~~Recap~~Plagg remained disappointed but hid his expressions and went back to his usual hiding spot: the inside pocket of Adrien's jacket. 'God I swear if this kid even had a single brain cell, things would have been so different right now.' he thought to himself.~~Recap Over~~

The next day, School had already started. And as usual, Marinette hadn't arrived yet. Normally Alya wouldn't think about it much but noticing her bff's recent behavior got her worried. She hadn't been herself lately. Everyone knew that by now. She has been skipping classes... Mentally that is. She hasn't been paying attention at all. Her mind was always wandering around or sometimes even asleep.

It was the usual bright sunny day. All the students had already arrived and discussed their plans for the day. Everyone was locked in an interesting conversation with their lab partners except for Alya whose lab partner hadn't shown up yet. She sighed at her loneliness. However, Nino quickly took notice of her and didn't hesitate to start a conversation.

"So, did you do the homework?" He asked.

She nodded yes.

"You alright, Alya? You seem a bit down today. What's eating you up?" Adrien changed the topic at once.

"Marinette. She's been acting weird lately. And I mean weirder than usual. It's like she's ignoring me, y'know? I've left her so many messages but she hasn't even seen any of them yet." She complained.

"Did you try calling her?" Nino asked.

"A dozen times!"

"Well did you try seeing her?" Adrien interfered again.

"Of course I did. I stopped by her house yesterday. Thought maybe we'd wanna do the assignment together. Her parents told me she was upstairs in her room but guess what- she wasn't! To think, I walked all over to her house, during an akuma attack but she wasn't even there." She ranted.

Adrien was about to comfort her but the teacher entered the class and demanded everyone to answer the roll call. That boring procedure of calling the student's name and then hearing a 'here miss' began. This lasted for sometime.

"Marinette."

No answer came.

"Marinette Dupain Cheng!" The teacher cried in a louder voice. Her tone was demanding. Still no answer though. She looked up from her attendance register to meet the class. Her eyes scanned for the pigtails that weren't visible in sight.

"She'll be here." Alya tried to calm her down. To be honest though, she actually didn't know if she was gonna show up or not. She only said that for the sake of her friend. No other reason was there.

"Well I don't see her. Which means she's not here-" the teacher began.

"I'm here! I'm here!" The class heard cries coming from the corridor. The voice of the caller definitely peaked everyone's interest. As they turned their attention to the opened door, they saw a young girl passing through. She suddenly forced her heels to the ground to stop herself from going any further. As she stood up straight again, she apologized for not being punctual, as usual.

But something was off about her. And I'm not talking just about her hair or her face. One look at her and it was clear that her pigtails weren't even there. Instead, her messy hair remained unbrushed and without any accessories to keep it on place. Rather, her hair remained untied. As for her face, dark circles formed under her red puffy eyes. Her skin seemed a bit paler too. But other than that, even her clothes seemed a little different. They weren't her usual appealing look, rather looked like she came in a hurry and put on anything she could find... Which resulted in her grey coat over her pajamas. (Yup. She came to school in her pajamas).

"I'm sorry I'm late. I uh... I overslept." She lied. In reality, she didn't sleep at all. Everytime she'd shut her eyes, Vexer would appear to turn her sweet dreams into nightmares. She couldn't bare to see Paris' destruction again. Destruction that she caused that is.

"You sure you 'overslept'?" Nino asked just in case he heard her wrong.

"Yeah. My stupid alarm didn't go off." She lied again. Not realizing her face was giving away the truth.

"You sure?" Rose inquired.

"Yeah. Why?" She remained stunned that no one believed her. Normally, they all believe that excuse of hers.

"Cause you look like you still need a nap then. A veryyyyy long nap." Chloe teased and giggled at her own words.

"You think?" The girl asked sincerely. 'Damn I need to come up with better lies... Like Lila.' she thought to herself while walking over to her seat.

"What do you think you're doing?" The science teacher inquired.

"Taking my seat. Why?"

"Oh no! You're not sitting in my class dressed like that. Principal's office young lady. Now!" She cried as she pointed towards the door.

Marinette froze. 'Dammit. I can't go to the Principal's office. I'll get suspended for sure. Mom and dad would be so dissapoin- Wait! What if this is the reason I got akumatized in the first place? Oh no- The Principal will probably yell at me. Then my parents would get mad too... NO! I have to remain strong. As long as I don't take whatever the Principal says personally, I'll be alright. For the sake of Paris, I won't shed even a single tear.' she thought to herself.

"Yes miss. But I just want you to know that I am truly sorry for this." She said in low voice while keeping her head down. Just as a precaution that the teacher might forgive her. But she didn't say anything. Marinette sighed and headed for the door. As soon as she reached it, Alya stood up.

"Um... Ma'am, can you please excuse her? Just this once?" She requested.

"Excuse me?"

"We all know it's not like Marinette to display such a behavior." Adrien interfered.

"Right. And like... Just look at her. Don't tell me you don't feel sorry for her." Nino stood up too.

"Going out in public dressed like that should be punishment enough." Chloe stated. The class gazed at her. Did she just defend Marinette? Marinette of all people? Truth be told, she doesn't know why she did it either. Maybe she just felt sorry for her. And as if the whole class read her mind, they all joined the 'Don't send Marinette to the Principal's office' squad.

