Ridiculous
Chloe had many reasons to look forward to the school holidays. First of all, ever since their wedding anniversary, her parents were annoyingly close and happy with each other. Her mother was actually nice to her father, they exchanged smiles and gentle words, it was just a matter of time before Audrey and Andre started to invent different cute nicknames for each other. For Chloe, it was just unbearable. Don't get her wrong, she loved her parents, but they had their own way of showing affection, not this … straight of a romantic comedy kind of behaviour. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
The tall blonde girl invested time and effort to present herself as a proper heiress to the legacy of both her mother and her father. She took the effort since the early age to impersonate her mother in her moves, manners, appearance and style. Her mother always treated everyone as her inferior, Chloe was treated that way her whole life by the mother that she loved, so Chloe treated everyone that way. She was a daughter of a fashion icon and a long term mayor of Paris. Of course everyone was her inferior. Who was to think otherwise? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
She was a clever girl, of course she was, have you ever expected anything else? But her parents insisted she went to a public school. The reasons were something in the line that the public image of her father as the mayor of Paris would be damaged if he did not send his daughter to a public school. Like, if they sent her to a private school or paid tutors at home, then the trust of the citizens of Paris in the public education system would be lower and he would loose votes or something. Don't take her wrong, she totally understood the reasoning form her early age. But have you seen those kids with whom she had to go to class with? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
Going to school was just something she had to do. Students were expected to take notes. She was not taking notes. Have you ever saw her father or her mother taking notes? No! Of course not! They had people who took notes for them. So did she. Of course, she got other assignments, there was homework and projects to do. She noticed her parents never stopped working, but it was not as if they were actually sitting down in some office and spent hours working on a task. No. She knew how the world worked. She knew how the things were done. You just dump the task to any of your inferiors. There were people who were supposed to do a task for you. This is why she had them in her lives. Why else would she have them? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
There was Adrien, he was cute, he was nice to her, and he lived in a mansion, the Agreste mansion. He had an imposing father, even more imposing than her own father, Gabriel Agreste was a designer and a business man, her mother thought highly of him, that meant she tolerated his work and from time to time found several items acceptable. The boy also had a famous and beautiful mother. She was a model and an actress. Her face and her figure adorned the cover pages of selected magazines. They lived a life of secluded luxury. Gabriel never appeared in public in person. Emilie did the modelling and did the shows, she was the face of the company, it was Emilie who spent endless hours on public fashion events with Audrey. Adrien was thrilled to spend time with Chloe. (Of course he was, the poor boy was lonely). So they both wandered in the back stage, they played, well she walked around and commanded, he followed her around like a puppy and obeyed (like a real puppy never would).
Adrien wanted to go to a school just like she did. Of course he wanted to go to school, it was because she was there. What other possible reason could the boy have had to go to school? It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
The first days of school were a nightmare for Chloe. Marinette gave her hard time, as per usual (with pure breathing in the same room let's say) and there was that new girl too (Alya). Then Adrien did not arrive when she expected him to. And then there was that awful akuma, Ivan got himself into. But there was Ladybug, strong and fierce and beautiful. She had power. A girl with real magical powers. Ladybug caught her, Ladybug saved her life, Ladybug faced that low life Hawk Moth and showed him where he belonged. That was when Chloe knew, Ladybug was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
So Chloe never refrained from being a bully. It was not as if she was doing it on purpose. The opportunity would easily present itself. And if an akuma went after her, well then there was Ladybug to save her. That was just fantastic. But Ladybug had that low life for a side kick. Chat Noir had no class, had no style, he was not like Chloe. She would have been a much better choice. Chloe liked to invent stories how Ladybug and her were on good terms because Ladybug had, in fact, saved her life more times than anyone else's, probably.
But, a new girl arrived to the class. She claimed to be a friend with Ladybug. She captured Adrien's attention. She was not such a low life like Marinette to actually follow her and Adrien around, nah, Adrien was hers and Chloe was there to claim him whenever she thought fit, besides, she had Sabrina to do the dirty work for her. But the new girl got akumatized and could create illusions, she disappeared as quickly as she appeared.
Then there was that new fox hero. Alya was singing praises about her. Chloe wanted to bite her head off. But her life changed again, soon, when she stumbled upon the bee miraculous. The power of subordination was so fitting for her. It was made for her to find it, of course. She just had to show it to her mother (and the world) that there was something special about her. Because everything was just too much to bear and stay silent about the miraculous she just got. She got her miraculous back to fight her own akumatized father, and then again on the Hero's Day. The girl finally had something she actually wanted to do in her life.
That Lila girl was back. Chloe knew that her own claims of friendship with Ladybug were not real. But this new girl repeated time and time again of her connection with Ladybug. They were friends. Alya fawned over her. The only person who had issues with that was Marinette. But the pigtailed girl obviously had her hair that way because she was even more desperate to impersonate Ladybug than Chloe in her cosplays. The heiress was observant when she wanted to be, although she took effort not to appear so, and she made the connection. Lila had a power of illusion as an akuma. The new hero had the power of illusion. And Lila was Ladybug's best friend. Chloe would never understand why on earth would have Ladybug picked Lila for her best friend over Chloe. That was simply hard to accept. And she also got that photo where Lila kissed Adrien.
