For the rest of the day, Alya couldn't wipe the smirk off her face. It was constantly there, and to be honest, it was kind of annoying. Marinette had asked Alya multiple times why she was smiling, but Alya had just tossed her hair and smiled harder, infuriating the girl. Why wouldn't Alya just tell her?

It puzzled and annoyed Alya's boyfriend, too. The DJ continued to pester the blogger about her expression all day, to no avail. Marinette supposed that telling him that Alya had been texting someone and smiling wasn't the best move. He was now seriously paranoid and kept jiggling about, shooting suspicious glances at his girlfriend and any guy who dared to go near her.

Marinette tried to soothe him. "It's fine, Nino," she lied. "Alya would never go behind your back with someone else. Besides, you'll be with her all evening tonight, right?"

Nino didn't seem encouraged by the thought. "I guess." He twisted his hands.

Marinette sighed. "Look, it's annoying me too. But who knows? Maybe she has a cool surprise planned for you."

Nino shrugged and began working on his latest mix again.

Marinette turned back to her work. If Adrien was here, he would have been able to comfort his friend. Not that Marinette wanted him here, she was simply stating a fact. Maybe he'd come down with a cold, she thought hopefully. Then she wouldn't have to face him for ages.

But if he was fine, then where was he? It was unlike Adrien to miss school, especially with a father as strict as his. Marinette disliked him, but she couldn't help but feel concerned for him. After all, she had once seen him as the sweet, kind Chat Noir, and it was difficult to stop viewing him in that way.

A small shriek assaulted her ears, and everyone in the vicinity looked up, annoyed at the distraction. Alya stood by the shelves, staring at her phone, giggling in obvious delight.

Marinette put her head to the desk, the smooth paper of her textbook cool against her forehead. She had no wish to deal with Alya's weird behaviour, and by the look on Nino's face, neither did he.

Alya flounced over to the pair, looking like a child on Christmas morning. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks were rosy. Actually, she reminded Marinette of the way she'd looked after Nino had finally plucked up the courage to ask her on a date. That had been five months ago now, realized Marinette with a shock. Where had the time gone?

Alya laughed again as she reached them, giving them wide, toothy smiles. "Hey, guys!"

"Did you just get another text from your new boyfriend?" muttered Nino under his breath, just loud enough for Marinette to hear. She frowned at the boy, who didn't look up from his phone.

Alya tittered. She obviously hadn't heard her boyfriend. "Oh, never mind! I can see you're working very hard. I won't bother you, then!" She pinched Nino's cheek and giggled.

Nino's head snapped up. He looked irritated. "Look, Alya, I don't know what's gotten into you-"

Alya just kissed his cheek and pranced away, not letting her boyfriend finish. He glared at her retreating back, then put his head in his hands.

Marinette watched him, worried. After a few moments, he lifted his chin, jammed his earbuds back in, and went back to work. Marinette decided that it was time she had a serious talk with Alya. Picking up her books, she put them into her shoulder back and hurried after the blogger. She caught up with her fairly quickly, and as expected, Alya was staring at her phone and beaming- again.

Marinette put a hand on Alya's shoulder. "Alya, we need to talk." She made her voice firm, to let the girl know that there was no backing out.

Alya looked up in confusion. "Uh, okay, girl." To Marinette's surprise, she sounded like her usual self.

"Nino and I are getting pretty worried, and quite frankly, annoyed. You just keep looking at your phone and then laughing, or you walk around with this weird little smirk on your face. We've asked you why multiple times, but you never answer. I don't want to know what it is, though. For all I know there's a surprise planned or something. But please stop. You're really freaking Nino out."

Alya blinked at her through the lenses of her stylish glasses. "Wow. Am I really that bad?"

Marinette smiled. "Yeah, sorry."

Alya shook her head, causing her loose curls to bounce all over the place. "No, don't be sorry. It's my fault. I talk to Nino. I just got some really good news, that's all. I guess I was kind of….drunk on happiness?"

Marinette bumped her gently with her shoulder. "Seriously, don't stress about it. I'm glad you're back to normal," she replied. "You'd better go talk to Nino. He's not doing so well."

Alya nodded furiously. "On it!" As she raced towards the library, she called over her shoulder. "Thanks, M!"

Marinette just chuckled fondly and waved.

MLBMLBMLB

The entire class was acting like they'd drunk a litre of Red Bull that afternoon. Everyone talked at lightning-fast speeds, fidgeted and knocked things over. Rose, who was usually pretty energetic, was practically bouncing off the walls. After maybe ten minutes of trying to get them to sit quietly and plan essays, Ms. Bustier simply gave up, and let them do what they liked for the remainder of the day- within reason, of course. When Nino attempted to blast his latest mix, she put her foot down, and the class quietened a little.

Marinette knew they were all excited for the dance, and tried to join in on their excitement, but just couldn't. She had never been very good about faking emotions she didn't feel. Despite the fact that she had a beautiful dress, a mask to match, and would be hanging out with her best friends all evening, she felt kind of...empty. Like her evening was a jigsaw puzzle that was missing a piece, or maybe seventy.

Nevertheless, despite not feeling her classmates' buzz, she joined in on the Monopoly marathon and tried to laugh and smile with everyone else. Everyone else was too busy (or too high) to take any notice of her.

