Oh how I wished early morning classes could be made illegal. As I woke up to turn off my alarm for my first day of classes, I noticed Kagami brushing out her love raven colored hair at her desk. I wondered to myself how she would have even woken up this early. She hadn't mentioned any early morning classes. Once the groggy haze of sleep wore off from my brain, I realized that I hadn't actually talked to her about classes at all. I made a mental note to ask later, and started to get ready for class.

Brushing my teeth, I frantically looked on my map app to find the building of my class. It was about a ten minute walk from my dorm. The class was Econ 101, and it was a big lecture hall. I was glad that if one of my classes were to be at this wretched hour of the morning, it was one where I was likely not to be called on. Though I know it's not the best idea, it might also be a good class to nap in if my Ladybug activities go too late. After making my face somewhat presentable, I threw on a pink babydoll dress and some sandals and headed out.

The air was nice and warm as I made my way towards class. The streets of the city were bustling, and I heard the honking of cars and felt the brushes of people passing by to get to work or class. As I came upon my destination, I was met with a large glass building with metal supports. It had a beautiful garden outside from which I could hear various insects buzzing about. The doors were almost constantly held open by the hoards of students entering the building for their 9:00 AM classes. I followed suit, and arrived at the big lecture hall which was conveniently located right in front of the entrance. Though I had arrived a few minutes early, the class was already almost completely full. I found a spot in the middle right of the hall and sat down. There were two seats to my left that were completely empty. I got my notebook and pencils together, and took a deep breath, awaiting my first college class.

The other students varied in ages. Many seemed to be the same age as me, but others looked like full grown adults. It was strange to think that I was going to school with people who seemed to be so much older and mature than me. Though, I supposed with my age, 18, I technically was an adult. It seemed so strange. It's not like I had not had responsibilities before, I was Ladybug after all, but when I put all of that into the context of being an adult, it all seemed a lot heavier. Before, if I messed up, I could just chalk it up to my relative inexperience. I had only been a kid after all. Now, however, it was as if every move I made had more weight. I couldn't blame my mistakes on being a kid, now I had to carry all of that weight.

I was interrupted from my sudden realization when an incredibly tired-looking Alya plopped herself into the seat next to me. My sleepiness faded completely as I thought of the potential consequences of this moment. What if an akuma appeared during this class? Alya would have to be suspicious if her neighbor in class conveniently disappeared as soon as Ladybug showed up, especially if it happened multiple times. I knew I couldn't risk it. However, I also wasn't able to just leave. That could seriously hurt Alya's feelings, and it wasn't like she was mean.

"Hey Marinette," Alya half-yawned to me. I greeted her with a quick smile, and anxiously awaited the professor to start talking. Class was about to start at any minute, but every second seemed to last an eternity. As I fiddled with my notebook, I was incredibly aware of Alya's presence next to me, almost begging me to say something. I supposed it was impolite not to, so I conceded.

"I really should've worked harder to get a better sleep schedule. 9:00 AM feels so early, I can barely keep my eyes open."

"I know, right?" Alya said with a more relaxed smile. "Since we both have this class in the mornings, how about we walk together?"

I panicked. She was such a nice girl, but getting too close to her could risk Ladybug being found out. That could put all of Paris in danger. That could put Chat in danger. I couldn't let that happen.

"Oh, that's a good point. I would but," I paused thinking of an excuse, "I like to get breakfast and go on a little run before class, so I don't think I would have time."

I cursed myself. I never woke up early enough to run and get breakfast in the morning. If I didn't go through with the lie, though, I would end up hurting Alya's feelings.

"Girl," Alya began, "I do not know how you do all that. I could barely wake myself up to get to this class this morning. Props to you, though."

With that, only after I had forced myself into a terrible morning routine, my professor finally started to talk. The class wasn't too bad; the professor read over the syllabus and gave a quick introduction to the subject. As I was listening, I found my own personal miracle sitting two rows from the front. It was Adrien, sitting perfectly upright, with his glasses sitting perfectly balanced on top of his nose. Instead of his usual luxury brand loungewear, he was in a nice, business casual outfit, still of the Agreste brand. Perhaps he knew someone within the company? He was rather wealthy after all. Though his outfit was certainly well put together, that was not the reason he was my miracle of the day. It was because I knew someone else in the class, and had a valid excuse to sit next to him instead. It was perfect. I knew that he could be my ticket away from the piercing gaze of the Ladyblog.

Once the class ended, I walked up to Adrien, showing him we had the same class. He greeted me with a big smile.

"It's so nice to know someone in my class! If you have time, would you like to get breakfast? I went for a run earlier this morning and am starving."

"Sure," I responded. "You know, I was thinking about starting morning jogs before class. Do you know any good paths to take?"

His smile widened as he said, "That's awesome, Marinette. I usually just go to the pond by the Chemistry building and back. You could come with me if you'd like?"

"I don't know, I'm not all that fit," I said. It was true. I was able to do amazing stunts as Ladybug, but that was only because of the miraculous. In my civilian form, I could barely run a mile.

"It's fine Marinette. If you keep it up, I bet you'll be able to keep up with me in no time, " he replied with a strangely familiar smirk.

"I guess I will, then."

