___________________________________________________

The next day, as soon as I saw Lila on the corridor, I froze. I remembered how she forgave Ladybug, but not me - Marinette.

Alya noticed my body go rigid because she stopped walking and turned to look at me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I replied, a little too quickly. "I just remembered something,"

Alya simply nodded and we got to our seats. As soon as we sat down, a voice spoke from the speakers.

"Good morning, school," Our principal greeted in a lively tone. "I am speaking to inform you on the annual school prom,"

Alya and I looked at each other with our eyes as wide as saucers.

"Be sure to vote for you king and queen in the boxes at the main corridor," He reminded us.

"You all better not think about participating," Chloé said hastily, while picking at her manicured nails. "Because I would win by a landslide,"

I rolled my eyes at that girl.

"The theme is masquerade so you can wear anything, so long as you wear a mask. The prom will be the same as others - boys ask girls," He continued and in my mind, I thought of Adrien. How typical of me. "More details will be told in the course of the week. Have a good day," He signed off.

Alya squealed loud in my ear. "Prom is coming up!"

"You're going to give me hearing problems," I covered that ear. "I didn't think you'd be the kind of person to be looking forward to for prom,"

"Are you kidding? It's the highlight of every girl's life!" Alya looked at me, very seriously. "And also, this time, I might actually be asked,"

"Not 'might'. You definitely will," I looked over at Nino, who was engaging in a conversation with Adrien. "Or else he'll have to go through me," I even clenched my fist for the effect.

"What about you? You're talking as if you won't even go for it," Alya said, after chuckling at the indirect threat I gave to Nino.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't think that I will go,"

"Why not?" She frowned.

"You heard the principal. It's boys ask girls. I don't think that I would have a date," I answered.

"Do I need to slap some sense into you?" Alya whacked the hack of my head. "Sorry. That wasn't a question. That's a statement,"

"Quit it! Ow!" I groaned as she kept whacking the back of my head.

"I'm pretty sure that you have a higher chance of being asked by someone than I do," Alya finally stopped hitting me.

"Are you crazy?" It was my turn to hit her. "Who would dream of asking me?"

"The answer is sitting right in front of you, girl," Alya raised an eyebrow. "And if not, at least you have a cute artist boy who may or may not ask you because of how shy he is,"

"Who? Nathanëal?" I turned to look at him, busy doodling in his notepad. "I'm not so sure about that. I don't think that he likes me the way he used to before,"

When he was akuma-tised, he became the 'Evillustrator' and his power was anything he would draw would come to life. His only weakness was that he could only draw when there's light.

He had a humongous crush on me and when Chloé got him humiliated about it, he wanted revenge. As Ladybug, I told Chat Noir that I was going for a secret mission and that he would have to work with a girl named Marinette - me.

Chat Noir came to my house and we devised a plan to take down the Evillustrator. Unfortunately, it didn't go very well.

The Evillustrator saw Chat Noir and trapped Chat Noir and I in some cuboid. Nathanëal said that he wouldn't hurt Chloé - but I betrayed him, so he went after Chloé.

Before he did, he was very hurt by what I did and compared me to Chloé. On that day, it seemed like everyone was doing that, which made me irritated.

I am nothing like Chloé!

Anyways, back to the point.

From that day forward, I am not sure if Nathanëal still likes me.

"Then that's why I'm counting on the blondie," Alya said, with a grin.

"He could ask just about anyone, Alya. He could ask Chloé, he could ask Lila, maybe even Sabrina," I sighed.

"Marinette, if you don't want me to hit you, I suggest that you stop talking," Alya told me and I immediately obeyed.

______________________________________________

"Mari!" Adrien chirped excitedly as he sat down, opposite to me.

"Stop calling me that," I frowned. "You do know that 'Mari' means husband in French, right?"

Adrien burst out laughing and continued laughing for about a minute. He shook his head and leaned his head on Nino.

