Chapter 3: The Next Victim

The next day, Adrien was surprised by his father joining him at breakfast.

"Have you given any thought on the matter of whom to prank next?" asked Gabriel.

"Uh... no," said Adrien. "I didn't think I would need to right away."

"We need to strike while the iron is hot, and set your new image. Today."

"I can't think of anyone."

"How about the girl that won my recent hat contest, Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"Why her? I have no reason to bother her."

"Her winning hat was made of feathers, was it not? You have to model it even though you are allergic to feathers. We can spin that into a grudge."

"I don't have a grudge. She had no way of knowing that."

"That doesn't matter. For publicity purposes a company-related matter will work well."

"Marinette is a good friend and a good sport. So if I have to pick on someone, I know she'll be all right with it."

"You need to do something that really annoys her, at least for a short time. Otherwise it's no good."

"I'll think of something."

There was a murmur among the students when Adrien came into the classroom. As he walked to his desk, Chloe glared at him, then turned her face away.

"Dude, what happened? Why did you do it?" asked Nino.

"My lawyer advised me not to say anything," said Adrien. He kept his face impassive as he chewed on a piece of gum.

"Adrien dude , you owe us at least some explanation," said Nino. "I just can't believe you would do this."

"Why not?" asked Adrien. "I was already angry because my father broke his promise to be there for me for Parent's Day. When the bracelet Chloe was flaunting fell out of her purse and rolled under my feet, I just scooped it up as a prank."

"Many parents didn't come," said Max. "My mother had too much to do, getting prepared for a new job as an engineer, but I didn't prank anyone."

"Why didn't you stop when you saw how much trouble it was causing?" asked Alya. "You let Marinette get falsely accused. Sabrina's father get fired, and he got akumatized."

"I wasn't there for that part," said Adrien. "I slipped out to hide the bracelet. About Sabrina's dad – my lawyer is putting pressure on the Mayor to reinstate him. The Mayor was demanding an illegal search and making false accusations."

Marinette came in, a little late and with a tear-stained face. She stopped and stared at Adrien.

"How could you?" she asked.

"Don't hassle me. I've already said more than I should have," said Adrien. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time."

As Marinette was slipping into her seat, Adrien took the piece of gum out of his mouth and tossed it onto her bench.

Marinette tried to catch herself, stumbled, and ended up sitting on the gum.

"That's for the feather hat that made me sneeze."

Marinette went white, jumped up from her seat, and ran from the room.

"You're going to die for this, Agreste!" hissed Alya.

"I'll – I'll make it up to her!" said Adrien.

Adrien rushed out of the classroom and ran after Marinette.

A black butterfly, prepared in advance, followed them.