Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

September 1st, 1989.

Dear Diary,

My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I am 17 years old, formerly a Junior student at College Francois-Dupont in Paris, France, and a nobody. But, I believe that I’m a good person. I believe that there is good in everybody, but here we are, first day of Senior Year… And, well, I look around at all these kids and these classmates that I’ve known all my life and I have to ask myself: what happened? Like, we were so tiny once, we were happy just playing around, eating sweets and having a grand old time, and then we hit puberty, we got bigger…and it all went to shit from there. We just became so vicious to one another, name-calling, slut-shaming, screaming “Homo” at each other… Why can’t we just all get along? I just want my school to be a nice place. Did that sound bitchy?

“Freak!”

“Slut!”

“Bull-dyke!”

“Hunchback!”

I hear these names getting thrown out there like pirates firing cannons off and I hate it. There are only a select few people in this school who are actually decent, but everyone else? They’re all jerks. I step into the lunch line to get my food since I forgot to pack a proper meal, and I get pushed and bumped several times while picking out what I want. I grabbed some tater tots, a hamburger, and a container of chocolate milk, and then out of nowhere I feel someone slap the tray out of my hands.

“Oooooooops…” I hear out of my assailant’s mouth. The aforementioned person happens to be Le Chien Kim, 3rd year as linebacker of the school’s football team, and 8th year of smacking lunch trays and being a huge dick.

“What did you say to me, skank?” Crap! Did I just say all of that out loud?!

“Uh, nothing,” I stammer and laugh anxiously. I back off to clean up my lunch tray and the cafeteria lady gives me a sympathetic nod and lets me take more but doesn’t charge me for it. Thank goodness she witnessed that, otherwise I would’ve had to have used the rest of my lunch money for the week. I head to a table to sit by myself and slump forward, putting my face into my hands, and then I feel a slight tap on my shoulder. I jump and scream, startled, until I see it’s my bestie, Alya. “Oh, hey, Alya,” I said aloud after calming back down.

“Hey, Mari!” She smiled at me, and sat down on my left side. Alya Cesaire has been my best friend since diapers, and she has a huge heart…but around here that’s just not enough. She’s a sweet girl, and a great friend, and her optimism and joy keep me sane.

“Are you, me and Tiana still on for movie night tonight?” She asked with a gleam in her eye. Movie night was a tradition between her, me, and my other best friend, Tiana “Tikki” Delacroix. Tiana’s a bit more reserved than Alya but they still both are super kind and compassionate in their own ways.

“Yup,” I responded, shoveling tater tots into my mouth. “But don’t think I’m on snack detail tonight, that’s all you.”

(For context, my parents are well-known bakers, and I always supply my friends with the best pastries and bread in the world, at least, that's how I feel. I'm biased.)

“I rented 'Majestia Rides Again'!” Alya grinned, excited.

“Ah, come on, Alya, again?” I joked. She nodded.

“Geez, Als, don’t you have the movie memorized at this point?” Tikki had joined the conversation, sitting on my right side and bantering with Alya.

“Well, I’m a sucker for superheroes, is that so wrong, Tikki?” Alya giggled jokingly. Tikki and I chuckled, until a loud, even more annoyingly male voice rang in our ears.

“Alya Cheshire-Cat, Full Load!” This new voice suddenly flipped Alya’s lunch tray out from under her nose, causing milk to stain her favorite shirt and ketchup to get in her hair. Tikki and I glared at the assailant, who was none other than Ivan Bruel, the school’s quarterback. Fun fact, he’s the smartest guy on the football team, which is kind of like being the tallest dwarf. “Ha-ha! Alright!” He went over to Kim, who was guffawing at the sight of poor Alya, drenched in lunch food, and the two jocks high-fived. I leered at the Neanderthal and stood up.

“Marinette, don’t! You might make it worse,” Tikki hissed at me, and tugged at my shirt. I ignored her and stomped over to the boys.

“Hey! Pick that up, right now,” I demanded, pointing at the tray that was now on the floor. Ivan spun around and sneered at me.

“Are you actually talking to me?” Ivan leaned down into my face.

“Hey, my buddy Ivan just asked you a question,” Kim got up close to me, too, and I gulped, mustering up my courage.

“Yes, I am talking to you. I want to know what gives you jerks the right to pick on my friend, okay? You’re both high-school has-beens waiting to happen, future gondola attendants,” I retorted. Ivan lifted his hand as if to slap me and I flinched slightly, but then he pointed his greasy finger into my face.

“You have a zit right there,” he said simply and then he and Kim burst out into laughter again. I rolled my eyes and walked back to my table, and helped pick up Alya’s tray.

“I’ll go get you more food, girl,” I said apologetically to her.

“Thanks, Mari, you’re the best,” She said with a sad smile. “Here’s the rest of my lunch money for the day, I’m not hungry for too much now.”

“You sure? I’ll grab you some tater tots,” I asked, and she nodded. Tikki and I walked to the lunch line and grabbed Alya the tater tots. We were walking back to the table when suddenly we heard the cafeteria door slam open. We heard a student shout, “Omigosh, it’s the Richies!”

Suddenly a table cleared and we saw three incredibly chic girls with different colored outfits, (green, yellow and red, respectively) and different hairstyles walk in and sit down. These ruthless ladies are The Richies. They rule this school with an iron manicure, and they float above it all. Basically, they’re the most powerful clique in school, and they are the richest kids out of all of us, as per their clique name, The Richies.

The one in the yellow outfit is Sabrina Raincomprix, she’s the head cheerleader, and her family is insanely loaded because her dad is Paris' Chief of Police. The Richies are all pretty cruel but Sabrina is not completely problematic, she’s almost kind of nicer than the other two.

The one in green is Lila Rossi, and she runs the Yearbook Committee. I don’t know too much about her other than she likes classic literature; I see her with a copy of Moby Dick in her hands quite often. She doesn’t have much of a discernible personality, although, if I’m to be honest I heard her bragging about knowing Jagged Stone, my favorite musician, and I have the feeling it’s a lie; but with how wealthy she is it may not be all far-fetched.

Finally, the one in red is Chloe Bourgeois, she is the head honcho, the Almighty…and boy, is she a mythic bitch. She’s probably the most silver-tongued out of all of them. Chloe in particular has a kind of rock-star mystique about her, and has a quick wit and an icy stare. For someone who’s kind of mean, she’s also kind of cool. The Richies in general are just… they’re solid Teflon, never bothered, never harassed, to be honest, I would give anything to be like that. I hear some chatter from the other students as they stare at the glory of the trio.

“I’d like to be their boyfriend…”

“If I sat at their table, guys would notice me.”

“I’d like them to be nicer people…” That one was from Alya.

“I’d like to kidnap a Richie and photograph her naked in an abandoned warehouse and leave her tied up for the rats.” Okay, what in the fresh hell?

Later before lunch ended and the following period began, I desperately needed to use the restroom after all the chocolate milk I ended up drinking. Little did I know my timing of going to the bathroom ended up changing my life forever. I was about to flush the toilet when all of a sudden, I heard the click-clack of heels enter the bathroom. Through the bathroom door I could clearly see The Richies putting on makeup and doing each other’s hair, giggling to themselves and talking about other classmates. I then noticed Lila ducking into a nearby stall and not a moment later I heard her gagging, and then retching loudly.

“Ugh, grow up, Lila, bulimia is so 1987,” Chloe haughtily remarked while she fixed her Bordeaux-red lipstick.

“Chloe’s right, Lila, maybe you should see a doctor,” Sabrina responded cautiously to her emerald-clad friend.

“Yeah, Sabrina, maybe I should,” Lila replied, sounding sad. The door opened up and in walked our homeroom teacher, Mrs. Dalia Mendeliev.

“Ah, Chloe, and Sabrina—” (Insert puking noises from Rossi here…) “—and Lila. I guess you ladies didn’t hear the bell over all the vomiting, you three are late for class.” She sounded firm.

The minute I heard Mendeliev utter “late for class”, I did some quick thinking and hastily forged a hall pass. Now, a fun little factoid about yours truly, I have this weird talent where I can imitate people’s handwriting, and pretty well at that. I’d gotten myself into trouble for it only once but it was for Kim’s homework back when we were all still in elementary school. Our classmate, Max Kante, was in charge of the Yearbook Committee alongside Lila so I quickly wrote our names in his handwriting on a piece of paper from my diary, and ripped it out.

“Lila wasn’t feeling well, we’re only helping her,” Chloe put on an air of innocence and tilted her head, trying to act sweet.

“Not without a hall pass, you’re not. Week’s detention for all three of you,” Mendeliev was about to leave when I quickly came out of the stall.

“Oh, uh, actually, Mrs. Mendeliev, all four of us are out on a hall pass, from the Yearbook Committee,” I swiftly thrust the piece of paper into her hand. The four of us watched cautiously as she perused the pass.

“Huh. I see you’re all listed. Alright, then hurry up, and get to where you’re going,” She replied and handed the pass back to me. Right as she left, I felt it get snatched out of my hands, and turned to see Chloe inspecting the fake pass with an awed stare.

“This is quite an excellent forgery. Why don’t I know you?” She questioned with a raised brow.

“Uh, my name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you’ve probably seen me around before,” I replied.

“Dupain-Cheng, huh?” She smirked. “Girls, what do you think of this fake pass she made for the four of us?”

“Damn, the resemblance to Max’s handwriting is uncanny!” Lila seemed impressed.

“That’s a little scary that you can fake people’s handwriting,” Sabrina said.

“Well, I do like calligraphy…” I joked, but was met with silence. I mustered up my courage again and said, “Err, hey, listen, um, can I… Err, that is…” I wanted to say something but I couldn’t get my words out.

“Goddamn, girl, spit it out,” Chloe chuckled.

“I, uh… I crave a boon!” I exclaimed, nodding confidently. Chloe quirked her brow again.

“What sort of a boon?” She asked with an icy gaze. I felt a chill run up my spine, and gulped, but then opened my mouth again.

“Let me sit at your table? Just once?”

Silence.

“No talking necessary? Uh... if people think you guys tolerate me, they might leave me alone,” I nearly begged. The Richies laughed at me. “Before you answer, I also do report cards, permission slips, absence notes, homework—”

“Prescriptions?” Lila asked hopefully.

“Shut up, Lila,” Chloe commanded.

“Sorry, Chloe,” she responded meekly. Chloe pursed her lips and came close to me, sizing me up through vivid blue eyes. I looked back at her, her platinum blonde hair bouncing as she looked at me, it was tied neatly into a red scrunchie in a ponytail atop her sunglasses-adorned head. I took full notice of her outfit as well, her red blazer accented with a black skirt and black-and-red plaid knee-high sock, and cute kitten heels on her feet.

“Hmm… I must admit, for a greasy little nobody, you do have good bone structure,” she mused aloud, stroking her chin. I felt my face go beet-red at how close Chloe was to me.

“You also have a symmetrical face!” Sabrina piped up, coming next to me, her short red bob bouncing as she happily examined my face, pushing her glasses up on her nose. “Like, if I took a meat cleaver down the center of your skull, I would have matching halves! It’s very important, you know.” Sabrina had a yellow clip in her hair, a yellow blazer similar to Chloe's, a white skirt, plain yellow knee-high socks and black flats.

“Of course, you could stand to lose a few pounds,” Lila remarked from the stalls. I didn’t know if she was talking about me or about herself, to be honest. She got back up and stood next to Chloe, and I saw her hair had a peculiar hairstyle, it was pulled into a braid down the back of her head but she had little twin-tails hanging from the sides of her face down her bangs. Reminded me of sausages, if I’m to be fairly honest... Her green blazer matched Chloe's and Sabrina's, with a black and green plaid skirt and green striped knee-high socks with black Mary Janes, and she wore green ties around her twin-tail things and the braid.

“How about this then? Ladies, what do you say we make her one of high school royalty?” Chloe grinned with a wicked satisfaction. Both Lila and Sabrina voiced their affirmations. Chloe snapped her fingers twice. “In that case, Sabrina—” She pointed at the redhead. “—Get this girl some blush, and Lila—” She pointed at the brunette. “—I need your hairbrush.” She pulled me close to her and turned me to look in the mirror, holding my shoulders, and she put her face next to mine, looking at us both with a Cheshire-Cat-like grin. “We’re gonna make you beautiful, what do you think?”

“I, uh…” I couldn’t get out my words. Did I just get it in with The Freaking Richies?!

