Ladyblood

5 | Love Rivals

Marinette's POV

School was cancelled the next day. I trudged downstairs to watch TV, and I, Ladyblood, was all over the news. Adrien, or Wild Chat, was too, but I didn't let them take any pictures of his face to protect his identity. They kept calling me a murder, and saying I was evil. I turned off the TV.

The next day at school, I looked for my best friend Alya and sat down next to her.

She adjusted her glasses and looked right at me. "So, where were you yesterday?"

"W-what? I was sick!"

She sighs and leans back in her chair. "Don't think that I don't know about you and the model."

My face turns bright red. "N-no! Adrien and I... well... we just kinda hooked up I guess..."

Alya suddenly sits up straight and grins with hopefulness. "So you don't like him?"

"W-well, I don't know about t-that!"

"Oh." She slumps back into her chair.

My Algebra teacher, Mrs Bustier, walks into the classroom and places her laptop down on her desk, then turns to face us. "Class," she announces, "we have not one, but two new students!"

The classroom immediately buzzes with excitement. Alya turns to me with a worried look on her face.

"Girl, don't tell me..."

"Quiet down please everyone!" Mrs Bustier hushes. "Our first student, whom you all know very well, is the famous model Adrien Agreste!"

No, no, no... In my classroom?! How am I gonna be able to focus? He'll be flirting with me the whole time!

Alya puts a hand on my thigh when Adrien walks in. He sees me as soon as he walks in the room.

Mrs Bustier looks at him. "Where would you like to sit?"

Adrien winks at me. "I have poor vision, Mrs Bustier, so may I sit in the first or second row?"

"Sure, go ahead! Miss Chloe and Miss Sabrina, would you mind moving to the back so Adrien can sit in the front?"

Omg, he did not just do that.

Adrien grabs his bags and sits in the desk right in front of me. He places his notebook and iPad down before turning to look at me. He smiles, but not his usually flirtatious smile. It's more of an "I'm-finally-here-at-school" smile.

Mrs Bustier stands back at the front of the class. "Our next classmate, is a boy named Luka Couffaine!"

A boy with dark blue hair comes in the classroom. He's wearing a blue denim jacket, black ripped jeans, black earrings, and black converse. His eyes are a stunning indigo.

Alya notices the look in my eyes and groans. "Great," she mumbles. "Two love interests." I turn and look at her confused, but she blushes and turns away.

Luka waves to the class, but suddenly zones on me. He smiles. He grabs his skateboard, backpack, and phone and then sets his stuff down next to Adrien. "Mind if I sit here?"

Adrien smiles and moves over. "Sure dude!"

Mrs Bustier claps to get the attention of the class. "Okay class, feel free to talk among yourselves. I need to go file some papers for our new students." She smiles, grabs her laptop, then struts out of class.

All at once, Luka, Adrien, and Alya turn to face me.

"Woah, uh, h-hi." I stutter.

So, I guessing you probably think I'm a klutz. I stutter all the time, trip over my own feet, and can barley keep my grades in the A's to satisfy my mother. But, the side affect that comes with strict parents is you know how to play games. You know how to lie, how to play with peoples emotions, and how to read the room in order to get what you want. Say you want to lie to your dad about how you got a B in a class. You blame it on the teacher, say you'll do your best to improve your grade, then complement his shirt or something and ask him where he got it. People love talking about themselves, so they'll easily forget what they were mad at , because they get to tell you about themselves.

Why am I bringing this up? Because I could tell in this one moment that everyone who just looked at me had a crush on me. Scientifically proven, when you first walk into a group of people, you'll first look at the person you like in that group. So in this case, Luka, Adrien, and Alya all have a crush on me.

So, what do I do? I use them.

I look at the group and put on my best klutz act. "Hey y'all, so I was really confused on the homework last night, so much that I didn't even know where to start! Would y'all mind helping me with the answers?"

In reality, I just didn't want to do it. I stayed up all night playing video games.

Alya is the first to speak. "Girl, no sweat! Here, I'll help you with the first one."

Adrien seems jealous and steps in. "Luka and I were both required to do the homework too, so the teacher could see where we are so far on the classwork. It's kinda hard to explain, so I can just give you the answers."

Wow, I didn't expect that. No longer do I have to pretend to learn this stuff, Adrien will just give me the answers.

Luka laughs, then leans in. "Look, if we're just gonna let you copy, I might as well just do it for you."

He takes my paper and my pencil, circles all the correct answers, and gives it back to me.

Wow, I definitely didn't expect that. Luka just... did it all for me? Wow, I feel so in control. This never happened before. Maybe it has something to do with the ladybug miraculous. Wait, that reminds me. Yesterday, when I was about to go to bed, a part of one earring was... rusty. It was like it was corrupted or something. It was odd, but I didn't take them off. When I have them on, I feel like I can do anything.

While Luka and Adrien are talking, I gaze down at Adrien's ring. I almost choke. His right is rusting too. Is this a side affect of the miraculous?

Or, is it becoming corrupted because we used out powers to kill somebody?

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A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the short chapter! If you have any theories about what's happening, make sure to comment ;)

-Melody