Nino turned to look at him, with an eyebrow raised. "Do you mind?" He said in the same tone like he said yesterday. "We were in the middle of something, dude,"

"I swear, this girl will be the death of me, Nino," Adrien continued laughing, ignoring what Nino had said.

"What did she do this time?" Alya asked Adrien.

"Nothing. I did nothing," I said, turning the slightest shade of red.

"You guys know how I call her Mari, right?" Adrien said and the two nodded their head. "She's made me realised how Mari in French means husband. So I've been calling her my husband,"

Nino and Alya snickered but it backfired because they, too, also burst out laughing.

I didn't feel the need to stay around anymore, because it's lunchtime, I'm hungry and I wanted to go home.

"Shut up!" I mumbled. I stood up from my seat. "I'm going home. I'll see you guys in the next hour,"

"Don't go, Marinette," Nino begged, clasping his hands right in front of his chest.

"Please stay," Alya added, looking at me the way Manon would look at me if she really wanted something so bad.

"Or at least, take us with you," Adrien said, running a hand through his hair.

"No. All of you are mean to me so I'm going home where I can kick back, relax and be away from you guys for an hour," I crossed my arms, playfully and began to walk away.

Before I could even get to the exit, I felt arms go around my waist and pulling me back.

"Stay with us," Adrien sort of demanded. After a second, he added, "Please,"

The proximity between us was killing me. His arms were around my waist and my arms were on his shoulder.

"Stay," He repeated again, in a flirty tone. "I know that you can't stay for a long time without me,"

"I can," I shot. "And this is a little too close for comfort,"

"Why, this isn't close at all, my lady," He said, with his normal flirty-seductive voice.

"It's too close for me," I tried to pull back but Adrien's superior strength overpowered me.

"Stay," He repeated one more time, gazing at my eyes.

My stomach growled at Adrien in response. "Sorry, Adrien. As you can see, I'm starving,"

"You call that a stomach or a turbine engine? It's so loud," He chuckled. He saw my glare and covered it up with a cough.

"I can give you some of my lunch, if you'd like," He offered.

"Thanks, but no thanks," I told Adrien as I removed his hands from my waist. He wasn't using much strength now. "I'll be only gone for an hour. I'll be back before you know it,"

________________________________________________

"Marinette, we need to have a girls night out," Alya told me once school was over and we were getting our bags.

"But it's a weekday," I pointed out. Yeah, sure. I don't mind staying until the AM with Adrien but with Alya it's suddenly become a problem.

However, my parents have no idea that I go roaming around Paris at night with Adrien.

They wouldn't allow me to go out on a school night.

"That's not what I mean," Alya said as we began to walk out of the door. "We could go shopping for dresses to wear for prom and talk. It's been forever since we've been together, alone, after school,"

"That is true," I nodded my head. "Okay. So what's the plan?"

"We go to the mall first and go dress shopping, then we'll go back to my house and talk until it's about 8 pm then you can go home," Alya replied.

"Okay. Let's go dress shopping," I felt a smile forming on my face.

__________________________________________________

"Marinette, does this make me look fat?" Alya came out in a white, strapless puffy dress which ended just below her thighs.

"No. You look great," I told her for the umpteenth time. We've been here for an hour and I've been sitting on this chair telling Alya what I thought of the dress. I swear, I've sat here for so long, there's a deep butt-print on the chair.

"That's what you've said for all of them," She groaned and tugged the dress down. "This dress is too short,"

"Yeah," I said, a little awkwardly.

"Why won't you try any dresses?" She turned to look at me.

"I don't know what colour to pick. I don't know the theme," I rambled on and on.

"It's a masquerade theme and the principal said that you could wear just about anything, as long as you wear a mask," Alya replied.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

"I think you should pick a red dress because it would go with your hair," I commented, trying to picture her in a red dress.

