Marinette's POV
Running through the hallway, I make it before the bell rings. I pause to take a breath, and collapse into my seat.
"Where were you?" asks Alya. She raises her eyebrows, and giggles. "You slept in again, didn't you."
"Yeah," I manage to say. Forcing a smile, I grab my water bottle out of my bag and start chugging the contents. "Much better," I think to myself. As I get my tablet, Alya shoves her cellphone into my face.
"Ladybug and Cat Noir were spotted fighting last night near the Seine River," she squeals. My friend points at the scaly villain on her screen. "This fish guy was really powerful! I think he called himself Tsunamis or something. Thank goodness they were able to stop him. Too bad I wasn't able to ask them for a picture." She sighs, and scrolls through her blog.
I nod, agreeing with Alya. Yep, he was powerful alright. He was also downright annoying. It took a long shower to get the seafood stench out. I didn't eat the salmon fillets Mom cooked. I had a feeling Cat Noir wasn't in the mood for anything fish-related, either.
"Is Miss Bustier late or something?" Nino turns around and smiles. "It's been ten minutes, and I've never seen her show up later than five minutes." He looks at Alya, who furrows her brow at the screen. "Oh come on Alya, get your face out of that blog for once and talk to us." He chuckles.
Alya scowls, but she complies. Shoving the phone down her pocket, she smirks at Nino.
"Are you telling me that maybe Miss Bustier got possessed by an akuma?" she asks lightly. Nino groans, and Alya and I both laugh.
"What did I miss?" Adrien takes the seat next to his best friend, and I blush. "Um, you, uh, I, eh, we were…" I stutter. I'm hopeless. I always get tongue-tied in front of him. Alya laughs, and saves me. "Have you seen Miss Bustier? She's always telling us to come on time, but it's been 15 minutes and I'm bored!" "I know Ladybug would get you out of boredom," Nino mutters. Alya punches his arm, and he pretends to be hurt.
Before Adrien can respond, our French teacher walks in. "I'm so sorry class for the delay," she says. Miss Bustier moves to the chalkboard "Open to yesterday's assignment. While you do, I would like to introduce you guys to a new member of our class." She glances at the doorway. "Don't be shy. None of us are going to bite."
Our petite, but gorgeous new classmate slowly walks into the room. Her long blond hair is loose in a fish tail braid, and her ocean blue eyes dart around the room. She's wearing a snug jean jacket with a white shirt underneath, and an emerald tote bag. Tight black leggings and bright red sneakers shake as she gulps. Miss Bustier smiles gently. "Introduce yourself, chérie."
"Hi," she starts. "My name is Florence Agr- uh, Argenté. Yeah. My name's Florence Argenté and it's nice to meet you!" She smiles uncomfortably, and I sympathize with her. No one wants to get so much attention on their first day at school.
"Now I want all of you to be nice to Florence, okay?" instructs our teacher. "Florence, for now, you can go sit beside Marinette. She's the president for our class. Marinette, please wave your hand so she can find you." At first, I see pure terror flashing from her eyes when she sees me. Then see grins, and joins me and Alya. "Chloe, please hand out these papers for today's lesson while I go to finalize some work for Florence." As Chloe rolls her eyes, Miss Bustier walks out of the room.
Chloe makes Sabrina hand out the papers for her. Figures she would do that. She instantly marches towards my area, a cruel smirk plastered on her face.
"What are you trying to pull, newbie?" she singsongs. "Oh please, jean jackets are soooo last year. And what's this? Trying to cosplay as Elsa? Darling, that braid looks better on a disfigured Barbie doll than your unwelcome face." The queen bee cackles. Everyone except Sabrina and Florence surprisingly, glare at her. Chloe ignores us, and then puts her face right in her face. "Listen. There can only be one top blonde in the school. Besides my sweet heart Adrien here, I am. Do you understand?"
