"I've got to go," Adrien said after final period had ended. Alya, Nino, Adrian and I were walking down the steps which were in front of the school. "I'll see you guys later,"
Alya said goodbye. Nino and Adrien did some weird handshake. I just waved. Adrien entered the limousine and I watched him, still waving, until I couldn't see him.
Even when he was gone, I was still waving. Alya got hold of my wrist and firmly put it on my right thigh. I smiled apologetically.
"Sorry," I apologised.
"It's okay. Do you have any plans tonight?" Alya asked. We began to walk down the streets of Paris. Alya and I didn't leave far away from school, so it would only take us minutes to get home.
I remembered my promise to a certain cat. "Yeah. I do, but I could come at about 8. We could go to the cinema," I suggested.
"That sounds great! There's this new movie which got out recently and I think it would be something that both of us would like," Alya buzzed. She went on and on about the actors in the movie and how they were 'undeniable attractive'.
No one is more attractive than Adrien, in my opinion. My eyes nearly widened and I mentally face-palmed myself.
I'm glad that thoughts are private, and the only way that the world can know is if you spilled the beans out loud.
"I can't wait," I flashed out a friendly grin to Alya. "Tonight will be amazing,"
"We'll meet at the cinema at 8," I gave a thumbs up and Alya gave me a thumbs up back. I turned the door handle to the bakery and it was locked. I fished out my keys and unlocked the door.
After saying hello to my parents, I rushed upstairs. As soon as I shut my bedroom door, Tikki flew out.
"Aren't you going for your date?" She asked me. I glanced at the clock to see that it was 5 minutes to 6 pm.
"Oh yeah!" I smacked my forehead, remembering. "Thanks," I told her. Tikki giggles at my short term memory. "Tikki, spots on,"
After transforming into Ladybug, I ran to my balcony and threw my yo-yo and held on to it. I gave it a gentle tug to see if it was stable. It was. So I swung my body and avoided hitting anything.
I went to the place where I last saw Chat Noir earlier on. He wasn't there. I decided to wait for him. If he took too long, then I would call him or I'll just leave.
After standing around for a minute or so, I decided to sit down. A few people got excited when they saw me. I gave them a friendly wave and grin.
Soon, leather gloves covered my eyes and I couldn't see a thing. My first instinct was to elbow the person in the gut and that is how my elbow made contact with my attacker's abdomen.
No response came from the attacker. It like I didn't do anything. Or my elbows are as soft as cushions.
"Guess who?" A sickenly familiar voice sang. I sighed. I would have rolled my eyes but I was terrified that my eyeballs would fall out and roll on the ground, because I have rolled my eyes so many times today.
That and Chat Noir's gloves were covering my eyes so it prevented me from rolling my eyes.
"Gee. I don't know," I played along. I was really tired today. I didn't have much energy to do anything. Even scold Chat Noir on sneaking up on me like that.
"I said guess," He said. I don't know whether he said it as if I hadn't heard him the first time.
"Hmm," I put my hands on Chat Noir's and felt his fingers. I pulled them away from my eyes and turned around, still holding Chat Noir's hands. "I think it's Chat Noir,"
"You think? I am Chat Noir. The one and only," He rolled his eyes. "What do you mean that you think it's me?"
"You could be Copycat," I shrugged my shoulders and let go of Chat Noir's hands.
"Please. That guy is no where as handsome as I am," Chat Noir ran a hand through his hair.
He noticed a girl staring at him and he sent her a wink. She blushed profusely. She began to walk but crashed into some people, because she couldn't keep her eyes off of Chat Noir.
"It would take him a gazillion years for him to reach my level of handsome-ness and awesomeness," He nodded his head towards the girl he was flirting with moments ago.
"Don't be too cocky," I warned him. "Pride comes before a fall. You could get into an injury and it could ruin your face,"
"I didn't say that it's my face is the only one that is handsome. Everything about me is handsome," Chat Noir corrected.
"Look. I came here for ice cream. I have plans, you know," I said and began walking into an ice cream truck, which was parked not so far from where we were.
"Plans?" He echoed, walking beside me. "What do you do when you're not Ladybug?"
"Normal teenage things," I replied. It was the truth. I would obsess over Adrian, listen to music, hang out with Alya, go to the mall sometimes.
