Chapter Text
“I am excited for school,” I said to the little trapdoor in my ceiling. “I am excited for my first day of school.”
I had stayed up later than I should have in the last week of August, aimlessly scrolling the internet. The little pit of apprehension wouldn’t leave my stomach every time I looked at the days ticking down on my calendar. I finally clicked off a fashion blog and started typing my feelings into the search engine. School anxiety was surprisingly common, though most people were worried about le Bac, not their classmates.
Positive self-talk was on a list of suggestions, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
“Marinette!” a voice called from downstairs. “Your alarm’s been going off for fifteen minutes! You’re going to be late for your first day of school!” Sure enough, my alarm was still jingling down on my desk. It could wait another five minutes. Self-talk was important.
“Marinette!”
I sighed and rolled out of bed and down the little ladder to my desk, tapping my phone and silencing both the beeping and my mother.
“I’m coming, maman!” I called down to her. “You can do this,” I added to myself in a whisper. Chloé might not even be in my class. It would be fine. I was a normal girl excited for her first day of school.
I’d get to see my friends, I reasoned, pulling a new shirt over my head.
Nino would find a way to sneak into my class if we weren’t put together. Homeroom would be with Ms. Bustier again and everyone knew she was the best teacher at the whole school. Everything would be fine.
“Marinette!”
Unless I was late. Snatching my recently finished purse, I hopped across my attic room and down through the trapdoor to the kitchen. “I’m here Maman!”
“Good,” my mother smiled from the stove where she was finishing frying an egg. “You’re breakfast is all there, so eat up quick!”
I shoveled my mom’s usual spread of yogurt, cereal, and, of course, fresh bread into my mouth. Food wasn’t usually meant to be devoured so fast, but I couldn’t be late. I had to devour most of my breakfasts.
“Now, you’re not too worried about school I hope?” Mom asked, squeezing my shoulders from behind and setting a wrapped lunchbox by my elbow. She always worked so fast.
“I am excited for school!” I recited proudly, pouring every bit of enthusiasm I didn’t have into the statement. “I’ll get to see Nino and Chloé probably won’t even be in my class and everything will be fine!”
“That’s my girl!” Mom cheered, squeezing me into a hug. “Now get out there and make us proud!”
“Yeah!” I hopped up and grabbed my backpack. It was going to be a great day! I was actually starting to believe it. I dashed out the door.
“Wait! Marinette!”
I skidded to a halt and turned around. Mom held my carefully wrapped lunch, a knowing smile on her face. I blushed and quickly tucked it into my backpack.
“I love you, maman.”
“I love you too, honey. Have a good day,” she kissed my cheek and gently pushed me towards the door.
With one last smile, I dashed down the stairs into my family’s bakery. The warm smell of hot bread and rising yeast greeted me and my father looked up from arranging the pan au chocolat in the display case. Those always flew off the shelves when school got out
“Ah, Marinette!” he smiled, his whole body seeming to fill with the emotion. To some, my dad probably looked intimidating because he was so tall and filled out, but I’d only ever seen his big form filled with joy and kindness. His strong hands were exclusively for pounding dough and giving the best hugs in the whole world. Nino would agree with me. Papa couldn’t hurt a fly.
“There’s a box for you and your class on the counter!”
I peeked inside the bakery box to see two dozen bright green macarons. “Oh, papa, these are perfect! Thank you!”
“Of course,” he set down his tongs and came over to give me a hug. “Only the best for our marketing executive!” He chuckled, tapping the bakery logo I’d designed for them embossed on the top of the box.
“Papa!” I blushed. The logo was very simple, just a stylized T and S for my parent’s names. I’d had it finished in a day.
“You’d better get going, don’t want to be late for your first day!” he grinned and pushed me towards the door.
“Thanks papa. I’ll let you know how these go,” I scooped up the box and headed out.
“Have fun!”
My school was right across the street, which made it all the more embarrassing when I was late, but not today!
Then I almost got hit by a car. I stumbled back out of the crosswalk, finally noticing the bright red, ‘do not walk’ sign when an equally bright red car honked at me.
“Sorry!” I murmured on instinct. The school was right across the street, but I did have to survive to get there. I fidgeted, waiting for the sign to turn when an older Asian man with a cane entered the crosswalk from the other side. Frantically, I looked both ways for cars. As my horrid luck would have it, another car was barreling straight for the man and he was moving too slow to cross in time. I dashed into the street again, tugging the man across just in time as a little blue compact car honked at us and revved its way by.