"She's probably going through a tough time right now." "Please be reasonable." "Please forgive her." "Don't send her there." "She's an honest and hardworking student. She always does good in tests and is really responsible. Please forgive her." They all pleaded and began to create the perfect image of the girl in the teacher's head. Eventually, it worked. The teacher let her off with a warning.

The young girl's eyes sparkled joy as she smiled at her classmates for supporting it. Overjoyed from the amount of love around her, her eyes became watery and she finally took her seat next to Alya.

The teacher grabbed the entire class' attention and began her lecture. Once over, she left the classroom without even collecting the homework she assigned. She probably forgot. But that's great for Marinette who forgot to do it in the first place.

Though her day started out great, it wasn't till the last lecture until Marinette lost the smile on her face. With the teacher still reading from the book, her wandered eyes scanned the room. She didn't know why, but told herself it's a to 'be on the safe side'. Whatever that meant. After her completed search, her eyes came back to her book. However, her eyes widened in fear as all the words had disappeared. Instead, there was Vexer. Laughing like a maniac. It was as if she had a life of her own but only Marinette could see and hear her.

"What do you want from me?" She whispered to the book while making sure no one else could hear her.

"I told you. I will take everything from you. Your peace, your friends, your family, everything you love will be gone!"

"Stop it. Just leave me alone."

"Marinette, is something wrong?" Miss Bustier inquired.

"Oh um... No." She replied with a nervous laugh.

"Alright then. Pay attention to the listen then."she continued her reading. Mot really paying attention to the young girl's response.

But Marinette didn't listen to her either. She stared in shock as she saw Vexer right behind the teacher. She had an evil smirk spread across her face as she signalled the beloved teacher's death by moving her thumb along her neck.

Afraid, and knowing very well that she can't fight, nor transform, she did the very thing one would expect her to do. She screamed. Her loud and terrifying vocals interrupted everyone in the class. Alya inquired why she screamed but she couldn't answer. Almost like her scream took all the voice out of her. All she did in response, was point at Vexer. Though, for everyone else, she was pointing st the teacher. The class remained puzzled. What's wrong with this girl today?

Alya gently shifted the girl's body to snap her back to reality.

"Huh? Where am I?" The girl responded as she looked around before her eyes stopped at Alya.

"Girl, why did you just scream?"

"I...a... I thought I saw a mouse." She lied again. The class wasn't buying it. They think it's a bit suspicious to yell and point fingers at a mouse when it clearly isn't there. Miss Bustier didn't allow any more time to be wasted and continued with the lecture. And soon enough, it was over. Another school day over! This relieved Marinette. Now she can go back home and be alone. Oh how much she misses her pillow that has soaked up all her tears. And her soft bed that supported her body. And her warm comfy blanket that protected her from the cold bitter life she is forced to live.

As the final final bell rang, rhe students watched the teacher leave the room and began to pack up as well. Alya sighed in relief. Now that the teacher was gone, she finally got a chance to talk to Marinette.

"Marinette, can we talk?" She asked politely with a worried expression.

"Um... Sure." The girl hesitated a bit.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing at all. Why ask?"

"Don't lie. I can tell when someone's ignoring me."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She responded while heading towards the door.

"Hey, I wasn't done talking to you!" She cried.

"I am." She coldly spat and rushed out the room to disappear into the corridors.

Alya didn't say a word. Her sad sigh was all that she could say. Her best friend's keeping secrets from her. Alya felt betrayed. Never had she ever felt this feeling before. The feeling of being lied to, being neglected, being abandoned. She was hurt. If friends can't even share their secrets with each other, then what's the point of it all? How can you build a relationship on such terms?

Alya's despair went unnoticed by most people. All except for Adrien. One look at her and he could instantly feel her loneliness. A feeling he knew all too well.

"You okay?" He asked while placing a hand on her shoulder.

"She just walked out on me while I was talking to her. I just want to help but she isn't letting me... WHY ISN'T SHE LETTING ME!?" She yelled at the last part while grabbing his collar and pulling him towards herself.

"Hey, Dud- I mean Alya, don't put your frustrations on him. He's just trying to be nice." Nino confronted his raging girlfriend.

One deep breath and she let the young model out of her grasp. "Sorry, Adrien." She mumbled in embarrassment.

"Hey, it's okay. No hard feelings? I know you miss the old Marinette. Quite frankly, I miss her too." The blonde haired teen replied back.

"We all do. Didn't she tell you anything?" Nino asked.

Alya nodded a sad no. Her head still tilted down in despair.

"Tell you what, what if I talk to her? I'm sure she'll tell me something." Adrien inquired.

For a second, Alya's hope reached the sky. 'Surely she won't be able to lie to him.' She thought. But her smile soon faded away as she recalled Adrien's tight schedule.

"But what about your father? Isn't he expecting you to be home soon?" She inquired.

"Oh didn't I tell you? After the akuma attack yesterday, he went to New York with Chloe's mom. I don't remember exactly why, but they are planning on doing some sort of partnership. He's not here for the whole week." He replied with his innocent smile.

"That's great!" Alya congratulated.

"Thanks. I'll check up on Marinette soon too. Don't worry." He replied with a heartwarming smile and left the room. Finally, Alya could feel a bit relaxed.