Alter Ego (An Adrien Agrest/Chat Noir X OC Fanfiction)

Chapter Fifteen: Girls

After the whole Bubbler situation, I had settled back into a semi-normal life pretty quickly. There hadn't been any more akuma victims for a while, so I hadn't really had an excuse to bring out my alter-ego or interact with Ladybug and Chat Noir again. At least, not in those forms. Obviously I see Marinette and Adrien every day. 

Like today, for example. I sat in the back of the classroom with Adrien, in our usual seat, as Mr. Damocles, the principal of the school, stood in front of the class with Mrs. Bustier explaining our design project to us.

"You will have one day to work on your fashion piece, and it must be your own design. In ten hours, your finished presentation will be judged by none other than the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste," Mrs. Bustier pulled his picture up on the board, "The father of our very own student, Adrien Agreste," He gestured to Adrien, who rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "In fact, Adrien will model the winning design in his next photo-shoot. And now to announce this year's theme...Derby hats!"

"Derby hats?" I whispered. "Of all the things, your Dad went for Derby hats?"

"The Designer-Fashion community is a weird one." He said, shrugging. I chuckled, shaking my head. 

~~~

We were all hanging out in the courtyard when I spotted Alya sitting on a bench with Marinette pacing in front of her. I wandered over, wanting to get closer to some of the girls in our class.

"Derby hat, Derby hat, I don't have any Derby hat designs!" She exclaimed. Alya sat cross-legged on the bench with her chin in her hands, watching her best friend freak out.

"Hey, what's going on?' I questioned, sitting down beside her.

"Marinette's having an aneurysm about the design competition." She told me.

"Ah. Sounds like fun."

"I've got top hats, caps, even two-horned hats," Marinette ignored our exchange, continuing on her nervous rant, "Need a beret? I'm your girl. A sombrero? No Problemo. But a derby?! You know what? It won't even matter, 'cause I'll probably make a total  fool of myself at the event, most likely trip on my stupid Derby and collapse on Mr. Agreste, Give him a full-blown concussion and then Adrien will hate me! I will never be a world renowned fashion designer, my life is over!" She dropped to her knees, laying her face in Alya's lap.

"Does she do this alot?" I asked, pointing down at the distraught girl.

"Oh yeah," Alya answered, picking her up by the shoulders, "All this over a derby hat? Let me see your sketch pad, girl. There must be something in here."

"And I can help too if you want. I have a lot of experience with designers."

"Really?!" She exclaimed. "You would do that?!"

"Why wouldn't I?" I chuckled. "Let's just see what you've got." Alya opened the sketch pad in her lap and I looked over her shoulder so that I could see. "Wow Marinette...these are incredible!" 

"Really?" She asked. I nodded.

"Seriously, you've got some real talent here!" Marinette shook her head, sitting down beside me.

"Forget it, I'm a disaster zone, I'll probably mess everything up in the end."

"Wow Alya! Those are some Awesome designs." We all looked up in surprise as Adrien appeared out of nowhere, and Marinette was so startled, she rolled off of the bench and collapsed on the ground. I winced. "I didn't know you had such mad skills."

"Uh, thanks Adrien, but I can't take the credit. These sick designs belong to Marinette." She gestured to the girl who was currently hiding behind me with her hands on my shoulders, peering shyly around me. I smiled, shaking my head and grabbing her arm, pulling her to stand in front of me instead. "off the chain, right?"