Eventually, it all got too much for Marinette. Her entire face ached from forcing smiles, and her head was beginning to pound from all the noise. Rubbing her temples, she excused herself from the board game and approached Ms. Bustier's desk. The auburn-haired young woman looked up from grading essays and smiled at her student. "How can I help you, Marinette?"

"Can I go and get some fresh air and a drink? I'm a little lightheaded."

"Of course!" Ms. Bustier gave her a sympathetic look. "It is rather loud in here, isn't it? But I suppose they deserve their fun. Are you attending the dance tonight, Marinette?"

"I-er-well…..yes."

Ms. Bustier put her hand on Marinette's shoulder and leaned in close. "Don't let a boy get you down, my dear. Sometimes it's nice just to take some time to yourself, and being single is rather fashionable these days." She straightened up. "If you need to go home or see the nurse, please tell me. I'd hate for you to stay home tonight." She winked at the stunned bluenette and went back to marking papers.

Marinette nodded silently and walked out of the room, feeling slightly dazed. It was disconcerting that Ms. Bustier could read her so well, but nice to have an ally. She stumbled down the staircase and towards the bubble taps, breathing deeply in the fresh air. The wind was tugging gently at their dance decorations but was doing wonders for Marinette's headache. Paired with a few gulps of clean, sweet water, and Marinette was feeling much better.

Except for one thing. Ms. Bustier's words now hung in her mind like some kind of huge billboard, something she was not consciously thinking about, yet was always at the front of her mind. It was annoying, and Marinette knew she should take care of it in order to put her in a better mental space, but couldn't bring herself to face it. Coward, she thought to herself. Ladybug, defender of innocents, bringer of justice, guardian of Paris, can't face a stupid thought?

But despite her self-taunts, the distraught young designer just couldn't think about it. She shoved all thoughts of Adrien Agreste and tonight's dance into a corner of her mind and marched back to the classroom. As soon as she opened the door, her ears were immediately assaulted by the horrible sound of heavy metal rock music. It looked like Nino had succeeded in his attempts to play music, although it certainly wasn't his music. Judging from the genre, Marinette decided that Ivan must have selected the song.

With a groan, she put her hand to her forehead. It was going to be a long afternoon.

MLBMLBMLB

Marinette turned the apple around and around, staring into its glossy, Ladybug-red surface. Her freshly painted (now dry) nails cut into the flesh, creating tiny, pale nicks on the fruit's perfect skin. She stared at her nails in disgust. Painted blue with silver sparkles, manicured neatly and perfectly matching her dress and mask. Marinette had never felt so much loathing towards keratin.

She'd gotten her nails done with Alya, Mylene, Alix, Juleka and Rose, all six of them hustling into one of the area's many beauty salons. Marinette hadn't planned it but had been cajoled into getting a manicure by her friends. When she'd finally relented, they'd whisked her off to the trendy salon, giggling and elbowing each other. The girls had only let her go home once the final coat of polish had been applied, waving and telling her that they'd see in later that evening.

How very wrong they were.

Marinette's friends would simply have to do without the blessing of Marinette's presence at the dance. Oh, sure, she could have a great time with the girls and knew that it didn't matter if she didn't have a partner. But to Marinette, it did matter. Adrien would be there with Chloe, presuming that he wasn't ill or away. Marinette wasn't going to hold his (horrible) choice of partner against him, she wasn't quite so shallow. But she wasn't about to forgive him for the choices he'd made as both Chat Noir and Adrien, either. She did have some pride left, even though the young superhero wasn't acting like it.

Her eyes fell on her dress, sitting pristine and perfect on her mannequin. The carefully crafted mask that had taken her hours was tucked into the neckline. The blue of the material matched her eyes and her nails perfectly. It was a shame she wouldn't be wearing it tonight. One of the school's biggest events, one Marinette had spent ages working on, and she wasn't even going to attend. How pathetic.

Tikki floated up in front of her chosen, a frown creasing her tiny face. "Marinette, what are you doing?"

Marinette barely even glanced at the kwami. "Sitting on my chair. Holding an apple. Looking at my gown."

Tikki put her pink hands on her hips. "The gown that you're going to wear tonight, yes?"

Marinette sighed and spun the chair away from Tikki. "Oh, give it a break. You know as well as I do that I'm not going."

"No, I don't. Because you are going."

"Am not." Marinette knew she sounded childish, but didn't feel the need to act like an adult right now.

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Tikki, stop!"

"No!"

"TIKKI!"

"NO!"

There was a bright flash as pink sparks erupted from the kwami, causing cracks to echo around the room. Tikki's eyes crackled as she stared down Marinette. "Don't be a fool," she said, voice deeper and richer than it usually was. "You're going, whether you like it or-" The kwami stopped, froze, then zoomed off to hide behind Marinette' computer. Marinette turned in time to see her trap door creak open, and her mother's glossy head poke through.

"Is everything alright, dear?"

Hi again. Slow to update because of the weekend, and also because my extremely young cousins were staying with my family while their mum was in the hospital, having another baby. Let me tell you, it's pretty full on looking after two toddlers who constantly scream/ argue. Fortunately, they now have a new little sister and will be heading home soon (they came up because I live in a reasonably large city and my aunt doesn't trust the doctors in her town). So quick life update there. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and seriously, I am very open to all forms of (constructive) criticism. One review said that the story was predictable (at least that's what I think they were trying to say). So I'll try and stop it from being predictable. If you like, maybe tell me what you think will happen in the next chapters, and I'll try and steer clear of it. Anyway, thanks for reading!