Marinette woke up the following day to a phone call from Alya.

"Dude! Have you woken up yet? School? Remember?" Somehow the phone answered itself?

Marinette jolted awake. She picked up the phone. "Alya?! Oh no! My alarm didn't go off. How late is it?"

"Chilax girl." Alya responded. "It's only five minutes after the time your alarm is supposed to go off."

"How do you know what time my alarm goes off?!" Marinette exclaimed.

"A magician never reveals her secrets." Alya mused. "Now hurry up and get ready for school!"

/*\*/*\

At lunch Alya was telling the story of her encounter with the Akuma from yesterday. Peter was listening intently even though he had been there too.

"The dragon was huge!" Peter interrupted as Alya was describing the giant green lizard. She shot him a brief, annoyed, look before continuing.

"Anyway, as I was saying. The dragon never said a word or anything, and it didn't seem to be seeking out Ladybug or Chat Noir's Miraculousess. So it seems Hawkmoth made a mistake again." She mused.

"It seemed like its only goal was to tear up the city." Peter added excitedly.

"And so, the dragon had all these chains all over it. Probably decorative?" Alya continued. "And then suddenly Chat Noir appeared and used his Cataclysm on one of the chains. However, it disappeared and nothing happened."

"Then we saw him land on the roof of a building and we saw him talking to Ladybug, but Alya didn't get a good picture. And then-"

"And then this guy," Alya said, pointing her finger at Peter, "pushes me out onto the road suddenly. I was about to ask him what on earth he did that for, but a huge piece of a building crashed onto the ground. Right where we were standing!"

"It was nothing, really." Peter breathed, flushing a shade of red. "I just heard some rumbling and saw the building didn't look very secure."

"Nononono." Alya rambled. "I didn't hear anything. And I pay close attention to my surroundings. There was nothing happening. You gotta have some sort of sixth sense or something."

Peter scratched his head, laughing quietly. Marinette noticed someone walking up behind Peter.

"Oi Loser!" Her voice had an American accent, similar to Peter's, but not as distinct.

Peter turned around surprised. He said something in English, and she responded, an amused look on her face.

"Michelle?! What are you doing here?"

"There were some last minute changes. I put my hand up to go. Because why not?"

"I'm assuming one of those changes was how Ned couldn't come anymore right? He said it had something to do with a family issue."

"Yep. Also, Flash put his hand up to come as well. So he's here too."

"Really? You mean I still can't get away from him?"

"Hey, French please?" Alya said, interrupting their conversation. "We don't speak English."

"Oops, sorry." Peter apologised. "This is Michelle, she goes to my school-"

"They know that, idiot. Let me introduce myself thanks." She glanced towards Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien. "I'm. Michelle." She said bluntly, a hint of a smile on her face. Michelle's skin was dark, but not as dark as Alya's, and her brown curly hair was tied back behind her head except for a fringe that covered half of her face. She wore a dark jacket over the shirt she was wearing and a backpack was slung over her shoulder.

"I'm Alya." Alya said, "This is Nino and this is Adrein."

"And I'm Marinette." Marinette added.

Michelle glanced at Marinette. "Marinette huh? I think I'm staying with you? (Unless there's more than one Marinette in this school...)"

"I'm assuming so." Marinette responded.

"A horrible choice really. You should have stayed with me. We have countless five star rooms that you could stay in. Definitely better than whatever floor you'll sleep on at Marinette's house. Do you even own a bed Marinette?"

"Yes. Chloe." Marinette turned around with a sigh. Chloe stood behind her. A smug smirk on her face. Sabrina stood next to her, attempting to copy Chloe's face (but not succeeding in so) and a boy stood on the other side of Chloe. Like Michelle, he also had semi-dark skin and dark hair. His glare was directed at Peter, however.

"Parker." He said, his voice dripping with venom. "You chose some really lame people to make friends with. Don't you even have the decency to hang out with the person who is giving you a place to stay?"

"Go away, Flash. Please." Peter pleaded.

Chloe laughed. "Listen to him. You were right. There's no way he could have gotten an internship with Tony Stark."

"Hey. Cut it out Chloe." Adrien said, walking up to her. His face was set into a frown, "You're being unnecessarily rude today. I thought you were better than this."

Chloe's expression changed immediately. "Sorry Marinette, and sorry, Peter." She apologised quickly, although it didn't sound like she meant it.

Michelle glared at Flash. "I think you're being unnecessarily rude as well." She snorted. And he glared back at her, before walking away with Chloe and Sabrina.

Marinette turned to Michelle. "Sorry Michelle," She apologised. "Sometimes Chloe decides that her goal for the day is to make fun of me in any way possible. And it seems anyone associated with me is going to get a similar treatment."

Michelle shooshed her, "Don't worry, it's all good. Flash is always rude to Peter. I think he's just jealous of his internship."

Alya interrupted them all. "Guys. You didn't let me finish my recap of yesterday's events."

"Go ahead." Nino grinned, and Alya launched back into exposition.

"So after Peter here decided to play hero and save me, he had to leave. He had to go get his stuff, ya know." Alya grinned, "And a few minutes later, I saw this- person like, swing past. I was so confused, I was trying to figure out who it could be when I realised it was Spider-man. You know, from the Youtube Videos?!"

Michelle looked up from her book. "Spider-man was in Paris yesterday? Like, here?"

"Yeah! Isn't that cool! He's actually from around where you guys live, right?!"

"Yep." Michelle responded, looking back down at her book, seemingly uninterested.

"And then-"

The bell chimed, interrupting Alya, -lunch was over.

/*\*/*\

Michelle walked home with Marinette, seeing as she was staying at her home..

"So, you're friends with Peter?" Marinette asked, sitting on her bed. Her parents had set up another bed for Michelle which she sat on as well.

"Well, yeah, I guess you could say that." Michelle answered. "We're both on the Decathlon team. I-I'm actually the captain."

"Really? That's so cool!" Marinette grinned.

"Thanks." Michelle thanked. She got off her bed and took out her book from her bag. She opened up the book, but continued the conversation. "So Peter, huh?"

"W-what about him?" Marinette echoed.

"You talk about him a lot." Michelle said, looking up from her book with a hint of a smile on her face.

"What?! No I don't!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Yeah. I guess you talk about Adrien more." Michelle held her gaze with Marinette's until Marinette looked away.

"What do you know? You've only known me for a day."

"I'm observant." Michelle told her. "Besides, Alya said a few things."

Marinette's face grew hot and she sighed.

Michelle snorted, "And on that subject. If you're hiding a big secret. Please at least attempt to hide it. You have no idea what I've found lying around in people's rooms. Or the way they act- sometimes they're basically telling me they're hiding something and exactly what it is."

"I'll have to double check, but I'm certain I'm not leaving anything lying around. Unless you count my diary. Don't touch my diary Michelle!" Marinette joked.

"No need. I already know your secret Marinette." Michelle snorted.

"What?" Marinette froze.

"Your crush. Remember?" Michelle said, not looking up from her book.

"Oh, yeah." Marinette responded

"And by the way, my friends call me MJ."

"Am I your friend?" Marinette asked.

"Duh. Why else would I have told you that?"

"Oh, right." Marinette laughed.

/*\*/*\