“I’m so excited!” Sabrina popped up next to me on the right and Lila on the left.

“Well?” Chloe shook me lightly, snapping my focus back to her.

“Uh, sure!” I replied, semi-excited and semi-nervous, and the Richies pushed me into a handicap bathroom stall and whipped out their makeup. I gulped.

Twenty minutes went by, though it didn’t feel like twenty minutes, before Tikki and Alya started to get worried about me. They stood outside Alya’s locker, anxious.

“Where did Marinette run off to? It’s not like her to disappear like that,” Tikki mused.

“Don’t worry about Mari, she’s a big girl,” Alya smiled at her. “I’m sure she just needed to use the ladies’ room or something before class.” Suddenly the students became increasingly calamitous as the two outcast girls saw three, no, four heads walk out of the bathroom. My friends became curious as they saw The Richies and walked over to the crowd. In the group of students, they could hear the chatter of:

“Whoa, the Richies have a new addition!”

“The trio is now a quad! That’s amazing!”

“I love the blue one!”

“She’s so pretty!”

“Who is this mystery chick?”

“Yea, and why did she get picked by them?”

Alya and Tikki pushed through the crowd and both gasped in awe, loudly asking in unison:

“Marinette?!”

Instantly the crowd became more enthusiastic.

“Her name’s Marinette?!”

“She looks badass!"

“What a hottie!”

“She doesn’t look like a Richie, but she’s pretty!”

“I know, I think she’s actually from a lower-middle-class family, the famous Dupain-Cheng bakers.”

For right smack-dab in the middle of the famous trio, stood me, in all my newly Richie-fied glory. They had put mascara on my eyelashes and lip-gloss on my lips, and had given me a blue blazer with polka-dots on the cuffed-up sleeves, blue hair ties to put in my new low pigtails that Chloe styled my hair into, a plain black skirt, plain blue knee-highs and black pumps. It was very similar to their styles (and it was the only color Chloe could think of that would suit me, as she never wore blue but kept the outfit in her locker anyway because she liked to “switch it up” now and again. Being that her color was red though, she figured I should keep it because as she told me, “I’m always red now.” She also told me “When you go home, tell your folks to get you blue dresses and clothes from now on.” and when I mentioned I also sew because I want to design clothes when I grow up, she replied, "Even better!") and somehow all of that put together made me look and feel like…well, like hell on wheels. And, my God, I felt... dare I say, beautiful. People started chanting my name and I got really excited. The Richies all grinned. Chloe gave a sickly sweet, but almost genuine, grin, and said to me, “I guess we’re friends now, huh, Dupain-Cheng?”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, absolutely!”

Alya and Tikki both watched in amazement and slight envy. “She looks amazing…” Tikki said wistfully.

“She does look great, but I’m sure she’s the same Marinette we’ve always known,” Alya reassured herself. ‘I hope.’

Chapter Text

-3 Weeks Later…-

Dear Diary,

It’s been 3 weeks into the school year already and I’m still with the Richies. Surprisingly, and yet unsurprisingly, this is not as fun as I thought it would be. Honestly, the Richies aren’t even actual friends to me; they’re more like people I work with, and our job is being popular and shit. Since joining, I’ve sewn and bought more blue outfits than I’d care to like. I swear, if I ever lose my popularity status, I’d never want to wear a stitch of blue ever again.

“Hey, Marinette, you’re looking great these days,” I heard a male voice talking to me, and I saw Adrien Agreste, another member of the Yearbook Committee. I always knew he was super sweet to me even though we only saw each other in passing.

“Hey, Adrien, thanks, it’s partially thanks to the Richies though,” I shrugged noncommittally.

“Still, I think blue suits you,” He admitted shyly. I felt a blush creep up my face.

“Thank you,” I smiled. We said our goodbyes not long after and parted ways. I then ran up to Alya and Tikki.

“Ooh, was that Adrien Agreste I saw you talking to?” Alya waggled her eyebrows goofily.

“He’s just a friend,” I blushed.

“I think you two would be so cute together!” Tikki smiled, her blue eyes lit up with excitement.

“Yeah, yeah,” I rolled my eyes.

“You know, he’s not wrong, you really do look beautiful these days,” Alya said.

“Well, thanks, but it’s still me, you know,” I said. Alya gave me a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

“Ya sure about that, girl?” She chuckled. She knew how much I’d had to ditch them to be with the Richies since I got in.

“Right… I’m sorry again for missing movie night, everything happened so fast…” I replied sadly. Alya just laughed.

“Nah, girl, it’s all good! There’s always another time,” Alya smiled. Tikki nodded.

“We miss you though, lunch isn’t the same without you,” She added.

“Marinette! Thank goodness I found you,” Lila suddenly came up out of nowhere and spooked us.

“What’s your damage, Rossi?” I got slightly annoyed.

“Oh, sorry, girl!” The brunette simpered. “I didn’t realize you were busy! Ahem… anyways, Chloe needs to talk to you, real bad. She said, and I quote, ‘Dupain-Cheng needs to haul ass to our table, pronto’. Her words, not mine.”

“How very,” I shrugged again. “Talk to you guys later, okay?” I waved goodbye to my actual friends and walked towards the Richies. “Hiya, Chloe.”

“Dupain-Cheng, finally. I have a really good proper initiation for you.” She was smirking deviously, I hated that smug face so much I wanted to punch it but I bit my tongue.

“Whatcha got for me?” I asked, annoyed but a little scared.

“Well, I got a note of Kim le Chien’s. I need you to forge a hot and horny but realistically lowkey note in his handwriting,” Chloe smirked wider and snapped her fingers. “She needs something to write on! Lila, bend over.” Lila did as she was told and I raised a brow, curious but a little scared. I used my mouth to hold the original note of Kim’s and started writing, using the handwriting to write a kind-of sappy and sweet note that seemed like it would come from him.

“So, what is this about, exactly?” I asked, my voice muffled by the original note from Kim in my mouth as  I was writing.

“I heard that little fairy-girl Tiana has a crush on him, we’re going to slip the note onto her lunch tray,” Chloe responded.

“Wait, what? Why? Isn’t he dating Ondine, the swimmer?” I asked, very confused.

 “Oh, come on, Dupain-Cheng, where’s your sense of drama?” Chloe drawled, laughing. “It’ll be fun to watch! Well, fun for us.”

“Besides, it’ll give Tiana shower-nozzle--” Lila giggled, but was interrupted.

“Shut up, Lila,” Chloe barked, giving an annoyed glare.

“Sorry, Chloe,” Lila simpered again.

“I don’t think I can do that, I don’t wanna make Tikki seem like a homewrecker,” I replied.

“Who?” Chloe raised a brow at me.

“Tikki, it’s Tiana’s nickname,” I responded. Chloe just gave me a deadpan expression.

“You give them nicknames?” Chloe asked.

I was about to say, “well she is still one of my best friends”, but Chloe interrupted me with, “Whatever, just do it.”

“No, Chloe, this isn’t what I wanna do,” I said, and I was about to rip up the paper when Chloe snatched it out of my hands.

“Are we going to have a problem, Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe glared at me, her light blue eyes practically boring through my brain. “You know, you’ve come so far so I really don’t understand why now you’re pulling on my dick.” I snorted. “It’s just for a laugh, where's your sense of humor? Don't forget, I got you into this little group and I can get you out just as easily.”

“Come on, just do it, it’ll be funny!” Sabrina giggled.

“No, I-I can’t do that to my friend!” I started to grow mildly angry. “Anyway, she knows how much Kim and Ondine are in love, this would kill her!”

“Here, I’ll do it for you!” Lila smiled sickeningly sweet, and skipped over to Tikki, sneaking up behind her and inconspicuously slipping the note onto her tray. She flounced back over to us. Tikki looked down at her lunch tray to get a tater tot and then saw the note. She looked between us and the note, confused. She then looked at Alya, who shrugged at her. “Now all we have to do is wait!”

“Shut up, Lila,” Chloe commanded.

“Sorry, Chloe…” She sulked again. I briefly thought I saw a flash of anger through Lila’s eyes but it disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Are you guys excited for the homecoming party this weekend?" Sabrina asked us.

"Yeah, this will be fun, I never got invited to parties before this," I nodded.

"Well that's because you were a nobody before this..." Chloe had gone into her purse and pulled out her lipstick, touching it up in a compact mirror. When she went back into her back, she noticed something and I saw a look of horror briefly cross her face. “Oh, shit, I almost forgot about the lunchtime poll!” Chloe remembered, taking her purse and pulling out a small clipboard. “We still have to go around and get those answers in for the Yearbook Committee for Lila.”

“What was the poll question again?” Sabrina asked. Chloe gave her a pointed stare.

“You ginger dummy, you were with me in Study Hall when I thought of it!” Chloe retorted.

“Eh, I kinda forgot?” Sabrina shrugged sheepishly.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Goddamn pillowcase. Come on, Dupain-Cheng, let’s go,” She grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me up, walking to each table and asking the students this question: “You win $5,000,000, and the guy’s about to give you the check, but aliens land on the earth and say they’ll blow up the earth in two days, what do you do with the money until then?” Everyone’s responses were creative, to say the least.

“I’d go to Egypt… preferably with Alya Cesaire, she’s really awesome.” From Nino Lahiffe, an aspiring DJ who had a crush on Als.

"I'd give it all to the homeless! Every cent," Rose Lavillant, one of the cheerleaders, responded.

“I’d use the money for an end-of-the-world get-together!” Tikki had said.

“My mother would take that money and put it in our biggest deposit. After all, she is one of the top brokers in the city,” Kagami Tsurugi, one of the fencing team members, said. She was super straightforward about it, too. (And had reason to be, everyone knew her mother Tomoe was really sharp-tongued.)

“I’d pay Clara Nightingale to sit on my--” Kim was about to say something when Alix, a skater girl, smacked him. “Ow, jeez!”

“Did we get everyone?” Chloe asked me not long after we ended up getting more answers from people. “I would have asked Max, but knowing him, he’ll start going off about science or whatever and I’ll spew burrito chunks.” We started walking back towards our table. I saw Tikki out of the corner of my eye talking to Alya about the note as they perused it. Tikki came up to me a couple moments later.

“Mari, look! Kim asked me to come to the homecoming party that's happening this weekend, I’m so happy! I think he's finally thinking of me again!” She said. I hoped she wasn’t trying to be selfish or anything about it only cos she and everyone in school knew how much Ondine was in love with Kim and how territorial he was of her, as much as Kim was afraid to admit it. Chloe glared daggers at me, telling me to not say anything with her eyes. I felt a bead of sweat drip down my forehead.

“...color me stoked, girl!” I finally choked out, forcefully. Tikki smiled widely, said she'd see me later, and skipped back off to Alya, who gave me a thumbs up. I gave a fake smile to the both of them and looked away shamefully, when I noticed a boy with a guitar in his hands and a deep gaze sitting all by himself at a table towards the back corner. I took note of the dark blue hair that faded into vivid teal tips, the long black trench coat he wore, the black nail polish on his fingers and the gauges in his ears, the Jagged Stone tee-shirt and ripped jeans underneath the coat, as well as the black Converse on his feet. He was playing a really gentle tune, something that severely contrasted his look. I felt his eyeliner-rimmed eyes on me, and he gave a sweet smile that nearly made me melt, maybe moreso than Adrien’s gaze ever made me feel.

“Gosh, drool much, Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe had asked with a smirk and a raised brow.

“He is cute, though…” Lila piped up.

“His name’s Luka Couffaine, he just transferred this year,” Sabrina mentioned. “He’s Juleka’s twin brother.”

“No way! Juleka’s on the cheer squad with you, Mylene, and Rose, right?” I asked her.

“Yeah, she’s also a member of the Art and Photography clubs. She never mentioned a twin though, and I wonder why…” Sabrina trailed off in thought. I figured it would be a good opportunity to ask him the lunchtime poll question, get in another response, so I swallowed my fear and walked over to his table.

“Hello, Luka, right?” I asked, trying to play it cool. “I’m Ma-Ma-Marinette...”

“Greetings and salutations, Ma-Ma-Marinette,” He responded with a chuckle. When he saw my face pout a little bit he shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’m only teasing. Marinette is very a pretty name.” I felt my cheeks turn red not long after.

“Uh, anyhow… I have a question to ask and it’s probably going to sound stupid…” I rattled off.

