AN: I hope you don't find this chapter too boring. Don't worry, there's good stuff to come! Feel free to review, by the way. This is my first story, and the one review I've got (shout out to you btw, thank you very much) already has made my day :)

"Marinette? Marinette?"

She heard a soft, tinkling voice just by her ear. With an irritated sigh, Marinette peeled her eyes open to see large, violet eyes staring down on her.

Tikki.

She groaned, throwing a pillow in the bug's general direction.

Marinette loved her kwami, she really did, but at times like these she couldn't help but fantasise about wringing her tiny little neck.

"Tikki, it's seven am!" Marinette complained, rubbing at her eyes.

Usually the dark-haired girl was known for her bright personality and bubbly optimism, but when it came to mornings like these where Ladybug had her out late, she was almost as grumpy as Chloe.

"You have school today, Marinette," Tikki said, reasonable as ever.

The dark-haired girl buried her face into her covers, muffling her speech, "Can't I just pretend to be ill?"

"No, Marinette," her kwami said firmly, "I don't think it's a good idea for you to miss school. It's your first day back after the summer, after all!"

"Yeah, fine, you're right Tikki," Marinette sighed, leaving the comfortable blankets and warmth of her bed with miserable reluctance.

She got dressed quickly, brushing her teeth, tying her hair up in her signature pigtails and grabbing her favourite outfit from her stool. She checked the clock; 7:22. She had plenty of time.

She stopped briefly to fix her appearance and sweeped a little bit of blush on her cheeks. Then she coated her eyelashes with a thin layer of mascara and put on her favourite pink lipgloss and stepped back to admire her work. It wasn't much, she knew, but it stillmade her feel better.

Marinette grabbed her bag, holding it open for her kwami, and stepped out of the room. "Come on, Tikki,"

As soon as she came into the classroom, she could feel his eyes.

Adrien Agreste, with his bright, emerald green eyes, golden hair and impeccable bone structure, was impossible for anyone to ignore, and although Marinette tried not to look at him, she couldn't help it.

The look on his face startled her - she wasn't sure what it was about it, but something seemed different. He looked almost... relieved. Like he had been worrying about something. His hair was in a disarray, she noticed, and there were bags under his eyes.

It made her wonder if he was feeling as exhausted as she was.

Throwing a tentative smile in his direction, she flopped down in the seat next to Alya. Huh. It was a different place to where they normally were, but at least Adrien and Nino were still behind them.

"Hey, girl," Alya's grin, as always, was infectious, "You look terrible."

"Thanks," Marinette's tone was dry, but she grinned back at her friend.

But then Alya surveyed Marinette a little more closely, and her smile faltered, "No seriously, Mari, are you okay?" Alya said, sincerity overtaking her voice.

"I'm fine," Marinette waved off her best friend's worry with a nonchalant flick of her wrist. Maybe too nonchalant; she had never been a very good actress, "I'm just tired, you know?"

Alya didn't look like she believed her, but comprehension dawned on her face quickly. Ever since she found out about Ladybug, Alya had become a lot more understanding about this kind of thing. She didn't ask loads of questions. Usually, the journalist in her deduced the answer for herself and she just nodded and carried on.

That was when Miss Bustier cleared her throat at the front of the room, and silence fell over the class almost immediately.

"Good morning, children," her smile was warm as her class echoed the sentiment, "I'm glad to see you all back. I hope everybody had a great summer. As you know, this will be your last year at Françoise Dupont, and I hope, your best one," Miss Bustier clapped her hands, "Now onto the register!"

Marinette's last name, being Dupain-Cheng, was called close to the beginning, which gave her plenty of time to daydream. In back of her mind, she could still hear Miss Bustier call out her classmates' names, but she was just stuck of the events of last night, replaying them over and over again.

She wondered what Chat could be doing now. Was he sitting in class, just like she was? Or was he... somewhere else? Marinette could've passed him on the street countless times in his civilian form and not given him a second glance, but he'd know her, he?

It was all so confusing.

Marinette knew the superhero like the back of her hand, but she also didn't know him at all.

And then there was Adrien-

She felt a sharp elbow in her side, "Marinette," Alya hissed.

She stared at her friend, mildly irritated, "What?"

Then she looked up to see the whole class staring at her.

Miss Bustier gave her a pointed look, "Marinette, care to share your thoughts?"

Marinette blinked, scrambling up in her seat, "Uh, on what?"

Miss Bustier sighed briefly, before a fond smile pulled at her lips, "What we've been talking about for the past five minutes, Marinette. Careers. What do you want to be? We're going around the class, and since you're in the corner at the front..."

"Oh," Marinette frowned slightly. Usually, her immediate response would be fashion designer, but lately she'd been having doubts - there were just so many things she was passionate about. Still, she went with the usual option, "Fashion designer."

Miss Bustier went around the classroom asking the same question as she went along the rows.

"Journalist," Alya's answer was swift, decisive.

"Rich," Chloe sat back in her seat, looking proud, and Marinette bit back a smile. In all honesty, despite her old hatred of the girl, in the past year their rivalry had started to feel more like a tradition that had to be upheld than actual loathing.

"A... doctor," Sabrina looked around shyly, but even Chloe gave her friend a rare smile.

"A model," Juleka brushed her bangs out of her face, a little smile gracing her face. She had gained much more confidence recently, and Marinette felt proud of her friend.

"A princess. Like the type they hire for children's parties," Rose said, beaming.

"A DJ," Nino grinned.

It was Adrien's turn now, and Marinette held in a breath. Everyone always seemed to expect him to pursue a career in modelling, but she had seen him at the shoots; he looked miserable.

