"Marinette! You're going to be late!" Marinette's eyes snapped open. She grabbed her phone to check the time, but it wouldn't turn on. She had forgotten to charge it the night before.
She climbed out of bed and began to throw her clothes on as she turned on her computer. There was no news about Ladybug other than the akuma attack and how she and Queen Bee had defeated the villain and Hawkmoth. Her secret was still safe.
She let out the smallest sigh as she continued to get ready for the day. She had 10 min before the morning bell rang. She threw her hair into pigtails and brushed her teeth. She wondered what Paris thought of her enlisting the help of Chloe once again. She was sure that some people would be upset, and she wondered if that backlash would be the catalyst for Chloe to be akumatized.
"Such bad thoughts first thing in the morning." She whispered to herself as she packed her bag. Once she made sure she had grabbed everything she ran downstairs. She only had time to grab a banana before flying out the door and down the stairs.
Paris felt brighter than usual when she threw the front door open and had to squeeze her eyes shut. Her dad took the opportunity to squeeze a bag of croissants into her hand.
"Thanks, Dad!" She said as she ran off.
She could see students gathering outside the school and she could see Alya talking to Nino and Adrian as she got closer. She wondered what the three of them had to talk about. Alya was much better at getting to know people than she was, but that's what she liked about her friend.
"Hi!" Marinette gasped as she came to a halt in front of her friends.
"Hey, Marinette!" Adrien greeted her before anyone else. She smiled at him and then turned her gaze away abruptly.
"You're not late today. Did you actually set an alarm?" Alya teased as they all filed into the school.
"Nope. Just ran a little quicker I guess." Marinette checked her phone for the time. The first bell was going to ring in a minute.
Marinette's eyes darted to Chloe's seat as soon as they entered their classroom. At first, she thought the girl hadn't come to school until she heard a shrill voice behind her.
"Out of my way!" She turned to see Chloe stomping down the fall with Sabrina in tow. Marinette didn't realize she had stopped walking until Chloe passed through the doorway. As she did she shot Marinette an ugly look. "What are you looking at?" She said, though there was a little less venom in her voice, or maybe Marinette was imagining things.
Marinette made her way to her seat. She continued to stare at Chloe's bobbing ponytail until she felt Alya shove her.
"Ugh! Alya!" Marinette said rubbing her shoulder. She began to unpack her bag.
"Sorry, but you're staring. Did something happen between you too again?" Alya asked framing Chloe with her fingers like a movie director. Marinette slapped her friend's fingers down.
"Not really…" She said trying to come up with a lie for her sudden interest in Chloe.
"Real convincing," Alya said raising her eyebrow, but she didn't push any further. Marinette glanced one last time at Chloe before opening her notebook and reviewing the notes from the day before.
Classes went by without much of anything happening which was just as well in Marinette's eyes. She preferred teacher's yelling and homework assignments to weird villains terrorizing Paris. She couldn't help but keep glancing over at Chloe throughout the day, but she didn't seem to intend to expose her identity.
She was sitting at her lunch table with all the other girls when a warning went off on Alya's phone. "There's a potential Akuma attack," Alya said as she scrolled through her phone to see what had triggered the Akuma alert. Marinette felt herself tense as Alya scrolled through her phone for answers.
"Nevermind. It was just some runaway kid in a costume." She said putting her phone down with exasperation. All of the girls gave her a look. "What? It's not like I want an Akuma attack to happen. I'm just saying you can't tell the difference between a kid in a costume and a real villain?" Alya said in exasperation. Marinette laughed.
"You just want something new to write about on your lady blog." Marinette teased.
"It's not fair that I was in a cage on the opposite side of the zoo from where all the action went down yesterday!" She said and the rest of the girls laughed.
Classes continued uneventfully until Alya's phone went off again in the middle of science. Ms. Mendeleieve scolded Alya for having her phone on during class but she made no objections when the girl pulled out her phone to see if the alert was real this time.
"There's an akumatized villain in Paris!" Alya said sounding just a tinge excited about the news.
