Marinette woke up the next day, and was committed to getting dressed and showered early.

She jumped into the shower, and washed her hair. A task that now takes a lot longer than it used to.

She jumped out, and looked through her closet.

"The weather said 10 to 15 degrees Celsius throughout the day. So I should probably wear something warmer, but not too warm." She told Tikki.

"What about that one long sleeve dress you own, and some stockings or tights? I think that would look super cute." Tikki suggested. She pulled out a long sleeve, bright red, fit and flare dress. The length was just above her finger tips. She paired the dress with some black leggings and some cute black suede boot heels.

She looked in the mirror and smiled. Her hair had air dried, and was looking really wavy and full of volume. The sides of her hair occasionally slipped into her vision though. To counter this, she out on a matching red hair band to keep the side hairs from blocking her vision. Her bangs were freshly cut, and out of her face thankfully.

"You look so cute Marinette! You should take a picture." She suggested.

"You know what. I think I will." Mari dug out her phone, and look a cute photo in the body length mirror. She posted it onto her account, and wrote "Felt like wearing a cute red dress. I made it myself. What do you think?"

She placed Tikki in her bag with a chocolate chip cookie, and she headed downstairs.

"Goodbye Mama. Goodbye Papa." She said as she passed them.

"Goodbye. I love the dress sweetie." Her father complimented her.

Marinette grabbed a croissant on her way out, and walked to school. She felt very refreshed. Usually her mornings were stressful, but she was glad she took some time to wake up early and get dressed in something cute.

She walked in the school, but she was early enough that the doors weren't open yet. She sat down on a bench inside the gym, and pulled out a book to read.

Unbeknownst to her, some people were staring at her. She was wearing a quite bold color for the day, and everyone else just wore a jacket to cover. Juleka walked over to her and squeeled.

"Wow Marinette! You look so cool! Did you make the dress yourself?" She asked, in her normal bubbly voice.

"I did. And thank you. I love your jacket. Especially the bright pink color." Mari complimented Juleka.

"Thank you. Also." She leaned towards Marinette to whisper. "A lot of guys are staring. I think you are creating a crowd." She told her before skipping back to her group of friends. Mari blushed a little as she looked up slightly. Some people looked away. She just continued to read her book, and try not to let the stares get to her.

Someone else walked up to her, and wanted her attention. It was Kim.

"Hi Kim. What's up?" Marinette said.

"Nothing much. I was just wondering what you would do if I spilled black coffee all over your dress." He said. Of course. Kim was sent on a mission by Chloe. Chloe had him wrapped around her finger. And of course, he was holding a cup of, most likely, black coffee.

"I would have to throw you over my shoulder if you even attempted it." She said confidently from where she sat.

"I doubt you could lift my arm alone." He laughed. He flexed his muscles slightly.

"You wanna bet?" She said. Kim smirked, and placed the cup of coffee on the ground.

"Try it. I give you full permission to flip me. If you can that is." He said. He held his arms out. Marinette stood up, and took her purse off, laying it on the bench.

"Give a thumbs up to the camera over there." Marinette pointed to the surveillance camera.

Kim did, and it was show time.

She gave Kim a very pleasant smile.

"I'm waiting." He said. He still believed she couldn't flip him. Marinette started to walk around Kim, and thankfully Kim didn't turn around.

"What? Walking away already?" He smirked. Once he put his arms down, Marinette backed her back to him.

"I'm still here." She said before throwing her arms behind her, wrapping it around Kim's waist and arms. She leaned forward very quickly with much force, and Kim flipped off her back, and smacked onto the ground. Although Marinette did it softer so it wouldn't hurt him too bad.

"Sorry I was being soft. I didn't want to actually injure you." Marinette apologized. She went back to the bench, grabbed her purse and backpack, and joined Alya who just entered the school.

"Wow girl. I just saw. What happened?" She asked.

"Kim was sent on a mission by Chloe to destroy my dress. He bet I couldn't flip him. But I flipped him anyways." Marinette told her proudly.

"You go girl!" Alya patted her on the back.

The two walked up the stairs to their first class, and sat in their respected seats.

A couple minutes before class starts, Adrien and Nino walked in. Nino just wore a thicker jacket, but Adrien was wearing his new green sweater. Marinette was amazed that he was wearing it.

"Hey Marinette. Hey Alya." Adrien and Nino greeted.

"Do you notice anything different?" Adrien smiled to Marinette.

"Y-You are actually w-wearing the sweater I m-made." Marinette stuttered.

"Why wouldn't I? It's really soft and looks cool. I'm usually not a fan of sweaters, but I like this one a lot." Adrien told her. She blushed madly.

