Caline Bustier considered herself a good teacher. It wasn't simply a career to her, it was something she had been inspired to do back when she was at school herself. She aspired to be a great teacher, but one of the first things she had learned on the job that some things were not so easily done. Her first few weeks had taught her that while teachers needed to act on what they knew.. odds are, they never knew everything.

Take the current.. environment of her class. She just couldn't make sense of it.. and it had changed so fast! There was a pattern to the events, she knew there was, she just.. couldn't see it. Broken friendships, new friendships.. It was a part of growing up, but was it normal for it to happen so fast?

She had been beyond happy when she noticed Chloé and Marinette seemed to have become friends. Caline was honest enough with herself to admit she had a soft spot for those two; objectively she knew she shouldn't have 'favourite' students, she couldn't deny it. And yet, almost at the same time this happened, Chloé and Sabrina seemed to have broken their friendship and even Alya and Marinette seemed to have grown apart.

Frowning to herself, she considered the changes.. and how they coincided with the arrival of Lila Rossi. Lila was.. something of a conundrum to her. By all accounts she was a perfect student; passable grades, proper manners, popular in her class.. There was honestly no reason not to accept Lila as she appeared. And yet, she had doubts. Not much, just a strange feeling.. although sometimes she worried she was just being overprotective of her favourites. After all, Lila did seem to have taken most of the 'spotlight' in class that used to be on either Chloé or Marinette.

Noticing the bell was due to ring any moment, she shook off her thoughts and headed towards her class. Not that she was in anyway prepared for the scene that met her when she entered her classroom.

Nino was sitting quietly next to Alya, trying to relax before class starts. Or more accurately, before Marinette shows up for said class. Not that he was the only one; looking around at the rest of his friends, he noticed almost everyone seemed to be sitting with restless energy. No not quite everyone. Nathaniel seemed to be drawing, and Adrien.. Nino blinked. Stared. Blinked some more. Adrien had on a faraway expression, completely dazed to everything around him. Most people would have said he was daydreaming.. but Nino knew that expression. He had worn that expression for days after kissing Alya for the first time.

What the duck had he missed?

Except for an embarrassingly huge crush on Ladybug a while back, Nino had seen not a hint of Adrien liking anybody, yet now he looked completely besotted. And if Nino was recognizing that expression correctly the mystery girl felt the same.. Idly, he looked over at Chloé's desk, curious about whether or not she'd noticed..

He frowned. Desk empty, except for Kim and Max talking to Sabrina. She was usually here by now.. yet he vaguely recalled she had been coming in later these past few days; as late as Marinette actually. Did they.. like, arrive together? Pffft. Now he knew his nerves were getting to him. Marinette and Chloé? Not bloody likely.

That was of course the moment the class went silent and Marinette and Chloé walked in, looking as whispery-and-giggly as Marinette and Alya used to be when discussing Adrien. Oblivious dork that he is. He felt his eyes widen as Chloé actually walked with Marinette to the back of the class and took the empty seat next to her.

What the fuck?

Sure Marinette had been pulling away from them since Lila had started hanging out with them, but now she was friends with Chloé? When the hell did that happen?

Turning back so he could ask Alya, he saw her slack jawed with her phone actually down for a change. Guess that answers whether or not she knew..

He could tell the class was.. tense. He knew almost everyone wanted to ask about Chat Noir, but at the same time there was the teeny little detail about him warning everyone not to talk to Marinette unless it was an apology. Apology for what though? Did Chat Noir mean he believed what she said about Lila..? As a hero, he should have been able to see it was just some teenage jealousy.

Almost as if she had read his mind, he heard Alix break the tense atmosphere of class.

"So how'd you do it, Marinette?"

The class quieted, turning back to see the bluenette's response.. most that is. Adrien still seemed to be stuck on the circular memory of his mystery girl (Nino wouldn't judge, he'd hardly been better when it came to Alya) and Lila was making a pointless attempt to get his attention.

Focusing back on Marinette, he saw her stare straight at Alix with a blank expression, as if she couldn't understand the question. She looked around at everyone who seemed to also be expecting an answer.. before snorting loudly and turning back to her conversation with Chloé.

What the duck?

When did Marinette get such an attitude?! Objectively he knew her jealousy of Lila had been bad, but this.. it was such a rude reaction!

His shock was interrupted by Kim's smug voice: "I bet she just acted like he was a real hero! I mean most of Paris knows he's either the comic relief, or a nuisance. He doesn't deserve to be called a hero.. and this just proves it! What kind of hero threatens civilians?"

Nino winced. That was a bit harsh. Alya seemed to agree, as she started: "That's not true.." yet before her sentence was even finished, Kim was suddenly confronted by a rather small, but completely furious Marinette.

How the hell did she get down here so quick? And since when did Marinette swear?!

"You asshole! Chat is just overprotective, and he's ten times the hero you could ever dream to be! So take. It. Back!" Punctuating each word of her last sentence with a finger jabbing at his chest.