“Don’t worry, there are no stupid questions,” He said. When I asked him the poll question, however, he said, “Okay, well I guess there is ONE stupid question.” I giggled. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Kim and Ivan were looking mine and Luka’s way, oddly angry at Luka for what seemed to be flirtatious advances towards me.

“Who does that guy in the coat think he is, anyhow? Bo Diddley?” Kim asked.

“Mari seems to be into his act,” Ivan rolled his eyes. It often was really hard to tell if either Kim or Ivan really were in love with their girlfriends because they did tend to ogle myself and other girls, given the chance.

“Hmm… I’d probably take the money, hold onto it, maybe use it for a big music school or record label, or I’d row on the Seine with a bottle of champagne, my guitar and some Bach, and I’d just let the music play for a little while longer,” Luka had said to me, as an answer to my question.

I nodded, for it was definitely the best answer I’d heard all day. “How very,” I responded. He smirked at me. Chloe then came up to us.

“Let’s motor, Dupain-Cheng,” She rolled her eyes.

“See you around?” I asked.

“Definitely,” he said, smiling softly. I felt Chloe drag me by the wrist.

“Come ON,” She said and I grew annoyed. Meanwhile, Kim and Ivan had seen the whole thing go down.

“Did you see that? Let’s go kick his ass,” Kim said, itching to start a fight.

“Kim, nah, man, we’re seniors, we’re too old for that crap,” Ivan said. “We could give him a good scare though.” They came up behind Luka and patted him a bit TOO hard on the back.

“So, what’s your deal, kid? What did your boyfriend say when you moved to grand ol’ Par-eeeee?” Ivan had asked, drawing out the sound of the word Paris in the French way. When Luka didn’t answer, Kim knocked him on the head.

“My buddy Ivan asked you a question, man,” Kim had said.

“Yeah, man, and by the way, Kim, I didn’t know it at first, but I think this school DOES have a no-fairies rule here, right?” Ivan smirked.

“Seems to be an open-door policy for assholes though, right?” Luka had smugly asked them. A moment of silence passed between the three of them, and suddenly Kim threw a punch, only for Luka to dodge and have Ivan take the blow, knocking him out. (For a pretty skinny guy with some muscle, Kim is particularly strong.) Luka then elbowed Kim in the crotch and let him fall to the ground as well. He brushed his hair back into place with his fingers and sighed, picking up his guitar case and walking around them and out of the cafeteria. Everyone was completely gobsmacked at what had happened, even me. All I could imagine in that moment was him protecting me from everything. I could protect myself in situations like that, but I could feel in my heart I’d fight for him…

If he could fight for me.

Chapter Text

“Come on, you can’t possibly think they’ll let him off scot-free after what he did, they’ll probably give him detention or something,” Sabrina said as we were playing croquet in my backyard after school that day.

“Yeah, I mean, he hurt Kim and Ivan, they should suspend him. I can get Daddy to do it,” Chloe sniggered. Andre Bourgeois is the Mayor of Paris after all, and on more than enough occasions, Chloe made good use of her power by calling him whenever things didn’t go her way and she needed to force them to.

“It was self-defense, and besides, they struck first,” I chimed in. “All Luka really did was dodge a blow and ruin two pairs of pants. Maybe not even that, can you bleach out urine stains?” Lila and Sabrina and I giggled.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were into this mystery boy,” Chloe raised a brow at me. “I thought you didn’t date high school guys.”

“Well, never say never,” I sighed as I watched Chloe swing her mallet, when it connected with the ball it hit Lila’s green-rimmed ball. “I did like Adrien Agreste for a while, remember?” Well, that's not to say I didn't still like him, but he is just a friend, after all.

“One of the Yearbook Club boys?” Lila asked.

“Yeah, and my bestie,” Chloe said. She hated to admit it, but Adrien and her were really close when they were kids. She never told anyone other than Sabrina and Lila, so this was news to me.

“You and Adrien? But you call everyone else in the school scum,” I remarked.

“Not my Adrikins, he’s like a brother to me,” Chloe responded nonchalantly. She looked at Lila, seeing what she would do about the ball.

“Oh,” Lila gasped softly. “So do you want me to take the two shots or are you gonna send me out?”

Chloe gave Lila a “girl, really?” expression. “Did you eat a brain tumor for breakfast or something, Lila? Make decisions for yourself.” She lined up her shot. “Oh, and also, never ask to be red again, you know red is my color.” She swung her mallet again and hit Lila’s ball over by a little koi pond that my parents recently put in our yard. We weren’t as wealthy as the Richies but we did make a significant amount to be working middle-class with the bakery, and we could afford some nicer things. 

“Shit…” Lila muttered as she watched where the ball had gone.

“Well? It’s your turn, Rossi,” Chloe smirked at the brunette, who then went over to the other side of the koi pond and lined up her shot.

“Come on, Lila, you got this!” I called out to her.

“No way, no day,” Sabrina giggled.

“Yeah, no way she’ll make that,” Chloe snidely quipped. Lila lined up her shot and swung, causing the ball to fly over the pond, bounce off of a tree branch, and hit the lamppost, coming back towards our setup, and rolling under an arch.

“That was awesome!” Sabrina cheered.

“Holy crap, dude, that was amazing!” I was gobsmacked. Lila gave a little cheer for herself and walked back around.

“Are you guys excited for the big party tomorrow? It’s all anyone’s been talking about,” Sabrina mentioned.

“It’s also Dupain-Cheng’s first big gig with us, so no screwing up,” Chloe quipped. “Ya hear that, baker? You blow it tonight and it’s keggers with kids for the rest of the year.” I rolled my eyes. I lined up my own shot and swung, the ball clacking and rolling off underneath a nearby arch. Lila sat down on the stones surrounding the koi pond and Chloe shot off her ball towards Lila, clacking it against her ball.

“Why…?” Lila groaned.

“Why not?” Chloe smirked. Not long after I saw my parents come outside.

“Sabrina, your dad’s here to get ya,” My mom called.

“Come on, girls!” Sabrina called to the girls, and they headed off, saying their goodbyes to me as they went. Mom and Dad had a table sitting close to the backdoor of the bakery and placed some goodies out on the table, and the girls quickly grabbed some pastries before saying goodbye to Mom and Dad as well, going through the bakery to get to Sabrina’s dad’s police truck.

“Hey, hon, sit down, take a break,” Dad piped up, and I joined them at the table, sitting in the middle chair. “So you seem to really get along with these girls, that’s good, it’s good to have friends.”

“Yeah, they’re alright, I guess,” I responded, shrugging noncommittally.

“Would you care for some pate with your croissants, honey?” Mom asked, and I nodded, taking a little bit and biting into a croissant, as well as picking up a bread roll and cutting it open to put the pate between it.

“It’s only liverwurst, Mom,” I laughed.

“I know, I just like to joke,” Mom replied, laughing. “So, kid, isn’t the homecoming party tomorrow night?” I nodded, my mouth full so I couldn’t speak. “You going with anyone?”

“Well, there is a dark horse in the running,” I replied, my mind flashing to Luka, and I hoped he would ask me, or I could ask him.

“Well I hope we get to meet this ‘dark horse’ soon,” Mom lit up, excited for me.

“Goddamn,” My dad chimed in. “Why do I always read these stupid spy novels?” He was in the middle of a newer book by Jalil Kubdel, who was a museum curator and the older brother of a classmate of mine, Alix Kubdel.

“‘Cos you’re an idiot,” I joked back at him. This was our family’s dynamic, and any other parent would probably smack their child for calling their parent an idiot, but my parents were at least cool.

“Oh yeah, that’s it,” he retorted, and Mom lovingly shook her head at our antics.

“Hey, I gotta motor, I got homework to do,” I finished my food and stood up, then Mom grabbed my wrist before I left.

“Hey, hun, I just wanna say I love you and I hope you know, you do have other friends, you have Alya and Tikki,” Mom said to me with a smile, but a cautionary warning in her eyes.

I stayed silent for a moment, and then finally said to her, sadly, “Maybe I want more out of life than liverwurst, Mom…” Boy, if only I knew how big of a regret that was later.

The rest of the day came and went, and it was finally the next night, the night of the big party. Luka hadn’t asked me if I wanted to go together, and I was so busy, between shopping with the Richies and working on my studies and my sewing, that I didn’t get the chance to even ask him. Chloe and I stopped at a convenience store before going to Sabrina’s to pick her up, and then go to Lila’s place to get her, because Chloe needed me to get her a couple snacks, and I thought I’d grab some candy for myself as well.

“Corn nuts!” She called to me when I had asked her exactly what she wanted before walking in the store.

“BQ or plain?” I called back.

“BQ!” She shouted, sitting back and inspecting her nails. Her signature sunglasses were on her head, her usual ponytail down and hanging around her shoulders, but half of her hair was pulled back by her signature scrunchie. She wore a cute flouncy red dress that wasn’t too grown-up looking but not too young-looking either, and a pair of black pumps. I on the other hand, wore a piece I made myself, a blue cardigan with a pink flower embroidered up the side, a black skirt with suspenders coming out of it over top of the cardigan, and blue tights with black flats. I entered the convenience store and went over to the nuts and candy, grabbing Chloe’s corn nuts, and grabbing myself a thing of Twizzlers. I went up to the counter and paid, and opened my Twizzlers, about to take a bite when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“You gonna get a Big Gulp with that?” The boy from the cafeteria, Luka, gave me a warm smile as he went over to the drink machine to get himself a large cup.

“No, but if you’re nice, I’ll let you buy me a Slushie,” I smiled back at him. “You seem to know your convenience-speak really well.”

“Well, I moved around a lot thanks to my Dad,” He shrugged. “Germany, Switzerland… now France. If there’s one thing that’s consistent about anywhere in the world, it’s a typical convenience store like this one. The smell of the food on the grill, the drink fountains, the candy aisle… it keeps me sane. Like my music.”

“That’s right, you’re a musician,” I responded. “I saw the guitar when I was talking to you at lunch yesterday…which, speaking of, that thing you pulled was pretty severe.”

“Well, the extreme always seems to make an impression,” He smiled. “Did you say blue raspberry or cherry Slushie?”

“I didn’t…” I smiled cheekily, before adding, “Blue raspberry.”

He and I walked out to his bike, it was a really nice motorcycle, that wasn’t too big and clunky but just right, and I think it ran on electricity if I wasn’t mistaken.

“Love the bike,” I said, looking at it in awe.

“Yup, it’s a lovely little perk from my dad’s construction company. Ever seen his commercial on TV? ‘Big Tai Couffaine’s Rebuilding, bringing every city to a higher state’,” Luka responded, repeating the famous lines.

“Wait a minute, that’s right, Couffaine, you’re Juleka’s brother, ‘Big Tai’ is yours and her dad?” I asked him. I’d only ever met Juleka’s mom, Anarka, and if there was a point I ever brought up Taika Couffaine, Anarka would politely ask me to never mention his name ever again.

“Yeah, not exactly what I like but everyone’s life has static,” Luka responded. Maybe Taika and Anarka had gotten divorced at some point, which is why I hadn’t heard of Luka until this point, and Juleka hadn’t previously mentioned a brother. “Is your life perfect?”

“Oh, sure, I’m on my way to a massive homecoming party with The Richies,” I sarcastically replied, rolling my eyes. Luka chuckled at this and I snorted. “Pfft. No, my life is not perfect. For instance, I don’t really like my friends.”

“I don’t really like your friends either,” Luka smirked.

“They’re all just… evil,” I sighed again.

“Well, maybe it’s time to take a vacation from that. And, if you ever need a real friend, I’m here,” He smiled at me. I felt my insides melt.

“DUPAIN-CHENG,” I heard after two short honks on the horn. I could tell Chloe was getting impatient, so I gave him one last look.

“Catch ya later, then,” I smiled and ran out.

“Yeah, sure you will,” He smiled at me as I went off.

Not long after the run-in at the store, Chloe and I had picked up Lila and Sabrina and we arrived at Kim’s house. Lila had worn a green romper with grey polka-dot, black ankle-boots and a black blazer, and Sabrina wore a cute yellow Peter-Pan-collar shirt with a plaid skirt, ditching the glasses to let her now-curled ginger hair frame her face.

“Welcome to Maison de Le Chien!” Kim welcomed us with an exaggerated flourish as we walked in the house. “Make yourself comfortable, the folks are gone so the party is on! Drink, smoke, it’s all cool!”