"Also. I really like your dress. I saw it this morning on your account. Red really suits you." Adrien complimented her. This only worsened her blush.

"Ah. Um. T-Thank you. S-So much." She paused and stuttered horribly. Alya could tell she was a hot mess.

"So Adrien do you like the stitching on the inside?" Alya asked. She wanted to mess with Marinette a little more since she could tell she was extremely happy.

"I do. I've never had anything hand stitched. Except maybe from my mother when I was small. But I don't have anything that is sentimental. It's cool to have your friends name stitched because it tells you that they care." Adrien brightened. He loved receiving sentimental gifts. Even if it was plain and inexpensive, he'd rather get a rock with googly eyes than a solid gold watch."

Marinette shut down. She was so happy and excited, and she couldn't possibly function. Thankfully for her, the teacher walked in and started the lesson.

Marinette started focusing on the group assignment given to them, when she heard a very rude conversation.

"Just give us the answers and be done with it?" A girl told a frankly shorter, brunette haired girl. Marinette wasn't very sure about their names.

"I can't. The teacher is checking for copies. Plus it's really easy. You can do it in less than 5 minutes." She protested.

"Just give me the damned answers. All you're good for copying homework anyways. Why are you trying to deny me? The only time you socialize is when people ask for your answers." The girl replied snootily.

"I won't give you my answers. Back off." The feeble girl said. It was obvious that she was trying to be bold, but it sounded very weak.

"You are a good for nothing nerd." The other said. Marinette was sighing She could almost smell an akuma in the air. She turned around her seat, and looked at the girls.

"Can you leave her alone? Obviously she wants you not to copy." Marinette told them.

"And who do you think you are?" The bully asked incredulously.

"I know who I am. I'm Marinette. Glad we cleared that out." She sassed. "Now leave her alone." The girl with the messy brown hair moved out of her seat, and moved her stuff close to Marinette. Marinette gave her a kind smile, and moved some of her own stuff off the table to make room for hers.

"I'm Casey." She told her.

"Marinette. Pleasure."

The girl who was left alone stomped away, mad that she couldn't get the answers.

"Thank you for that Marinette." Casey thanked shyly.

"No problem. Does she bother you often?"

"Yeah. But I just started standing up to her." She seemed a little nervous.

"Well you don't have to be scared. It's scary at first, but you'll get the hang of it."

The two continued to work, and even helped each other out.

Class ended swiftly, and they got to gym. They were playing baseball that day.

Marinette and Alya walked out of the locker room wearing baseball caps to block the sun from their eyes, and wore ponytails.

The gym teacher assigned the teams, and gave them mesh jerseys to wear on top to distinguish each other.

Marinette was happy that she was on the same team as Alya. Adrien offered to pitch for his side.

"Alright. Start batting. You know the rules." The teacher told them, not too amused as he waddled back to a bench to sit.

Nino walked up to the batting plate with a baseball, and held it up.

"Get ready." Adrien warned. Adrien positioned himself, then threw it as hard as he could towards Nino. Nino's bat made contact with the ball, and he took off running. Although he only made it to 1st base before the ball returned to Adrien.

A couple boys and girls walked up, pitched, and some stroked out. Although baseball was simple to them. Those who weren't good at the game or didn't like exercising just walked around the school.

It was soon Marinette's turn to pitch. She knows she has a good arm, mostly for pitching, but batting isn't too different.

She walked onto the plate, and felt a little nervous. But she pulled her cap down so she couldn't see Adrien's face, and got ready.

"Get ready." He got ready, and threw the ball. Marinette's baseball bat made a cracking noise as it smacked into the baseball. The ball went soaring, and Mari ran as fast as she could.

She made it to 1st, and then to 2nd. This pushed Nino down some more, and he made it home.

"SWITCH!" Someone yelled, and the teams switched.

Marinette offered to be pitcher, and she positioned herself in front of the batters.

Kim walked onto the plate, brandishing a baseball bat that was obviously his. He was a man of many sports.

"Don't throw your back out." He warned her laughing.

"Don't accidentally flip yourself." Marinette retorted, which caught him off guard. He got ready, and she threw the ball. Kim hit the ball, narrowly missing Marinette's face, and it zoomed to the out field. Kim went running, and was able to make it to 2nd.

A couple more batters stepped up, but they weren't as good of a team. Soon they reached their last pitcher, Chloe.

She had on a bedazzled ball cap, and a high ponytail with gum in her mouth.

"Get ready." Marinette told her, and she held the bat back.

Marinette threw the ball hard, and surprisingly, Chloe hit it. But the problem was, the ball came back in Marinette's direction.