"I was thinking black," She mused. "But I see your point. Unless I dye my hair, but I don't see myself doing that,"

"Why don't you go with the one you got in Italy?" I said, suddenly. "I actually remember telling you wear the dress for prom,"

"Oh yeah!" Alya nodded. "I'll just wear that and buy a mask," She smiled, but then frowned a second after. "We've gotten me sorted out, but now we need to get you sorted out. Out of that seat. Come on. Up on your feet,"

She made me stand up and grabbed my hand as we went looking for a dress in this store.

"I think you should be the one to wear a black dress," Alya said, as she ran her hand through the different fabrics of dresses. "It would suit you. Wear that dress, slap on some heavy make-up, heels and let down your hair, then bam! You're ready to go,"

"Heels? Make-up? My hair? Alya are you crazy? I told you that I most probably won't be going," I frowned at her. She's crazy if she thinks that I'm going to do all that.

"You are doing that," Alya gave me a fierce look. "This will be the night of our lives. I will make Adrien ask you,"

"No, don't do that. I don't want him to be forced to do that," I shook my head, sadly.

Alya gritted her teeth before letting out a groan in frustration. "You know how Adrien said that you'll be the death of him, earlier today? Well, I'll be the reason for your death. Honestly, are you blind, Marinette? Adrien really likes you! I think he will definitely ask you,"

Before I could even reply, Alya started to cough really loudly. This was followed by terrible wheezing and I was frozen.

I had no idea what to do.

"Alya! Are you okay?" I asked, and I mentally face-palmed myself. Sure. Ask a person who is wheezing, if they are okay. Way to go Marinette.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something very strange. The dress which was on Alya started to tighten on her.

Connecting the dots, I realised that the dress was probably the reason why she was choking. I needed to get it off her. No matter how graphic it would be.

I grabbed her hand and entered the changing rooms with her clothes in it. I then tried to unzip the dress. The zip put up a tough fight and alas, it won because it separated itself from the rest of the dress.

I cursed when it snapped and I tried to think of what else to do. "I'm going to get Ladybug and Chat Noir on this, Alya. Don't worry,"

I took off and went to a different changing room at the other end so that Alya doesn't hear me. I unzipped my bag and Tikki flew out.

"Tikki, spots on!" I told her.

In a matter of seconds, I was Ladybug again and I bolted out of the door. The sound of groaning filled my ears and I went to search for the source.

There were people on the ground who were groaning and wheezing, trying to pry off various clothes.

"What the heck is going on here?" I asked, out loud.

"I'm just as confused as you are my lady," A familiar feline voice agreed from behind me.

"I know that it has to do something with the clothes that people are wearing. They get tighter and tighter until they are impossible to remove," I informed Chat Noir.

"That's terrifying," Chat Noir frowned. "And it ruins the whole shopping thing for me,"

"Come on. We need to find out who Hawk Moth has akuma-tised this time," I began to run towards the door, leaving the store.

I gasped at the sight. As far as the eye could see, 70% of the people in the mall were groaning on the floor with others looking really frightened as they try to help them.

"Evil lady, 9 o'clock," Chat Noir tapped my shoulder. I turned to see a woman in a green, floral top and pink khakis, laughing maniacally like every other villain.

Okay, I know that I said that I missed fighting villains - but this charade has being going for so long that it's getting a little boring.

It's like chewing gum. At first, it's flavour excites you and you want more but after a while, it gets tasteless.

"Hey!" Chat Noir yelled. "Apart from breaking all the fashion rules in the book, what do you think your doing?"

"What do you mean that I'm breaking all the fashion rules?" She looked at what she was dressed in.

"First, those colours don't go together at all. Your hair is orange, you're wearing green and pink together and khakis are so last season," Chat Noir criticised.

"Wow. Diva much?" I teased, with a small grin on my face.

"Shut up," He replied, with a ghost of a smile on his face, too.

"I'm eccentric! But no. People like you do not appreciate my fine taste," She sneered. "That's why my clothes line was cancelled. Nobody could wear my clothes. But now, I have come up with an invention to make all my clothes into monsters that devour culprits,"

I took a good look at her because she looked really familiar. Chloé was talking about her to Sabrina, and I just happened to hear her name and I looked her up, since I want to be a fashion designer when I'm older.