“Thanks, Kimmy,” Chloe blew the tall boy a kiss and made her way to the punch table. I followed suit, for I had no idea what I was doing. While trying to maneuver our way to the drinks, I smelled something that I believe was pot get blown into my face, and I took in the sights of the house. I’d never been to Kim’s before, as he always picked on me and never really considered me a friend before I got Richie-fied. But now, everyone was looking at me like I was royalty, and I pretty much was. It felt oddly amazing at times, to be honest. But then there were those moments of dread when the big 3 would pick on the little guy and it made me feel so guilty because I truly was nothing like them. That being said, Kim’s house was huge. His parents were proud athletes, so they had many victories to make them wealthy. I felt the contact of the smoke rush to my brain and things started to grow a bit fuzzy. The girls pulled me over to the drinks and Chloe began pouring what looked like fruit punch into a shot glass out of a big bowl. She then got a couple lime slices and salt rocks.

“Okay, so since you’re inexperienced with drinking,” Chloe began, “We’re gonna start you off strong. This is tequila. It’s probably going to taste a bit bad at first, so you want to lick the salt off your hand, then take the shot, then suck the lime.” I felt my head spinning. What was in that weed? And I didn’t take a hit of it, this was just a contact high!

“Wait, wait, so it’s salt, then lime, then shot?” I asked, going in that order and taking the shot. Wrong move, it REALLY burned my throat. Ouch.

“No, it’s salt, then shot-” Sabrina began.

“You did it wrong!” Lila groaned at me.

“Wait, really?” I asked, feeling the rush go straight to my head. “Because I feel great!” I’d never had alcohol outside of the one time I tried champagne at a wedding for my cousins, but I was only 11 so it tasted awful to me. This was a whole new experience, though, and there were also people around who actually wanted me there. I started feeling the groove of the music blasting in the house, and began to go around dancing with everyone. I even managed to snag a real hit off of the joint that was puffed into my face earlier.

“Hey, cut that out!” I heard Lila yell at someone. One of the football team was dancing with her, but forcing her to grind her hips on him and he was groping her on top of that. Even if I didn't really like them all too much, no one deserves to get touched like that.

“Hey, emergency, man, I saw some freshmen sneaking over the pool fence!” I said to the jock to get his attention, and he glared and ran off, screaming about how he’d “kill the punks”. “You okay, Lila?”

“I didn’t need your help, you know,” She gave me a very out-of-character glare and held her middle finger up at me. Taken aback by her sudden rudeness, I quirked a brow, then decided to snark back.

“Aw, thanks Lila, but I don’t really need to vomit right now!” I chuckled loudly and she growled at me. It was definitely the alcohol talking, but it made her really unpleasant. I walked back into the main room and started dancing with some of the girls and guys. This was the coolest thing that could ever happen to me. I was hanging with the popular kids, something a ‘nobody’ like me always dreamed of, and I felt confident and footloose. I felt like I was on top of the world… 

But that feeling went fast when I saw Tikki and Alya walk in the front door.

Crap! I really hope Tikki isn’t thinking of confronting Kim about the note, and Alya knows better than this! I was internally freaking out. I quickly walked over to them. “Hey, guys, I can’t believe you made it!” I tried to sound friendly without being too suspicious of having drunk and smoked a bunch.

“This is so exciting!” Tikki smiled.

“Yeah, this is great!” Alya said, and then took in my appearance. My eyes were bleary from smoking, and I had one pigtail in, one out from dancing about the place. My outfit also looked kind of disheveled. “Whoa, are you okay, girl?”

“Yeah, never better! This party is just so much fun!” I smiled, trying to convince them I was fine.

“Here, I’m gonna grab you some water, you might need it,” Alya chuckled. She’d never seen me like this so she sounded concerned, but she seemed to be amused by this as well.

“You do that, and I’m going to go find Kim and talk to him! I brought sparkling cider!” Tikki smiled and giggled a little. I visibly cringed the minute she walked away, thanking the lord that Alya didn’t notice my grimace. Over by the punch table, the Richies had noticed Alya and Tikki come in and me talking to them.

“Well, well, well, little fairy girl decided to show up to the party after all,” Chloe smirked evilly. “She and the reporter chick have guts… but we’ll rip them out of those two.”

“Well, you know, I have a good way we could really humiliate them,” Lila smiled.

“Oh? Do tell, Rossi,” Chloe grinned. The girls all chuckled wickedly and looked at a large piñata of a pig that the boys had ordered as a mockery of our rival school’s mascot.

Meanwhile, Tikki was wandering around by herself when she saw Kim over in a corner, smoking alone. She gulped, gathered the courage, and walked up to him with the bottle of cider in her hands.

“Uh, hi, Kim!" She chirped. Kim gave her a quiet stare, raising a brow at her. "Um, I, uh, I wasn’t going to come originally, but… since you took the time to write me that really sweet note…” Tikki began, but Kim cut her off by grabbing the bottle in her hands.

“What note? Are you delusional or something, fairy?” The Neanderthal asked Tikki, uncorking the top of the bottle. “You know, people wouldn’t hate you so much if you just acted normal.” He crudely took a large swig of the bottle only to cringe at the taste and then spit it out, right next to her. “There’s no alcohol in this! What are you trying to do, poison me?”

“Kim, baby? Is there something wrong?” Ondine, Kim’s girlfriend came up to him a moment later, giving Tikki the side-eye. “Who is she?”

“She’s no one, just a loser that somehow got into my party, and she’s real lucky I don’t kick her out on the spot,” Kim glared at Tikki as she began to tremble.

“I-uh-I’m….I’m sorry,” Tikki choked up and ran off, into the house and sitting in a corner. Ondine and Kim laughed at her as she ran, going back into the house.

Back inside, I was still dancing and the Richies had joined me on the dance floor, when I heard Kim and Ivan talking to us through a megaphone about what we would ‘do to the opposing team at the upcoming football game’. I noticed Chloe give Sabrina a look, and Sabrina then gave Lila the same look. I grew confused, what were those three planning? Sabrina then ran up to Kim and Ivan, asking to borrow the megaphone.

“Well, to kick off the weekend and the game, why don’t we play a game of hit the piñata?!” She shouted into the megaphone. “Any volunteers to hit it first?” People were raising their hands so high it looked like the majority of them were trying to reach the ceiling. Imagine my surprise, however, when Sabrina looked past all of them and noticed Tikki, still red-eyed from before (she was crying? I thought to myself. I guess she tried to talk to Kim...poor Tiks.) and called out, “You, uh, Tiana, right?”

“Uh, y-yea?” Tikki responded.

“Come on up!” Sabrina smiled a little too sweetly. Tikki was very wary, but came up to Sabrina anyhow. Kim gave her the side eye but relaxed when he saw Sabrina wink at him. I was so confused at the scenario. “Have you ever been to a big party, Tiana?”

“Uh, no,” Tikki responded kind of shyly. "This is my first big party." Sabrina’s cheery smile turned into something of a smirk. 

“Well, what do we think, Francois-Dupont? Should we show this girl a little school spirit?” Sabrina cheered, garnering the crowd’s attention and everyone cheered and started chanting Tiana’s name. Tikki started to feel a little less wary and smiled a bit as Sabrina put a blindfold around her head.

“Oh, no, what in the hell does that bitch think she’s doing to my friend?!” Alya hissed angrily, watching from another spot in the crowd, bating her breath to see what happens.

“Bring out the piñata!” Sabrina cheered and the other two Richies came into the middle of the floor, holding the big pig piñata…that had what looked like Tikki’s face on a piece of paper plastered onto it’s head. Alya and I gasped in shock and anger and without a moment of rational non-alcohol-induced thought, both of us ran to grab it out of the Richies’ hands.

“What the hell, Dupain-Cheng?!” Chloe yelled angrily as Alya and I tore it out of their clutches after a brief tug-of-war battle between us.

“What is your damage, Bourgeois?!” I screamed at her furiously. The door to the house was open and we were all standing in their foyer, and I marched outside to the big fountain on the lawn that Kim’s family had and dumped the piñata into it. I stomped back inside and glared daggers at Chloe. “If you want that stupid piñata, go swim for it.” I then turned to Tikki, who had taken off the blindfold and was shaking nervously. Alya had come up to Tikki and was hugging her from the side. “Als, take Tikki over there, I need to talk to the mythic bitch herself.”

“Will you be okay?” Alya asked, and Tikki looked at me worriedly.

“I’ll be fine,” I nodded, slightly unsure and really pissed off. Alya and Tikki went to a corner of the room, and Alya comforted Tikki as the latter started to cry a little bit. “Well, Chloe, you goddamn bitch?!” I shouted at my frenemy. “I’ve decided to resign my commission to the Lipstick Gestapo, alright?” I felt my words slur as I talked, the liquor still taking effect on me. “I’m done with this, I’m done with all of this bull, and I’m especially done with you--ack!” I couldn’t finish my sentence, because suddenly Chloe was on me, locking me in a chokehold.

“No, Dupain-Cheng, you don’t get that right to be a nobody, come Monday, you’re an ex-somebody!” She laughed wickedly. “Not even the losers will touch you now, you stupid fuck! Not even your little friends!” Lila and Sabrina cackled as well.

“Chloe, let go of me, please, I think I’m gonna be sick,” I groaned, feeling the wind get knocked from my lungs, and a pit of nausea formed in my stomach.

“Transfer to Lycee Voltaire, transfer to Adelie School for Girls, no one at Francois-Dupont’s going to let you play their reindeer games!” Chloe sneered at me, unlocking me from her chokehold… as the nausea finally came up to my mouth and I promptly ended up vomiting all over her feet. Everyone shouted affirmations of "gross", "ew", "ugh", etc. and Chloe let out a gasp of anger and disgust. “I raised you up from nothing, you little bitch! What is my thanks? It’s all over my feet! I get paid in puke!”

“Lick it up, baby, lick. It. Up.” I sneered back at her, biting out each syllable. Alya laughed over from the corner as she kept comforting Tikki. Everyone in the room let out an "ooh..."

“I know who I’m eating lunch with on Monday, do you, Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe narrowed her eyes at me and glared. I glared back, completely pissed off. I then promptly stormed out of the house with everyone watching me. Alya and Tikki watched, concerned, as I walked away.

I needed to get home.

Chapter Text

Who in the fuck did these girls think they were? I was so frustrated and angry I couldn’t get my thoughts in the correct train like I wanted, and it didn’t help that I was still slightly intoxicated. Alcohol and rational thoughts are like oil and water, they repel each other. It was late and I didn’t want to wake my folks, so right as I arrived back at my house, I climbed up the fire escape ladder we had installed in case of emergencies, into my bedroom window… where I promptly fell on the bed and screamed into a pillow. I laid there for a good ten minutes before groggily making my way to my desk and sitting at it, digging out my diary and writing in it so hard I broke the lead on the tip of the pencil several times.

Dear Diary,

I hate this. I hate this so fucking much. I want to kill, and you have to believe it’s more for just selfish reasons. More than just a spoke in my menstrual cycle. You have to believe me. Ugh...Christ, I can’t explain it but I’m allowed an understanding that my parents, my peers, and all the assholes that go to my school have simply just chosen to ignore. I just...I understand that I must stop Chloe, Sabrina and Lila!

As I continued to write, I felt my wrist grow tense and I could feel a cramp starting to form.

You know, Alya and Tikki were true friends and I sold them out for a bunch of Swatch-dogs and Diet-Cokeheads. Killing any of those stupid Richies would be like offing the Wicked Witch of the West. East? NO, West, UGH, I sound like a fucking psycho. Good God… I don’t really know what Monday’s going to bring, but for tonight, let me dream of a world without the Richies…

A world where I’m free.

I kept scribbling words of nonsense in my diary until I got so frustrated that I threw the book at my window, causing it to land on a bookshelf and knock over one of my heirlooms and break it. I slumped back in the seat, sighing loudly.

“Letting off a little too much steam?” I heard a voice and nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Luka? What are you doing here?” I was internally and externally freaking out. I hadn’t even noticed that the window was still open, and seeing his face made me feel better at least, but I still felt like shit.

“A-ha, dreadful etiquette, I apologize,” He said, chuckling, leaning on the windowsill.

“I-it’s okay…” I responded, feeling my throat tighten. He crawled over the windowsill into the room.

