When we got to PE, we went straight to our lockers. I glanced over at Alya to see she was wiping away her tears.

I remembered I had to probably be reassigned to another locker due to the fact that I was taken out of this school for a while.

"Alya, I have to go to the locker room office to get a new locker assigned. I'll see you in the PE class," I told her, hoping I could get to the bottom of whatever was making her upset while we'd be playing football or whatever. She nodded in response and walked over to her locker by herself.

What was she upset about? This scared me more than anything because Alya was always so strong and fearless. I never once saw her as anything less than brave, but she was a real human. Of course she had the right to be emotional, but whatever was upsetting her must've been big. She was never this upset.

I frowned to myself and went over to the office to request my locker. I internally died when I noticed the usually kind person wasn't there and that Ms. Mendeleiev was there instead.

Oh goodness, I thought to myself. "Hello Ms. Mendeleiev! It's me, Marinette," I greeted her nervously.

"Oh, Miss Dupain-Cheng? Where have you been? Ditching with your friends?" She accused me, causing my eyes to widen.

"No, no! I was getting homeschooled because of the people that were getting too excited about me being Ladybug," I quickly said.

"Let me get this straight. You, Ladybug, changed your education because of teenagers that got too excited with your secret identity?" She asked me, her eyes rolling.

"Uh..." I nervously didn't know what to reply because if I said yes, she'd probably put me down, but if I said no, she'd know I was lying.

"Can I be assigned to a locker please?" I asked, my words coming out fast as I had no idea how to respond to her previous question.

"The good thing, Miss Dupain-Cheng, was that you had the courage to come back to school. Most in your situation would probably stick to homeschool, but you came back to have a regular Parisian school education," she told me, taking off her glasses and setting them on the desk as she looked me straight in the eye with her harsh, icy blue eyes.

"Thank you," I squeaked out nervously.

"Anyways, I'm taking over for your usual locker supervisor for this period. I'm not sure how this works, but is there a particular locker you would like to have?" She asked, changing the subject as she opened a binder where the lockers were mapped out.

"Is there any available lockers near Alya Cesaire?" I asked hopefully.

Ms. Mendeleiev scanned the sheet and shook her head, "No, but there's an available locker next to Chloe Bourgeois."

If this situation happened previous to the reveal, I would've been crazily declining at the chance that I'd have a locker next to Chloe, but now that we were good friends, it was different.

"Could I please have that one?" I asked, surprising the teacher.

Ms. Mendeleiev replied, "Are you sure? I mean there's another locker available by Rose."

"Rose is really nice, but I'm best friends with Chloe now," I told her with a smile. Her eyes widened and she nodded as she scribbled my name into the place of the locker beside Chloe's.

"Alright Miss Dupain-Cheng, you're set. Don't be late for my class after lunch," she reminded me as she handed me the combination password for that locker.

"Thanks! I won't," I replied before stepping back into the locker room.

I made my way around the changing students to find Chloe.

"Hey Marinette!" I heard her voice. I started heading toward the voice, passing Alya's locker aisle.

"Oh hey Chloe! We're locker neighbors!" I told her happily. Her face lit up excitedly.

"Yay! There's the empty locker," she pointed me towards it. I thanked her and quickly unlocked it to place my gym clothes out. I changed fast, seeing that other students were beginning to leave to room to head to their gym classes.

After I was done changing, I released my hair from the pigtails and combed it with my fingers into a ponytail.

"Let's go!" She told me, grabbing my arm to take me back to where our teacher usually meets us. I followed her quickly, and I found we were doing a health unit.

"I came back the worst possible week to come back," I whined.

"No kidding," Chloe giggled. Sabrina caught up with us and displayed the tortured soul look.

"I think Alya might be feeling a little down today. I'm going to hang with her and try to cheer her up," I said to Chloe and Sabrina.

"Are you sure she doesn't need any space? Sometimes space helps a sad person," Chloe told me, and Sabrina nodded.

I was torn. Do I go with Chloe and Sabrina and give Alya some maybe needed space or do I go and help her to give her the support she likely needs? My best friend needed me. I could see it.

"I think she might need some support. I'm going to hang with her and help her deal with this terrible health unit," I told them.

"Okay. Make sure she feels better then! See you later, Marinette!" Chloe told me and Sabrina waved.

I waved back at the two of them then I walked over to sit by my best friend. "Hello Alya," I greeted her.

She looked up at me as I lowered myself to sit up against the wall beside her, "Hey Marinette."

"You know you can tell me anything, right? What's going on, girl?" I asked her gently.

