Marinette's POV

I woke up to the sound of a soft, high pitched voice. It was my little red kwami, Tikki.

"Marinette! You need to get up! School starts in 15 minutes!" she warned.

"WHAT!? Oh, no!" I yelled. I shot out of bed and rushed to get ready. I ran downstairs with Tikki in my purse and smuggled a couple of cookies for her. I shouted 'goodbye' to my parents and ran out the door and headed towards the school.

I walked into class right after the bell rang and sat in my seat next to Alya. She gave that look. The 'Why-Are-You-Late-Again-And-I-Have-To-Talk-To-You-Later' look. I knew it very well, as she gave me that look almost every day. It probably had something to do with the LadyBlog.

"Today, class, we will be..." Mm. Bostier started, but I just kept on thinking about Adrien. Alya must have noticed me staring at him because she waved her hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Marinette. It's time to go. The bell rang," she said. I just looked at her, confused. "The. Bell. Rang." Then I remembered that I had to grab my stuff and head to my next class.

"I missed the whole lesson," I meant it as a question, but it came out more like a statement.

"Yeah. So, are you going to the contest?" Alya asked.

"Contest? What contest?" I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"There's going to be a contest in a couple of days. Mm. Bostier told us a couple days ago," she explained. I didn't remember our teacher ever telling us about a contest.

"I was probably spaced out, thinking about Adrien," I said. Alya sighed.

"Of course you were. So, the contest is for the best costume. The winner gets a prize. I think it's tickets to go to an amusement park in America. You would be able to go to America for a certain number of days depending on how many people show up, and you will take one person with you. You have to pay to get into the contest, but that's to help pay for the trip. It's $15, but it's totally worth it. There will be a raffle for the top five people besides the winner to go on the trip with you. You should totally participate! I'm going with Nino. We will be dressed as Batman and Batgirl," she explained.

That was a lot to take in, but I understood. I really wanted to go. I had the money for it, and I could design my own costume. The contest was in two days, though. That wasn't a lot of time to make an entire costume.

"Ok. I'll go! But you're helping me design the costume," I said.

"Oh, yeah. And did I mention that Adrien might be there?" Alya asked.

"No... Wait, WHAT!?" I shouted, surprised.

"I'm not for sure yet, though. He might not come," she said.

"If he does... I'm gonna need your help," I said.

"Nope, sorry. You're on your own. You have to learn how to handle him on your own. Bye!" Alya said and then went to her class, leaving me standing there with a horrified expression on my face. There was no way I could handle this on my own, but I guess I could try.

Adrien came up to me. I felt my face turn into a tomato. I really hoped Adrien wouldn't notice. Unfortunately, though, that was highly unlikely.

"So, Marinette, are you gonna participate in the contest?" he asked.

"I, um, a-am participate to going. I-I mean, I am g-going to p-participate. Are y-you going t-to participate being? I mean, a-are you going to be participating?" I asked, stuttering. I was making a fool of myself in front Adrien. I couldn't even say one sentence without stuttering or jumbling my words.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I am going to participate and I think you're a great designer, so I was wondering if you could make my costume for me. If you wouldn't mind," Adrien said. I would love to make his costume, but I only had two nights. I don't care. I'll make it work.

"Of course, A-Adrien. What do you w-want me to do?" I asked.

"I want to be... Um... Well... I want to be... L-ladybug," he replied. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink. I felt so honored that he was going as me. I wanted to match him. I would be Chat Noir. Then maybe we could go together.

"Sure, Adrien. I c-could do that f-for you. In fact, I'm going as Ch-Ch-Chat N-N-N-Noir," I said. Why did I just stutter so badly on Chat Noir's name? I felt myself blushing. Why was I blushing over him? Was I starting to have feelings for Chat Noir? No, that's silly. I love Adrien. I have sort of liked Chat, but not that much, right?

"Really? Then maybe we can go together. We can be the cat and bug team!" Adrien said.

"Don't you mean the bug and cat team?" I asked. Oh, no! My alter ego was showing.

"That sounds like something Ladybug would say. I should act like Ladybug. You should act like Chat Noir. I mean, we are dressing as them, so we should stay in character," Adrien explained.

Then the bell rang. Uh, oh. We were late for class. I rushed to my next class. I was a full minute late. Great.

After school, I ran straight home with Alya trailing behind. We arrived at the bakery and ran upstairs to start on the costumes.

"You won't believe what happened when you left. Adrien-" I started, but Alya cut me off.

"Waved at you?" she asked.

"No! He asked me to design his costume! He's going as Ladybug. I'm going as Chat Noir. We're going together!" I explained, excitedly.

"Good luck on dealing with Adrien. Nino and I will be busy. We're helping with the food, so I can't help. I forgot to mention that earlier," Alya said. Then the look on her face turned to pure amusement. She bursted out laughing.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Adrien... as Ladybug? I can't wait to see that!" Alya exclaimed in between laughs. Then I realized what she meant.
'Ladybug is a girl; Adrien isn't. That was gonna be funny to see. Of course Chat Noir is boy... a hot boy... Wait, no! I love Adrien! Ch-Chat N-Noir is a boy; I'm not. OMG! I even stutter when I think! This not good!' I thought.

"What?" Alya asked.

"Did I say that out loud? Oops... How much did I say out loud?" I asked.

"I heard from 'Ladybug is a girl' to 'This not good,'" she replied.

"That was everything," I realized.

"So, you also like Chat Noir, huh?" Alya said with an smirking evilly.
'I want to say no, but then that would be lying. So, I have to say... Well... Um... He's cute, he's kind, he saves Paris all the time. Behind the puns and flirting, he's really a nice guy. I think I have a crush on him.' I thought.

"Oh, really?" Alya asked, still smirking.

"Did I say all of that out loud?" I asked nervously.

"Yep. Do you know Chat Noir really close or something?" she asked.
'Or something.' I thought.

"What do you mean, 'or something'?" Alya asked.

"I really need to stop saying these things out loud," I said.

"Are you going to answer my question? What is 'or something' supposed to mean?" she asked.
'I'm Ladybug.' I thought. I won't say that out loud, though.

"WHAT?!" Alya screamed.

"I guess I did say that out loud. Oops..." I said nervously.

"I can't believe this! This is soooo going on the LadyBlog!" Alya announced.

"NOO! You can NOT put that on the LadyBlog! There's a reason we keep our identities a secret!" I shouted back.

"Oh... I'm so sorry, girl. I didn't realize, but you owe me an interview," she said with a sly smile.

"Alright," I gave in.

"So, you're Ladybug?" Alya asked, impressed.

"Yep," I confirmed.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! It didn't exactly go as I planned it, but you know... I had to make Alya find out first. It makes things a lot easier. I'll try to update soon, but you never know with all of those akuma attacks. Speaking of akuma attacks, I have to go take care of one right now. Bug out! 🐞