“You okay?” He gave me a look of concern, and it made the dam of tears threatening to burst from my eyes finally break. I told him the entire story, how I thought the party was supposed to be a good time, but it ended up turning to shit thanks to that stupid prank that the Richies pulled. He pulled me into his arms and stroked my back, comforting me. “It’s alright, you’ll be okay.” He smiled softly at me. I hiccupped through my tears and nodded. “You know, I know a better way you could blow off some steam…” I looked at him curiously, my eyes red and bleary. “Well, I saw your croquet stuff set up in the back, do you wanna play?”

An hour, clacking croquet balls, making out, and some clothes flung into different areas of the backyard later, Luka and I were snuggling in our intimates underneath the big oak tree next to the pond.

“Well that was definitely an interesting experience,” Luka commented as he held me closer to him, kissing the top of my head. “First game of strip croquet. Thank you for that.”

“You’re welcome. And, you have to admit, it is way more fun than just boning for the first time on a neighbor’s swing set,” I remarked nonchalantly.

“Wow, Ma-Ma-Marinette, such naughty words from your delicate lips,” Luka teased me, rustling my hair. I giggled. “Besides, there’s a lot to be said about flinging off your--ouch!” I nipped his hand playfully to shut him up, then I relaxed. “And it’s not like we actually boned tonight, but I get your point,” he chuckled, and I let out a small “hmph”.

“What a night… what a life,” I said, sighing. “You know… my parents wanted to send me to Adelie’s School for Girls… ‘cause I was supposed to be this big genius. They then decided to chuck the idea because I’d have trouble making friends, blah, blah, blah…” I rolled my eyes. “Now ‘blah, blah, blah’ is all I ever do. I use my grand IQ to decide what clothes to wear, what color lip-gloss I want to buy, and how to hit on guys at school…” I yawned, growing sleepy.

“Sounds to me like you need a permanent vacation from the popular kid business…” Luka perused and yawned as well. “You could just kill them all...” I quirked a brow at that, but with so much alcohol in my system and lack of sleep, I shrugged it off.

“Nah...killing wouldn’t...solve anything…” I yawned again. “I say… let’s just grow up, be adults and die…” I smiled at Luka sleepily, and we started making out again before both of us finally crashed and fell asleep under the tree.
...
...
...
 

“Oh, Dupain-Cheng?” I heard a very familiar, unpleasant voice. Oh, no. When I woke up, I saw Chloe Bourgeois, dressed in her usual outfit, sitting there while Luka was still asleep. How he was sleeping through her nasal, valley-girl voice, I had no idea, but he was doing it well. “Hi, slut!”

“Chloe?? How did you get here?!” I was terrified. What was she doing here?

“I’m like oxygen… I’m everywhere.” She smirked widely, then gave me a deadpan stare. “Really, girl? Sleeping with Psycho Guitar Boy? I assumed you were better than that… just another thing I can just tell the whole school on Monday morning…everyone will know that good little Marinette Dupain-Cheng is nothing more than a dirty little whore.” She cackled wickedly.

“Why are you doing this to me?? Why are you so determined to hurt me?!” I asked, and suddenly the ambiance grew ominous, a red fog slowly forming.

“Because I can! And I can’t wait to do it in person… it’ll be so… very…” She cackled loudly, much like the Wicked Witch of the West, and then she closed in on me.
…
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…
 

“AAAAAAAAAHHHH!” I woke up with a scream and saw no Chloe. Only Luka. Thank god my folks always woke up early to go open the bakery, otherwise they would have heard me and caught us.

“Mari, Mari, hey, it’s okay, I’m here, did you have a bad dream or something?” Luka had woken up with a start and held me close to him, comforting me.

“I-I’m fine…” I stammered, before realizing fully what was going on, and looking down at myself. “Oh no… Ohhh no, no, no… please tell me we didn’t actually…” Luka looked down at us as well, and chuckled softly.

“No, we didn’t. We probably would have if you weren’t drunk though, that is, if that’s something you ever want to do. I would never take advantage of you like that…” Luka smiled. “We played strip croquet, then just made out and snuggled, I promise.” I did feel a slight pulsing between my legs but that was probably from the fact that I was half-naked in front of my crush and he was half-naked too, and oof, was he beautiful. So we hadn’t slept together in that way, then… whew, I sighed in relief.

“Well, I should probably go,” I said, getting up slowly and going around the backyard, grabbing my clothes from the prior night.

“Go where, exactly? You didn’t come to my house, I came to yours,” I heard Luka say, confused, as I started putting the clothes on.

“No, I know, but I gotta go to Chloe’s and see if I can apologize,” I responded as I pulled the cardigan over my head. “Otherwise on Monday I’ll be kissing her aerobicized ass, as usual.”

“Let me come with you, then,” Luka offered. “For moral support.”

“You’d do that?” I asked. He nodded. I smiled and kissed him chastely on the lips. “Thank you…”

Twenty minutes and a motorbike ride later we arrived at the Grand Paris Hotel. All the staff was asleep, so we made our way up to Chloe’s Grand Suite Bedroom and knocked on the door.

“What…?” I heard her groggy, hungover voice respond to me. I opened the door.

“Chloe, it’s me, Marinette, I came to apologize for last night…” I responded. I heard her snarkily chuckle.

“I hope you brought your knee-pads, bitch!” She cackled at me. I heard her pause, as if thinking about something. “Fix me a prairie oyster and I may just think about forgiving you.”

"Prairie oyster...?" I had to think out loud for a second. “Oh, that’s right, the ‘Wake-Up Juice’ from that movie, ‘Back to the Future’.” I quickly went to Chloe’s bar counter in another part of the room where she couldn’t hear Luka and I talking. She had a small refrigerator (no, not a ‘mini-fridge’, legitimately a small fridge) full to the brim with her own stock of groceries and snacks, as well as alcoholic beverages. How Andre or Audrey, Chloe’s mom, ever looked past this, I have no clue. “Okay, so prairie oyster, what is that again? Umm…” I thought for a moment, and then gathered the ingredients from her fridge. “Raw egg, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar or hot sauce…”

“Table salt, and ground black pepper,” Luka finished my thoughts as he handed me ingredients from a spice rack on the counter.

“You sure know your hangover cocktails pretty well,” I commented jokingly.

“Eh, had to make them a lot for Dad,” Luka replied noncommittally. I combined the ingredients in a mug and then started to think.

“Ooh, I have an idea, I’m gonna get a little personal revenge on Chloe and put a phlegm globber in her prairie oyster, she’ll never know,” I giggled, hoping Chloe didn’t hear that statement. I then quickly coughed up a small snot rocket (gross, I know), trying to be as quiet as possible with it, and spit it into the drink, stirring the concoction one more time.

“You could add this instead, I’m more of a No-Rust-Buildup man, myself,” Luka seemed to joke as I noticed he held a bottle of what looked like… drain cleaner?

“Don’t be a dick, that stuff would kill her,” I laughed nervously.

“Thus, ending her hangover!” He joked at me, pouring the blue liquid into a glass, and swishing it around. “I say… we go with the Big Blue.”

“No, we can’t just…” I paused when I saw the look in Luka’s eyes. It almost seemed…calculating, and a bit cold, not like the snarky, sarcastic dark horse I felt myself falling for. “She would never drink anything that looked like that, anyhow.” I shrugged off the feeling but it still nagged at me.

“So, we put it in this! That way she won’t see what she’s drinking,” Luka said, pouring it into a mug that was identical to the one I made her prairie oyster in. “Come on, don’t be chicken.” He laughed at me and made chicken noises, clearly trying to make a joke of it but failing.

“You’re not funny,” I said, with a hint of warning to my voice. He looked at me, but I was being serious. To be frank, I think he was too, but he backed down when he saw the look in my eyes.

“Okay, fine… I’m sorry…” He smiled at me apologetically and leaned down, kissing me gently. I kissed him back, until our kissing grew into a slight make-out session.

“PRAIRIE OYSTER, NOW, DUPAIN-CHENG!” Chloe’s nasal voice interrupted my thoughts and I broke out of the kiss, grabbing the mug. I smiled at Luka and then turned away, taking the mug to Chloe.

“Uh, hey, Mari?” I heard Luka say out of nowhere.

"Yea?” I asked.

“Uh… never mind,” He said, walking up to me. “I’ll carry the cup.” He took the cup from my hands and we walked over to Chloe’s bed, where she was now sitting up, wearing a red silk dressing robe over a sheer pink nightgown, her hair up in her signature scrunchied ponytail.

“Good morning, Marinette,” She bit out my name venomously, then noticed Luka. “Oh, and Jesse James! Quelle surprise…” She quirked a brow and smirked. “Have you heard about Dupain-Cheng’s affection for regurgitation?”

“Chloe… last night we both said a LOT of stuff we didn’t mean, so I’m here to say… I’m sorry,” I said, trying to sound apologetic.

“Did we, now…?” She asked. After a brief pause, she said, “Well, fine, I admit we were acting ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. But that doesn’t change the fact that everyone, and I mean, everyone saw what you pulled.”

“What I pulled- Chloe, you were bullying my friend!” I felt myself get angry, but kept it contained as best as I could.

“Oh, relax, baker, it was a prank. And, you seem to forget, we’re your friends now, not losers like her and that reporter chick,” Chloe rolled her eyes, and got out of the bed to get up in my face. She didn’t even seem to care. No, she cared about no one but herself. “Besides, it’s not like she was going to see it, that’s what the blindfold was for.”

“It was still a bitchy move,” I snarked, staring her down.

“And you’re still a loser, Richie or not,” Chloe retorted, mimicking me. Luka came between us.

“Look, it’ll be good if you two kiss and make up. Here’s your prairie oyster, Chloe,” he said, handing her the mug.

“Thanks, jerk,” She scoffed and downed the drink. I rolled my eyes too, but suddenly, her eyes bulged, and I saw her gag, and something suddenly felt off. I looked at her worriedly as she dropped the mug on the floor and started making choking sounds. She clutched at her throat, gasping for air, seemingly choking on the drink, then she gasped, “Corn…nuts…”

…and fell down, face first.

A moment went by, and my mouth was open in shock. Luka shared my stunned expression. She was very still, and worst of all, was not moving.

“What the hell…?” I leaned down to Chloe and tapped her, then out of curiosity and for the sake of my own sanity, I pressed two fingers to her neck to check her pulse. My eyes widened in fear.

I couldn’t feel one.

“No…” I quickly scrambled and grabbed the cup, and I noticed a small bit of blue fluid at the bottom of the cup. “No… no, no, no, no, no!” I was full-on panicking now. “No, no… this can’t be happening… no, no… oh my god… I JUST KILLED MY BEST FRIEND.” I quietly screamed. I was thanking God that no one was awake at this hour, and hopefully no one had heard the thud of her body falling to the ground… and that if they did, they assumed it was Chloe or a maid or someone living on this floor knocking something over by mistake.

“And your worst enemy,” I heard Luka pipe up.

“SAME DIFFERENCE,” I huffed at him. I got up and started pacing back and forth, flailing my arms. “This is bad, this is bad, this is really, really bad!”

“What would we tell the cops?!” Luka asked, grasping at straws, seemingly as panicked as I was. “‘Fuck it if she can’t take a joke, Sarge’?”

“The cops… I can’t be arrested… I’d be pulled out of school, I’d be thrown in jail… I’d have to enter my SAT scores to the Gulag instead of The Fashion Institute of Paris…”

“Is it really wise to be thinking of that right now?” Luka gave me a stare. “Well, at least you got what you wanted, right?” I was shocked. How could he even think of saying something like that?!

“‘Got what I wanted’?!” I repeated, growing agitated. “It is one thing to want someone out of your life, it’s another to serve them a wakeup cup full of liquid drainer!” I practically was hissing at him, that’s how pissed off I was at this point. I couldn’t believe the situation I was in. I literally served death on a platter (well, in a mug) to one of the most powerful girls in school. I could go to jail. I could be thrown in Alcatraz or an insane asylum, I could---

“Well, we committed murder, and that’s a crime, but what if we didn’t?” Luka asked cautiously.

What?

“What if it looked like something else, like what if she committed suicide?”

WHAT?

“We could write a note or something, and make it look like she wrote it.”

“Um…” I was freaking out internally, trying my damned hardest to remain calm. We killed someone, and we’re making it look like a suicide? I feel like I'm a character in one of my dad's crime novels, I thought.

“We could do it, would you be able to forge her handwriting somehow?” He pressed.

