"I am such a terrible person."

Marinette groans to herself, putting one foot in front of the other. She reaches the crossing, and stops as she waits for the green man.

The cars drive past, and Marinette takes her phone out to quickly reread ChatNoir's message

ChatNoir: it's all good, mlady. i'm sure chloe will understand. we'll put pollen into the next episode

The crossing beeps, and Marinette puts her phone away as she crosses the road.

we'll put pollen into the next episode.

it's all good, mlady

It's all good.

As per usual, Marinette gets to school as the bell rings, and she has to race up the stairs and dive into the classroom.

"Fine line, girl, fine line," Alya laughs. Marinette turns red as she sits down.

"Late again, Dupain-Cheng? Can't say I'm surprised."

Marinette can't say she's surprised, either. Chloe is in a bad mood. And it's Marinette's own fault.

"Ignore her," Alya mutters. "Clearly she's decided that defending you was a bad idea."

"I guess," Marinette says, and the two girls shut up as Mme. Bustier walks in. The lesson on French history seems to go relatively smoothly, and Marinette and Alya leave when the bell rings.

It's just typical of her luck that she's leaving at the same moment as Chloe.

"Get out my way, Dupain-Cheng!" Chloe snaps. "And, for the record, my mother was right. It was a disgusting hat. You and your supposed 'fashion' are ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!"

Marinette knew Chloe was in a bad mood, but she didn't think it would go so far as to take back what she'd said at the fashion show. And certainly not enough to do it so spitefully.

"Whoa," Alya says. "I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that."

"Tell me about it," Marinette replies.

"She's having a bad day," Adrien says from behind Marinette, making her jump.

"You don't always have to defend her, Adrien," Alya says, as they make their way into the corridor. "Chloe's just horrible, everyone knows it."

"I don't think so," Adrien says, leading the way down the stairs. "Today just hasn't been all that great for her."

"Maybe every day isn't that great for her," Alya scoffs, "with her powerful parents, celebrity friends and huge mansion."

"Are you jealous of Chloe?"

"She just doesn't seem to appreciate anything she's got," Alya says. "She's an ungrateful brat who doesn't seem to realise everyone else has feelings as well."

"If you say so," Adrien sighs, giving up the argument as they reach the door. "See you guys tomorrow."

"See you," Alya says, and the three of them divide. Marinette can see Chloe getting into her car as she begins the walk home. The car disappears around the corner long before the lights finally let Marinette cross the road. Her dad is in the bakery.

"How was school?" he asks as she pushes open the door.

"So-so," Marinette replies. "Nothing particularly interesting."

Which isn't necessarily true, but she's not really in the mood to talk about it. Tom Dupain doesn't press the matter, and lets her go upstairs with a croissant. Marinette chews on it as she turns her laptop on. Just as it finishes loading Miraculous, ChatNoir messages her.

ChatNoir: ready for an episode with pollen?

Marinette doesn't reply immediately.

LadyBug: im not really in the mood for drawing

What she means is I'm not sure I can say anything positive about Chloe.

She takes another bite of her croissant.

ChatNoir: what's wrong?

Marinette smiles.

LadyBug: u know me so well

LadyBug: it's a long story tbh

ChatNoir: well if you aren't drawing...

Marinette laughs, and chokes on a bite of croissant. Tears in her eyes, she coughs and starts to type.

LadyBug: basically i know someone irl who isn't always that nice to me, and i thought they were going to be nice but apparently not

LadyBug: reminds me of chloe

ChatNoir: and it makes it difficult to write good stuff about chloe?

LadyBug: yeah

ChatNoir: well, that person isn't chloe. and considering you didn't write pollen into the last episode, it would be horrible to then take days to post the next one

LadyBug: i suppose

She's about to suggest they get started, even though that person was Chloe, when a message from QueenBee herself comes through. In a moment of spite, Marinette considers not even reading it.

She sighs, clicks, and the chat opens.

QueenBee: ladybug? i want to say sorry. you said you have faith in me, but i let my bad mood get the better of me. i'm not going to lie, i was upset that my kwami wasn't in style queen, but i took it out on a girl in my class. the very girl i defended over the weekend, marinette dupain-cheng. i told her i wish i'd defended my mum instead

QueenBee: and then i yelled at my dad, when he was just trying to be nice and make me feel better in the only way he could think of. i'm sorry, ladybug. i let you down, when you'd just told me that you believed in me

Marinette can feel her heart melting slightly. She never could stay angry at people for long.

Chloe regrets snapping at her.

Her heart lightens.

LadyBug: that's okay, chloe. it was good of you to tell me you regret it, before i found out from someone else. maybe you should just apologise to marinette and your dad

She's not trying to get herself an apology. She's trying to give honest advice.

Although, she would like an apology.

QueenBee: i'll do my best. it's difficult to swallow my pride, but i'll do it. i'm really thankful for you forgiving me

LadyBug: if it makes it easier, you could just message marinette and leave a note for your dad. a written apology is better than no apology at all, and it means they aren't put on the spot, you don't have to do it around other people, and that they have some time to think about everything you've said

Marinette can't help but be impressed when the text message comes through before the Miraculous one.

QueenBee: thats really helpful, ladybug. thank you for still believing in me

Marinette doesn't go right back to her chat with ChatNoir. She picks up her phone, and finds the text message.

hey, dupain-cheng. im sorry for insulting you earlier. i don't regret defending you, if you must know. hope you can forgive me

Marinette smiles, and it's easy to draw Pollen now, and imagine Chloe's beam when she sees that it's her father been akumatised, and seen the girl based on her apologising. And, of course, when she sees Pollen.

"I'm in TP! I'm actually a kwami in-"

Chloe stops talking when Marinette walks in.

"What was that, Chloe?" Marinette asks. Chloe looks uncertain.

"LadyBug made a kwami based on me into Adventures of Tikki and Plagg."

"Really?" Marinette asks, pretending to be surprised. "That's so cool! Well done!"

And from the relieved smile that forms on Chloe's face, both girls know she's been forgiven.

[A/N: Y'all seen Cat Blanc? Like man I don't even know where to START with that episode. All I can say is that I'm downright terrified for Felix]