He wasn't in school today.

Usually, I wouldn't be that affected. I would shrug it off and move on.

But today, the day seemed to go by longer, I didn't feel as happy as I used to and I kept staring at Adrien's empty seat.

Why isn't he in school today?

Maybe he's sick.

But Adrien is rarely sick.

Rarely - that means that he still has a chance of getting sick.

Maybe his father wants him to transfer schools and make him go back to home schooling.

Impossible - that can't happen.

He's been here for some time now...he can't just leave. However, from the way Adrien talks about his father, it seems highly possible - I must admit.

Adrien wouldn't have a say in it. He would just have to do what his father wanted. The poor boy.

Class went by like a blur.

There were a couple of times that Alya snapped her fingers right in front of my face and I wouldn't respond. I was too busy, sighing and looking over at Adrien's seat, imagining him sitting there.

Why am I feeling like this?

I really wanted to know.

I shouldn't be thinking about Adrien for this long. He's not in school - period. End of story.

Yet, I felt a little less happy than I usually was. I became more oblivious to the people around me - namely Alya and Nino.

There was also a point during lunch when I accidentally spilt on Chloé water and she went ballistic. She lectured me for - I don't know. 15 minutes?

All I could remember is her standing in front of me, looking at me angrily and flailing her arms around like those creepy, inflated people-like things that you find in front a mall.

All I did was stare at her mouth - trying to make sense of what she was saying. All I could decipher was "Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla,"

"Are you even listening to me?" Chloé fiercely put her hands on her hips while narrowing her eyes at me.

Finally. She said something that I could understand. But now, I was confused. What was she saying before? Bla, bla, bla?

"To be honest, not really," I admitted. "But I'm sorry for spilling water on you. I was a little absent-minded,"

Chloé didn't seem to like my apology, but left me alone, rambling to Sabrina about how I purposely ruined her top because I was jealous of it. She even claimed that I was staring at it in class.

I just went back to my seat with Alya and Nino.

"Someone seems to miss Adrien," Alya commented.

"Huh? What? Me?" I asked, frowning. "I didn't even notice that he wasn't here,"

"Nice try, Marinette, but I saw you staring at his seat for most of today," Nino chuckled, before drinking his bottled water.

"I didn't sleep very well. That's why I was zoning off in class," I lied. "I didn't realise that I was staring at Adrien's seat,"

Alya and Nino gave each other a look before they turned back to me. That was enough for me to know that they weren't buying my story.

To escape further interrogation, I said, "I'm going home to eat my lunch. Then maybe I'll lie down for a bit. I'll see you guys, later,"

And I bolted out of the cafeteria door and the school door, for that matter.

Once I was out on the nearly empty street, Tikki flew out of my bag. "Marinette," She said, with an amused expression written all over her tiny face.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Don't play dumb. Just tell me, okay?" Tikki flew to my shoulder.

I sighed. "Okay, fine. You got me. I do miss Adrien,"

"Aww," Tikki cooed. "Is that why you were staring at his seat the whole time?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But I don't know why his absence in school is affecting me so much,"

"I think I know," Tikki said, before giggling. Before I could even blink, Tikki said. "You're crushing on this boy, Marinette. And you're crushing hard,"

"I knew that I had a tiny crush on him," I frowned.

"That crush is no longer tiny. It's grown into something bigger," Tikki used her arms to elaborate the word 'bigger'. "The more you were hanging out with Adrien, the more they developed,"

I stayed silent.

"Marinette. It's nothing to be embarrassed for," Tikki said. "Just tell me, would you like to be more than friends with Adrien?"

"More than friends?" I repeated, blinking. I let the question sink into my head. But I didn't ask my head what it thought - I looked to the heart instead.

My head would only give me logical reasons. It doesn't deal with emotions as well, unlike the the heart.

The heart is very weird. All it's supposed to do is to pump blood around the body yet here it is, making me have weird feelings.

"I-I don't know," I replied. "I mean, maybe? But I have really never thought about it,"

"Think about it," Was the last thing Tikki said as I pushed open the door to the bakery.

The sweet aroma of baked goods filled my nostrils and I sighed. I love my parents' job. The perks are that I get dessert from here every time.

"Hello, Marinette," My father greeted me. "It's lunch time already? This day is going so fast!"

Silently, I disagreed but I laughed. He must've been really busy this morning.

I climbed up the stairs to go to the living room, where my mother was. She turned her head to my footsteps.

"Hello, dear! Your lunch is on the counter," She told me, before turning back to the TV.

"How come you're up here and papa is down at the bakery?" I couldn't help asking. I plopped myself on a red high-stool seat, and I glanced over at my meal.

It was baked potatoes with some beef stew and a side of coleslaw. Beside it was a slice of cake. Red velvet - my favourite.

"We were taking shifts. I had the morning shift, and now your father has the afternoon shift. But at some point, I will go back to help him. It's been a busy morning and he had to come to help me," She replied, with a smile.

"I thought that summer was coming soon, and so people would avoid the bakery to get into shape," I commented, before taking a bite of my baked potato.