"You're Maurelle Perez!" I gasped. "A very famous fashion designer. But your clothing is beautiful! At least every person in Paris should have one of your brands!"

"That's because I started again. With a lot more research than I did the first time I started working for the fashion industry, I started to make clothes that are irresistible to the eye," Maurelle explained.

"Before, everyone would shame my fashion ideas. Now, everyone loves them. But I want revenge for what I went through before I made my breakthrough," She began to clench her hands until they formed fists.

She turned to look at us with her stone-cold grey eyes. "You know Chat Noir, I think that this hat would look absolutely purr-fect for you,"

She tossed a hat at him. At first, it looked harmless, but as it came closer, there seemed to be extensions that were charged up with electricity. It was like a jellyfish.

Chat Noir took one step to the right and the hat whizzed past him. "First of all, that pun was so unoriginal," He rolled his eyes. "Second of all, I bet that I could make better hats than you in my sleep,"

"How dare you!" She shouted. Her eyes lit up in fury. "Attack them both!"

Chat Noir and I got our weapons ready and began to twirl them around. After a couple of seconds, nothing was happening.

"Uh, who are you summoning to talk to us?" I asked, confused.

"Just wait for it," She held up a finger, with a wicked smile playing on her lips.

Chat Noir and I stood our ground, ready to fight. After a couple of more seconds nothing happened. Neither of us said a word. We waited for about a minute when Chat Noir broke the silence.

"Where's your army of evil people?" He asked, frustrated. "They are so slow. What are they? Zombies?"

I let out a loud scream when I was suddenly pulled to the ground. The people who were lying on the ground, struggling to remove their clothes had pulled me down with them. They ripped the jumpsuit at my leg, exposing my bare skin.

"Ladybug!" Chat Noir's green eyes lit up in fear as he grabbed my hand and pulled me up, back to him.

Still holding my hand, he began to run and we ran all the way to the stairs, to first floor.

We skillfully dodged every person who was after us until we were able to get to an area where there was no one.

"It's like their zombies," I mused.

"Huh?" Chat Noir asked.

"Think about it. Look at them," I peered over to look at them. "They are hissing, groaning and limping all over,"

"Ew," Chat Noir wrinkled his nose. "Look at what they are wearing. Talk about a fashion disaster,"

"Don't focus on that. We need to find a way to take down these guys," I slapped his shoulder.

"Maybe your lucky charm could help," Chat Noir suggested.

I gave him a grin. "That's the smartest thing that you've said all day,"

"Hey!" He frowned and slapped my shoulder.

I threw up my yo-yo. "Lucky cha-AH!" I screamed again, because I was bitten by something.

I turned around to look at the bite mark which was fresh on my leg. They had caught up to us and we didn't notice it.

"Chat Noir behind you!" I yelled. I removed my yo-yo and hit the zombie trying to attack the superhero.

"Come on. We've got to get out of here," Chat Noir grabbed my hand again and he fought his way through the sea of zombie with only one hand, while using his staff.

Chat Noir steered us to the elevator with the zombies hot on our trail. He punched open the button to the elevator and rapidly hit the close button. It closed just in the nick of time.

"Whew! We made it!" Chat Noir groaned.

"Lucky charm!" I threw up my yo-yo and a red nose that clowns wear landed in my hand.

"Great. We're going to die, but at least we'll die happy in each other's arms," Chat Noir said.

"You don't sound to sad about it," I frowned.

"Yeah, because I'll die happy with you, my lady," He winked at me.

I began to growl.

"Easy there, tiger. You want to get dirty inside an elevator?" This time he wirked at me.

But I couldn't help it. It felt so right to growl. Then I began to hiss and move closer to Chat Noir.

"As much as I love this proximity, Bug, you don't look so good and I'm going to guess that it has something to do with the bite on your leg," Chat Noir began to back away.