"Teenage things, huh? So you're a teenager?" Chat Noir mused.
"Yeah. Did you think that I was married? What if I was married? And I have 4 kids? And here you are flirting with me," I grinned.
Chat Noir frowned. "You don't look that old. And I don't flirt with just anybody. I flirt with specific people. You included,"
"If you're trying to get my identity, you can't get it," I changed the subject. "There are like a million teenagers who live here in Paris,"
"True," Chat Noir and I arrived at the ice cream truck. "This one is on me. Vanilla for me and...," He turned to me.
"Strawberry," I answered. "One strawberry for me," The ice cream guy gave us our ice cream, but he kept on staring at us, like we just told him that he had won a lot of money.
Chat Noir, true to his word, paid for the ice cream. We walked and sat on one of the benches. "Okay. I can't know your identity, but I can know your personality," Chat Noir bargained. "After all, I need to know that I can trust you, and you're not some phoney. Remember Copycat?"
"Don't remind me about Copycat. It was my worst nightmare," I pretended to shiver. Chat Noir shot me a glare. "Just kidding. What do you want to know about me?"
Chat Noir licked his ice cream a couple of times. He stared at the people walking by. I was surprised that they weren't swooning over both of us.
"Are you dating anyone?" He asked. I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. He was trying hard not to smile, for some reason. Like I said, Chat Noir can't be serious even if his life depended on it.
"No. Why?" I replied, without asking him why he would ask me that. I licked my ice cream instead.
He nodded, looking back at the people walking. "Just asking. I'm single, too," He winked at me. I playfully shoved him.
"Have you ever sang in the shower?" I asked, randomly.
Chat Noir turned to look at me very seriously. "I don't only sing. I make encores. I released my new album the other day,"
I found myself chuckling. "Since you sing, can you dance, too?"
"I can bust a few moves," He admitted, with a coy smile. "You're asking me too many questions. It's my turn. Have you ever pranked somebody?"
"Well..." I licked my ice cream as I thought. "It was once. And I did it with my best friend. We were pranking this girl who we both didn't like,"
"Ooh. Girl drama," Chat Noir gave me his full attention. "Me likey. Tell me. Did a cat fight go down without me?"
I chuckled again, rolling my eyes. Before either of us could say anything, a song started to play. Chat Noir held up one finger to me to say 'Give me a minute'. I finished the rest of my ice cream while he checked his phone.
He groaned a few seconds later. "Really? Right now?"
"What?" I asked, slightly curious.
"Wouldn't you like to know," He turned to me with his usual cheeky grin. It quickly faded though. "Thanks to my father, I've got to go," He turned to look at his phone with a frown. "But this isn't over. Let's call this session a little introduction. Part 1 can happen some other time,"
I stood up. "It's fine. I've got other plans, too," I nearly forgot about my plans with Alya. "Thanks for the ice cream kitty cat,"
"No problem, Bug-a-boo," He winked. "Au revoir," And he took off on his fours. I watched him leave. Once he disappeared, I also left.
_____________________________________________
"I've been dying to watch this movie!" Alya exclaimed when we got into the movie room. We took our seats in the middle row. Alya and I both had our popcorn.
"No kidding. You've been going on and on about it ever since I came to your house," I said. The room was fairly crowded. It was mostly full of couples who sat at the back and in dark corners. There were a few teenagers like us who sat towards the front row.
We were watching a romance movie, my favourite genres of movies. They can be sappy, melodramatic and too cliché at times, but I loved them anyways.
The lights of the movie room went off. A man came and he welcomed us. He told us to speak in low tones, so that we don't irritate the people near us. He also told us to enjoy the movie.
Judging by the red scarf around his neck, his fancy black buret and classy clothes, I assumed that he was the director of the movie that we were about to watch. He wore a camera around his neck.
My assumptions were confirmed by Alya. She said his name, but I wasn't able to catch it. The large screen flickered on and the side conversations stopped immediately.
The first credits rolled in and I took a handful of my salted popcorn. I really wish that I bought a drink with it. Salted popcorn can make you really thirsty.
I just took a bit of Alya's drink and watched the movie. Alya was too absorbed into the movie to complain to me or scold me.
