Chapter Text
Marinette holds her tablet to her chest, looking up at the Suerste school grounds. She made her decision two days ago, and her mother was more than on board with it. Her father was understandably worried for her, but he also agreed that this might be better for her, especially with the way her so-called friends were treating her.
She squares her shoulders and walks into the Commons Building. Tikki’s been surprisingly quiet all day, and Marinette doesn’t know how to take that, worrying that she’s lost another friend.
“Marinette!” Marinette squeaks when she’s scooped up in a bear hug, by a familiar brown skinned girl.
“Rebel! Could you put me down, please?”
Rebel sets her down, her face split into a bright smile, “Not that I’m not incredibly happy to see you, rosita, but what are you doing here? I thought you’d decided to stay at your non-magic school, until you graduated there.”
Marinette hugs herself, looking away from Rebel, “Things happened. I didn’t feel welcome there anymore, so I decided to transfer over early.”
Rebel reaches over and sets a hand on her shoulder, “Dang. I’m sorry, amiga. Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather me introduce you to everyone?”
“Introduce me to everyone else, please. It’s been too long.” Marinette looks up at her, Rebel’s green eyes nothing but gentle.
“That is has. We’ve got a few newbies in class, oh, and I’ve got a couple new siblings, Rey and Mona. Mona’s actually biologically my half sister, and Rey was adopted from an abusive non-magic family, so don’t mention anything about her being a non-magic, please. She’s already really sensitive about it.” Rebel starts up the stairs, to the commons room, happily telling Marinette all about some of their newest classmates.
Marinette just smiles, as she listens to Rebel talk, happy that one of her oldest friends is still here for her.
---
It’s been a week since Marinette left Collége François Dupont, and she’s so glad she did. Her magic’s improved greatly since she switched over, and she’s not worrying so hard about her grades taking a hit, when she has to go fight an akuma, which has happened twice since she switched schools. Rebel and her other classmates always keep her updated about what she missed, and her professors don’t even question her leaving class to deal with akuma.
The best part is, everyone in her class is incredibly supportive of her, and no one gets mad at her for calling out people on their lies, everyone in class can see the deceit just as well as she does.
She should have switched schools when her parents offered on her birthday. Her life’s been so much easier. Tikki’s even seen how much better she’s doing, and is coming around to them switching schools.
She still hasn’t talked to any of her old classmates, and she’s still very upset with them, having taking all the pictures of her old class and friends down. She didn’t throw them away though, she just put them at the bottom of her ‘rejects’ drawer.
The only person that she’s allowed to contact her since the Lila event, as Marinette’s dubbed it, is Prof. Bustier, who called to make sure she was doing okay, and that she’d settled into her new school alright. Marinette was very grateful for the call, and she made sure to tell Prof. Bustier so, thanking her, and telling her that she’s settled into her new school wonderfully, before explaining that she’s got a few old friends that go there too.
Right now she’s working on a new project, for Lucie’s birthday. Lucie may be a class above them, but she’s still one of Marinette’s friends, and she and Akash are always hanging out with the class. Lucie was super interested in these crocheted headbands that a bunch of people keep wearing, so that’s what Marinette’s going with. It’s actually a bit of a challenge to make.
Marinette raises an eyebrow when her phone buzzes, before chuckling and opening it, thinking it must be Rebel, trying to get her to come over again. She doesn’t even look at the caller ID, holding it up to her ear, “Hey, Rebel. I told you, I’m working on a project to-”
“It’s not Rebel.” Alya’s voice comes over the phone, not sounding happy at all. Marinette freezes in place, slowly setting down her project, “Marinette, why isn’t your mom letting me come up to see you?”
Marinette leans her elbows on her desk, her eyes pooling with tears already. She doesn’t say anything for a minute, Alya doing the same. Marinette sucks in a deep breath, calming herself down, “She knows I only want my friends coming over now, that’s why.”
“Girl, I am your best friend, and I am worried. You haven’t been to school in over a week, and your parents won’t tell me anything, and you’ve blocked my number. I’m using my dad’s phone to call you. Did the whole deal with Lila really get to you that bad? You know you’re being unreasonable, right? You can’t just accuse someone of lying, because you’re-”
“If you dare say because I’m jealous, I’m never talking to you again.” Marinette hisses into the receiver, pushing herself up from her chair to pace her room, “I am not being unreasonable, and I thought as my quote best friend unquote, that you’d be there for me and back me up, especially when everyone in the cafeteria turns on me for calling out a serial liar, or when everyone switches seats around on me, and forces me to sit alone in the back, or be there for me when I run off to the bathroom crying, and nearly get akumatized. So, no, Alya, you’re not my best friend anymore, because best friends don’t treat each other like that.”
