Marinette woke the next morning with her whole body aching and shivering. Moaning in discomfort, she rolled onto one side and then pain screamed at her and she moved onto her back. Clenching her teeth, the teen slowly, achingly sat up, wincing the entire time.

"Marinette! You're awake!" Tikki, the faithful kwami she was, flew above her partner's head and came to land in her outstretched hand.

The black and blue-haired girl rubbed her eyes and yawned, grasping at her side. "Tikki... Tikki, what happened?"

The little fairy's face fell. "Oh, Marinette..."

"Tikki? What is it? Why does my side..." Marinette looked down and a hand flew to her mouth. Her side had a long, shallow, red angry cut. The bleeding was no longer there, but a dark red used-to-be-white cloth was. Feeling sick, she turned away, hands covering her mouth. Marinette squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh my gosh..."

"Oh, Marinette..." Tikki flew in next to her partner's cheek and nuzzled. Marinette slowly began to cry, the tears running down her cheeks and dropping onto the blanket. Tikki sighed softly and rubbed her tiny hands over Marinette's cheeks in a soothing manner.

She heaved a long sob. "Oh, Tikki, what..."

The red kwami wavered. "You... Mari, you were fighting an akuma." She tilted her head down. "And Chat wasn't with you."

"He had somewhere else to be," Marinette said, remembering.

Tikki nodded encouragingly. "Yes, Mari. Well, he showed up... but when he did you had gotten hit. It would've been a lot worse, but the suit prevented a lot of... bad things from happening." She drew a breath. "And he got a first aid kit, and he took care of you..."

The realization dawned on Marinette in a flash. "Wait... Does this mean..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "He knows?"

"I'm so sorry, Marinette," Tikki started to ramble. "He kept coming back all night to check on you and make sure your cut was alright. Oh, I'm so sorry, it was the only way... Marinette, I'm so..."

But Tikki didn't need to apologize anymore. She looked up at her partner and saw Marinette's open hand cupped to her mouth, the tears falling quickly down her cheeks, her sobbing uncontrollable. Marinette started to sob; her partner knew who she was. Everything she'd ever dreaded. What if she wasn't good enough? She was just a baker's daughter. Would Chat not want to be her partner anymore?

"Marinette," the red kwami urged gently, "I really hate to tell you, but you have to go for school."

She swallowed. "R-Right, Tikki. Right."

In slow, robotic movements, the teen super heroine stood up, her cut not aching as much as she thought it would. She wrapped a fresh set of bandages around it and then forced herself to change clothes. Tikki helped, carrying her hair elastics to her, comb out some of her hair. Marinette felt lifeless. She sighed a long, mournful sigh. "Mari," Tikki mumbled, "It's okay. He doesn't hate you."

Marinette ignored her.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

Adrien stumbled to school the next day, exhausted. He had been up all night taking care of Ladybug- er, Marinette, and his energy was gone. Maybe he could leave and pretend he had a photo shoot. But he wanted to see Marinette again, to make sure she was okay.

He walked out of the limo and was rushed by Nino as soon as his feet hit the ground. "Dude," Nino said, "You look pooped."

"Feel like it, too," Adrien agreed. "I didn't get much sleep."

"No time to nap now," Nino warned. He pointed very subtle-like at Chloe Bourgeois, who was angrily stomping down the stairs. Adrien groaned internally but mustered up a false smile (he had lots of practice with those) as the blonde ran over, half angry, and half worshiping him.

"Adrien, honey!" Chloe squealed, throwing her arms around his neck. Adrien was too tired to throw them off. "How are you, my dearest?" Suddenly her mood swung. "Oh, there's Maritrash. She's going to pay for what you said to me!" Before the blond boy could protest, Chloe ran off to confront her victim.

Adrien sighed heavily. The DJ shook his head. "Poor girl. She's tough though, Mari. She'll be okay."

You have no idea, Adrien thought sadly. He was going to prepare to help Marinette- she'd had an awful night, and now knowing who she was, he realized how much stress she may have.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

Marinette was prepared for a screaming Chloe, a happy Alya, and a normal class.

She was not prepared for her squealing class mates and the absence of her best friend.

As soon as she was in view of her class mates, they all ran over to her, cheering and screaming. Rose and Juleka were saying something about how brave she was. Kim was saying it was kinda cool of her. Max just shrugged and said there was a 2.6% chance of her standing up to Chloe. Alix said, "You were so cool yesterday!" and suddenly Marinette felt overwhelmed with the popularity. She had just stood up to Chloe; it wasn't like she had won a world famous award, right?

"Guys," Marinette said tiredly, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "it was nothing, really-"

"But you stood up to her!" Rose said happily. "Nobody's ever done that!"

The black and blue-haired girl blushed. "Honestly, it's okay." Then she remembered what her Papa had given her on her way out the door. "Oh! I have macarons for every one!"