Kim seemed surprised at the vehemence of her tone, yet sadly not enough to keep his mouth shut. Nino saw though. He saw and he remembered. He'd seen that look on Mr. Dupain's face once, when a drunken tourist had started shouting at Mrs. Cheng for some imagined insult.. right before the normally gentle-giant had tossed the drunk physically out the door. To this day, Nino swore he saw the man bounce 3 times before stopping.

"Oh please! Chat Noir only seems great because of his powers, if I had something like his ring I bet I could..-"

But whatever Kim thought he could do with power like that the class would never know, as at that moment several things happened at once. Chloé started cackling with glee, apparently also recognising the look on Marinette's face, Alix and Max took a step forward as if to restrain Kim, Madame Bustier opened the class door.. and Marinette grabbed Kim's arm, twisted and flipped one of the biggest students in their class overhead as if he weighed nothing.

The impact was so loud the entire class winced, even Nathaniel who had been drawing without paying much attention to anything else. When Marinette suddenly switched her focus to the rest of the class, anger still clear in her eyes, he nearly flinched out of his seat.. though judging from the bangs behind him, he likely wasn't the only one.

"You know what? I don't care anymore! You guys want to swallow Lila's lies, fine, I hope you don't choke on them. You want to speak ill of me, that's fine too.. but the next person to diss my boyfriend is getting a broken nose, got it?!"

When no response came, other than Kim groaning from where he was still flat on the floor, Marinette stormed back up to her seat.. where Chloé was still laughing.

And for the fourth time in less than 15 minutes, Nino had only one thought..

What the duck?

Chloé wasn't sure whether to sigh or to groan. She had just managed to drag the entire story about what happened between Marinette and Chat Noir out of her new/old best friend.. and while it was both sweet and touching that they finally got together after almost a year of dancing around each other.. she wanted to smack Marinette when she shared how she thought she wasn't good enough for Chat Noir because she wasn't freaked out by his willingness to kill for her.

And wasn't that a surprise in and of itself.

Chloé had worked with Chat Noir as Queen Bee before, and she had seen.. hints that his power was a touch scarier than that of the other miraculous users. Not that she disapproved. Chloé knew her own nature and found it was strikingly similar to Chat Noir's; she didn't care much for people in general, but those few she did care for.. she'd do anything for them.

The constant blush Marinette seemed to have when talking about her boyfriend also served to make her feel more reassured about his intentions towards Marinette. Marinette and her had taken to having lunch in an empty classroom today, so they could talk without anyone overhearing.. although for the last 5 minutes they had simply been sitting in companionable silence.

Well, enough of that. Chloé was developing an.. aversion to silence. Pollen claimed it was because the Hive is never silent, and she was starting to adopt certain traits from her Miraculous.

"Sooo.. did he tell you his identity yet? I mean he has to tell you eventually right..?"

Marinette just rolled her eyes.

"No Chloé, he hasn't told me his identity… yet. He said he wants to though, but he's worried it will change things between us. And since we just started dating.. it's a bit much to attempt all at once, you know?"

Chloé hummed in response. She supposed that did make sense..

"Still, you seem to get pretty protective of him yourself, Miss-I'll-just-judo-flip-this-classmate-then-threaten-the-rest-in-front-of-our-teacher" she said with a smirk, gaining a groan from her friend.

"Ugh, don't remind me! I don't know what came over me, one moment we were talking about you and Nathaniel, but then I heard him actually insult Chat Noir! Like I was going to sit there and let someone insult our kitty? Just thinking about it gets me worked up! I should've broken his nose too" she finished with a scowl.

Chloé looked at her friend with confusion.

"What do you mean 'our' Kitty?"

Marinette crossed her arms and scowled even further.

"I meant my kitty. Because he is mine, and I don't plan to share, no matter how many knights, pirates and queens think otherwise."

This of course did nothing to clear up her confusion. While Chloé and Marinette had become considerably closer these last few weeks (amazing what isolation and a mutual enemy will do for a friendship), Chloé just sighed. She may be smarter than most people gave her credit for, but she couldn't even begin to decipher that odd comment.. not that she was entirely sure she wanted to.

In his car, heading home for lunch, Adrien was in a strange mood.. though it having been a strange morning overall, he supposed it was fitting. Had Marinette always been so.. he wasn't sure what the word was. Passionate? No that wasn't the word.. Intense?

It seemed like such a lacklustre way to describe her, and yet he couldn't think of anything better. One thing he did find worrisome though was how attractive he had found it when she judo-flipped Kim like it was nothing. Even if the Voices seemed to agree, he wasn't sure they were the best way to measure what was normal.

Perplexed.

That was the only way to describe what Max was feeling at the moment. He had run the calculations over and over, and it still didn't add up. Marinette should not have been able to take Kim down the way she did.. Even when making allowances for the strength of her father or any physical conditioning she may have gotten from working in her family's bakery (Her family surely buys the more optimal 50lb bags of flour, which is a notable weight to frequently carry) it should not be possible.