Then Ladybug stopped coming for her. She kept taking other superheroes, not her. Chloe paid attention, she knew how many times Rena Rouge was called, and Queen Bee? Practically zero. She did come for her that day when Sabrina got akumatized into Miraculer. And Chloe did her best, she really did, she almost snatched the brooch off from Mayura. That was the closest that any of the heroes got to stealing a miraculous from a villain.
But Ladybug was not coming back with the comb. She did not even send that side kick of hers.
Then her own parents got akumatized, together, both of them. She wanted to be the one to save them, she wanted the wield the bee miraculous again, she wanted Pollen, she wanted power and she wanted the company of her powerful friends.
But then he appeared and held out a miraculous to her. Of course she wanted it, but not from him. She wanted it badly, but this was not the way. She wanted it so much, but it was clear, Ladybug did not have the bee miraculous to give it to her any more. If she ever wanted to wield the bee miraculous again, she had to take it from Hawk Moth and accept his conditions. She allowed herself to be akumatized while transformed. The rest was history. Ladybug won again and Chloe had to say goodbye to become Queen Bee ever again.
So the heiress was truly looking forward to the school break. Chloe's holidays started early, she left to New York together with her mother, of course she did. It was a relief to see that her mother still treated her employees the same way she always did. She fired a person per day, on average. At least. And there was fashion, haute coutre, high end, expensive fashion. (I do not have a clue about fashion). And her classmates were enjoying family reunions, trips to relatives in the country and few of them even stayed in Paris. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
Chloe bragged to Adrien and whined how much she missed him in her messages. She would get a polite reply here and there. She expected more, but settled to accept what she got. It was him who was missing out. All locked up in that huge mansion of his father. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.
She missed the live stream of the final battle. It was only to be expected. That was just too early for her to watch. But she heard about it in the morning. Her mother fired her personal assistant for not waking her up to see the history unfold live. Because Hawk Moth was none other that that the famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste and was beaten by none other than his own son, the famous model, Adrien Agreste. That was an event that a fashion icon like Audrey had to be up to date with.
Then Audrey reinstated the same assistant because she needed someone to find the video of the battle and play it for her and her daughter.
Chloe recognized Adrien, but it was hard to believe that that wild, sunburned and poorly dressed creature was actually her model extraordinaire childhood friend. Then her mother claimed that the girl looked familiar. There she was, her arch nemesis, Marinette Dupain Cheng, dressed equally stupidly with visible injuries and dirt over her face. And that good for nothing girl snatched the brooch off from Mayura with her bare hands and revealed Nathalie as the person behind the second villain. Chloe was devastated. Marinette did with her bare hands what Chloe did not do with her magical suit on.
The heiress saw the video countless number of times. Each time she saw something new. The questions kept piling up. Why she did not know that Adrien was in China? Why was he there with Marinette Dupain Cheng of all people?
She watched the way Adrien moved, she watched the expressions on his face. Each of them was new and something she never saw on her always polite and picture perfect childhood friend.
It was clear the boy was in love with the girl in the video as much as she loved him back.
It was clear to Chloe that the boy had changed as a person, completely, or she never knew him at all. She sent about a hundred questions in different messages that day, she did not get a single answer (because it was night in Tibet).
Her father arranged for them to return home early, but they would still be in Paris at least a day after the battle. Apparently getting a seat on a transcontinental flight from New York to Paris was not always trivial.
She could not help but mourn the loss. Her whole family felt injured and lost. The Agreste were their family friends.
Adrien was a son of a villain now. The properties of his father were seized by the city of Paris until the trial. She knew that from her own father. The outcome of the trial was rather obvious. Adrien was an heir to nothing, save the smudged family name. He was still a model (probably) and even more famous than before because of the fight. But he was not her Adrien any more, this boy that fought his own father was definitely not the Adrien she knew.
Sabrina sent her a message. It was probably one more line about what her father was doing in the investigation. It wasn't, it was a warning and a link to a video. Chloe clicked and scoffed almost instantly. They played a sequence of photos of Adrien with Marinette. Did the boy loose all his modelling abilities? Where was the posture? Where was the attitude? She was looking at a grinning blonde boy, he did not look like anything special, he just looked … happy. But then the inter view started.
Chloe was furious. She might have bought it that Adrien sent her photos if there was not for the warning. But she would have dismissed it instantly once she heard the reason. How dare she claim to be Adrien's girlfriend? And to say that Dupain Cheng worked with Hawk Moth? That she was a bully? Yeah, some unknown gossip addict might believe that and then forget it before they even open the next piece of such 'news'. Nobody who ever met Marinette would believe it. The girl missed a gene needed for that. The girl was incompetent to be a bully. Chloe considered herself superior for being able to do that.
She made sure, personally, that the court order to deliver the hardware related to the police investigation was fulfilled (and she only learned about it from Sabrina). She made sure, personally, through her mother's connections that the video is removed from any decent server. Apparently, someone was already representing Adrien legally and asked for the same thing too. Finally, as she was hanging around her father the whole time, there was a request to the city to ensure a learning assistant for Ms Lila Rossi. She made sure, personally, that her father signed the approval.
It took her days, she demanded from Adrien to take a helicopter and a plane to return sooner and answer her questions. She demanded answers. It took her days and one rather condensed message from Adrien to come to terms that she did not loose him, she never had him in the first place.
The meeting on the airport was short, crowded and awkward. The interview on TV was probably even more disgusting than watching her parents being nice to each other. It was not like she expected anything better in the first place. But she saw it and she decided she was above such trivialities, her life was going on, tomorrow there was school again and she was going to face it like the queen she was.