From Superhero to Cinderella

Chapter 9

Marinette entered her stepmother's room.

"You called for me?" she asked timidly.

"Yes. Now that my husband has died," Audrey said, pausing to wipe away a fake tear, "I have two options for the bakery. Either I can sell it and we can move somewhere else, or you can work at the bakery." Chloe was sitting on the bed next to her mother. A smirk grazed her lips.

"But what about school?" Marinette asked, aghast.

"You would only work part time in the mornings and afternoons," Audrey said. "Sally or whatever her name is will handle the rest of the baking."

Marinette's dad had hired a woman named Sophie to help him in the bakery after her mom had died. Marinette knew that Sophie wouldn't be able to do everything by herself, but still, Marinette was busy. She had her own homework, plus Chloe was probably going to continue to make her do hers and Lila's, and she was secretly Ladybug.

"But I'm busy with school," Marinette protested.

"Then you can kiss your bakery goodbye," Chloe said snarkily. Marinette frowned.

"Fine. I'll help Sophie with the bakery," she said. She turned and left the room, heading back to hers. Her dad had just died, and yet, everyone seemed to expect her to continue on with life as if everything was fine. A single tear trailed its way down her cheek. Just how miserable was Audrey planning on making her life?

***

As it turned out, Audrey planned on making Marinette's life very miserable. If Marinette wasn't up by 5 A.M. to begin helping Sophie in the bakery, she got her phone taken away or some other punishment.

As Marinette had predicted, Chloe continued to make her do both her and Lila's homework. Piling that on top of her own homework, being a superhero, and working part-time in the bakery, Marinette's week was extremely stressful.

Alya, Nino, and Adrien all kept asking her why she was so stressed, but she could feel both Chloe and Lila's stares on her when she was in the classroom, so she didn't dare tell her friends what was happening in her house. Instead, she pretended she was fine, or just said she wasn't getting enough sleep. The last part was true. Not only was she more stressed than usual, she wasn't getting enough sleep.

Presently, Ladybug was purifying an akuma from the most recent akuma fight. She hadn't seen any sentimonsters for a while, and was worried that Hawkmoth was planning something big.

"Bye, bye, little butterfly," Ladybug said, releasing the now purified akuma. She threw her lucky charm, a pair of rubber kitchen gloves, into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She then turned to Cat Noir, who held out his fist.

"Pound it," he said. Ladybug ignored his fist and instead collapsed onto his shoulder. "Hey, is everything alright?" he asked in concern, wrapping an arm around her to keep her from falling over.

"I'm so tired," Ladybug said. "Thank goodness it's finally Friday."

"If you want, I can cancel my date tonight so that you can skip patrol and get some sleep," Cat Noir suggested.

"No," Ladybug said with a sigh, her forehead still on his shoulder, "it's alright. I can do patrol tonight."

"Are you pawsitive?" Cat Noir asked. Normally, Ladybug would groan or roll her eyes at his puns, but she was so tired, that she couldn't help but snicker at his joke.

"I'm sure," she replied.

"Okay," Cat Noir said. "But don't hesitate to call me if you need me."