NOTE TO READER: Adrien and Marinette are not together, and Marinette and her classmates are now 16. Alya also knows that Marinette is Ladybug.

CHAPTER 1

I rested my head on the table, struggling to keep my eyes open. They felt like weights on my face. I was defeating Sweetfreak last night, who got akumatised because someone had sabotaged her rock candy recipe. Why does Monarch have to akumatize people at night? I thought grumpily.

"Marinette? Are you listening?" Miss Bustier said, giving me a glare.

"Yes Miss." I replied hastily, and sat up straight.

"Hey, Marinette, last night was a tough battle, why don't you go home at lunch?" Alya suggests. "I'll drop you off the homework,"

"I'll live. I'll just get an expresso at lunch." I replied, knowing my parents would definitely not let me stay home without a good reason.

"Marinette, what artist made this painting?" Miss Bustier tested.

Shoot. "Picasso?" I guessed. The whole class burst out laughing, except for Zoe who is staring glumly at her phone.

"Now, now, class. It was Leonardo Da Vinci. Please pay attention, Marinette," My teacher says and then continues with her lesson.

Our lesson with Miss Bustier finally ended, and Alya and I went to the cafeteria for lunch. As I stood in queue, with Alya in front of me and Zoe behind me. I glance back at her, and she's still staring at her phone, with an upset expression staining her face. "Are you alright?" I ask.

"Well...Not really," She replies quietly.

"I... I'll tell you when we sit down, okay?"

I nodded. Something serious was definitely bothering Zoe. I wasn't really hungry so I got a glazed doughnut and my expresso, and then me and Zoe went to sit down in the corner of the cafeteria, on an empty table.

"So what's up?" I start, taking a small bite into my doughnut.

"Well, on Nattersnap, I've been getting these...messages." Nattersnap is a public social media app, where you can edit your faces onto cute GIFS, and stickers. It's very creative, which is why it's much more popular than Snapchat or Instagram. People can message you privately, but if they say something rude, you can just block and report them.

"What have they been saying?" Zoe slides her phone over to me, with her private messages open. At the top of the screen, the username is 'HOAXED37'. I scroll through the messages.

HOAXED37:

Fatty! And what are THOSE?

The message says with a GIF which has Zoe's shoes edited onto a morbidly obese person's feet, with their ankles bulging out of Zoe's shoes. I knew that Zoe was insecure about her weight already.

Imagine being an obese version of CHLOE BOURGEOIS!

I sigh.

"Don't listen to her, they're just a troll. Block them," I suggest.

"I've tried, but they keep coming back."

I pause for a moment. "I'm sure they'll go away. You know what, I think they're jealous of you," Zoe smiles momentarily. I'm glad I can cheer her up.

It's about six o'clock, and it's dark and raining outside. I hold Adrien's umbrella over my head, and i arrive at the bakery. I fumble for the keys in my bag, and i finally find them. I slide it into the lock and twist the key. I pushed the bakery door open, exhausted, and then trotted upstairs. I collapse onto my onto my lounger. My PC is switched onto the lockscreen, but i was sure it was off. I brushed it off.

"I wonder who Hoaxed37 is," Tikki asks, sitting on my shoulder.

"A real nasty person, that's for sure." I replied. I click my fingers, as i do when i'm thinking.

"Aren't you and Zoe going to report them?" Tikki presses.

"No. Zoe's problems are minor. I still have to find... 3 more miraculous." The Butterfly and Dragon miraculous were still in Monarch's hands, and the Peacock in Felix's. The Fox miraculous is permanently with Alya, and all the others were safely resting in the miracle box. My phone buzzes in my pocket, a message from Zoe.

Meet me at the entrance of the hotel. It's an emergency

"Hide, Tikki."

"Where are we going?"

"To see Zoe."

I met Zoe at the entrance of the hotel. She looked really upset. "Hey, what's happened?" I asked as we walked to the elevator. "

"I've gotten a new message."

Part of me wants to scream, Did you really invite me here for that? I'm not your therapist, but she trusted me, and she was one of my best friends. Zoe presses a button on the elevator, and it proceeds to go up. It dings and we walk out and go to her room. We both sit on her bed and she passes her phone over to me. it's a new message from HOAXED37.

I can't wait till you're dead. And you know the best part? I'm gonna kill you.

There is a GIF underneath of a pig with Zoe's face on it, staring right at me with a look of horror, as a knife is dragging slowly against her neck, and blood trickles down her neck.

"Oh god." I gasp. Placing a hand over my mouth. "She's gone too far now,"

This is getting serious. I head home to the bakery, and it's about 7:15 PM now. My parents aren't home, but they will be, so i rush upstairs to change. I puase as i eneter my room. My PC was on. I was sure it was turned off and i hadn't used it all day. I brush it off.