Marinette had no time to react, and she soon found herself on the ground. She was disoriented for a moment, and then started to feel a searing pain through her eye. She rolled over, and put her head to the ground, trying to control herself.

Alya walked up to her, and tried speaking to her, but Marinette shook her head.

"I'll get ice." She said, her voice shaking slightly. When she stood up, Alya saw that the area around her eye was already swelling up. Marinette walked off the field holding the right side of her face, and she entered the school to the nurse's office.

"Excuse me miss? I need some ice, please." Marinette asked quietly. Her voice was wavering, trying her best not to start crying.

"Oh sweetie what happened?" The nurse asked as she filled a cloth bag with ice.

"I got hit in the eye with a baseball." The nurse handed her the bag, and Marinette gladly placed it on her face.

"Do you feel dizzy? Confused?" Marinette shook her head.

"I feel a little shaky, and my vision is blurry, but overall I feel fine. I'll just go back outside and wait." Marinette excused herself.

She took the time it took to walk back to the field to calm herself down. It hurt a lot, but the cold helped relieve the pain.

She saw from the distance the students kind of waiting for Marinette, and some were talking to Chloe.

"What the hell is your problem? Marinette could have been blinded." Nathaniel yelled at Chloe. Marinette and the others were extremely surprised. Nathaniel had never risen his voice before. Although he was still soft spoken, even when loud.

Marinette walked to the group, and Alya gravitated to her.

"Are you okay girl?"

"I'm alright. I'll probably just have a black eye. Nothing too bad." Marinette brushed off. Nathan stopped scolding Chloe, and he shied away.

"It's alright Nathaniel. No harm done." Marinette promised.

"See Nathaniel. You're just being over dramatic. It's just a stupid black eye. I don't know why it is such a big deal." Chloe said. Adrien furrowed his eyebrows.

"You were trying to hit her in the eye. That's why." Adrien accused. Marinette was glad that the ice pack covered most of her face. She was blushing. Both from happiness that Adrien cared, and anger that Chloe did it on purpose.

"And how do you know that?" She pouted.

"Because I heard you talk to Kim. Originally you wanted Kim to hit her in the eye, but Kim said he'd only scare her. Plus when you were swinging, you turned your body enough so it would go straight ahead towards Marinette, and you eye swung softer so it would travel lower and hit her face. We know that you played softball, so it was no accident." Adrien huffed to her. He seemed really angry. "I'm so done with your crap Chloe. You are constantly bullying people, and now you've turned to violence."

The group was stunned. Adrien hadn't actually yelled as well. But he seemed very fed up.

"Do us a favor and leave. You've already caused enough trouble." Nino told her firmly. She didn't seem very phased to everything that happened, but Adrien yelling at her broke her a little. She thought Adrien loved her. But he just yelled at her. She pushed her hair out of her face, and walked off the field.

"Why don't you join her Kim. Since you like her so much." Adrien added. And so Kim walked off the field as well. Everyone was a little quiet, before some murmuring ensued. Adrien walked over to Marinette, and slowly moved her ice pack away.

"Your eye looks pretty bad. Can you see?" Adrien asked, forgetting what happened before.

Marinette nodded. "J-Just a little blurry." She stuttered.

"That's good. Most likely your eye was closed when it happened. You should probably heal in a month or so." He told her, flashing a smile.

Alya looked at her watch. It was 20 min till gym ended, and people started walking back to the locker rooms.

"We should head in." She told them. The group walked and split off to the locker rooms.

When they got out, Marinette tried drying her hair up as much as possible since the air was cold.

She stood outside with the ice pack still on her eye, and waited for Alya come back. The two soon started walking back home, and Marinette got into the bakery.

"Hello Mama. Hello Papa." She greeted. Sabine turned around and gasped.

"Mari what happened to your face?" She worried. Marinette showed her the eye.

"Got a black eye. It should be good in a month, but I might need an eyepatch. Or some kind of cover." She said.

"Well I don't have one. I can sew you one though. Just give me a moment to have your father take over, and I can start on it." She promised. Marinette went to her room while Sabine got Tom to take over. Sabine walked up the stairs, and used Marinette's sewing machine to make a really quick eyepatch, using a little bit of wore to make it curved for her face.

Marinette jumped off her bed, and got the eyepatch that was made out of a plain dark navy material.

"Thank you Mama. This'll come in handy." She kissed her mom thanks, and Sabine went back downstairs. Marinette started on her homework, and Tikki helped her read the smaller lettering that she couldn't pick up.

Soon the night was upon her, and Marinette slipped into bed, praying that an akuma would not wake her.