“Well… I can imitate people’s handwriting… I’ve done it before… not for reasons like this, but for doing homework for people, or making fake hall passes…” I responded.

“Perfect, then you could probably do her handwriting as well as your own then,” He continued on, and I scrambled to get a piece of paper and pen. As messed up as this was, I couldn’t go to jail. So, I went with it and sat down at Chloe’s desk, beginning to write a note that looked like it was written by a spoiled Mayor’s daughter. Oh, God, the Mayor… I thought. I knew how much he loved his little girl, the guilt was gnawing away at my conscience and I felt like shit. Maybe I should turn myself in… No. I’m at the desk, the pen is in my hand, I have to do this.

“Okay… uh…” I was having a bit of a hard time, as my brain was turning to mush from feeling so damn guilty. “What would I write?”

“Think, Mari, think long and hard, what would she say? What would be her last words to a cruel and misunderstanding world?” Luka asked, encouraging me.

“Hmm… Dear world,” I said aloud as I wrote. “You may think what I’ve done is shocking. But, believe it or not, I know about fear, and about how bad loneliness stings. I hid behind smiles and my expensive, crazy hot clothes, but this world… um… this world weighed upon me like a concrete prom queen crown.” I paused for a moment, thinking about what else she might say. I wanted to keep her in character but still manage to sound vulnerable.

“Uh… To me, though, suicide is the natural answer to the myriad of problems life has given me,” Luka offered.

“That sounds good… but Chloe would never use the word ‘myriad’, she did miss it on our vocab test last week,” I mused.

“Yeah, but think of it like a badge for her failures at school,” Luka pointed out.

“Okay, you’re probably right…” I nodded, and continued writing. “People think because you’re beautiful and popular, life is easy and fun. No one gets my insecurities. I wish they’d see I was more than shoulder pads, red scrunchies and makeup, and see that I had feelings too. So, this is it. I die knowing no one knew the real me,” I concluded, signing the note.

Geez, baker, you make me sound like air supply, a familiar nasally voice popped up in my ear. I looked up briefly, then looked back down at the paper, trying to not draw attention to myself. I could have swore I just heard Chloe, but that’s impossible… she’s dead… I shook off the nagging possibility that I could have legit heard Chloe speak to me from beyond the freaking grave.

“Okay, good,” Luka said. “This note has to be good enough to fool the cops. Now let’s get out of here, this is freaking me out.” He definitely sounded freaked. I grabbed his hand and we scrambled out of her room, towards the employee exit down the hall, into the stairwell and down the stairs to the exit door on the side of the hotel, and we snuck around the back of the hotel back to the bakery, thanking God that Andre Bourgeois was too much of a pushover to install security cameras on the outside of the hotel as well as anywhere in the hotel. (He had those weird mirrors that were good for retail stores but other than that, no good security. And as much as I hated saying thank goodness for no cameras, it still made me feel super guilty.)

-3rd Person POV-

Not long after Marinette and Luka left the Grand Paris Hotel, Andre had come up to Chloe’s room to check on his girl, and when he saw her dead on the floor, he cried so hard he could have flooded her room with his tears. He immediately called the police and asked them to come investigate, and Roger Raincomprix and Sabrina had showed up. While Sabrina sat by the door, weeping for her lost bestie, Roger and a fellow cop were taking a look around the room.

“Whoa, Roger, check this out,” the other cop called to Roger, as he had found Chloe’s note. “Check it out, it’s a suicide note.”

“Chloe killed herself? This whole thing seems impossible…” Roger responded, shaken. He looked back towards his daughter, who was sobbing loudly.

“I just wish I could have been a better friend… I should have asked her how she was doing… I can’t believe she’s gone!” She cried, taking off her glasses, folding them up, and burying her face into her hands. Roger and the other cop perused the note several times, then put it into a plastic ‘evidence’ bag and decided to head out.

“Sorry again for this, Andre, I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you right now,” Roger patted the mayor’s shoulder sympathetically, and walked out of the building with one arm around Sabrina. Andre called  Audrey, Chloe's mom and the famous editor of Style Queen Magazine (even though she was infamous for calling Chloe the wrong name repeatedly and neglecting her) to tell her about Chloe’s death. To his surprise, Audrey was shocked to find out that her girl, who was supposed to grow up and be the next heir to the magazine, had committed suicide. She was soon uncharacteristically sobbing on the phone with Andre for a good half-hour after that.

“Any other principal would take the same position, keep things business as usual,” said Principal Jean Damocles, the following morning, as they all had just learned of the rich girl’s death.

“Chloe Bourgeois is not your everyday suicide, though,” Monsieur Armand D’Argencourt, the fencing teacher, pointed out. “She was a very popular girl.”

“Armand, if I let these children out before lunch, the switchboard would light up like a Christmas tree,” Mr. Damocles quipped. “Not going to happen.”

“I must say, I was perusing the copy of her suicide note and I was rather impressed to see she made proper use of the word ‘myriad’, considering she missed it on her recent test,” Dalia Mendeliev piped up.

“Our children are dying! Frankly, I find it profoundly disturbing that we’re told of the tragic death of a student of ours, in the way of the destruction of our youth, and all we can think to talk about is adequate mourning times and misused vocabulary words! I mean, we should revel in this revealing moment!” Caline Bustier was righteously furious. Out of all the teachers, Mme. Bustier was one of the few who really encouraged the students to better themselves instead of simply doling out assignments and grades. She also loved keeping a positive air about her classroom, even if her methods seemed a little… odd. “Look, I suggest that we get everybody together, both students and teachers, in the cafeteria, we could sit around… and just talk, and feel. Together!”

“Thank you, Caline, call me when the shuttle lands,” Damocles pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He and the other teachers didn’t really agree with Bustier’s methods of teaching and often called her a “hippie” or a “feminist” for wanting the class to be able to be taught in such a positive environment.

“But I’m not wrong, we all misjudged Chloe,” Bustier said. “This is the loveliest suicide note I’ve ever read…” She and the teachers looked back at the copies of the note. Damocles then sighed.

“Aw, hell, we’ll let out classes early. Screw it,” He said.

-Marinette’s POV-

“This is the absolute worst…” Sabrina was crying in the girls’ gym locker rooms up against Chloe’s locker, and we were next to her, comforting her. Well, I was, and for some reason Lila was eating her lunch…and way too fast at that, considering she insisted she had bulimia. “I hate that I never got to talk to her before she ended her life… and I hate that we can’t have a half-day for school, they should let us out early…”

“You could call the school board,” Lila shrugged noncommittally, mouth full of sandwich.

“Whoa, hey, Lila, watch out, you may be digesting food there,” I remarked sarcastically.

“Yeah, Lila, where’s your ‘urge to purge’?” Sabrina wiped away her tears and watched incredulously as Lila devoured the sandwich her mother had made for her, as well as several other items of food.

“Meh,” Lila simply replied. I quirked a brow. Lila almost seemed to grow a little more confident as Chloe had now left us for good. I filed that notion away in my brain in case something was to come up. I heard Sabrina open the door to the locker as it no longer had a lock on it, and she gasped.

“Marinette, look, it’s Chloe’s old Swatch,” Sabrina held the vintage watch lovingly. “She would want you to have it.” She pressed it into my hands and I let out a small squeak. I didn’t deserve this, and I’m sure Chloe would agree.

That’s my best Swatch, you yellow-wearing clod, I swore I heard someone say.

“Did… did you girls hear that?” I asked, unsure.

“No… I didn’t hear a thing,” Sabrina shook her head. Lila shrugged again, as if to say “dunno”. I felt that nagging guilt again and sighed, sitting down on the bench between the lockers.

A little while later, Mme. Bustier’s class was discussing Chloe’s death. “I’m so thrilled…to finally have an example of the profound sensitivity of which a human animal is capable of!” No one could take Bustier seriously, not even her students. A few rolled their eyes, namely Alix the skater, Lila, and myself. “That example is Chloe Bourgeois. Now, I have a copy of her suicide note, and have made copies for all of you to read, so you can feel her anguish.” I felt a small twinge of panic. Thank goodness Max Kante wasn’t in my class, though, him and his little robot that he made that was super intelligent probably could figure out that it was forged handwriting, but luckily, I was in a class of subpar-IQ students. “While you are reading it, I think this will be a good opportunity to share the feelings her suicide spurred in all of you.” She made a gesture and asked the room, “Now, who would like to begin?”

“I heard it was super gnarly, she sucked down a glass of multi-purpose deodorizing disinfectant and then BAM—” Alix began, making me and several of our classmates cringe uncomfortably.

“Alix Kubdel, we are not rehashing the coroner’s reports, we are talking about emotions,” Bustier snapped at her. Alix shook her head, her pink hair tousling.

“I actually used to date her before I dated Ondine,” Kim spoke up. “But, she always said I was boring, but now I realize I’m not actually boring, and it’s likely she was just dissatisfied with her own life.” He shrugged, and Bustier gave him an impressed expression.

“Well, that was very good, Kim,” Bustier replied.

“I never knew she was so unhappy,” Rose Lavillant, a member of the cheer squad piped up. “I guess her life hit a rocky patch somewhere or another?”

“Yeah, maybe deep down she wasn’t cruel or vain or a total bitch,” Juleka Couffaine, another cheer squad member and Luka’s twin sister mumbled aloud.

“Chloe never meant to be mean, it was just her way of getting along with people,” Sabrina added. I started laughing, but when people glanced my way I quickly disguised it as crying, a trick that, unsurprisingly, Lila had taught me in case I needed it.

“Are we going to be tested on this?” Ivan had asked. I continued to fake-cry and rolled my eyes at him. I then wiped my eyes as if I were wiping away tears.

“What about you, Marinette? You seem to have been the closest with her, what’s your take on this?” Bustier asked. I panicked. Of course, she had to ask me.

“Uh…” I tried to form proper sentences. “Maybe Chloe realized that… in order to be happy she had to give up her power… and that the only way was death.”

Wow, way to cover up the fact that you killed me, bitch, I swear I heard. Now I really was convinced that Chloe was talking to me from beyond the grave.

“My God… this is amazing! Chloe would be so proud of you all,” Bustier smiled widely.

I would?

“Chloe may have passed on, but her legacy in this school will live on forever, I hope you all think fondly of her even if she wasn’t very nice to some of you,” Bustier clapped. The students felt pretty proud of themselves and some hugged the person next to them.

You’re kidding me, right?

Holy crap, this is awesome! I’m bigger than Jagged Stone right now!

I swear to Christ this whole thing was driving me to schizophrenia if I was hearing voices. And I don’t know if it was a trick of the light or something, but I thought for a moment… that I could see Chloe in that same dressing gown as the day she died… with her hair up in that stupid red scrunchie…

With a blue tongue, blue lips, and blue saliva coming out of her mouth… 

and dead eyes, all white with no iris.
 

Chapter Text

“You know, we were the same size,” Lila was saying, in a televised interview about how she knew Chloe. Luka and I were sitting on the couch that day after school, and it so happened that our school’s AV club decided to interview students about Chloe’s death. “Sometimes we would borrow each other’s clothes and mix it up, it was a lot of fun. She and I were really close.” Lila sounded sympathetic, but I could start to see hints of pride in her olive-green eyes. She always acted like such a pushover, but with Chloe gone she seemed to act a bit differently. “We did a lot of stuff together, and I feel like it just won’t be the same without her…” Now there, I called bullshit. Chloe picked on Lila constantly, it almost seemed obvious that Lila hated that. I flipped through the channels and Lila's face was popping up on every news station.

“Jeez, Lila, how many networks did you run to? And besides, you hated her, I’m sure of it,” I voiced my thoughts. Luka shut off the TV.

“Well, Chloe Bourgeois is more popular than ever now,” He said with surprise in his voice.

“It’s scary stuff,” I commented. I then heard footsteps walking up towards us. Luka looked up and smirked. I was excited if the person turned out to be Juleka, she was sweet, even though she was quiet.

“Hey, son, I didn’t hear you come in,” He said to the person who had come up to the couch. Wait, what?

“Hey, dad, how was work today?” The person smiled back. Oh, it’s Luka’s dad. Guess that’s just their dynamic. Looking at him, I could see why Luka despised the guy. Taika “Big Tai” Couffaine was a big-ish man, in a purple tracksuit (gross) with deep black hair and a thick scruff of a chin beard and mustache. His beady purple irises bored into the two of us. “It was miserable. Some tribe of teeny-bopper bitches complains that we can’t tear down an old hotel that needs to be remodeled. All because XY and his entourage took a shit there once.” I felt myself cringe inwardly. I really did not like the way Taika talked about people. And here I thought Adrien’s dad, Gabriel, was not a great person, this guy really took the cake. Honestly, those two should get together and go bowling or something. “Just like Antibes. Do you remember Antibes?”