Marinette looked at him worriedly; he looked so nervous, and with his green eyes darting around the room, he looked like a trapped cat searching for an escape.

"I think I would like to be..." he swallowed, looking down, but when he glanced back up, his eyes met Marinette's and he smiled lightly. Still holding their stare, he spoke with a newfound confidence, "A baker."

Marinette's eyes widened with surprise, but then she thought of all the times she had seen the boy gobble the food she brought in from the patisserie with a carelessness he rarely possessed, and a soft smile touched her lips. It made so much sense to her that Adrien would want to be someone who brings happiness to other people's lives.

Ugh. Why couldn't he just be an arrogant, snobbish prick with a pretty face? That's what she was expecting when she first heard that the model was joining her class.

Instead, he had been quiet and lovely and kind, and beautiful in a way that made her heart ache. Marinette had not been expecting this boy, with his sad eyes and his soft smile, and he had hit her like a ton of bricks.

Adrien Agreste was far, far too easy to love, but what broke her heart was that he didn't know it. In fact, she had a feeling he thought the absolute opposite.

As Miss Bustier finished going around the class and made her way to the front again with a proud smile, Marinette pushed her musings aside.

"I'm glad you all seem to have a good grasp on what you want to do," Miss Bustier said lightly, "Because this year your task is to explore your aspirations further. Be it an apprenticeship, a job as an assistant, or research, I want you to have preparation for when you leave school this year. As well as this, I want you all to keep a log of your work experiences, and at the end of the year, you will be writing an essay-"

A chorus of complaints echoed throughout the room..

Miss Bustier carried on as if she didn't hear them, "In this essay, I want you to talk about what you've learnt, how you found the experience and whether you still want to pursue the career you chose today. Got it?"

"Yes, miss," the class spoke in unison, their voices coloured with misery.

Marinette turned to Alya and they exchanged looks.

It was going to be a very long year.

The next lessons flew by in a blur, and as Marinette went to get out of her seat for lunch, she was met by vivid green eyes.

"Hey, Marinette," Adrien's smile was dazzling. "I was just wondering, with the whole work experience thing, maybe I could talk to my dad about letting you apprentice? I know what a fan you are of his work."

Marinette's mouth dropped open, "Wait, really? You'd do that for me?" She knew how much Adrien hated asking anything of his father, so it meant a lot that he was willing to do tho for her.

"Of course," Adrien helped her pack her stuff into her bag, and Marinette turned around to see Alya looking at them pointedly with an enormously smug grin on her face.

"Anything for my good friend Marinette," Adrien added, and Alya suddenly looked incredibly murderous behind them, "And also, I was wondering, if it's not too much to ask, if I could maybe apprentice at your parents' bakery. I don't want you to feel obliged or-"

"No, no, it's fine. No problem at all," Marinette said, jumping up quickly, "I'm sure my parents would love that, Adrien. They really like you, you know."

"They do?" His eyes lit up, and he looked a little childlike for a moment.

"Of course," she replied, her voice softening, "They'd definitely be okay with it."

"Thank you Marinette, thank you so much!" In his eager excitement, Adrien pulled her into a bear hug, and she was fairly sure she was going to pass out. His arms were warm and inviting, and because he was over a head taller than her, her face ended up being smushed into his chest. Plus, he smelt really, really good, Marinette noticed with a sigh. Like vanilla and sunshine, and something spicy and expensive. Yummy.

Adrien released her with a sheepish grin, "Sorry, I'm just a little..."

"Excited? Eager?" Adorable? Of course, Marinette didn't say the last bit out loud.

"Yeah, " Adrien's hand went to the back of his neck.

Be cool, be cool, be cool.

Marinette tried to compose herself, but she found herself getting a little lost inside his eyes. Although she had made a lot of progress when it came to not making a fool of herself in front of Adrien, something about the boy made her feel like the same blushing, astounded mess she had been when she had first fell in love with him.

Alya seemed to notice this and quickly grabbed Marinette's arm, ever the wingwoman, and dragged her away from Adrien with some difficulty, before turning back to the model, "She'll text you," she declared, before shoving her dumbstruck best friend out of the classroom.

Marinette landed with a thump and glared up at Alya, rubbing her sore rump, "Ow."

Adrien looked a little worried back in the classroom, "Are you alright?"

"She's fine," Alya said cheerfully, and then she lowered her voice to whisper to her friend, "Get up, Mari, we're playing hard to get, remember?" She crossed her arms, all mother-hen like, "Now, what are we playing, girl?"

"Hard to get," Marinette grumbled, before taking her friend's hand.

A few hours later, as she waited for the cookies she'd been baking with her parents to come out of the oven, Marinette found herself typing with shaky hands.

hey, adrien, you better get yourself an apron :))

you're starting tomorrow!

Before she could lose her nerve, she pressed the send button.

There.

"No take backs now," she sighed, and Tikki gave her a big thumbs up from inside her bag.

A few seconds later, as if he'd been waiting at the phone, an answer popped up on her screen. A giant smile crept up on her face as she read it.

I'm already on it, don't worry :) see you tomorrow

btw, my father must know how talented you are cuz he practically jumped at the opportunity to take you under his wing.
by that, i mean he blinked and demanded to meet you for an hour long interview, but i mean, for my father... that's special. you're special.
anyways, thank you. you're a great friend.

Marinette's smile faltered a little at the last sentence. It always stung a bit when he called her his friend, even though she knew it shouldn't.

Still, that night she was so excited that she lay awake thinking about the day to come.