Alya stays silent for a long moment, before Marinette hears a deep sigh from the other end of the phone, “Okay, I admit, making you sit in the back was a dick move, and I should have at least went to go comfort you after the cafeteria incident, and I’m sorry about that, but you can’t avoid school forever. You’ve already missed one big assignment, and three little ones.”
“I’m not coming back to school.”
“Girl, don’t be dramatic. We both know your mom won’t be okay with you avoiding school, and your parents don’t have the time to home school you.”
“Good thing I switched schools then.” Marinette sets her jaw, her heart giving out a sad, but angry pang. Tikki flies over to her shoulder and nuzzles her cheek as a gesture of comfort.
“...You what?”
“I switched schools, and honestly, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”
“Marinette, why would you switch schools? All your friends are here. You know this is just a thing we can get over, right?”
“I switched schools to be with my friends, Alya. It seems as if the only friend I have left at François Dupont is Marc, and he’d be thinking about transferring if it wasn’t for Nathaniel.” Marinette sits down on her chaise, tugging out one of her pigtails, “I should have switched schools on my birthday, when my mom offered, to be honest with you, but we can’t change the past.”
“You can’t just leave. You’re our class president, our friend. I’ve never met any of your other friends that aren’t from here.”
“I can leave, and I did leave. Prof. Bustier knows I switched schools, and just because you’ve never met my other friends, doesn’t mean I don’t have them. You can just find a new class president, because that’s not going to be me anymore. Now, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got a friend to meet up with.”
“Wait, Marinette. At least tell me what school you’re going to now.”
“Alya, even if you try looking it up, you won’t find it.”
“Please tell me the name of your new school.”
“No. Goodbye, Alya.” Marinette hangs up the phone, before massaging her temples. She looks at her phone for a minute, before changing her calling preferences, then dialing a number.
She holds the phone up to her ear, sighing in relief when they answer, “¿Bueno?”
“Hey, Rebel. Does your offer of game night still stand?”
“Of course! Have you eaten dinner yet?”
“No.”
“Alright. We’ll make some extra then, come on over whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you so much, Rebel.”
---
“So, you wanna talk about what’s making you so tense?” Rebel’s settled on his couch, next to Marinette, the rest of the Huang’s, and quite a few of their classmates settled around the TV, playing a hacked version of Mario Kart, that Angel and Rapunzel somehow made sixteen player.
Marinette leans back against the couch, after getting hit with the blue shell, “Ugg, it’s just my stupid supposed friends from François Dupont. Alya called me from her dad’s phone to basically say I flipped out over Liar Lila, because I was jealous of her going after Adrien, and not because she got the whole class to rearrange seats to sit me alone in the back, without my input, humiliate me in front of the whole school, and she keeps getting away with her absolutely ridiculous lies.
I thought Alya was supposed to be on my side, but no, she’s not, and no one else from that class is either, and I’m tired of her trying to say I’m just jealous of anyone and Adrien, when I literally went on a double date to make sure he wouldn’t get too nervous with Kagami. And she’s a reporter! You’d think she’d know better, but no. She seems to think I’m just being silly about everything, and expects me to go back to being a doormat for goodness sake. I’m so tired of apologizing for things that I shouldn’t have to apologize for. I’m allowed to be upset about these things.”
“That you are.” Rebel leans against her shoulder comfortingly, “I’m sorry your non-magic friends are being jerks.”
“You’ll always have us though.” Nash reminds her, reaching over to pat her head from the other side of Rebel.
Marinette looks in between them, then nods and leans into Rebel’s affection, “I know. Thanks you guys.”
“Mmhmm.” Rebel presses a kiss to the top of her head, before turning back to the game, “Just remember that you’re always allowed to kick toxic people out of your life, and it’s okay to be upset about the relationship you’ve lost. You can miss the person you thought they were.”
Marinette sniffles at that, nodding her head, turning back to her controller, “Thanks, Rebel.”