The next day at school, Adrien noticed Ben wasn't there and saw Chloe angrily talking to her friends about their new guests in the hotel. He sighed forcefully and glanced over at Marinette as she waved nervously and walked over.

"So... um... h-how did you like the trip?" she asked nervously, wanting to get an idea of what happened. She wanted to go so badly and spend time with him, but that hadn't happened and she knew it was for a better cause. Or was it?

"Oh uh... you know.... same old, same old." He said as he tried to think about what they would have done while in London. "I had fun but you know." he smiled nervously and shrugged a little.

"Oh ya... it was... fun..." she muttered and glanced off to the side as she regretted being a hero for a moment. She couldn't ever go and have fun or go on trips without something happening.

Adrien smiled brightly as he walked off and the young woman's shoulders slumped. She stood there for a while then slowly followed as she sighed.

Being a hero was frustrating at times.

She stared blankly during class and wrote absentmindedly. She sighed and just went through the motions of class as she tried not to fall apart. She felt as though she wasn't able to have anything, because she had to be Ladybug all the time.

Adrien sighed forcefully as he stared at the paper in front of him then over at the board as the teacher wrote. They were told to write a paper about the trip.

Certain topics had to be included and they would be graded on each. They had to write about what they liked and why, what they didn't like and why, what place they enjoyed the most and why, what place they least enjoyed and why, what food they liked and why, then finally, something new they learned.

"And why." Adrien mumbled as he looked at the board then his paper as he sighed again. He didn't know how he was going to pull this one off.

"Now I know some of you didn't get to go on the trip, for whatever reason." the teacher said and glanced at the class. Adrien looked around as if he had gone, and pretended to be surprised that someone would have missed out. He noticed a few people blushing with embarrassment and felt a little relieved. He wasn't the only one.

"So you will write about what you did instead, and use the same guidelines." she glanced at each of the students who missed out, which was a total of six. She noticed Ben was missing and furrowed her brow.

"Where is Benjamin Jacobs?" She muttered and narrowed her eyes as she folded her arms. She didn't like it when her students were absent, and always added more homework so they'd take things seriously.

"Probably somewhere in the streets looking for garbage again." Chloe scoffed and rolled her eyes. Some of the others snickered but the two heroes glared at her.

"Why do you do that?" Marinette asked. She looked at her and narrowed her eyes as she clenched her fists. "Why do you have to be so rude to people?" she muttered.

"Oh come off it baker girl. You've never defended him before. Do you suddenly like him?" She sneered and the teacher told them to be quiet as she went to write on the board.

"No, I just know how to respect people and treat them like a human being." She shot back as she clenched her fists more, her knuckles turning white. Alya looked at her with slight surprise then at the teacher who had their back to them.

"That's funny, baker girl. I always figured he came from the zoo. He smells like he did." Chloe sneered as she pinched her nose in disgust. Some of the other kids snickered quietly. They fell silent as the teacher looked over at them and they pretended to write some notes down.

Marinette felt tears prick at her eyes as she sat there and thought about the young man. Chloe was right about her not caring before, and she was wrong to ignore him. Ben didn't have what they did. His mother worked three jobs just so he could go to school and they could have a run down apartment.

The heroin only knew this because she overheard him talking to Raf about his situation. She silently wished the young boy was here to help the troubled young man. Alya was confused as to why her friend was so upset about all this. She decided to ask about it later.

Chloe smirked as she watched them and realized she was right about everything. Of course she was, she knew everything about everyone.

Adrien noticed how upset Marinette was and furrowed his brow, did she like the young man? He quickly looked at his paper and silently tried to sort out his feelings on the matter. He felt hurt and almost betrayed. Did he secretly like Marinette? No, he liked Ladybug. He shook his head and glared at the paper in front of him. Why did the first day of school back have to be so complicated?

After class everyone wandered off and talked for a while as they prepared to go to the next period. Alya glanced at her friend then at Adrien before pulling her aside and folding her arms.

"Alright girl, spill it." she said seriously and Marinette looked up at her in confusion then glanced over at the other students. The young girl gave her a 'you better tell or else' expression. The heroin just gave her a 'what do you mean' look.

"Seriously girl, what the heck? First you ditched me, two weeks ago before the trip, when we were supposed to meet up. Then you don't even show up to the entire thing, and Adrien didn't show up either by the way. Then you suddenly get all upset when Chloe talks bad about someone, which is fine because we get mad at her 24/7, but still..." she trailed off and looked at her then sighed forcefully. "You have got to fill me in on whats going on. You don't tell me anything...." she whispered sounding hurt.

Marinette stared at her and couldn't take it anymore. The stress of school and trying to make up homework, the stress of trying to keep people from being akumatized, the stress of dealing with normal life and being a hero, the stress of trying to balance your friends, family and crush, then finally the stress of having the Autobots and Decepticons in her world when they didn't belong.

Tears filled her eyes as everything finally came crashing down on top of her. Almost as if one of the metal aliens stepped on her. She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. Alya blinked in surprise and went to hug her but she ran off and out the door.

"Marinette!" She shouted as she reached to grab her but wasn't able to hold on to her. The other students watched her run off and glanced at each other.

"Aw poor baker girl." Chloe mocked as she folded her arms. "I guess she went to the zoo to go find her boyfriend. Couldn't be away from him for too long." she pouted. "Make sure to check the monkey cages!" She shouted after her. Alya clenched her fists tightly and whipped around as she slapped the blonde right in the face.

"Knock it off Chloe! Marinette is right, you need to start treating people like human beings and not garbage." she growled a little and fixed her glasses. "You're the reason half of us get akumatized in the first place!" she snapped then stormed off somewhere. Chloe blinked in surprise then started making a dramatic fuss before going to the principals office to report her.

~

Somewhere in Paris, unknown to many, Hawkmoth opened his window and smiled darkly as he closed his eyes. He chuckled a little as he looked around and sensed the distress in the air. He smirked more and cracked his knuckles.

"Which is more powerful, the feelings of stress and overwhelming responsibility? Or the feelings of rage and burning desire to right a wrong?" he sneered and set a butterfly on his hand then turned it purple. "We haven't had the opportunity to see what Marinette can do under my power. Go my little akuma." He said as he watched it fly out the window.

Not far away on top of another building, sat a man with dark hair and dark eyes that looked like black pits. He stared at the world and scanned the area as a black panther sat next to him. Ready to pounce on his command. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the butterfly flutter by and found it to be odd. The man watched it go and his eyes were drawn to the people below on the streets. He then disappeared into the shadows to return to his leader. He would find the black cat soon enough, and end him for what he did.

The silent man would have his revenge on Chat Noir. That was a promise.