“Uh, kind of,” Luka shrugged. “That was the one with the big music festival, right?”

“Yup…” Taika rolled his eyes and laughed. “Showed those fucks.” He got on his treadmill and started it up, walking on it, an uncomfortable silence rolling through the room briefly, as the houseboat rocked slowly on the Seine. Oh, did I forget to mention Luka lives on a freaking houseboat? That’s awesome, if a little unnerving. “Oh, sorry Pop, I almost forgot to introduce my girlfriend!” Taika broke the silence a moment later, and I felt his eyes on me.

“Oh, right, Dad this is Marinette, Marinette, Dad,” Luka introduced. I gave a nervous “Hello” and stuck my hand out for him to shake but he just waved at me. I tensed a little bit and retreated back into the curve of Luka’s arm around me. “Gee, Son, why don’t you ask your little girlfriend to stay for dinner?”

“Oh, uh, I can’t, actually,” I quickly wormed my way out of Luka’s arms and stood up, noticing the time and hastily coming up with a small excuse. “My mom’s making my favorite meal tonight and I want to be home for it.”

“How nice,” Luka smiled and spoke passively. “Last time I saw my mother, she was marching away from a building in Venice. Right, Dad?” I got a weird feeling as I saw the two look at each other with the most passive-aggressive stares ever.

“Right, Son,” Taika responded, equally as passive. I flinched from the uncomfortable energy that now made itself present in the room.

“Right… well, it was nice meeting you, Mr. Couffaine, I should get going,” I quickly showed myself out.

The following day...

It had finally come to the day of Chloe Bourgeois’ funeral. It was so surreal that she was no longer here with us, but I still feel like the accidental poisoning of my best frenemy was a whole fever dream. It felt real, and at the same time… it was unreal.

“Hey, come on over, hon, sit down,” Dad called to me one day when he and Mom were out on the terrace again, eating the pate and reading the spy novels. “So, how are you feeling? I’m sorry again about Chloe.”

“I’m sorry too, I guess,” I shrugged. I couldn’t tell anyone about how I actually felt, and it sucked. “It feels weird.”

“Poor thing,” Mom sighed. “May she rest in paradise.” I nodded. She then shook off the tension and asked, to change the subject, “So, do we ever get to meet this ‘dark horse’ of yours?”

“Soon, I promise,” I chuckled, glad to be relieved of the awkward energy of the talk about the funeral that was presented.

“Goddamn, will someone tell me why I smoke these things?” Dad said suddenly, as he coughed a bit of smoke out from a cigar. He didn’t usually smoke, but it was a weird time and cigars were the only thing he smoked, if anything.

“‘Cause you’re an idiot,” I smiled at him playfully.

“Oh yeah, that’s it,” Dad chuckled at me.

“You two,” Mom chuckled as well, shaking her head.

“Great pate, Mom, but I gotta motor if I don’t wanna be late for Chloe’s funeral,” I said, getting up and going into the house to get changed into proper attire.

The funeral itself was about as abysmal as you would have expected. Everyone was somber about Chloe’s death, none moreso than Sabrina, Andre, Audrey, heck even Adrien was upset. I remembered he and her used to be really close before she started the Richies 2-3 years ago and she completely ditched him. Everyone went up to kneel in front of Chloe’s coffin to send her prayers, and I wished I could read minds, because I had no idea of what people were thinking about and I wanted to know.

“Jesus, God in Heaven, why did you have to kill such a hot piece of ass? It’s a joke, man. Hail to Mary and all that, and love us sinners, so we don’t get caught. Another joke.” -Kim

“Oh God… I always feel weird at funerals… death is a weird subject for me, but I hope at least that Chloe is in a good place right now. She is my best friend, and I wish nothing but the best for her. Amen.” -Sabrina

“I prayed for the death of Chloe Bourgeois many times, and… I felt bad every time I did it....oh, who am I kidding? I’m glad the bitch is dead! Now I know you understood everything, praise Jesus, and hallelujah.” -Lila

“Hi, God, and uh… I’m sorry… technically I did not kill Chloe Bourgeois, but I still feel bad, and I uh… I just wish my school was a better place. Amen… did that sound bitchy?” -Me

I was planning on just heading home right after, because Luka had ditched about halfway through, probably due to the fact we were both involved in her death, but Sabrina called me over.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

“Uh, I wanted to ask, what are you doing this weekend?” Sabrina inquired.

“I was planning on staying in and sketching some designs, why?” I responded.

“Well, I was planning on doing a small get together with Kim and Ivan and their girlfriends, to honor Chloe’s memory, and I was hoping you could be there,” She offered. “Please? Even Billy the Kid could come if he wants.”

Billy the Kid...? …oh she’s talking about Luka, I rolled my eyes.

“Please? For your best friend?” She gave me puppy eyes and I sighed.

“Okay, as long as it doesn’t turn into the boys becoming drunk off their asses and making us watch them tip cows,” I said exasperatedly.

It was literally that. Unlike what Sabrina had planned, Luka, nor the guys’ girlfriends could make it out to join us, so it was only me, Sabrina and the boys. We tried to go to the graveyard to put some flowers by Chloe’s ostentatiously large gravestone, but the guys had seen a farm on the way and by that point they were too drunk to drive anywhere so we just pulled over and stopped by the big tree smack dab on the dirt path. I leaned up against a tree, not wanting to be anywhere near the ordeal, but Sabrina was there by the boys...right when they tipped a huge cow, and she got covered in dirt. She ended up going to the car and wiping herself down with a towel, and sat in the front, where Lila also sat…

Wait a sec, when did Lila get there?

“Ugh, this is absolutely gross,” Sabrina groaned as she tried to get the stains out of her outfit and grime out of her hair.

“I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so,” I chuckled, glad I was away from all of that. Kim and Ivan started stumbling their way back to the car.

“Mmmhey, Marine-tta,” Kim slurred as he got uncomfortably close to me.

“Kim, could you please back off?” I tried to ask, respectfully, as I visibly cringed.

“But Mari-neeeette,” he whined, wrapping his arms around me. He smelled like mud, alcohol, and jock-sweat, and I nearly gagged on the stench. “Don’t be so rude, you make my balls so blue…” Gross. I gently pried myself away from him and tried to open one of the car doors. It was locked. I raised a brow and then went to the other side. Also locked. I glanced up at Sabrina and Lila, and I saw them snickering.

“Girls, can I get in the car please? I’m really not comfortable with these two draping themselves on me,” I asked them.

“But Marinette, they wanna be around you, they just want affection,” Lila simpered, hiding an evil smirk behind her hands.

“Yes, but I don’t want theirs, if it’s all the same to you,” I was starting to get irritated. Even Ivan, who seemed to be head-over-heels in love with Mylene all the time, was trying to grope me in places I did not wish to be groped, and I was getting annoyed.

“Oh, please, you don’t honestly believe that Billy the Kid is in love with you, do you?” Sabrina giggled. “That’s why I called you out here tonight, so we could get some with the guys.”

“WHAT?!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “So, what you’re saying is, you brought me out here and basically volunteered me for date rape?!”

“Marinette, when you say it like that, it sounds ugly,” Sabrina threw up her hands in defense. I scoffed angrily.

“I can’t believe this, I’m going home,” I started stalking off, pushing the two jocks off of me with a bit more force than I intended.

“But, wait, Marinette, don’t you need a ride?” Lila called.

“I’LL WALK,” I shouted, and Ivan and Kim tried to come after me again, but I pushed them both and this time, they fell over, hitting their heads on the ground and groaning in pain. Lila and Sabrina saw them tumble and they checked to make sure the two boys were ok. I glanced back at the drunken boys, and I could have swore that I saw Lila glaring at me with utter vitriol in her eyes.

“What the heck happened here?” I heard a voice in front of me, and it was Luka, thank goodness. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sabrina asked me to go to Chloe’s grave with Kim and Ivan, but it turned into a cow-tipping, and Lila was there too, and…” I was exhausted. Luka shook his head.

“Another Richie, huh?” He raised a brow and gave a half-smirk. I looked at him curiously. “Sorry, I guess I’m just feeling a little superior tonight. Every school I've gone to is about the same, I guess, with the same kind of drama. Whatever. Come on, let’s go get a Slushie.” I smiled gratefully and we got on his bike and drove off to the 7-11, getting Slushies and snacks and then going back to his home to cuddle on his couch, and eventually pass out.

The next morning...

I wasn’t able to sleep all too well that night. I couldn’t help but feel like something was about to happen. After several morning classes, I went to the Yearbook Committee meeting to get the next lunchtime poll topic to take over Chloe’s duties.

“Good morning everyone,” I smiled at my classmates and they smiled and waved at me. Some gave me funny looks, and others giggled.

“Hey, Marinette,” Adrien smiled at me.

“H-hey, Adrien,” I half-heartedly smiled back. “I came to check up on the lunchtime poll topic…” I trailed off as I saw a massive collage of pictures, mainly of Chloe, sprawled out on the desk in front of him.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, here, sit,” He led me over to the adjoining desk and we perched on the edge. “The funeral was rough yesterday, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” I sighed. “You were pretty close to her, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, but then she started the Richies thing and basically all but forgot about me… I was the only friend she had, other than Sabrina,” he also sighed.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien…” I put a hand on his back and rubbed it. “If it makes you feel any better, Chloe didn’t forget you… she talked about you a couple times.”

“Not sure that’s supposed to make me feel better… but I appreciate that she was still thinking of me…” He sighed. “But hey, I still have Nino to hang out with, at least, and Alya, and Tikki, and you,” Adrien smiled at me. “And also, that other new kid over there who instantly joined YC, his name is Patrick Juarez but he refers to himself as ‘Plagg’.” He pointed over to a corner where a student with tanned skin, very scruffy black hair and eyes so green you would think they were glowing, sat. When he smiled, I saw he sported a pair of sharpened canines, and he was dressed in a black tee shirt with the words “Grateful Dead” sprawled across them, and ripped jeans and black combat boots. He definitely fit the bill on the “punk” style, very similar to Luka’s aesthetic.

“Plagg, huh?” I asked. “Odd choice in nickname.”

“Yeah, I think it means ‘plague’?” Adrien mused. “I mean, it sounds like ‘plague’ so I wouldn’t put that past it.” I nodded. “Oh, I wanted to get your opinion while you were here, actually. You see this whole bunch of pictures?” He got up and gestured towards the Chloe picture pile. “Well, I was wondering if maybe you had any poems, artwork or anything Chloe might have done or had that we can put in her yearbook spread?”

“Her what?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Here, look,” He got a diagram prompt from another desk and showed me as he talked, “it’ll eventually be a two-page layout with her note up here in the corner, we thought it could be a nice little tribute to her. It’s a lot more tasteful than it sounds.”

“I think we could stay away from leaving the suicide note on there, only because it may be triggering for some people,” I hummed aloud. “I’m okay with it…” Lie. “But the thought of having that there just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“Like last night, Marinette?” Iris, a purple-haired girl from Ms. Mendeliev’s class piped up, giggling.

“Excuse me?” I asked her. “I don’t get it.”

“Oh, well, you did last night, apparently,” Iris smirked. “Lila’s been telling everyone about your fling with Kim after you spilled to her.”

“Yeah, and?” I wasn’t buying it. “I left him and Ivan drunk and flailing in cow shit last night.”

“Well, I don’t know, they were really detailed…” Iris cackled. I could feel anger, as well as bile, rising in my throat. What the hell kind of story were Kim and Lila spinning about me?

“Shut up, Iris,” Nathaniel, another classmate of mine came to my defense.

“Nathaniel, it’s fine,” I placated him. “Don’t shut up, I need to know exactly what I did!” The purple-haired girl laughed loudly without answering me, and I stormed out of the room before Adrien or Nath could say anything else in my defense, calling after me. I was officially on a warpath. Eventually when I found Lila and Sabrina, they were getting things from their lockers. Well, Lila was digging through her locker, seemingly trying to find something, Sabrina was leaning against a locker next to her.