My mother really knew how to cook - the kitchen is her second home. I knew how to make one or two decent things but I couldn't never compare to her.

"I thought so, too," She mused. "Maybe they want to have one last taste of sweet baked goods, before converting to less appetizing dishes,"

I laughed again. "Probably,"

"Speaking of summer, when are you supposed to close school for summer vacation?" She asked.

I hadn't even thought about that. "I think it's a week from now,"

She nodded her head. She seemed like she was thinking about something, so I left the conversation at that.

I finished up my lunch and my delicious dessert. Stuffed, I decided to climb the stairs to lie down for about 20 minutes before going back to school.

I still had 30 minutes of lunch but I want to go back to school early.

Halfway through my nap, a loud scream made me sit up in bed, alert.

"Did you hear that, Tikki?" I asked my tiny kwami, to make sure that I wasn't really hearing things.

"Yes," She replied with a worried look on her face as she flew up to my window. "Marinette, look!"

I went to stand beside her as I followed her finger. At the end of it was a man who was hovering above air and he was holding a little notebook with a pen.

As Tikki and I watched him, we noticed how he would write something on his notebook, tear the paper out, crumple it, then throw it to a nearby victim. The victim would then disintegrate.

"We've got to do something!" Tikki said.

I nodded. "Tikki, transform me!"

She flew into my earrings, making them change colour to red with black polka dots. My fingers skimmed my eyes until I felt my mask over my eyes.

I threw out my hands to as far as they could and I spun around, feeling my Marinette outfit peel off and being replaced by my Ladybug suit.

My yo-yo wrapped itself around my hips and I removed it so that I could use it to leave the house.

Now I had an excuse for Alya and Nino. I could say that I was walking back to school when suddenly, a paper ball hit me and I found myself in another dimension.

This villain was most certainly on the headlines and Alya would believe me since she keeps up with the latest news.

"Excuse me, sir?" I yelled, as soon as I got to a safe distance from him. "But what do you think you're doing?"

"I am getting revenge. That's what I'm doing," He simply stated, while glaring at me.

"Care to elaborate why?" I asked.

"Sure. Just one sec," He wrote something down, tore it, crumpled it, before chucking it to me. I ducked as the ball whizzed above my head.

"Hey! That's not very nice!" I told him, while standing up again.

"Actually, I am a really nice person," He stated. "It's just, after many years of being a psychologist, I hear problem after problem after problem,"

He turned to look at me. "You do know that France is the most depressed country in the world, right?"

I shook my head. "I didn't know that,"

"Well, let me tell you, Ladybug," He snarled. "It gets a little annoying when I hear problems from multiple people - some problems are similar and some problems are completely different,"

"I got sick and tired of hearing, "He doesn't love me," or "I'm just so depressed,". At first, you get used to it, but then you start to go a little crazy," He continued.

He then gave me a wicked smile. "That's why that I came up with the perfect solution. The solution to their problems is to make their problem to disappear. And often, they are the problem. So I just make them disappear,"

"But you're hitting innocent people with those prescriptions that your writing," I argued.

"Everyone has a problem of their own. I'm just doing a favour and getting rid of the problem for them, free of charge," He gave me a toothy grin.

"You'll never get away with this," I began to swing my yo-yo round and round, prepared to destroy this guy.

"Sure, I will. Without your partner, you can't stop me, little lady," He sneered before going back to why he was doing.

Oh that's right. Chat Noir isn't here. That means that this is going to be a solo fight.

But hopefully, that won't be much of a problem. I'll just use my Lucky charm, devise a plan and then go back to school in no time.

"Lucky charm!" I threw my yo-yo up in the air and in my arms, landed a tennis racket. "A tennis racket? What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"

I scanned around the area and my eyes landed on the paper that he was throwing at others.

Hmm. I've got a plan.

"From the way it sounds, you need to see a psychologist!" I said very loudly, watching as the man turned to face me.

What scared me was that he was twitching all over.

"No thank you, Ladybug. I believe you need a psychologist more than I do!" He began to scribble down several things, before ripping each one out, one by one and chucking them at me.

I was running from roof to roof, trying to move left and right, avoiding getting hit. If I got hit, it would spell the end of Paris and the beginning of Hawk Moth's reign.

That guy seriously needed to go for therapy or counselling. Taking other people's anger or frustration and harnessing them into something powerful - that's crazy. He's a sicko.

A moving target is harder to hit - that's what I've always known.

With that, I jumped down the roof and took cover behind a red fire hydrant.

Obviously, I could be seen but it was a chance for me to see the paper ball coming and for me to calculate its velocity and the angle to hit it back with the tennis racket.

I got it right the first time and the man disintegrated. His glasses, notebook and pen fell on the ground and I was confused on what to break.

I decided to go for the pen since it was writing down the evil prescriptions. The black akuma flew out and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Not only had I picked the right item but I had just defeated a villain by myself. Tapping open my yo-yo, I said, "No more evil doing for you, little akuma,"

Before the akuma could escape, I threw the yo-yo to catch it just in time. "Time to de-evilize!"

