𝚂𝙴𝙿𝙷𝙾𝚁𝙰 ᶜʰᵃᵗ ᵇˡᵃⁿᶜ ˣ ᵖʳᶦⁿᶜᵉˢˢ ʲᵘˢᵗᶦᶜᵉ

━ chapter three

MARINETTE WAS USUALLY A pretty calm girl.

Okay - that was a lie, under no circumstance was Marinette calm.

Even if on the outside she appeared to be at peace, somewhere in the back of her mind was guaranteed to be the familiar emotions of panic and concern. Concern was there for an obvious reason - an akuma could come at any time. Somebody she cared for deeply could get hurt. And panic? Panic simply came with being a superhero. Perks? More like anti-perks.

But in this case, Marinette was full on fuming in the bathroom of her school. She kicked the stall and stubbed her toe, which, one would assume, is expected from kicking a stall. To Marinette, however, blinded by the rage from her own stupidity, that fact was miles from her mind.

"TIKKIIII!" the girl called for her kwami. "I'M SO STUPID, I'M SO STUPID, I'M. SO. STUPID,! THIS IS A DISASTER, A DISASTER, A COMPLETE AND UTTER DISAS - "

"Marinette!" the kwami rushed to her miraculous holder's side. "Don't scream too loud or people will hear you talking to someone who isn't really here!"

This is where the panic kicked in; Marinette shot up too straight too quickly - she flung herself back into a door of a bathroom stall that lay behind her.

Bathroom stall: 2
Marinette: 0

The stall had hurt her toe and now her head. Marinette glared at it, thinking of it as the Lila - Of - Bathroom - Stalls, always there to hurt her, no matter how seemingly innocent.

"OW!"

Marinette banged her fists into the air - she didn't want to make a scene, but she had just invited Lila over to her house! While of course it was indirect - there was no going back now. Adrien had already called his father, who had said yes, even if only because Adrien had agreed that his bodyguard would be there. Gorilla, his bodyguard, was entertained easily, according to Nino, who had told his brother that yet another action figure would be sacrificed. It cost him a future two ice creams to buy for said younger brother, but Marinette knew that Chris would be fine with it. The kid loved hanging out with his older brother. While Marinette was confused by what Nino meant about "yet another action figure" rather than just a single action figure, she didn't know. But she had a feeling that if she really tried, she could put two and two together.

Alya didn't even have to call anybody - Marinette's parents had made it clear that Alya was welcome at any time whatsoever. Nora - or rather, Anazzi - was cool with Alya being anywhere. As long as she stayed closer to the superheroes than the supervillains, the older sister had learned to not underestimate the younger girl.

Tikki flew up to Marinette's cheek and extended her arms as far as they could go. The small, mainly red, though black spotted kwami only could hold about a third of Marinette's cheek before she felt like her limbs couldn't possibly extend further. Marinette cupped her hands to hold the small magical creature, regardless.

It didn't matter if this wasn't a true hug. It was a familiar hug. A hug that brought sense back into Marinette's mind. A hug that could compete with only Alya's.

Or perhaps Adrien's, when Marinette was able to gather her wits enough to talk to him.

"Just take a deep breath, Marinette!" Tikki offered with a smile. "And think! You might catch her snooping - that would prove to Nino that she really is a liar!"

The young ravenette started nodding. "You're right Tikki! With every disadvantage, an equal and opposite advantage is somewhere nearby. It's Newton's unsaid fourth law!"

With a slight giggle and a "Marin-ette!" Tikki laughed and flew back into Marinette's purse.

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Alya shuffled her friend forward.

One step. Two steps. Three steps. Four - why couldn't this girl move more?

"Alya -" Marinette blushed as red as a tomato. "You remember what happened the last time we played volleyball!"

Putting her phone into her bag, Alya snorted. "Oh - you mean when Adrien jumped over you protectively to save you from immediate danger that could possibly do a lot of harm? Yes. I do remember that. And actually - that's exactly why you gotta march out confidently! On your own. As in . . . without my help, girl!"

Marinette's blushed progressed so far passed tomato, that Alya had started to refer to it as the Adrien - Caused - Marinette - To - Blush - Again Blush. The ACMTBAB for short: to be used during text conversations only when somebody nearby might just so happen to peak over one of the girls' shoulders and attempt to snoop and read the conversation. Marinette embarrassed herself enough by even blushing that blush. How much more embarrassed would she be if somebody found out that Alya had created an entire blushing spectrum for her?

"Too many things could go wro-ong!" Marinette tripped over her tongue, causing her words to come out oddly.

"Just be yourself, girl!" Alya encouraged.

Marinette shot her best friend a look. "Remember what happens every time you say that?"

"You have an extremely adorable encounter with Adrien? Yes - now go!" Marinette suddenly found herself being pushed out of the locker room by the sheer strength of her best friend.

Super strength is not something she needs additionally when she becomes Rena Rouge . . .

Outside of the locker room, everyone was waiting for the dynamic duo. One person more than others, but still. Everyone waved and yelled for them to come over.

Marinette squeaked a small "sorry guys!" as she waddled over. Alya, on the other hand, strutted over as if her presence was a gift to humanity. She sat next to Nino and grinned at him.

"Girl things," she mouthed at him. The boy quickly closed the mouth he had opened to ask questions, now blushing a solid four on the ACMTBAB scale.

"Settle down, settle down," their gym teacher called. He nodded his head in the direction of the class, making eye contact with some of the particularly rowdy students. "Now I'm going to explain the rules of the game . . ."

Marinette noticed Lila fidgeting not far off: she kept shifting from side to side uncomfortably.

What are you hiding now, Lila? What are you . . . planning?

". . . and no one may cross that blue line over there . . ."

A billion possibilities ran through Marinette's mind; Lila could have a lock and a key! Or maybe a key and a lock breaker? Oh no - was Lila planning to break into Marinette's lock -

". . . is strictly forbidden . . ."

". . . so, are there any questions?" the gym teacher asked, after his small speech of explaining the rules.

"Mister - May I go to the bathroom?" pleaded Lila. When the teacher said yes, the lying little she - devil walked over to the girls locker room.

Marinette raised her hand too, smacking Nino's shoulder by accident. "May I go too?" she asked politely, trying her best to make it look like she had to go to the bathroom, and not like she was going to go catch her arch nemesis in the act of sabotaging her items.

But it was too late. Lila had already slipped out of Marinette's line of view, and somewhere into the far away abyss of the locker rooms.

I just hope I get there in time . . . and that Alya can follow my lead quickly enough to catch Lila red handed.