on the floor picked it it. "This goo..." She started looking to Lucy. "the bathroom!"
"Yeah," Lucy said crossing her arms. "The thing you totally dismissed over the whole kiss thing."
"That's Kim's." Adrien claimed, looking at the wristband in Marinettes hand. The students agreed it was time to find the principle and tell him something was going on.
"Where are you going?" Nino asked Adrien as he tiptoed back toward the stairs.
"I left Officer Jones's jacket in the classroom, should probably wear it in every scene!" He explained before running up the steps. Nino nodded and Lucy looked after him perplexed. Was that really important right now?
"What fucking Jacket?" Lucy asked aloud. "He was never wearing- and I'm alone again." She stopped, realizing everyone had already moved on from the court yard. Throwing her hands up in frustration, Lucy shook her head. "Kay, bye Adrien, try not to die." She grumbled waving off no one before making her way to the rest of the group. When she reached the principles office, everyone was examining the room that was now also covered in goo. The principle himself, nowhere in sight.
"Now where is Marinette?" Asked Lucy, not seeing the girl. Everyone left the principles office and Alya gasped as she found Marinette's phone on the floor. Looking up, the group noticed the goo had covered the school and after checking a window found they were trapped in the school. A fact Julika seemed to find very cool. They also learned that everyone's cell service was blocked. Lovely. Suddenly Ladybug appeared asking if everything was okay. Nino grew excited that Ladybug would be in his movie.
"Its going to be so legit now!" He said stoked.
"We need to calmly evacuate the building." She said only for Chat Noir to appear as well.
"Easier said than done Ladybug."
"Chat Noir!? Double legit!"
"I tried to cut through the goo but its totally indestructible, so it looks like we are trapped inside the school for now."
"Then how did you two get in?" Lucy asked with her arms crossed. Her question went ignored of course as the two heroes went to the other side of the room to talk. She looked around again and noticed Adrien had yet to join them as well. She looked at Chat as he spoke to Ladybug.
"Guys, we are missing someone else." She said, gaining the attention of everyone. "Adrien."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Back at the classroom the group found Adrien's shoe on the ground. Lucy hummed. Either Adrien had in fact been caught or he was being a clever boy. The monster appeared and grabbed Nathaniel. Ladybug told everyone to run. Everyone ran down stairs and stood off to the side while Ladybug and Chat attempted to fight the monster, it looked at them, making everyone give off small screams. In doing so the monster grew a little larger. It was feeding off everyone's fear. The monster trapped Chat and Ladybug and then made its way over to the group, it looked at Ivan a moment before licking him like a large dog. It then grabbed Alix and Nathaniel, running off into another classroom. Hearing more screams the group ran off to find Chloe and Sabrina who had separated from everyone earlier on. Upon reaching the classroom, the students found they were too late to save Chloe and Sabrina but could track the monster with the goo it left behind. It lead them to a cellar, something Lucy found a little creepy but she supposed all the water pipes and air vents had to go somewhere. Going down they came across a bunch of egg shaped goo pods holding those who had been captured inside. Ladybug called for her lucky charm and got guitar strings. Lucy chuckled at her annoyance. As usual, the girl quickly figured out the puzzle and began handing everyone random objects. She told everyone they were going to sing Mylene's happy song, smelly wolf. Lucy did not know the words to the song, but banged her 'instrument' together anyway. After a few moments, the monster shrank down and ran to Ivan who noticed the pin he gave Mylene. Ladybug took the pin and broke it, releasing and capturing the akuma. The goo was removed and Mylene returned to her normal self. She and Ivan shared a sweet kiss that made Lucy smile.
OoOoOoOoOoOooO
Lucy, Alya, Marinette, Adrien and Principal Damocles stood outside the mayors office when Nino came out in a huff.
"He said the monster was a horrible replica! Completely unbelievable! No joke!"
"Don't worry Nino, this is how all great directors start out." Adrien assured, placing a hand on his friends shoulder.
"Yeah, even if that kiss isn't quite what we thought it would be." Alya pointed out looking at Marinette who sighed and smiled. Lucy gave a light laugh and looked to see Adrien smiling at her. Definitely not quiet what was expected.