The class cheered and surged forwards for the box of deliciousness. Even Sabrina picked one before Chloe snatched it out of her hands and crushed it into a pile of crumbs on the floor. The happiness died as Chloe marched over to Marinette, seething.

Now this, Mari was prepared for. She steeled herself.

"Maritrash Dupain-Cheng," Chloe began, spitting and screaming, "You have made a fool of me for the last time! You're a worthless piece of trash and you may as well go home and just never come back. My Daddy's the Mayor, he'll get me whatever I want!"

The surrounding crowd gasped, and Chloe leaned back with a smug look on her face, which said this is what happens when you stand up to me. Marinette twitched but had the nerve and courage to glare at Chloe.

"I was going to offer you a macaron," she said simply. "But if you feel your Dad can get you one himself you obviously don't need one."

Several students snickered at the different shades of red Chloe's face was turning. "I'VE HAD IT!" she screeched. "Well guess what? Maritrash, you're no longer welcome at this school!"

Now she was confused. "Huh?"

"My Daddy," Chloe bragged, "the Mayor, is in the building now, offering the school a new wing of classrooms." She glared evilly was a large smirk plastered on her face. "In exchange for one thing, of course."

Marinette's eyes widened. "You don't mean-"

"Yeah, Maritrash," Chloe snapped. "The school gets new classes and they're rid of one student- you. You're about to be expelled!"

Everyone gaped in shock as the blonde twirled in a circle. "I get rid of a pest, and the school gets more rooms! Win win!" Cackling evilly, Chloe spun once more and then put a hand on her hip with an extra large smirk on her face.

The poor girl was flabbergasted. "Uh, I... Uh... But... You can't..."

"Can I?" Chloe mocked with a fake pout. "I can!"

"Bull," Alya announced, showing herself for the first time that day. She turned to her best friend. "Sorry I'm late." Alya turned back to Chloe. "No way are you going to make Marinette leave the school because she stood up to you."

Chloe's smirk got even wider. The bell rang for class but nobody cared- everybody kept watching the two best friends and their common enemy, eyes flitting back and forth like an interesting tennis match. Alya's face was reddening. Marinette whispered her best friend's name softly, like she couldn't believe it.

"They're all afraid to stand up to you," Alya ranted. "Because of this exact reason, your 'powerful Daddy'. And I'm sick of it. Mari finally has the courage to, and you want to kick her out of the school?"

"Hmm," Chloe thought. She smiled. "Yes!"

"Then I'm leaving too," Alya announced. A collective gasp rang out but the girl no longer cared. "I don't want to stay at a school where everyone is pushed around by a bully."

"Alya," Marinette urged, "you didn't have to-"

"BULLY?!" Chloe shrieked. "I'm not a bully! Everyone here likes me! I'm popular."

Marinette, summoning some courage, glared at her enemy. "You and I have a different definition of 'everyone' then."

A huge bout of arguments burst out, one between Chloe, Marinette, and Alya, and the rest of the students fought among themselves. Adrien, the observer, finally got sick of it and moved into the group.

"If she leaves the school," he said, but nobody heard him. Embarrassed, he raised his voice. "If Marinette leaves the school," he thundered, drawing everyone's attention, "so am I."

Another loud gasp.

Chloe shrieked. "But Adri-kins-"

"No buts, Chloe," Adrien interrupted. "My father would be more than eager to home school me again."

He hoped she wouldn't call as a bluff. In all honesty, he loved his school, and the people in it, and would never want to leave. But Chloe had crossed a line. He would NEVER go back to his house for home-schooling again.

"Same," Nino said quickly. Adrien shot him a grateful look. "I don't wanna be here in it's gonna be chaos."

"Me too." Surprisingly Juleka spoke up. "Marinette helped me when I needed it and Chloe just was rude to me. I don't want a school with Marinette."

Rose smiled brightly. "Same with me! Marinette is nothing but nice!"

"She was about to give up her spot for me in the Gaming Competition," Max said. "She deserves to stay."

Soon, every student was piping up with why Marinette should stay in class. Alya watched the scene in amazement. Marinette glanced back and forth, head whipping around quickly, and she felt like she would cry. "They're all standing up for me," she whispered, rubbing her eyes.

"SABRINA!" Chloe howled. "I'm sure she'll be expelled. Let's go."

But the red-head hesitated. Chloe rounded on her and Sabrina held up her hands in defense. "She didn't make me do her homework... Or anything... She's super nice."

Right when Chloe was about to explode with anger, Mme Bustier marched out angrily to the yard. "One or two students late, I can understand, but the whole class?! Inside, now!" And reluctantly everyone moved up the stairs, Marinette on the verge of tears of happiness, but dreading the moment she may be kicked out of the school.

Hey again guys! Hope you liked the update. It was fun to write! Thanks SO SO much for all the reviews and feedback! It honestly made my day! Next chapter will be up in less than a week. Ciao!~