The movie was the worst movie that I've ever seen. The props in the movie were terrible, the acting was pathetic and the camera work was just bad.
The crowd booed once the end credits rolled in. Alya included. She did not throw things at the screen though. "I can't imagine that I was so excited to watch this. This was so not worth my money. I want a refund. This is going to go on my blog,"
The director was fuming. "It wasn't that bad. It's you finicky people who don't appreciate my masterpiece!"
"You call that a masterpiece?" Someone yelled from behind me. People began to throw food and drinks at the director, soiling his beautiful clothes.
He stormed out of the room, muttering profanities. Alya and I got up and stretched. Sitting for 1 hour and 30 minutes isn't exactly comfortable. The seats were comfy, but we felt the need to stretch our limbs.
"Let's go, Marinette," Alya began to walk forward and I followed her out. "I'm sorry about the movie," She apologized as soon as we were at the food court and out of the movie room.
"No worries. How about we just go to your house, stay up to watch a few movies and call it a night?" I suggested.
Alya smiled. "That would be perfect. We could make some prank calls, too, while we're at it," She gasped. "You could prank
call Adrien!"
"Me? Prank call Adrien?! Have you lost your mind, Alya?" I stared at her in disbelief. Talking to Adrien was a problem on its own. Prank calling him was taking it a step too far.
Then again, I could fake an accent and he would never know that it's me.
"It'll be fun. Come on, girl. I know that you want to do it," Alya folded her arms, with a smirk playing on her lips.
Before I could answer, people started running towards us. They pushed and shoved us, until we were on the floor.
"What is going on?" I asked. Alya shook her head and shrugged. Suddenly, her face went pale and she stayed that way.
Immediately, I followed her gaze and ducked just in time as a camera snapped. I knew that I couldn't help Alya at this point. Only if I defeated today's villain is when she'll be restored back to her normal self.
I ran to the bathrooms and entered one of the cubicles. Tikki flew out my bag immediately after I unzipped it.
"It's like Hawk Moth doesn't consider taking a vacation from akuma-tizing people," Tikki groaned.
"I know. I know. Paris can never be safe from his clutches, for even one day," I sighed. "But, if it was safe everyday, it would run Chat Noir and I out of business," I cracked a smile. "Enough chit chat. Tikki, spots on!"
I slid my hand across my eyes and my red mask with black spots appeared on my face. The rest of my normal 'Marinette outfit' vanished and was replaced with my 'Ladybug jumpsuit'.
My yo-yo was secured tightly around my hips and Tikki transformed into my earrings. I opened the cubicle's door and sprinted out of the bathrooms.
A man was taking pictures of people and I frowned. This didn't seem evil at all. I watched as he took a picture of a girl and she froze.
That's when my eyes widened. I took one good look at the man. He was wearing a really nice buret, I had to admit. Then it all added up. That's the director.
Hawk Moth must have gotten to him. Doesn't Hawk Moth ever get tired of this? It's like he's constantly watching. Well, the early bird catches the worm.
I mentally groaned at the pun. Chat Noir has definitely rubbed off on me.
"Hey!" I yelled. This caught the attention of the director and a couple of people who began to cheer my name.
"What do you think you're doing?" I mentally face palmed myself for asking the stupidest question ever.
"Oh don't worry about them, Ladybug," He snarled. "They are getting what they deserve. They mocked my beautiful movie. Now, I can transport them into the movie by freezing them with my camera,"
He took a picture of the screen in one of the restaurants. Sure enough, all the victims to his camera were in there. They were all confused and began to panic.
Some even started pounding the unbreakable camera which was recording them.
"I plan to make a new movie, starring all of them," He smiled wickedly at his plan.
"I'm afraid that I won't let you do that," I said. "The movie wouldn't make the cut anyways,"
"How dare you!" He growled. He positioned his camera towards me. "You just landed yourself the lead role,"
He began to snap away and I did everything in my willpower to avoid him. I did a couple of backflips, ran on the wall and entered the bathrooms again. I locked myself in a different cubicle though.
Where is that Cat? I wondered angrily. I got out the phone that Chat Noir and I used to communicate with.
"Yeah?" He answered.
"Where are you?" I growled, into the phone. I can't do this alone. I needed someone to work with me. Two heads are better than one.
"I'm at home," He answered, monotonously.