“Sir! Are you alright?” I asked, trying not to yell.
“Oh, my goodness, thank you miss,” he smiled at me, but his face quickly fell. “What a disaster! I’m so sorry!”
I glanced down and finally realized Papa’s box of macarons had slipped out of my hands when I grabbed the man. A quarter of the box was spilled out on the ground and a hurrying pedestrian crushed a bright green circle into the pavement.
“Oh geez,” I groaned, scooping up the box and offering him one that was still fresh. “It’s alright sir, I’m used to disaster.”
He took a bite and grinned. “Delicious!”
“I’m glad,” I smiled back. “Please be careful on your way home!” He nodded and I hurried across the road, light glowing green at last. I could hear the school bell ringing as I headed up the steps and I sprinted the rest of the way.
I made it into the room and took my usual seat while Ms. Bustier was still gathering her papers. Just in time. I relaxed and leaned back to catch my breath. My class was mostly new people this year. The new girl in the front had beautiful auburn hair that made me think about dresses that would work well with it. Another girl in the back, black clothes and hair with purple highlights, immediately reminded me of a high top design I’d been sketching.
Some faces were familiar though, like Nino tromping down to the front at Ms. Bustier’s polite nudging. I recognized Nathaniel and Ivan, but those two were usually quiet. Rose was already chatting with her new table partner though. Even if I wasn’t close with anyone, it was nice to see familiar faces.
Then an unpleasantly familiar face slammed a fist onto my desk.
“Marinette Dupain-Cheng!” Chloé, my long-standing bully, spat my name like it was a slur. I still couldn’t figure out how she squeezed so much contempt into just my name. “This is my seat!” she declared, sneering down at me.
I sighed and mentally reminded myself that I was excited for school today. Putting up with Chloé couldn’t ruin that. “Chloé, I’ve always sat here.”
“Not anymore!” Sabrina, Chloé’s devoted crony, announced from the seat beside me. “New year, new seats!”
“And Adrien is going to be sitting there,” Chloé pointed to the seat in front of me. “So I have to sit here!”
“Who’s Adrien?” I asked, instantly regretting it as Chloé began to laugh haughtily, throwing her head back to cackle.
“Oh my god! You don’t know who Adrien is? Have you been living under a rock?”
“Oh my god!” Sabrina sniggered. “He’s only the most famous model in Paris!”
I scowled. How was I supposed to recognize a person without their last name? Adrien was extremely common. But Chloé went on.
“I am his best friend. He adores me! So go on,” she gestured. “You can go sit with that new girl or whatever.”
The new girl in question, the one with flaming auburn hair I’d noticed earlier, walked up with her own scowl. “Hey, who elected you Queen of Seats?”
“Ooo, look Sabrina,” Chloé taunted. “We’ve got a little do-gooder in our class this year. What are you gonna do, super newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?”
The new girl rolled her eyes. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she hissed and then grabbed my wrist. “Come on girl, she’s not worth the fuss.”
I was tugged out of my old seat and down the steps to the new girl’s, but my foot got caught and I came down flat on my face, macaron box spilling everywhere.
“Ah!” I squeaked. “Sorry! Sorry!” No time to fret about the lost treats as I retreated to the safety of the desk.
“Oh, shoot, sorry girl!” My new partner apologized. “I got all worked up, shouldn’t have dragged you like that. I-I can get you a new box?”
“It’s okay, they were for sharing anyway,” I sighed at the single macaron still intact. “It’s Chloé’s fault anyway. Thanks for standing up to her like that.”
“Of course,” she nodded. “‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.’”
“Who says that?”
“A hero of mine,” she smiled shyly. “Majestia, it’s a superhero comic, but what matters is that that girl,” she scowled at Chloé, “is clearly evil. So we good people have to do something.”
I had to giggle at her sheer confidence. I had the feeling this girl could scold the President if given the chance. I eyed the last of Papa’s macarons. There was no point in saving it for anyone else. I snapped it in half and offered one part to the new girl.
“Marinette.”
“Alya,” she grinned, accepting the treat. “Don’t worry Marinette. We can deal with that Chloé girl together.”
We each popped our macaron halves into our mouths and turned to Ms. Bustier as she started class. Maybe the day wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Sure, Chloé was still in my class, but with Alya smiling next to me and sweet cream coating my tongue, I let myself hope that maybe this year things would be better.