IT WAS PROBABLY SHEER LUCK that Marinette had managed to survive that class.

With way too much on her mind, and too many things to go wrong, she felt like she might have exploded. Though she was Ladybug, she felt that at any given moment she might explode and become akumatized. The last time that had happened, her and her mother nearly because Princess Justice and Verity Queen.

What a dynamic duo. A dynamic disaster duo that would have been. The two people in Paris least likely to get akumatized suddenly akumatized.

The world would have ended.

Marinette shook her head in disbelief until she felt a sharp pain in her side.

"Oh!?"

She looked over to see Alya to her right.

That's right. We're done with school so we're heading over to my house to work on the project. MY HOUSE! And Adrien will be there! But also -

Someone scoffed to her left. "Don't go walking into the street, Marinette."

She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course Lila had to be coming, right?

Hopefully, Lila would be so focused on trying to get on Adrien's good side that she didn't try to sabotage anything.

And hopefully there would be no akumatizations. Because in all honesty, that would really, really suck.

Marinette was snapped back into reality once more.

"Dudette, think we can snatch some croissants from the place?" Nino had always been one of the biggest supporters of the bakery. He even came to volunteer to make things and help out with the customers. For some holidays, he even came over to DJ, which always ended up in a ton of profit for the day. Not only did he end up getting a few bucks after his gigs along with free food, it was the place where he and Alya had shared their first snack as a couple. Little did he know that Marinette, behind Ladybug's mask, was the one who got them together.

Lila opened her mouth to speak, but Marinette cut her off. "Of course! No project can be good without excellent fuel, right? Besides, history isn't any of our strongest suits, right?"

This time, Alya opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Lila. "Well actually, Marinette, I won an award for first place at a history knowledge contest last year! It was held in London, and my aunt let me stay with her, just so I could attend."

"No way! That's so cool, Lila." Adrien's eye twitched at the statement that just came out of his best friend's mouth.

Lila smiled innocently and turned to stick out her tongue at Marinette while Nino was once again being glared down by Adrien and Alya. The poor guy would never be able to catch a break. Not until he put two and two together about Lila, at least.

Upon opening the door to her family bakery, the group of five was almost immediately welcomed by Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain. They smiled widely at the students, momentarily forgetting about their duties as store owners and managers.

"How was school, kids?" Sabine asked kindly. She looked over at Tom, who immediately got the message and began packing various snacks and drinks onto a tray.

"We just got our groups for a project, and since Mari is ever the amazing B - F - F and hostess, she said we could come here." Alya explained to her second mom. Sabine smiled at her adoptive daughter, whom she had grown so fond of and so appreciative towards.

Tom handed his daughter the tray of food, which did not go unnoticed by the two boys in the back. "Well then, we won't keep you - or the customers, sorry folks, - waiting any longer. Go, go, go!"

Marinette smiled giddily at her dad and gave him a nervous chuckle before running upstairs. Alya had no trouble following, since she was so used to it. Both of the girls had thighs of absolute steel now, from running up five flights of stairs in under a minute daily.

Adrien did not struggle to catch up, which almost surprised Marinette and Alya before they realized he was a fencer.

Marinette plopped her things down on the couch and put the tray on the counter. "Why don't we eat for a while, then we can work on our project upstairs?"

She was so lost in inviting Adrien up that she forgot about two little details. Well, one amazing detail and one thorn in her side.

Up came Lila, followed by Nino. "Sounds like a plan, Marinette."

Marinette smacked her forehead and let her group pile up into her room before her. "Unghhhh."

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Lila stood up and yawned. She stretched her arms exaggeratedly. The group of five had spent almost two hours working on the project, and Lila decided she had to 'go to the bathroom'.

"It's just downstairs. You literally can not miss it," Marinette mumbled, looking up from her sketch book. The group agreed Marinette would make everyone costumes, and that Adrien would pay for all the materials.

"It's the least I can do! The lace and the petticoats will be so expensive," Adrien had reasoned. "Besides, consider it as a method to pay back for all the free food." Marinette had blushed so much that she had to crouch down even more and let her still untied up hair cover her face.

Sometimes forgetfulness was good.

Back in the present moment, Lila's footsteps echoed down the stairs. For three of the remaining people in the room, the tension lifted. For one person, the confusion became ever more evident.

"Does anyone want to tell me why -"

Alya punched her boyfriend in the shoulder lightly. "Nope."

He rolled his eyes, to which she pursed her lips and turned away dramatically.

Nino gasped. "Babe! I didn't -"

"Oh but you did -"

"But -"

Marinette and Adrien had to hide their giggles from the couple's angsty interaction. The two were just hilarious together.

Before the moment could further advance into something more delightful, Lila came back upstairs, hands in her pockets.

As soon as Lila sat back down next to Adrien, for some random and unknown reason, all of the sudden Marinette felt her Ladybug instincts beginning to pick up. Everything around her slowed until she zeroed in on the thing she felt she had to pay the most attention to. She heard something coming from downstairs, though it was extremely faint. It sounded - and even began to smell something like a bonfire. It smelled like it was coming from her kitchen.

"Excuse me, guys," Marinette stood up and furrowed her eyebrows. Everyone else nodded, but she could have sworn she saw a slight smirk on Lila's face.

Making her way downstairs, her Ladybug instincts kicked in a lot more. A few loud beeps were heard and she practically threw herself down the stairs, where she saw the oven overheating.

There was a fire. And, in the time that Lila had been 'in the bathroom', the oven had been turned up from it's normal temperature to bake the macaroons to at least a hundred degrees too high.

Marinette did the only thing she knew to do. She screamed.

"MAMA! PAPAAAAA!"