"Everything is fine. I'm fine. I-I just... it's fine," she croaked at the end.

"Are you upset about the fact that it's health unit week?" I joked, nudging her on the side with my elbow softly.

"No," she mumbled.

"Or maybe that... I don't know. What's going on, Alya?" I gave up on guessing.

Then something hit me. She was upset today when she had to sit next to Chloe. Maybe she said something to Alya. Maybe it had to do with Chloe.

"I'm sorry, Marinette! I'm so so- sorry!" She exploded in tears, holding her hands over her face.

"Alya..." I began to say as I placed my hand over her shoulder. Just as I was going to continue, our teacher clapped his hands.

"Is everyone ready for our health unit?" He shouted loudly, causing me to flinch at the spit that happened to hit my face.

Alya was hiding her face in her hands as she tried to get her sobs under control. I saw Chloe looking at us with pity.

Would Chloe have said or done something to Alya?

She was good now, right?

I couldn't tell, and I hoped with all honesty that she wouldn't have done anything to Alya. Meanwhile our teacher told us to run around the soccer field once before going into a classroom to get educated.

Alya took the opportunity to run as fast as she could to avoid having to tell me what was upsetting her. What she probably forgot was that being Ladybug kept me in shape for running, so I did my best to run beside her.

"Al...ya! What is... going on?!" I yelped, huffing out between breaths.

Tears streamed down her face as she continued to run at her fastest, even beginning to pass me as she cried out, "You'd hate me if I told you!"

My legs came to slow as I wondered what she was even thinking. More people like Kim, Alix, and Rose passed me as they ran. Chloe caught up to me, even leaving Sabrina in the back.

"What's... going on... with Alya?" Chloe asked me, struggling to catch her breath as we began to slow to a walking pace.

"I was actually hoping you would know, Chloe," I said accusingly.

She took this comment and ran it through to process it in her mind before looking at me, offended. "Marinette, I thought we.... we already went... over this! I'm.... no longer... bullying people!" Chloe whined, obviously hurt by my accusation.

I shook my head, wondering what I was doing. Jumping to conclusions wasn't something I should've been doing. It's gotten me in trouble several times, especially on Christmas night. Of course I still held a small bit of the suspicion, but I couldn't just accuse her so easily.

"Sorry, I'm sorry! I'm jumping to conclusions without even thinking. You're right. I'm just... upset that Alya is upset," I told Chloe.

"Girls, this isn't a stroll in at the mall! Keep running unless you want to spend the rest of the period running in this soccer field!" The teacher scolded Chloe and I, causing us to cringe.

"It's fine. I shouldn't have bullied people in the first place," Chloe said to me as we began to pick up our pace to a jog.

"I know, but I was being unreasonable. You've changed and I need to keep it in mind. I would've lost my mind if we hadn't become best friends over that crazy post-reveal period," I told her, managing to speak steadily as I ran beside her.

"Aww, it was nothing. I just wanted to make sure you'd have a friend while Alya was... well, you know," Chloe eased away towards the end of her sentence. The two of us came to a stop as we reached the end of our lap around the soccer field.

"It meant a lot to me, Chloe. Again, I'm sorry for accusing you," I told her as we lined up with the rest of our class behind the teacher. She smiled at me in return as a friendly gesture.

I turned back around to face the front, realizing there was a blonde-haired tall model boy in front of me. With a smirk, I poked him in the back. It caused him to jolt up in surprise with a small yelp.

He turned around to see I was standing there, and he playfully groaned, "Aww man. I'm stuck having my purrincess in my class?"

"Shut up! Also when did you start taking gym? I thought you did fencing and basketball," I asked him curiously, swatting him gently.

"Well... let's just say my mother nearly had a heart attack when she looked at my schedule," Adrien chuckled lightly.

"Wow, so I have to make some changes to the poster in my... ahem, I mean goodness! I hope she's okay!" I began to fluster and turn red once I realized what I nearly admitted.

"Make some changes to the poster in your what?" Adrien playfully teased, watching me go into full-Marinette-panic mode.

"Make- some changes! To um... yeah! Yours! I mean in your room! I mean in your schedule! Where? You have great management..." I babbled nonsense, making Chloe giggle.

"Wait, does Adrien know you have a poster of all his-" Chloe began to say before I held a hand over her mouth with a nervous smile.

"No, no. There's nothing there," I quickly told him. It would take years to recover from this shame.