With that, we left for breakfast. It was a nice morning. In high school, I never really ate breakfast. I was always in so much of a rush that I never had time to get it. Eating a nice plate of eggs and yogurt in the morning felt weirdly refreshing. Strangely enough, eating breakfast pushed all of the residual sleepiness of the morning right out of my body. I thought to myself that this routine may not be too bad.

After breakfast I had to head to my sculpting class. I still wasn't completely sure if I should remain in it, but Tikki seemed to think it was a good idea. The arts building was a little smaller than the one where my econ class had been. It had gorgeous art splattered across the building. Figures were painted across the roof, with metal sculptures spread throughout the lawn in front of the building. As I walked inside, I saw many projects scattered about, from student films playing on a loop to little listening stations for student music. It was almost like a miniature museum just for student artwork. It was beautiful.

My sculpting classroom was a big studio painted white. Compared to the rest of the building, it looked pretty barren. About ten, big dark marble tables were spread across the room. I sat down at one of the tables towards the middle. A boy with bright red hair and blue eyes sat down next to me. He carried a blue backpack and wore a simple white shirt with checkered blue pants. His style was definitely quirky, but he pulled it off.

"Hey," he started, "I'm Nathaniel. Are you planning to be an art major?"

"Marinette," I responded. "I'm not planning to major in art. Maybe I'll minor in it. Right now I'm planning to major in business."

"Cool," he said with a wide, welcoming smile. He felt like the type of person you could tell anything to, and he would still accept you. He was a little awkward, he seemed pretty shy and started to doodle in his notebook almost as soon as he sat down.

We continued to introduce ourselves. He was a first year, just like me, and he was planning to major in graphic design. As we continued talking he told me that he had been drawing comic books since middle school. He pulled up some of his works on his computer, and they were really cool. He mainly focused on superheroes, but they weren't your typical books. His superheroes were more realistic, put in a setting where they constantly struggled with public opinion while dealing with the stressors of civilian life. To be completely honest, I found reading them to be rather cathartic.

Once class started, the teacher did a lot of what my econ teacher did, going over the syllabus. However, once she started to actually start about the class, she instantly had my full attention. She described sculpting as a three dimensional expression of human emotions. She said that even if we weren't majoring in an art, this class could be used as a way to share our feelings that we may not feel so comfortable sharing by other means. The class would consist of different sculpting methods, but she encouraged us to find our own ways to make each method our own, and encouraged us to add to whatever she taught with our own ideas. After hearing her explain the class, suddenly it didn't feel like another stressor on my life, but a way to destress, from school, and from my responsibilities as Ladybug. This was a class where I could just be myself, free from my busy life. It was nice. I left the class with a big smile on my face. I got Nathaniel's phone number, and we had agreed to meet up and critique each other's art projects. I was glad to have made another friend on campus, and sculpting class was perfect to get to know somebody.

That had been all of my classes for the day, so I headed back towards my dorm. Outside of the dorm, I saw Rose had dropped some of her textbooks and rushed over to help her.

"Here," I stated, handing her a French book. She gave a grateful smile as she took the book. I opened the door for her as we walked in.

"Thank you so much Marinette!" she exclaimed with rosy cheeks. "I've just been so busy today! It's nice to see you, though. Why don't you hang out with us more? I know you have some high school friends upstairs. They could join us as well!"

"Oh," I started, unsure of how to explain my absence. I was only avoiding them so that Alya wouldn't figure out my secret, but that wasn't exactly something I could explain to Rose. "That sounds good, but my friend is kind of shy, so I'm not too sure if he would want to…"

"Look," Rose interrupted, "I'm only saying this because I think that you're a really nice girl, Marinette, but you cannot repeat this information." Concerned, I nodded for her to continue. "Kagami has a really strict mother, and I don't think she was able to make too many friends growing up. She's such an incredible girl, and I think you would really like her if you gave her a chance."

"You think I don't like Kagami? No I-"

"Marinette," she interrupted again. "You've barely spoken to her in the week since we got here. She feels like you're avoiding her. I get that you have other friends, but you should really give Kagami a chance."

With that, Rose left to her dorm, leaving me standing there speechless. Though I didn't realize it, I hadn't really spent much time with Kagami. She was always hanging out with the girls on our floor, including Alya. I then guessed that my avoidance of Alya had turned into avoiding Kagami as well. My stomach churned as I thought about how much that probably hurt her.

Going back to my dorm, I threw my bag down, feeling terrible. After a few hours of going through school work, Kagami came back. We gave our usual short greetings, and a large tension filled the room. Finally, I broke the silence.

"Hey, Kagami, would you like to get dinner tomorrow night? It would be with my friends Nino and Adrien."

Though her facial expression didn't change, I could see light shine in her eyes. She seemed happy that I had offered. "I would enjoy that," she finally stated.

With that, the tension left the room, and I was on my way to making amends for ignoring her for the past week. I supposed this whole college life would be rather difficult to sort out, but I couldn't help but feel guilty for how my secret could affect others. I wondered if Chat had to do the same, if he had to risk hurting others to keep his secret. I was excited to see him again so that I could get some of this off of my chest. We had a patrol scheduled for the next night, and I couldn't wait for that to arrive.

Here is chapter 5! I hope you guys enjoy! Sorry it is a little bit later in the day, I have been pretty busy lately. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy! The question of the week is: Who are your favorite characters in this story so far?