Miraculous Games

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten:

The lights flashed in the audience, sending them into a roaring mass. The excitement in the room was as tangible as a lion. The yellows, greens, and blues that represented the Animal theme ignited on the stage just before the spotlights were focused on Alec. He wore his giraffe costume, smiling at the audience like he was their parent.

"It's time to introduce our Charms!" He announced.

The crowd was thrown into a tizzy, applauding and cheering so loud, it shook the seats.

The cheers of the crowd were ringing in Marinette's ears. She stood backstage next to Nathanael, holding his arm like a life preserver. With his free hand, he rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. Her thoughts were running wild, trying to make her hike up her dress and run. As hard as Jukela and Rose worked on her new ladybug dress, Marinette was this close to ripping it off and running back to her room.

"Hey," Nathan whispered, pulling one of the curls out of her face. "Let's not panic, okay?"

Marinette realized she was gripping his arm so tightly, his fingers were going purple. She let go just enough to slip her hand into his. His copper suit definitely did not match her red dress. The suit he was supposed to wear did look good on him, though. It fit him perfectly, even with the coattails that were tipped with white. At least they matched the fox ears in his hair, which were also tipped with white.

"S-sorry," she stuttered.

He smiled at her. "You're going to do great, Mari. Just look at Alec and answer the questions honestly. Besides, it's not as bad as you think it's going to be."

"How do you know? What if I trip and fall on my face again? What if I accidently swear in front of everyone? What if everyone hates me?" Her mind ran faster. "What if I ruin Alec's suit? What if my parents disown me?" She gasped. "What about Adrien?! He's going to see me fail and he's going to hate me and he'll never want to--"

Nathanael clamped his hand over her mouth. "Marinette, calm down. You're going to do just fine."

She pulled his hand away from her lips. "You might think that, but I--"

She was cut off again, but not by Nathanael this time. It was by Chloe's laughter.

"Sounds like Loser-Ladybug is losing her cool! Ha ha!"

Next to Queen Bee, her friend Hummingbird laughed along at the joke. Marinette clenched her teeth, glaring at Chloe.

"I'm going to kick her butt so hard that she'll have a stinger stuck up her rear end."

Nathanael chuckled, fixing Marinette's ladybug headband antennae. "I'd pay to see that, but we can't fight back here. We'll get in trouble."

Grumbling, Marinette sent Chloe one last look of death before Alec started calling Charm's names to join him on stage. Chloe was the first to go out with Sabrina on deck, which was a relief. Marinette turned her attention to the TV screen that had been set up backstage for the charms to watch their fellow competitor's interview.

Chloe strutted out across the stage like a princess. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a ratted ponytail with an intricate braid starting at the front of her head and running through the ponytail. A silver headband decorated with black and white diamonds was set beautifully in her perfect hair.

Her dress was sleek and form fitted, perfectly framing her curved hips. It was made of yellow satin with a sweetheart neckline that clearly was meant to tempt. Across her waist, three 'V' shapes were created with black strips of lace. As she spun to show off her magnificent dress, Marinette noticed that it was synced in the back with a corset. Overall, it was a very Chloe "Queen Bee" dress.