"What?" I was trying not to break my phone into half.
"Just kidding. Cats are just as loyal as dogs. I'm here," He hang up.
I growled under my breath as I exited the bathroom. The idiot was actually there, trying to fight the director.
"The akuma is in his camera!" I tipped Chat Noir. My voice made the director turn around. He was probably looking for me.
Chat Noir took this chance to hit the director's neck with his metallic staff. The director yelped and narrowed his eyes at me, then he turned to face Chat Noir.
He fumbled his camera and tried to take a picture of him. Chat Noir proved too fast for him as he started to run on the walls.
They re-entered the movie room and were on stage, right next to the large screen. "Sorry. I know that I am the one and only irrestible Chat Noir, but please, no autographs or pictures,"
"Don't you want to be put in my movie Chat Noir? You can be the lead role," The director asked. I didn't know whether he was actually serious.
"No thanks. Showbiz isn't for me," Chat Noir turned him down. "Cataclysm!" He yelled. With his feline speed, he ran circles round the director, no sweat. He then touched the strap of his camera and it snapped.
The camera fell but it did not break. It couldn't work anymore, but the akuma wasn't coming out.
"Lucky charm!" I yelled, throwing my yo-yo in the air. A camera landed into my arms and my yo-yo reattached itself on my hips.
"Really? A camera?" I groaned out loud. "How am I supposed to defeat a guy who already has a camera as his weapon?"
"Fight fire with fire, maybe?" Chat Noir shrugged.
I looked around to see if I could spot anything. I saw some wire and a trap door. I didn't know why the trap door was there but it sure was helpful to what I wanted to do.
"I've got it!" I announced quietly, to myself. I snuck behind the director, giving Chat Noir a quick wink. He winked back. I tucked the camera under my arm and yanked the rope until it was a few metres from the trap door.
Chat Noir was very clever. He continued to fight the director. The director was moving backwards, closer to the rope. I jumped in front of Chat Noir.
"Say cheese!" I grinned, before taking continuous pictures of the director. The flash blinded his eyes and he moved backwards until he tripped over the rope.
Chat Noir pulled the lever and the trap door opened. The director dropped the camera on the floor before falling in. He screamed in a high pitched voice, which made Chat Noir and I snicker.
Chat Noir took the honour and broke the camera until the akuma flew out.
I removed the yo-yo from my hips and opened it. "No more evil doing for you, little akuma!" I was able to catch it, the yo-yo automatically closed and retracted back to me. "Gotcha!"
I tapped the yo-yo open and a white butterfly flew out. "Bye, bye, little butterfly," I watched as it flew out of the room.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" I yelled and tossed the camera into the air. A wave of light spread through the room and everything was restored to how it was before.
The evil suit that the director wore faded away and it was replaced with his classy clothes. "What happened?" He felt his head.
"Pound it," Chat Noir and I said in unison and we gave each other fist bumps.
"How about we ditch the movies and go to part 1 of our session earlier?" Chat Noir raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"Did you take care of your daddy issues?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in return.
"Yeah," He nodded.
"Sorry. I have plans with my best friend. I am sleeping over at her house," I said.
"A sleepover. Sounds fun. Mind if I crash?" He grinned.
"Sorry. No pets allowed. Her dad is allergic to cats," I teased and half lied. Alya's dad is allergic to an animal, alright, but he is allergic to bird feathers.
"No fair! I could always transform into my real identity," Chat Noir added.
"So that you can see my real identity? In your dreams, kitty," And I ended the conversation at that. I ran into the bathrooms and transformed back.
I found Alya at the spot she was where the director took a picture of her. She put the palm on her hand on her forehead.
"What were we doing?" Alya asked, as I helped her get on her feet.
"Going to your house, watching movies and prank call people," I replied as we started to walk out of the movies.
"Who do you want to prank? Adrien?" Alya began to tease me.
"No. Don't be silly. What would I say? I would probably forget my own name. How about we prank Chloé?" I recommended.
"I like the way you think, Marinette," Alya put an arm on my shoulder and I inhaled her pleasant perfume.
Second chapter! I hope you liked this chapter.
It's not actually that difficult or complicated it is to come up with an idea for the new chapter.
Thanks,
KeepBelieving4774 😊