Marinette Dupain-Cheng was most definitely not known for waking up early. Nor was she known for being particularly nice to whoever caused her to wake up. All her family and friends were all too aware of this fact, as most of them had suffered her wrath in one way or another, whether it was on sleepovers, camps, or just from being in her class.

This being said, it was an extremely risky move when Alya Cesaire decided to call Marinette at six o'clock in the morning. While this wasn't a very early hour for her, it was certainly an early one for Marinette, who was notorious for hitting the snooze button on her alarm.

"Ugghhhhhhh," groaned Marinette, her face buried in her pillow. She reached out for her ringing phone clumsily, managing to knock a book and a hairbrush off the ledge. She lifted her head to check the caller ID. "Seriously, Alya?" she grumbled as she pressed the 'pick up' button, causing her best friend's face to appear on the screen.

"Alya, what the heck?" Marinette glared at her bespectacled friend.

Alya rolled her eyes." Chillax, girl. It's not like I woke you up at midnight. Anyway, I'm doing you a favour."

"How?" Marinette could tell she looked terrible just by glancing at her smaller image on the screen, whether as Alya looked as fresh as a daisy, and way more awake than Marinette.

Alya smiled knowingly at her. "You forgot that we have a committee meeting this morning, didn't you?'

Marinette stared blankly.

Alya shook her head fondly, a small smile playing on her lips. "Girl, girl, girl. What am I going to do with you?"

Marinette was in no mood to be teased. "Well, you could tell me what the hell you're talking about, for starters," she snapped.

"The Valentine's Day Dance committee meeting, Marinette! Seven o'clock sharp! And Adrien's going to be there!"

Marinette's drowsy brain short-circuited. Did Alya say Adrien? Marinette took a desperate look at her reflection again. "Gahhhhhhh!" she shrieked. "I. LOOK. AWFUL!" Maybe it wasn't completely true, but to Marinette it was. She glanced wildly at her grinning BFF. "Thanks! See you! Bye!" She hung up and started to panic even more.

With none of her alter-ego's grace, Marinette scrambled down from her loft bed, landing with a thump on the floorboards. She skidded over to her pink dressing table, and gazed into the mirror.

This was very, very bad.

Dark smudges underlined her slightly bloodshot eyes. Several pillow creases slashed across her pale face, and to top it all off, Marinette was suffering from a severe case of bed hair.

Who in the world had the stupid idea to schedule this meeting so early in the morning?

Marinette groaned loudly. "I hate my life."

Tikki zoomed out from her hiding spot. "Calm down, Marinette! With a bit of help and focus, you'll be up to your sparkling best for Adrien!" she squeaked enthusiastically, showing no trace of fatigue (unlike her mistress). "Let's get to work!"

Marinette quickly brushed her hair into her trademark twin tails, shaping them with the help of some hairspray. Tikki deftly arranged the two strands that stuck out of each tail, completing her chosen's favoured hairstyle.

Next was the hard part. Marinette splashed cold water on her face, and tried to smooth out her pillow creases. With a sigh, she pulled out the makeup set she'd been given for her birthday. Makeup wasn't really her style, and Adrien had said in an interview that he preferred natural, but this was an emergency. Marinette used her kit's contents to cover the early-morning imperfections on her face, then after a moment's hesitation, added a sweep of gloss to her lips and mascara to her eyelashes.

"Looking good!" said Tikki happily. "Now you need an outfit and breakfast, and you're good to go!"

Marinette rushed over to her closet. She could play it safe and go with her usual t-shirt, jeans, and jacket, but something told her that it would be a good idea to draw attention away from her face, as she was no pro when it came to makeup. She selected a frilled white blouse embroidered with pink roses, her usual pink jeans, and a pair of pale pink ballet slippers. She twirled in front of her mirror, making sure everything was perfect.

"You look beautiful, Marinette!" admired Tikki. "Now we should think about breakfast."

Marinette nodded, checking the time on her phone. She toppled back. "Ahhh! I'm late!"

She snatched up her school bag and purse, letting Tikki fly in safely, then sprinted downstairs.

"Marinette!" Sabine looked surprised as the bluenette burst into the kitchen. "It's unlike you to be up this early. What's go-"

"Meeting-school-late-gotta-go-bye!" Marinette grabbed a croissant as she ran past her bewildered mother and sprinted out the door.

Backpack thumping as she ran, Marinette dodged pedestrians and tried to bite into her breakfast at the same time. She leapt up the stairs at the school entrance and finally skidded through the doors of the classroom, panting.

A peal of laughter cut through the dull chatter as Marinette caught her breath. "Late again, bakery girl? What did you trip over this time?"

It was Chloe, the snarky blonde who for some reason had it out for Marinette. The pigtailed girl glared, then straightened up. "I didn't trip over anything, Chloe."

She sneered. "Yeah, right. You probably had to pick that food up off the ground half a dozen times on your way over here!" She and her red-haired friend, Sabrina, laughed.

Marinette was about to snap back when a voice interrupted her. "Chloe, was that really necessary?"

Marinette just about fainted. Adrien was standing up for her!

"Ugh, whatever," muttered Chloe.

Alya cleared her throat. "Okay, guys. Let' get this show on the road. Item one on the agenda-"

"Wait!" cried Chloe, standing up quickly. "I had the most amazing idea last night! I'm sure you'll all love it." She flipped her perfect ponytail. "We should totally have a masquerade ball! And Ladybug and Chat Noir should totally be invited, because hello, they basically invented masks."

Everyone stared at Chloe, then at each other.

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea, for Chloe," said Nino.

Several others muttered in agreement.

Alya shrugged. "Well, it's not the best timing, but I agree. Ladybug and Chat Noir would make for great celebrity guests, and the mask thing would be fun."

"Ladybug's like my BFF! I could totally get her to come!" added Chloe.

Yeah, right, thought Marinette.

Hi readers,

Sorry for not posting lately! I had some sporting commitments that got in the way. Yes, this isn't the most interesting of chapters, but I'll try to do a really good one next time to make up for it. Someone asked why one of the genres was 'Angst'. Well, my dear readers, you'll just have to wait and see! (Cue evil Hawkmoth laugh). This is my first fanfic, remember, so I'm not the best at this. But I promise to try my best to bring you an enjoyable story.

Yes, I know I keep asking for reviews, and it's probably REALLY ANNOYING, (but then again, I do excel at being annoying) but they're really important to the story. There are over a thousand people who are reading this, and only nine of them bothered to leave a review. I'm not saying you have to, and I'm sorry for being annoying, but thank you soooo much to the people who did leave a review. Until next time!