MISS BUSTIER BEGAN TO call people's names. Marinette fiddled with her hair, just now realizing that it was down. She turned to Alya.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she quietly mumbled.

"I thought it was intentional, girl," her best friend whispered back. "Besides, Adrien was totally checking you out!"

Marinette coughed, "He WHAT?"

"Marinette?" Miss Bustier called, eyes still on the list she held.

"Sorry, Miss!" Marinette mumbled. Much to her surprise, the teacher looked confused.

"About what. . .?" She looked up, a kind smile on her face. She had the kind of smile that suggested that there was nothing to be sorry for, if it was only a small mistake.

"I - er -" Marinette, catching that Miss Bustier hadn't heard her and Alya's squealing, decided to tell the class what she brought. "I . . . forgot to tell you that I brought croissants for the class! Yeah! Can I pass them out now?"

Miss Bustier smiled wider. "Of course you can! That's so wonderfully kind of you, isn't it, class?"

"Yes Miss Bustier," The class echoed back, all smiling as well. Everybody loved Tom and Sabine's baking - especially the classes. Any day that Tom Dupain or Sabine Cheng came to teach the class how to make something was a good day.

Even Chloe was smiling a little bit. Sabrina, beside her, was as well. In fact, the only person not smiling was Lila.

Marinette, just being cautious, decided to ask anybody if they wanted a certain filling before she handed a croissant to them. Hopefully, that way, Lila wouldn't be able to pull an Oh - No - I'm - Having - An - Allergic - Reaction - To - The - Croissants, - Marinette!

Then again, if she really wanted to, couldn't she pull a Marinette - Tried - To - Poison - Me?

I'll let people pick their own croissant, Marinette thought to herself, opening the box and giving Alya first dibs.

Her best friend pumped a fist in the air, "First! In your face, Kim!" Kim blew a raspberry at her and rolled his eyes in annoyance jokingly. Alya picked a chocolate filled croissant - Marinette wasn't surprised. The girl loved chocolate as much as she loved her blog, Marinette, and Ladybug!

Well, just Marinette. Or just Ladybug. Now that Alya knew who Ladybug truly was, and promised to not post it on the Ladyblog, escaping and being able to transform without seeming too suspicious around her friends was a hell of a lot easier.

Thank goodness for supportive best friends! Goodbye terrible excuses . . .

Marinette moved around to Nino and Adrien's desk first. Adrien was practically drooling as he stared at all the choices, something that didn't surprise his best bud, Nino.

The DJ picked out a cranberry - apple croissant, biting into it immediately. He thanked her with his classic, "Thanks, Dudette!", to which Marinette smiled widely in return.

"Uh . . ." Adrien was having a hard time choosing. Seeing as his father never really let him have sweets to begin with, he wasn't sure if his father would be happy letting him have one. Model Diet was hard, but he supposed he could work it off as Chat Noir later. Fighting supervillains was not nearly as easy as it looked, and it didn't look like it was all that easy to begin with.

Adrien grabbed a random one, and shoved it in his mouth before he could regret anything. He heard Alya trying to stifle a laugh from behind him. His best friend, from beside him, attempted to do the same thing. For better or worse, Nino failed. Nino's erupted laughter caused the laughter of Alya to bubble out, which made Marinette giggle as well as she went on to pass the croissants to Chloe and Sabrina.

Miss Bustier continued with the roll calling of students' names as Marinette passed around the room. Chloe looked over the croissants, picking out a chocolate one. She grabbed one for Sabrina as well, who smiled.

꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦꒷꒦

Alya growled as she angrily stabbed her fork, "I can't believe it!"

Nino patted his girlfriend's back. "It's just a project, babe. . ."

"Yes but . . ." She frowns. "The groups," she whispers, shooting a knowing look at her best friend Marinette.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Mari rolled her eyes. "You, me, Lila, Nino and Adrien all in one room? Pfft - forget about it."

"What's so wrong with Lila?" Nino asked, as oblivious to this matter as Adrien was to his true feelings about Marinette.

Marinette, Alya, and Adrien all gave him identical looks at the same time. Looks that screamed don't - you - dare - and - if - you - do - prepare - to - lose - something - very - precious - to - you.

Nino put his hands up in surrender almost immediately after seeing the looks they gave him. Who could blame him? The best blogger, the best fashion designer, and the hottest model Paris had seen, all glaring lasers at him? Anyone would be terrified. Well . . . mostly anyone.

"Ayo! I get it, I get it, I get it," He scoffed. "Stop trying to murder me now."

Adrien laughed and punched his friend on the back in a friendly way. That caused the two to share a 'broment' as they called it, which left Marinette and Alya to share a matching facepalm and eye roll.

Marinette blushed deeply when Adrien asked her what she thought they should do, "You're one of the best thinkers in class after all, Marinette."

"I - we could -" Marinette looked at Alya from her peripheral vision. As always, Alya was making weird motions to try to help her friend. "We could -"

Alya made a thumbs up. "Go up?" Alya shook her head. When Nino began to ask a question, she stomped on his toe. "To my house! Y-Yeah, we could go up to my house for the project and talk about it there? After fencing - I mean SCHOOL! After school," Marinette corrected herself, dying inside. She was about to take it back, but it was too late. She had gotten her words out before she could have realized that being at her house meant that Lila could be there. Which wouldn't end well at all.

"More croissants is a yes," Nino pumped a fist in the air. Adrien's eyes lit up and he smiled.

That smile - Marinette thought. How could I ever take back my word if it meant ruining that smile?

"I'll ask father," He grinned at his friends. "I'm sure he'll let me if it's a project."

"Hey gro-oup!" a sickly sweet voice called out. "Hope you aren't making plans without me and missing me!"

Marinette clenched a fist under the table as she forced a smile. "Only tossing ideas back and forth."

Lila also had to visibly not make a scene - there were people watching as they were in the cafeteria; a very public place was not a good place to aggravate your arch nemesis whom's life you planned to make a living hell.

"We're going over to Marinette's house to do the project, dudette - uh - Lila!" Nino stumbled over the nickname he had used for Marinette for so long.

Lila turned to look at Marinette, her back to Adrien, Nino, Alya, and the rest of the people in the cafeteria who might be watching. "Is that so . . ."