When the yo-yo snapped closed, I said, "Gotcha!" And after a few seconds, the yo-yo let out the white, small butterfly.

"Bye, bye, little butterfly," I waved goodbye before throwing up the tennis racket. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A wave of light sweeped through the whole of Paris and one by one, people started reappearing out of nowhere.

The psychologist also reappeared and the evil suit that he wore disappeared. "What am I doing here? I should be working,"

"Pound it-" I looked to my left but I saw no one. My fist was just hanging there limply, so when no one was looking, I gave myself a fist bump.

"Excuse me, sir," I walked up to the psychologist. Being closer to him, I noticed how he looked like he was in his early thirties. "I know that being a psychologist is tough because of how many people in France have problems, but try not to take it negatively,"

"First, you're paid for what you do and being in such a depressed country, you must earn a lot. Second, think of how many lives that you've impacted by helping people go through their problems," I gave him a slight pat on the back, before leaving.

I made it back to my room just as my alarm went off. "Tikki, spots off," I told her.

I became Marinette again and Tikki flew to my bed, exhausted. "I'm so tired,"

"I know, but we have to get back to school. You can sleep in my bag and I'll give you my marshmallows, okay?" I cupped my hands so that Tikki could jump on them.

She nodded eagerly.

Before I left the house, I made sure to raid the cupboards for marshmallows. With all the sugar I take, I'm surprised that I've never gotten a single cavity.

_____________________________________________

"Who would like to give Mr Agreste his assignment and book?" Our teacher asked.

I didn't hear this question because my mind was elsewhere.

"Marinette will do it!" Alya shouted. "You can always count on her,"

"Me? What?" I asked, very confused. What on earth was she talking about?

"Very well. Marinette, here is Adrien's book, disclosed with his assignment. I shall expect that you will give it to him before our next lesson, right?" She watched me, behind her pointy glasses.

It took a second for me to comprehend what she was saying. "Yes, miss. Of course,"

"Good," She said with a smile. She walked to the teacher's table and got her books. "Class dismissed,"

I got my bag from my seat and put Adrien's book on my left hand. As I looked to my left, Alya was looking at me smugly.

"What?" I asked, completely baffled.

"What?" She mimicked. "How about a thank you?"

"For what - " The look Alya gave me was enough for me to remember. "Oh,"

"Yeah, oh," She folded her arms.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I pulled her in for a hug. At first, she resisted and finally ended up patting my back while chuckling.

"You better go. I know how happy you are to have an excuse to meet your boyfriend," Alya pulled away, before taking her own bag.

"Boyfriend?" My cheeks redeemed. "He isn't my boyfriend,"

"Then why are you blushing?" Alya arched an eyebrow.

"Because I'm surprised that you would say something like that," I replied, as I began to walk towards the door.

_______________________________________________

"Tikki, what's wrong with me?" I asked my kwami as we began to approach the Agreste's residence. It was a couple of blocks away.

"What do you mean?" Tikki frowned, sitting upon my shoulder.

"Well, Adrien wasn't in school today. He wasn't there to help me fight bad guys today. Usually, if someone like Alya was sick, I would be like "Oh no! She's sick!" and be depressed for the whole day, but Adrien," I paused to chuckle.

"Why I've only known Adrien for a short period of time, yet here I am, all excited to see him after a whole day without his presence," I said, as we approached the intercom.

"I think you're crushing on Adrien," Tikki replied, after a moment of pondering. "And not just any other ordinary crush. You're crushing hard,"

"We'll talk about this at home," I told Tikki, but I wasn't looking at her. My eyes were trained on the camera, scanning the area around the Agreste mansion.

Tikki flew into my bag and I zipped it up. I approached the intercom and took a deep breath, before pushing the button.

"Hi," I said, and a high pitched sound cut through the intercom, making me wince. After a few moments, I tried again. "Hi, my name is Marinette. I would like to see Adrien,"

"Why do you wish to see Mr Agreste?" A female voice asked back through the intercom. I think it was Nathalie's voice.

"He was absent from school and I would like to give him his assignments," I answered. All went quiet in the intercom for some seconds. "Hello? Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes," The feminine voice replied and the gates swung open, startling me. "Please make your way to the front door,"

I hesitantly walked on the pavement towards the front door. This reminds me of the time that Adrien and I were practising for our play.

A feeling of nostalgia overwhelmed me.

I arrived at the front door, contemplating on whether to ring the door bell or knock on the door.

The door suddenly swung open, just as I was about to make a decision. Nathalie stood before me in a sophisticated manner, dressed up in a black suit and her usual red full-neck.

Her blue eyes landed on mine and she gave me a small, almost non-visible smile. "Follow me,"

As she led me to Adrien's room, I couldn't help but feel a sense of déja vu.

When was the last time that I was here? About two weeks ago? Maybe a bit over two weeks.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

"Mr Agreste's room," She motioned to the door. She turned to walk away when she turned around to say, "Oh, and by the way, he is not feeling very well,"

Before I could blink, she was gone and all I could hear is the click-clacking of her stilettos, fading away by each second.