Chapter 16 – Silence Before The Storm

"Marinette! Hurry you're going to be late for school again!" Tikki shouted at her chosen one.

"Tikki, I don't know how much faster I can go! The extra patrols Chat and I've been doing lately are taking a lot out of me!" I responded, shoving things into my backpack as fast I as I could.

"How do you expect to live on your own if you can't even make it to college on time?" Tikki asked, not in a rude way just genuinely curious.

"Tikki, I honestly don't plan on moving out until I'm finished with college." I said.

But it would be so much easier to change into Ladybug if you didn't have to worry about your parents finding out...A voice in my head said.

Lately I've been having a war with myself, move out and continue to live under my parent's rules, even though I was technically an adult and a freshman in college, which meant I had to be home at midnight or at the very latest 1:00 a.m., and that made fighting akuma attacks hard. Apparently, I thought bitterly, Hawkmoth has a new style. He thought 'Hey let's through some Akumas at Ladybug and Chat Noir at freakin' 2:00 a.m. in the morning!' It was okay for the first few times, but then one times when I came up, luckily I de-transformed on the roof, when I came in my room at 4:00 a.m. in the morning. Both of my parents were sitting on my bed with their arms crossed and disappointed looks on their faces. It honestly broke my heart, and even though I was an adult. I was still living under their roof, so they sat me down and told that if I wasn't going to respect their rules then it was time for me to leave. I know that it broke their hearts to say those things so I didn't take it offensively, they were just doing what parents do: worry. I couldn't blame them, so I just hope that Hawkmoth doesn't let any akumas loose during the night. It was the reason Chat and I were doing extra patrols, however, those patrols were always at 11:00 p.m. in the night….

"Marinette!" Tikki shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts, "You have exactly 15 minutes to get to class, hurry!"

"Ok!" I shoved the rest of my things into my backpack and grabbed my purse that was full of cookies and my wallet for Tikki, "Let's go" I said to Tikki, and then we left.

Luckily, my parents had a meeting this morning for catering. It would be one of their biggest deals, and it was extremely important to them. However, apparently I was more important. I smiled at the letter maman left me.

Dear Mari,

If you need any food when you get home from school. I just bought fresh meat, so you can make sandwiches, or you could make a bunch of sweets! Also, your father and I will be gone longer than expected, so if you decided to have friends over, make sure to be responsible and don't forget to give them a little Dupen-Chang sweetness! Love you!

Maman and Papa

The smile grew on my face as I read that I could invite my friends over after class. I loved the fact that my parents trusted me to be responsible while they were gone. I looked at the clock, ten minutes left, ok. I really hope there's not much traffic. I walked out on the street and waved for a taxi. I have enough to buy a little moped scooter or even a car, but I've decided with taking a taxi is just fine. Alya, though, she went all out! I though amusingly. She bought a red Cadillac that she absolutely adores, of course, she usually just rides with Nino and then they walk everywhere from school. Nino just has a little blue Ford focus, it's doesn't make sense as to why Alya rides with him, but she does. Adrien, however, *sighs dreamily* he has jet black motorcycle that has enough room for two. He always comes in a leather jackets that's always zipped up over his normal white shirt. He's the definition of looking like an extremely polite and good mannered bad boy….It's strange…but it only made me love him more.

I looked out at my school as the taxi pulled up to it, once I got out. I bolted for class, with only one minute to spare. Please don't let me late God!

Third Person

Chloe's P.O.V.

Chloe was sitting in the classroom waiting for class to begin. She wondered where Max was, usually he was here 15 minutes before class started. He usually sat in the back with Kim, his hoody that he usually wore shadowing his face and he would be one his phone. He wore contacts now, not glasses, which make him look even older. He was actually a very gor—

Stop it Chloe! You shouldn't be feeling this way about him! What happens if another girl likes him? Someone that's much sweeter than you!

"Hey Chloe!" Chloe looked over to see Sabrina walking towards her, her cheeks flushed and she had a certain….glow about her. Chloe smirked.

"So who was it that just kissed you?" Chloe ask, Sabrina lived by herself in an apartment. Sabrina wasn't a player, but she was extremely beautiful. She had long orange wavy hair, and she had beautiful cat-eye glasses, and she always wore a blue blouse and tight leggings. Chloe was proud to be her friend.

In response to Chloe's question, Sabrina blushed and said, "It was Daniel!"

Chloe gasped, and then congratulated her friend. Sabrina had been crushing on Daniel since the beginning of the year. Little did Sabrina know, he'd been crushing on her too! Daniel has the sweetest and kindest soul Chloe had ever seen, except for Adrien's of course. He was a beautiful dirty blond, gray-eyed boy with glasses. He was the definition of a hot nerd. Chloe almost went after him herself, but she didn't because she knew Sabrina liked him.

"So are you two dating?" Chloe asked.

"Yes!" Sabrina squeaked, Chloe just laughed at her friend. Chloe couldn't exactly say it was silly, she just knew that it was the magic of loving someone. Of course, Chloe didn't know if Sabrina loved Daniel, but she must feel something to be acting like this. All of a sudden, the door opened, and the person who could make Chloe's heart flutter walked in the room: Max Kante himself.