I don't know why, but my blood is boiling. That bit with Adrien doesn't help, either. I'm so tempted to whack my purse at Chloe, but I decide against it. I have to stay civil. Before I can defend her, Florence looks up at the mayor's daughter. She keeps a straight face, but I swear she has this look of amusement in her eyes.
"Are you finally done?" she asks in a flat tone. I gasp. So does Alya. Chloe immediately goes red in the face. "Why you, little…" she starts.
"Chloe, just go hand out the rest of the papers with Sabrina," I say. I'm trying to keep neutral ground, but I can't stop glaring daggers at her. "Stop harassing Florence." I steal a quick look at my new partner, who only blushes.
The superficial blonde sniffs. "Cute. Seriously Marinette, just because you're the prez doesn't mean you're the boss. I should have you and this girl out of my school…"
"That's enough Chloe. Leave them alone."
To my surprise, Adrien stares angrily at her. Nino looks astonished, and my mouth hangs open. Even Chloe is taken aback.
Luckily, Miss Bustier strolls back into the class, and Chloe stomps back to her seat. Sabrina gives us each a sheet. I inwardly groan. "Not another essay," mutters Alya. As I write my name, a note is thrown onto my lap.
It says, "Thank you."
Florence, though a bit red, smiles gratefully. For some reason, her radiant face makes me smile back, forgetting all the hurtful words Chloe made. I think I just made a new friend.
"Add a drop of hydro chloride acid."
Adrien, Nino, Alya, Florence and I are group members for this science experiment. Originally, it was only the four of us, but Florence needed to join one, so I offered a place for her. Again, she had paled and red tinges appeared on her cheeks. I guess the girl was still nervous. Ms. Mendeleiev got Florence a lab coat, and we filled her in on what we needed to do.
We were about to add the distilled water, when someone shrieked.
"My Gucci pants!" wailed Chloe. I didn't like Chloe, but if any of the acidic liquids spilled on her…even I didn't wish that kind of pain on her.
"I'm so sorry Chloe, it was an accident!" Max tries to help wipe the green stains off, but Chloe pushes him. He lands on the floor, and his glasses fall off. A piece of a broken glass cuts his arm. He lets out a hiss.
"Freak," Chloe growls. "You were blabbing about being some genius, and look what happened!" "Chloe you were applying nail polish during the whole thing!" yells Kim. "And your arm knocked over the beaker Max was adding the green food colouring to!" adds Rose. The other kids in their group nod. Chloe rolls her eyes. "Freak," she repeats, spitting the stinging word in Max's face. "You may have these friends," she says as gestures to Kim and the others, "but you'll always be the only single tech geek around here." With Max's upset reaction, Chloe trots out of the room. Sabrina offers a hand to him, a look of sadness in her eyes. Max scoffs and looks away, and gets himself up. He runs out of the science lab, gritting his teeth. Sabrina casts her eyes down.
"That Chloe character…" I hear Florence mumble to herself. She mutters a few other things, but I can't make out what she says.
We continue the science experiment until the bell rings. I can't help but feel bad for Max. As I go help clean the supplies, Sabrina joins me at the sink. Her eyes are red. I want to ask something, but I'm distracted when a futuristically dressed warrior crashes into the room. A dark green butterfly is marked on his face.
Oh no. Not right now.
"I am the Duplicator, and all of you are going to be part of my virtual reality game!" He presses a button on his chest, and to my shock, two more of him duplicate beside him.
Chaos breaks out in the science classroom, and everyone tries to escape from him…or them. The Duplicator catches Juleka, and zaps her. To my horror, she gets entrapped into the Duplicator's watch.
Wait that watch...
"Max! You got to stop!" Sabrina is shouting at him. I notice she has his glasses tucked in her pocket. Max's face contorts in anger.
"I'm not Max, I'm the Duplicator!" he screams back, much to her despair. "Why stand up for me now? You always hid behind the shadow of the queen bee. I don't need you. I don't need any of you. None of you need me for real. You only do it out of pity."