"Anyways, do you know what's going on with Alya?" I whispered to Adrien, taking my hand off Chloe's mouth and changing the subject. Chloe glared at me for covering her mouth, but looked at Adrien to see if he knew anything about Alya.

He glanced at Alya and at me, then at Chloe, Sabrina in the back, and Lila across the field. "I have no idea," he said blandly.

The class began to follow the teacher into the classroom. We were called to sit in alphabetical order according to last name, meaning I sat between
Juleka Couffaine and Mylene Haprele. I was happy to sit between two people I was relatively friendly with, but I was hoping I would be able to sit next to Alya. She was on the other side of Juleka and next to Ivan.

I noticed she wasn't crying at the moment, but her eyes got watery when her eyes met mine. She quickly looked away and wiped her eyes.

I sighed and rested my chin on my fists, whereas my elbows were on the top of the desk. I listened to the teacher rant about the importance of being responsible and careful. I braided one of pigtails out of boredom instead of paying attention like a good student.

The class dragged on for the next hour, and we were finally saved by the lunch bell. When the teacher dismissed us, everyone basically raced out to get dressed back into their own clothing.

Once Adrien, Alya, and I found each other when we left the locker rooms, we made our way to Nino's classroom to wait for him.

Luckily, he came out of his classroom quickly and we decided we'd go find a table to eat at school today. Once we were seated, Nino and Adrien left to buy school lunch.

"Alya, just tell me what's going on that's upsetting you," I begged my best friend.

"I promise you that it's nothing that you need to worry about. I'm just... fine," Alya told me, taking her lunch out from her backpack.

"You can tell me anything. I promise you that there's nothing you can say that'll make me hate you," I promised.

"The truth is... I-I'm just afraid," she began, worry evident in her eyes.

"Afraid of what?" I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder in hopes of comforting my best friend.

"I'm just so afraid. I'm afraid that I-I'll... lose my best friend again," her voice broke, tears starting to fall from her eyes again.

"I mean you have Chloe now! You have Sabrina and Lila too! What if nothing is the same anymore?! I can't lose you as my best friend, Marinette!" Alya sobbed, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

"I w-was so bad to you! I don't even... deserve you! I overwhelmed you and didn't even know it! That's the w-worst part! Why did you forgive me?! Your friendship is more than I could ever deserve!" She yelled, crying harder and harder. She felt guilty...

"Alya, listen to me. You are not my best friend," I began, but was interrupted by Alya's cries growing harder.

"Mar-Marinette... I'm so-" she sobbed.

"Chloe and Sabrina are my best friends, but you are more than that. You're my sister. There is never a day that I won't be by your side," I finished, pulling her into a hug.

"Dudettes, are you all okay?" I heard a familiar male voice ask.

Alya wiped her tears and nodded her head to Nino. "You're a sister to me too, girl," she laughed emotionally.

"Aww, let's group hug, guys," Adrien emotionally pulled the three of us into a large hug, causing Nino to drop his lunch on the floor.

"Dude... Dude. Dude!" Nino growled when he realized his lunch was now all over the ground.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I'll pay for another one. You could have mine," Adrien let go of the three of us and shoved his school tray towards Nino.

"No, no. It's all good. I'll just... wait in line," Nino sighed, but laughed to lighten the mood.

"Dude, I feel terrible," Adrien told Nino.

"It's all good," Nino tried to assure him.

"I'm buying you pizza after school! That's final!" Adrien declared, causing Alya and I to giggle a little.

"Fine, I guess I'll let you get me a pizza," Nino playfully grumbled. The two boys did their handshake and shared Adrien's tray for that lunchtime.

"Anyways, are you okay now?" I asked Alya, hoping our talk helped her a bit.

"Definitely. I'm sorry I got jealous, Marinette. I'm just not used to sharing such an amazing person with everyone, but I'll learn. Go ahead and make friends, girl. You're awesome," Alya told me.

I lifted a smile onto my face and hugged Alya again.
"That doesn't mean that you can't join in on my new friendships! Come with me when I hang with the girls. You'll love it!"

"Are you sure it would be okay with Chloe and Sabrina?" Alya asked, a hint of worry still within her.

"They're nothing like they used to be! Chloe is so much nicer, along with Sabrina," I reassured her.

With a smile, we both agreed we would never split up again. Adrien, Nino, Alya and I continued on our lunch period with lots of laughter and joy.

I checked back on Tikki in my pocket and she gave me a thumbs-up. I smiled at her, but knew internally that there would be a possibility I didn't want to consider at such a peaceful moment. Without having to defeat akumas and villains anymore, what would become of Ladybug and Chat Noir?