Max's P.O.V.

Max looked around the room as he entered the class, until his eyes locked with the gorgeous bright blue eyes he was beginning to love, they were the eyes of one of the prettiest girls Max knew: Chloe Bourgeois. Max knew he liked her, heck, he'd liked her ever since highschool, but since Kim liked her, and he was just a geek he left it alone. He knew everything she liked, because of Kim's attempts at trying to get her attention. Max knew everyone thought she was jerk, and to be quite honest she was, at least back in highschool, but now….she was sort of a shy girl. At least, she didn't hang around people, because she thought they wouldn't like her, but he did….a lot. The only problem was once she really got to know him, would she like what she found? Would she be able to be with him if she knew what the secret he was keeping?

Alya's P.O.V.

Alya was smiling, how could she not? She was riding with her boyfriend in his blue Ford focus with her hand intertwined with his both resting on the armrest between them. They didn't have the first class on Tuesday, but Marinette, Adrien, and apparently Chloe did…Alya almost wished she had the class they were taking so she could see all the drama that would happen before her eyes…..It would be….wonderful! College worked weirdly, Alya thought. Everyday was extremely different, Monday Alya had class with Nino, Adrien, and Marinette. This class was music appreciation. None of them were going into a musical degree, well maybe Nino, but it was necessary for their credit hours and such….Tuesday, which was today, Nino and Alya did whatever they wanted for the first class, but then they had to head over to their first class of the day with Adrien and Marinette which was Literature. Chloe was in this class as well as all of their other friends from highschool. Literature was a fun class. Wednesday was where the gang stayed the whole day. They each had three classes that day, four if you included dance classes which had recently just started. They also had dance class Thursday, but each of them only had one class, so when they were done with dance class they usually just went to a café afterwards or something like that. Friday was Writing Comp, which was Alya's favorite class since she wanted to become a reporter, or journalist or something like that so writing was extremely important to her. It wasn't an easy class though. Luckily, they didn't have Chloe in this class, so it was easier to focus without all the juicy tension that Alya loved.

Anyway, Alya didn't really want to think about her schedule anymore. It just reminded her of all the homework she still had to do, and she didn't want to think about that. Alya closed her eyes and leaned her head back on her chair, and just relaxed. She was perfectly happy with her feet on the dash, and the wind in her hair from the rolled down window, but then the car jerked. Alya immediately opened up her eyes and look over in the driver's seat to see a smirking Nino.

"You looked like you were falling asleep, I thought I'd do something to keep you away!" He said, trying to act innocent.

I just glared at him in response, and let his melodious laugh fill my ears as we drove on to school. Today would be a good day, Alya thought.

First Person P.O.V.

*Time Skip After the First Class*

Adrien's P.O.V.

I walked out of class following Marinette. Today was a good day. I was, for once, on time for class, and even though Chloe was in this class. She was too preoccupied staring at Max. To be honest, I totally shipped them together. They were cute together!

Ew...did I just say that? That wasn't manly at all! What would Marinette say if she heard me say that? I would immediately be friend-zoned.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nino and Alya walking towards me and Mari. For some reason, though, Alya was scowling at Nino, but he just looked like he won a million dollars. His hand was intertwined with hers, and he had a ginormous smile on his face. *sigh* must be love. I just smiled at them, I was glad that my best friend was with the girl he'd been crushing on since forever.

"What happened?" I asked, once they were near me and Marinette, "Alya looks like she's about to rip someone's head off!"

"Well, if you must know" Alya said, "I was perfectly happy sleeping in the car until someone thought I needed to be awake so they jerked the car!"

Nino just shrugged and smiled, "I did it out of my concern for her."

"Sure you did!" Alya said, "So when I do this" She whacked him in the chest with her free hand "Trust me, it's out of concern for you!"

Nino just raised his hands up in surrender, "You're the boss."

"Look at that" Marinette said in a teasing voice, "You've already got your future husband trained Alya!"

They both turned beet red at that.

I, however, started laughing, "Nice one Mari!"

"Pound it!" Mari and I said at the same time, and then fist-bumped each other.

Then we both froze, and looked at our fist and then Alya voiced are thoughts.

"Awwwww look at that, you're cosplaying Chat Noir and Ladybug! You guys are actually really good at it! Maybe you both could be Chat and Ladybug!" Alya said, of course she was just teasing us, but Marinette and I just kept staring at each other.

Marinette was the first to pull back her hand and laugh nervously, "Yah, I guess we could!"

Third Person P.O.V.

All of a sudden there was a loud boom, it kind of sounded like a bomb. College kids were running away from the school. The gang soon found out why. On top of the school there was a woman with black and white hair done into two braids one on each side and she was in a tight white suit.

"Where are you pussy cat and little bug?" She yelled from the top of the roof, "From what I hear you guys haven't been able to find me, well let me introduce myself. My name's Identity Thief, and I will be your ruin!"