Rough estimates delivered 3 main possibilities. Kim was far lighter than his appearance suggested (30% probability); a mass delusion by the class (50% probability due to a rise in akumas) and only a 5% probability that it was accomplished by her strength alone – leaving a 15% margin of error for factors he is not aware of.

Considering he was currently visiting Kim in the school nurse's office during his lunch break, and that he had supported his friend's weight on his way here, he could rule out both the more likely possibilities.. leaving only Marinette having almost superhuman strength or some other mystery he had no hope of understanding.

Thus, his state of perplexion.

Rose was conflicted.

She loved love! It was what made the world the best place to be, and she was a firm believer that most of a person's problems could be solved by adding more love to the situation. She also hated the use of violence, as she felt violence could never solve anything.

That said, she was also a sucker for a good love story.. and even though she wasn't happy with how petty Marinette had been acting since Lila joined the class, she couldn't help but be happy for her love with Chat Noir. It took almost all her willpower not to squeal from how cute Marinette and Chat Noir were in being overprotective of each other..

And so she was conflicted.. a love she wanted to support, but a couple who seemed a bit too eager to get violent on behalf of each other.

Juleka was contemplative.

The morning had been.. interesting to say the least. The confrontation (if you could call Marinette's rampage that) had been intense, and enforced many of her classmates opinions that Marinette was acting strangely out of character.

Not her though. In fact, she had noticed that (for someone blinded by envy) Marinette was acting surprisingly in character. Sure she had lashed out and broken rules.. but she had done so on behalf of someone else. Which reminded her of when Marinette had stolen a camera and risked expulsion (theft was serious after all) because one girl wasn't on the class photo..

Would that same girl act out of jealousy and attempt to bully a new student, only because she was making a move on Marinette's crush..

Juleka frowned.

If Marinette and Chat Noir are so madly in love.. then why would Marinette be jealous of someone flirting with Adrien?

Her eyes widened as she suddenly understood.. and thus her confusion was replaced with shame, for the truth was heartbreaking.

For the first time she could remember, Alix was jealous of Marinette.

That might not seem like such a bad thing.. especially considering she was hardly the first girl to feel jealous of her. After all she was pretty amazing; she was one of the most good looking girls in their school, she had a generally pleasant personality and she was extremely talented!

It may seem odd, but having had a minor crush on Marinette in the past, Alix had prided herself on not feeling jealous of Marinette for either her looks or her general pleasantness. Most girls were jealous of them in one sense or another, but Alix had felt comfortable in her role as the 'badass' girl of their class.. until Marinette Dupain-Cheng had tossed Kim over her head like he was nothing! That was badass.. and she knew she couldn't pull off something like that.

She was still pissed about Marinette hurting her friend, but she could respect a proper rampage all the same. Jeez, like it isn't enough she knows Jagged Stone, the girl has to..

Alix frowned.

Marinette.. knows Jagged Stone. Nathaniel swears he saw her call him Uncle Jagged! I know she knows him.. So wouldn't she likely know if he had ever had a cat..?

She scowled. She wasn't just going to flip her opinions and decide to trust Marinette's every word.. but maybe she should start paying a bit more attention to what Lila says.

Lila was panicking.

More than that, she was scared enough to go make an excuse to the principle (thank you, gullible faculty) so she could get out of school for the rest of the day. What the hell had Marinette done in class!? She judo flipped Kim like it was nothing! Judo flipped him! It didn't make sense, if Marinette was that strong, why did she just take the abuse Lila had been heaping on her these past few months?!

Sure Lila had lied about Marinette hurting her, or threatening her for 'getting close to Adrien'.. but she didn't think the soft hearted, slight girl would actually be able to hurt her! Was that.. was that why her friends had been so easy to convince? She was usually good at reading people, but what if she had misread Marinette..? Having transferred through a lot of schools, she knew there were some people you just should not mess with. She might win the majority over to her side against them, but it wouldn't matter.. they'd get even. Her initial thoughts had been that Chloé was the one she should avoid directly antagonising..

But now?

Her supposed 'target' seemed to be so much worse than anyone she had had to deal with previously! Not only could she apparently kick her ass (Lila wasn't exactly dainty, or afraid to get her hands dirty, but Marinette laid Kim out flat!) but she had a direct connection to Chat Noir..

Who she had honestly thought was nothing more than a buffoon. Ladybug was a damn pain in the ass, but she seemed to be the classic do-no-wrong hero.. She knew most people would say the same about Chat Noir as well, but she knew better. She saw his eyes, they had held only something dark and inexplainable.. she had thought those theories about Ladybug and Chat Noir being thousands of years old were ridiculous; and yet when Chat Noir threatened her, she knew he had meant every word, because his voice had sounded inhumanly ancient.

With a sort of morbid curiosity, she couldn't help but wonder.. does Ladybug know what kind of monster she has at her side?