He lunges at Sabrina, but Cat Noir grabs her out of the way.
Ladybug needs to make her appearance.
Without anyone noticing, I run from the lab, and out of the school. I hop into a nearby bush.
"Tikki, it's time to transform."
We're not okay.
I've managed to locate the original Duplicator, but dozens of his copies swarm around us. He's got most of our friends trapped into his watch. For a moment, I can't help but think somewhere in there Florence is having a freak out for her first day.
Cat Noir is loosing his power, and while I've activated Lucky Charm, I have to get all the Duplicators out of the way. My partner is going to reverse back, but I got to stop the akumatized villain with his help. I clench the glue bottle. I have to jam the button on his chest.
"Don't give up!"
A flash of gold descends from the sky, and the stranger stumbles upon landing.
Standing before me is a golden girl who shines brightly in her suit. Instead of admiring her costume, I shoot a concerned look at her.
"You need to get away from here," I tell her. She shakes her head, and she mutters to herself. She spins her weapon, which is…a flute?!
She goes to the army of Duplicators and whacks a bunch of them. Seven of them fall down, disappear, and then seven people emerge from the main one's watch. There is no dent on her flute.
Oh, that's his weakness.
The Duplicator is enraged. "Who are you?!" he screeches. She whacks his head in response. Unlike with his counterparts, he doesn't dematerialize.
"I'm a heroine," she states simply, and runs.
She trips over Alya.
My best friend is lying on the concrete, recording the whole battle. Our new ally lands on our blogger's butt, causing them both to squawk in surprise.
I wince. This is her first battle, isn't it?
"I'll take care of the rest," I say and I make my move.
Duplicator makes more copies of himself, and I find myself having to dodge more.
"Electric Revival!"
I steal a quick glance behind me, and I see her grab Cat Noir's arm. A wicked grin spreads on his face, and he twirls his staff. "Thanks, my petite étoile." He comes to join me, and together, we defeat all the duplicates.
After jamming the button, I take off his watch and break it.
"Come out you vile akuma." I entrap the butterfly and spin around the yo-yo. "Time to cure the evil!"
I grab my yo-yo, and release the butterfly. Tossing the glue bottle to the sky, I yell, "Miraculous Powers of Cure!"
The stream of red flows throughout the city, repairing everything we damaged. It lastly comes to the Duplicator, and Max stares up, looking confused.
"Where am I?" he asks groggily. Sabrina timidly goes in front of him, and places his contacts back onto his face. Then she hugs him. "With friends," she replies.
I high five Cat Noir, and I see our newest ally struggling to get herself up.
"Thanks for the help," I say to her. She's about to say something when Cat grabs her hand and kisses it.
She screams in terror.
"Huh?" Cat Noir asks obviously confused.
"I, uh, think I got to leave now, ha ha ha," she nervously mumbles.
"What, cat got your tongue?" My partner tries to relieve her tension. Instead, her face gets rosier and she switches glances between the both of us.
"I have to go, my power is running out because of the, you, know, final move thingy." Lifting her arm, I see her bracelet. The feather decorated on it is disappearing. She looks relieved to have an excuse.
"Wait my étoile," begs Cat Noir, and I groan. "What's your name? We got to call you something…unless you don't mind your nickname." A seductive smirk sets up on his face, and I smack it off.
"Don't scare her away!" I hiss. The golden girl, who I know for sure, is the miraculous holder Tikki had detected last week, frowns in thought. She's still blushing, but she finds a resolution.
As she ascends to the skies, much to our surprise, she plays a few notes from her flute. I instantly feel my wounds heal, and I notice Cat Noir relaxing.
"I am Melodie."
And with that, she flies away at the speed of light.
For those of you waiting for the HFJ update, I am so sorry.
I have sold my soul to this fandom ever since joining it last week.
Are any of the characters OOC?
If you like the story or want to comment, please review if you have the time. I would like to know how you guys think.
Thanks for reading!
~Kurama Kaitou