“Okay, Lila, I get that you were trying to pull some serious BS last night, but the very least you could do is give me an apology for the way you and Sabrina treated me!” I shouted at her, only for her to shush me.

“Excuse you, we are at Chloe’s locker right now, I think you could show a little respect for the dead,” Lila interrupted, seemingly annoyed. Now that I took more notice around me, we were in fact at Chloe’s locker, for what reason I was unsure.

Says the one digging through my things, I heard a very familiar voice behind me. The afterlife sucks ass, by the way, Dupain-Cheng. Thanks to you, I’ll be coughing up drain cleaner for eternity. My head jolted up to see, in the reflection of her humongous locker mirror, Chloe Bourgeois in all her ghostly glory, dead eyes with no iris, blue liquid dripping from her lips, pale skin, the whole nine yards.

“Chloe...?” I asked. Lila and Sabrina looked at me strangely. “...’s locker?” I added on quickly to ward off suspicion. “What do you even need from it anyhow?”

“Just trying to find stuff for Yearbook Committee’s spread thing,” Lila said nonchalantly. “The locker was the first place I could think of that maybe had her handwriting on paper.”

Oh sure, I’m sure that’s exactly why you’re touching my things, Liar-la, Chloe rolled her eyes, or so it appeared, being as though her irises were nonexistent. I gave Chloe a questioning look. Yeah, Lila lies with like, every breath... how you never noticed, I will never understand, she responded, inspecting her nails.

That… explains a lot, actually, I thought.

Well, go on, Dupain-Cheng, tell her to stop going through my things! Chloe commanded. Tell her! Tell her!

“Shut up!” I shouted, very agitated. Lila suddenly glared, and spun around to face me. Her fist clenched around something red, and her face and voice did not match the sweet tone she always spoke with.

“You shut up, Marinette!” She then grinned twistedly, something I didn’t even think was possible for her. “I, on the other hand, am not going to be ‘shutting up’ any time soon.” Her clenched hand came into view, and in it, was a dreadfully familiar item.

“Th-that’s one of Chloe’s red scrunchies!” Sabrina pointed at the item horrified.

“Shut up, Sabrina,” Lila commanded her, much like Chloe used to command.

“Sorry, Lila,” Sabrina curled in on herself. I watched as Lila’s personality had completely changed. She ripped the green ties from the twin-tails by her cheeks and out of her long low ponytail, and tied Chloe’s red scrunchie into her hair, completely changing the hairstyle we all knew her for into a braid that draped over her shoulder, and she talked to me as she stood there braiding.

“Chloe’s long gone, it’s up to me now to replace her… no, be a better Richie than she ever could be!” Lila smirked evilly. “I didn’t think it would happen so soon but here we are.”

Replace me? Oh hell no, who does she think she is?! I heard Chloe scream, though no one else could.

“Y-you can’t honestly be okay with Chloe being dead… just to be the next Chloe…” I looked at her, angry and incredulous all at once.

“Well, I would have preferred her expelled or shipped off to a private school or something… but this will have to do,” Lila tilted her head, pridefully grinning.

“This is completely awful!” I all but yelled. “You’re a horrible human being, you know that, Lila?!”

“You’re one to talk, what with your reputation at stake, don’t forget the little three-way you and the jock boys had last night,” Lila said. 

So that’s the tale she’s been telling everyone! I growled low in my throat. But... Iris had said it was only with Kim… oh, I’m going to smack someone. Definitely Lila.

“Three-way?” I heard a familiar voice behind me, thankfully not Chloe, but Luka as he looked at me nervously.

“No, there wasn’t a three-way, Lila’s lying!” I told him.

“Oh, but I’m not lying,” Lila smiled. “And even if I was, no one would believe you anyway. They all believe me, because I tell people what they want to hear.”

“Luka, you believe me, don’t you?” I asked fearfully. He nodded at me, wrapping his arm around me protectively.

“Of course, Mari. I trust you,” He said. I turned to the only other person I knew would know Lila’s little game. 

“Sabrina, you were with me last night, you invited me out,” I pleaded. “Lila’s clearly lying!” Sabrina looked like she wanted to defend me, but the look in Lila’s eyes was sinister and calculating and held a warning in them: if you’re not with me, you’re out of the group. Sabrina shook her head.

“Sorry, but I wasn’t there last night,” She nervously denied, backing up towards Lila. “You must have hallucinated me being there or something.” I felt my heart drop into my stomach. Lila laughed.

“Yup, and the whole school thinks you’re a dirty slut, Dupain-Cheng,” Lila laughed. “Kim and Ivan really enjoyed having… what did they call it again…?”

“A big sword-fight in her mouth!” Kim suddenly seemed to come out of nowhere, a fat red handprint on his right cheek. Ondine probably heard the rumors and broke up with him if she believed it, and the proof was on his face.

“Yeah, it was fantastic!” Ivan arrived a moment later, a very similar red mark on his face. Poor Mylene, she didn’t deserve this.

“You two have girlfriends, how could you be so cruel?!” I shouted at them. “Taking part in such an awful rumor, and for what?!”

“What do you mean, rumor? It’s all real, baby, I thought you enjoyed yourself last night,” Kim simpered mockingly at me.

“Hehe, yeah, you’re an amazing lay, Marinette,” Ivan cruelly chuckled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mylene and Ondine come up to me.

“YOU!! It's bad enough you didn’t already have the school falling at your feet, but now you’re a homewrecker too?” Ondine looked beyond pissed.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” Mylene thundered. She was angry, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

“Girls, no, I didn’t sleep with your boyfriends!” I tried to explain but they wouldn’t hear it. “Guys, please, why don’t you believe me?” Everyone started shouting the word “slut” at me, and at one point I heard Kim whisper “whore” in my ear. That prompted Luka to pull Kim off of me and punch him square in the jaw. But this time, both Kim and Ivan were prepared for him. They pulled Luka away from me and started punching him. “Both of you, stop it!” I screamed repeatedly, hitting them both with my fists. It was then I felt a stinging in my cheek as my head reeled back.

Kim had slapped me.

I stood there in shock, numb to everything around me as two teachers had to break up the crowd, only Luka and I were still there in the hall. I knelt down to Luka, who was coming to after Kim and Ivan ganged up on him. I felt angry tears well up in my eyes.

“Luka, are you okay…?” I asked, gently nudging him.

“Ugh… never felt better, my melody,” Luka gave me a half-smile and I practically melted. Also… that nickname was really sweet.

“Oh, man, this is all my fault, I never should have gone with Sabrina to that stupid graveyard…” I slumped down onto my knees and wiped my eyes, trying to keep from crying. Luka quickly scrambled up and looked at me, holding my face in his hands.

“Oh, Mari… they made you cry and that’s not okay,” He looked upset. “Aren’t these kids supposed to be your friends? Why would they do this to you?”

“I… I don’t know… maybe… maybe they’ve always hated me? I mean… I’m not really rich or anything… I haven’t really belonged to them, I dunno…” I continued to sob. I felt so bitter. I knew I always felt like the odd one out in the group. Maybe it was that I was too nice? Were Richies supposed to always be mean? They always acted mean, and I thought that was cool, apparently… I was so wrong, it hurt. Luka took my face in his hands and I felt his calloused thumbs wipe away my tears.

“Hey, you don’t need those jerks, I can tell that they were never true friends to you,” he murmured to me. “It’s okay to cry, my melody. We can burn away the bad stuff and make a new school life for ourselves. When the morning comes, and a new day rises, we’ll build the world again, for just us. You don’t have to be around them anymore if you don’t want to.” His words soothed me, dripping with honey. I sighed. I was so happy that he was so understanding. I took his hands in mine, leaning my face into them.

“Yeah… I agree,” I relented. I was done being a Richie for good.

“Our love is God, my melody,” Luka smiled at me softly. “Wanna go get a Slushie and freeze our brains to take our minds off of things?” I nodded, for I could definitely go for a Slushie right about now. That line about our love being God threw me off just a little bit, but Luka’s presence was so comforting that I didn’t give it a second thought.

Later after dropping me off, I flopped onto my bed and just laid there for a while, dozing in and out of sleep. I woke up to go have dinner with my parents, and after a good heart-to-heart with my mother about my friends, she gave me a much-needed Mom-Hug and I felt better about my situation. Sure, I was branded a slut and probably out of The Richies for good, but I didn’t care. School reputations were stupid anyhow, I decided. I sat at my desk so I could start a new sewing project when all of a sudden my phone rang. I picked it up from the receiver (A/N: need I remind you readers we’re in the 80’s for this one lol) and said, “Hello?”

“Hi, melody,” Luka’s gentle voice replied. “Are you doing okay?” I sighed.

“I’ve been better, I guess,” I responded, taking the phone and receiver and flopping back on my bed with it.

“Well, as long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters to me, it broke my heart to see you so sad today, Mari,” Luka said sympathetically.

“I’d be better if stupid Kim and Ivan took a long walk off a short pier, and Lila Rossi would not sell crap like the fertilizer saleswoman she is, but I guess things just are the way they are,” I hummed noncommittally. “You know, just once I’d like to see them get what they deserve. Just for a moment.”

“Well, why not?” Luka said. “We could get revenge on them.”

“We could,” I said, shrugging. “It would be pretty satisfying to make them feel stupid about the power of rumors.”

“And we could really drive it home, like, you know how they’re always calling things they don’t like ‘gay’?” Luka asked. “Like when they called me the f-word my first day here, remember?”

“That’s true,” I thought aloud. “So then we turn the tables and make them look gay somehow?”

“Yeah, it would be pretty good,” Luka chuckled. “Here, can I come over? We can do some better revenge plotting together in person.”

“Sure, plus my parents have yet to meet you and they’re a lot nicer than your dad,” I snickered.

“Very funny,”  I could practically hear Luka roll his eyes through the phone. “I’ll be over in a little while then, I’ll pick up some things on the way for us.” I smiled, we said our goodbyes, and after hanging up, I laid there, dozing off briefly until I heard Luka talking to my parents, and making his way upstairs. He gently knocked on my door and I let him in, hugging him tightly. “You doing okay, melody?” I felt his large hand stroke my back gently as I embraced him.

“I’m fine, I just needed a hug from you,” I sighed, nuzzling my head into his chest.

“Of course,” He chuckled softly. “Here, I wanna show you what I brought over.” He had a huge brown paper bag of...something. He set the bag down on the bed.

“What is all of this?” I asked. Luka proceeded to pull out some very romantically sappy items, including, but not limited to, a bouquet of roses, a heart-shaped container of chocolates, and a stuffed animal holding a small heart. “Aw, Luka, this is so sweet!” I smiled at everything.

“Oh, uh, this is actually the stuff for the revenge plot,” Luka shrugged sheepishly. My excitement deflated briefly.

“Oh… right,” I remembered. He laid everything out.

“So, the plan will be to get those two alone somewhere in the morning, somewhere more secluded so the students don’t find out at first,” Luka explained.

“Why wouldn’t we just do this on the football field? If we want everyone to think that Kim and Ivan are gay or something, wouldn’t we put them in more of a public place?”

“Well, I thought about that, but then I remembered how the rumor that was going around was about you guys doing it at the cemetery, so…” Luka said. “We’ll say they went back to the cemetery to properly ‘consummate’ their love.” I snickered. We might actually pull this off… I thought.

“So, what else is going into the plan?” I asked.

“So, don’t hate me… but I think you should act as a decoy for this to work,” Luka said, grimacing a tiny bit.

“Wait, why a decoy?” I furrowed my brow in confusion.

“Well, if you’re the one who lures them there with the promise of an actual threesome, they’ll agree to it, they might take it seriously. They are Neanderthals, after all,” Luka shrugged. I pursed my lips together, nodding. He had a point, I suppose.

“Alright, so I’ll just give them a call right now then,” I said, psyching myself up to pull this plan off. I hopped off the bed, grabbing my phone and receiver. Now, I didn’t see it at the time, nor did I even believe I noticed, but the look on Luka’s face as my back was turned had a very unsettling aura to it…

Chapter Text

HI EVERYONE I'M NOT DEAD.

I'm so sorry that I haven't been continuing this story. A lot has happened since I last updated- I've been super busy with work, I'm in two bands, and a lot of family-related events have happened as well.

On top of that, I've got the worst case of writer's block. Once I get back into the swing of things I'm also planning to write another couple works, but until then, thank you for supporting me thus far and I hope to continue my story soon!

Love,
Mari a.k.a. RainbowKidWritesThings