Miraculous the tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir; Princess Justice

Chapter 15

After school Marinette went to hang out with Alya, Luka and Juleka on the barge that the twins called home. Adrien, who had a photo shoot right after school, had promised to pick up his four friends from the boat. The butterflies in Marinette's stomach, that she'd hoped would go away, hadn't. In fact, as she had collected her dress from her room, before heading to barge, seemed to get worse. So bad they were all she could think about. She couldn't even follow the conversation that her other three friends were having.

Tikki noticed that Marinette had fallen out of ear shot of her friends and could sense something was wrong, so decided to take action.

"Mari, you seem distracted." she stated. Marinette looked down into her jacket collar, fearful.

"Hide Tikki!" Marinette whispered hurriedly. "The others mustn't see you."

"I want to talk to you." Tikki said stubbornly. Marinette stood up and excused herself, knowing Tikki wouldn't give up. Tikki waited until she found herself alone in a locked toilet with Marinette.

"What's up Tikki?" Marinette asked.

"You've seemed off for a while now." Tikki stated, "I'm not sure how to say it better than that. But something's wrong, since Lila beat you up. Talk to me Marinette, or it'll eat you up from the inside out."

"I'm ok Tikki," Marinette replied softly, "really. Just nervous about the dance is all. About all the dresses I have made. How they'll look. But I'm fine."

Marinette smiled at Tikki, feeling a little guilty. She was omitting that her little red friend was right about her being 'off' since Lila. Mostly because she didn't know how to voice it. Besides it all came from a place that nothing could happen from. She knew Tikki was trying to help her, so things didn't get worse, so she did not become a target for...

She didn't want to think it. She knew if she did, she'd try and excuse herself entirely from the dance. But it was odd. By her count there hadn't been any villains, old or new, since before Lila tried to get her expelled. Almost as if he, (she would not think the name of her arch nemesis right now), was waiting for something. Or someone.

Then there were the butterflies that seemed to be doing back flips in her stomach. No. They weren't back flips. It was like the butterflies that her nerves felt like, were gently, softly multiplying. Waiting. anxious to be set free. Impatient for the chance. Not knowing how they would be freed, but almost certain that they would be. Like, in his failure, a part of him was left with her, waiting for the chance to act.

But there wouldn't be a chance. Marinette had decided that. She had decided that the second she was only going to be friends with Adrien. So there was nothing to talk about. Nothing to concern Tikki. Not really. Her crush on Adrien, and the jealousy that it sparked in the likes of both Chloe and Lila, was the root cause of her feeling of powerlessness, and she wasn't going to feed it. Even if it meant that she'd have to one day start dating someone, anyone that wasn't Adrien just so everyone knew that she wasn't going to date the boy that two other girls wanted so bad. After all she, to everyone else, was just the baker girl. That she was content with.

"Are you sure?" Tikki asked, trying to read her friends face.

"Yes, Tikki." Marinette genuinely smiled.

"So you're not bottling anything up that we should worry about?" Tikki prodded.

"Nothing that would hurt someone." Marinette assured her tiny red friend. "Just, for once normal teen drama."

"So, things with Adrien aren't bothering you?" Tikki asked, almost hitting the metaphorical nail on its head.

"What things with Adrien?" Marinette frowned.