A few days later, Marinette has not seen Chat.  She is sad. She must admit to herself that she misses Chat Noir. She cannot quite put her finger on it as to why it bothers her so much that his visits have come to a stop. She just wishes he would return.

         "Marinette, come on girl!  It is time you got out more!  Moping about will do neither you or anyone else any good." Alya remarks.

       "Thanks, but no thanks," Marinette says. She rather stay home. She might as well.  How else will she know if any visitors should show up or not?

          "Marinette, you cannot expect Chat to come back just like that can you?"  Alya remarks. She does not mean anything bad by the statement. She only means to try to reason with Marinette, so she will leave the house instead of pouting at home all day.

         Marinette is so furious without thinking, she reaches up and slaps Alya across the face!  Then, she gives her a hard punch in the eye!  She gasps as Alya's eye changes from her usual color to a harsh blackish-brown, with a small purplish bruise to it.  

        "Marinette, how could you?  You know what!  You are not my bestie anymore!"  Alya says. She so angry, she walks off and slams the door hard behind her as she walks out.

          Marinette runs outside!  She does not notice she is in her pajamas!  She just goes to the porch and calls out, "Alya, wait!  I am sorry!  I never meant to hurt you!  Please, come back!"

         "I  am sorry too, but I cannot be friends with someone who slaps me, and punches me just because she is upset that things went wrong with her and someone else!  It is not my fault Chat left you know!  It is yours!  Serves you right for pushing him away!" Alya retorts. She runs fast!  She does turn back.

      Marinette stands there with sorrow in her eyes. She sobs. She cannot believe this, how could Alya just act like it no big deal Chat is gone?  Let alone accuse her of making him leave!  It was not true.   It cannot be, right?

      She goes back inside her place, closes the door, locks it, and goes to her room. She misses him so much!  Why did he have to leave?   Could he really mean to be gone for good this time?  She does not know how to handle things without him!  Now, more than ever she feels like she could use his advice only he is gone!

     She feels bad that her friendship with Alya is over!  She is a bad friend. No wonder, Alya left!  No wonder she said what she did.  She feels like her world just keeps falling apart no matter what she does. She thought it was bad enough to lose her parents!  Only, now she is lost, everyone!  Everyone she felt close too!  Everyone who cares!

   Marinette at the moment is sure of one thing, she will never be the same again!  Never! She cries when she sees the leaves blow off the trees.  It reminds her of Chat!  

     Flashback to the past...

       It was a windy day!  The leaves begin to turn colors and fall off the trees to prepare for fall!  It was not so bad though because Marinette had her special new hat today!  She had just finished it yesterday!  This is to say, she sewed it!  Now, it was a red hat with black spots on it.  The spots were in a special pattern!  

     As the wind picked up speed, her hat was blown off!  She screamed, "No, give it back!"  She fell flat on her face as she tried to chase after it in the hopes to find it. 

      "Here, take it, Marinette!"  Someone had said soon, after they had found the hat in a nearby tree, grabbed it up, and walked towards her to return it.

        Marinette looked up and saw him!  She smiled. 

 "Hello, Chat Noir!  Thanks for finding my hat and returning it to me." Marinette says.

    "Oh, it was a pleasure to be of service to you!" Chat answered.

     End of flashback...

      Marinette sniffs, she recalls how soon after he had given her the hat back in the past that she took him to her place for cocoa. It was the least she could do to repay him!  He drank his in one huge gulp, gave a burp like this...B___URP!  Then, he left in a hurry!  She laughs at how her parents had mistaken him for her boyfriend! 

     She cries at the memory that her mom and dad had seen him!  She wonders, what they would think if they could see her now!  Would they be upset that she had made Alya leave, let alone Chat?   She shrugs her shoulders!

     Meanwhile, Chat Noir returns to Paris, France!  He felt like it was time!  He goes to see Nino!  He wants to know how things are for him and Alya!  He lands with a thud outside Nino's place. He smiles, hides in the shrubs and detransforms.

        Now, Adrien rings the doorbell. He thinks, well hopefully Nino will remember me!  He hears the door open and sees Nino standing there with Alya beside him.  He can tell Alya must have been crying.  He wonders where did she get that huge boulder of a black eye?  Did she and Marinette have a fight?

      "Goodness, man!  It is been ages since I last saw you!  How are you, dude?"  Nino asks.

     "Great!  How are you?" Adrien says. He says nothing about his hero self.  Even though Hawkmoth left town years ago, still he keeps the secret. He has too even more so now, that he knows Marinette does not love Chat.

       "Do come inside!  Alya came over for supper and it seems that Marinette was angry with her earlier today!" Nino remarks.

      "Oh, how so?"  Adrien asks.

     "I would tell you, but I think you better hear it from Alya herself," Nino tells him.

    "Adrien, it is nice to see you!  Oh, and as for my eye well, Marinette did that and the slap mark too!  Look, I never meant to hurt her that badly!  It is just she will not stop moping over Chat!  It is just so unhealthy!  I only tried to help encourage her to leave the house!  I accidentally said some things I should not have and she slaps me and punches me!" Alya blurts out. She still sounds angry with Marinette.

     "Well, maybe both of you were too hard on each other!  Nothing two best friends cannot fix, right?"  Adrien says.

    "Wrong!  I have it with her!  I do not want to be her friend anymore.  If you do then good for you, but I am not." Alya retorts.

      Adrien looks at her in surprise. He thinks, maybe Marinette is right and Alya did become someone far different than the girl they both knew in the past!  Apparently she is a rude version of her former self!  He cannot help, but wonder what Nino has gotten himself into dating her!  He does not say as much though.

    "Oh, I have an appointment!  See you!" Adrien says. He leaves. He sneaks off somewhere else and calls out, "Plagg, claws out!"  He transforms.

       Marinette falls asleep early. She calls out in her sleep, Ch-Chat come back!  Please, Chat! Chat lets talk about this! Chat!

        to be continued in Chapter 11   Imposter  Back Off!