"That doesn't mean that we're stopping class. Continue working until they tell us to evacuate or otherwise!" said Ms. Mendeleive. The class roared with objection, but the teacher insisted they always made too much fuss over these attacks when Ladybug could just fix everything anyway.
"M-Miss Mendeleieve? Can I go to the bathroom?" Marinette shouted once the class had settled down slightly.
"No! I can't have you wandering the halls alone."
Marinette bit her lip but didn't drop her teacher's gaze. She needed to get out.
"So what?! You're just going to keep us trapped here?!" Chloe shouted from the back of the room. Everyone turned to look at the girl standing with her arms crossed over her chest.
"If that's what I have to do to keep you safe then yes!" The teacher yelled from the front of the class.
"Well, what if I also have to go to the bathroom? I'm sure my father, the mayor of Paris, wouldn't be so happy about you keeping us in class and not even letting us go to the bathroom!" Chloe yelled.
"Ugh…Do you have to use the restroom Ms. Bourgeois?" Ms. Mendeleieve sighed while pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Yes!" Chloe said putting her fist on her hip. She glanced over at Marinette so quickly that Marinette wasn't sure she hadn't imagined it.
"Fine, you girls can go together. Be back in 5 minutes!" Their teacher shrieked before turning to the blackboard and writing down notes.
Chloe was across the room before Marinette knew what happened. Alya gave her a slight push and Marinette stumbled out of her chair and after Chloe. The two girls walked toward the bathroom in silence until they reached the girl's bathroom. The room was empty.
"Go! I'll make up some excuse for you," Chloe said holding the door closed. Her tone was lighter now than it had been in front of the class.
"Maybe Ladybug can get you out of class," Marinette said with a smirk before sliding into a stall to transform. It still felt weird to do it in front of someone. She hurriedly said her transformation words and then stepped out of the stall.
Chloe blinked at her a few times in shock. "Ugh. This is still so weird." She said rolling her eyes.
Marinette giggled. "Thanks for the help. Don't head back to the classroom right away." She said smiling as she took the door handle from Chloe.
"Good luck!" Chloe said and though she blushed with embarrassment Marinette could tell she was excited to be around Ladybug again. Chloe's infatuation with her alter ego was cute in a way, she thought to herself.
"Thanks!" She smiled before opening the door to check if the coast was clear. She ran out of the bathroom and zipped up the stairs to where the principal's office was. She didn't bother knocking before she threw the door open.
"You need to send these kids home immediately!" Ladybug shouted at the principal who had fallen out of his chair in shock.
"oH-uh. Yes! Of course, Ladybug!" The man said regaining his composure. He cleared his throat before pressing the intercom button on his desk. "All students to evacuate the school immediately. Again, all students to evacuate the school immediately." He said and Ladybug heard the school announcement echo through the school.
"Make sure you stay up to date with Akuma alerts," Ladybug said before running out of his office into the sea of kids that was already forming. She heard gasps and excited whispers as she ran past.
She managed to zip onto the roof of the school and before she left she looked down at the student body. She caught sight of Chloe in the crowd and their eyes met. Ladybug knew at that moment that she had gained an unexpected ally in this weird life she tried to convince herself was normal.
She heard his books clatter on the roof before she saw him. "Ready to go M'lady?" Chat Noir purred. She turned to him and nodded her head. She wondered briefly how he found her before turning back to the crowd of kids and their teachers ushering them out. Chloe was standing unmoving among the throng of students.
Ladybug smiled and gave a thumbs-up. A few students returned the thumbs up and a few even cheered. Chloe slowly raised her thumb and smiled at Ladybug. Ladybug turned to Chat Noir and they both zipped away in the direction of exploding buildings.
"Trying to raise morale?" Chat Noir questioned.
"Something like that…" She said and though he raised an eyebrow at her response, he didn't push any further.
She wondered if Chat Noir had ever revealed his identity to anyone. She wondered if she was the biggest hypocrite in Paris, but mostly, she wondered what it would be like to finally have a friend to talk to about being a hero. Chloe Bourgeois, her friend. That was going to take some getting used to.
Authors Note: Hey guys! This will be the last installment in Friends and Foes. Thank you for reading and thank you for all your kind comments. See you in the next story!