Here's Chapter 2! I hope you enjoy!
Big shoutout to everyone who reviewed! Thanks so much!
CW: I don't know what might affect someone, so I'm putting this warning here that there's a PTSD flashback/panic attack in this chapter, and mentions of death/blood.
Chapter 2: Three Weeks Later
Three weeks later, and Lacy was about halfway done unpacking.
She had finally gotten around to the box with all her photographs in it, and had pinned them up on the wall across from the window. She had new photos there too - Mylene and Ivan sharing ice cream, Alix winning a skating race, Marinette hard at work on her designs - and her small wall was already covered.
Of course, half of them fell down in the middle of the night, scaring Lacy's heart out of her chest and keeping her from falling back asleep for another two hours.
She was tired the next morning, and late.
"Stayed up late working on the chemistry assignment?" Alix asked.
With Alya back and Mylene sitting with Ivan, Lacy had claimed the seat next to Alix. It was a horrible idea - neither girl could focus, and the unfocused-ness doubled around each other - but somehow they, and Miss Bustier, had survived the arrangement.
"No, my photos fell down and scared me last - wait, what chemistry assignment?"
"The one due tomorrow," Alix replied. "Don't tell me you forgot about it again."
"Ugh. I completely spaced on it," Lacy confirmed. She swore heavily in Greek. "That means I'll have to spend all night tonight working on it."
"And miss our movie night at Marinette's?" Alix questioned. "Can't you finish it at lunch?"
"Maybe? If I try really hard."
Having given their compliments of the morning, Max sat down behind the girls and Sabrina in front. Bustier called the next to names from the basket, and Alix and Mylene stood up.
Lacy sighed and twirled her pencil between her fingers. She had so been looking forward to the movies tonight, but her grade in chemistry was already horrible and her chemistry teacher scared her too much to risk letting it drop. Besides, she wanted to do well in school this year.
The door flew open, and Marinette stumbled in. With a flustered look at Bustier, she took a seat next to Alya, and the girls whispered with each other.
"On the bright side, at least I'm not the last one here," Lacy muttered.
"It's not a surprise," Max contributed. "Both you and Marinette have shown signs of sleep issues."
"I don't have sleep issues," Lacy argued. "Something on my wall fell down and gave me a heart attack."
In the seat in front of Lacy, Chloe scoffed. "Lacy, if you want my opinion-"
"I don't."
"You startle too easily."
"I do not," Lacy argued.
"For once, Chloe has a point," Max stated.
"Of course I - what do you mean, 'for once'?"
Alix and Mylene sat down, and Bustier called for Alya and Lila.
"You did screech pretty loudly when Adrien snuck up on you the other day," Kim added.
"That's not fair," Alix commented. "Adrien startles everyone."
"You should have heard Dupain-Cheng the other day," Chloe added. "I thought someone had been murdered."
"Speaking of the sunshine child," Alix commented. "Look who's even later today."
Adrien had suddenly appeared at his desk, telling Bustier that he was sorry he was late, his father didn't want him going to school with an akuma out.
"There was an akuma?" Lacy asked.
"I didn't hear of one," Alix replied.
"I did," Kim said. "Countryside. He was tired of all the traffic noise so he made the cars disappear."
"I was caught in it," Chloe said. "It was terrible! I thought it was going to ruin my hair!"
"Is there a reason you're in this conversation?" Alix questioned.
Chloe huffed. "I'm just trying to be nice."
"Right," Alix replied.
"Lacy and Chloe," Bustier called.
Lacy obedient stood up and walked to the front. Chloe stood next to her.
Lacy looked over the girl, thinking of something to say. "You like nice for someone who just disappeared."
"Of course I do," Chloe replied. She hesitated for a moment. "I guess your hair looks nice today too."
That was a lie, since Chloe never thought anyone's hair looked nice except her own, and Lacy's was still in the braid she had worn to bed the night before, but Lacy didn't mind. It was way too early in the morning to be picky about things like that.
Lacy slid back in her seat next to Alix.
"And finally, Marinette and Adrien," Bustier called.
"Poor girl," Alix commented. "She's going to melt the second he compliments her."
Adrien gave Marinette his blinding model smile, and she visibly wilted.
"I really love the new Jagged Stone poster you made!" Adrien said.
"She made another one?" Chloe asked. "You'd think Jagged Stone could afford a real artist."
"Makes it that much cooler that he chose Marinette, don't you think?" Alya challenged from across the room.
Marinette cheeks burned red as she stuttered her thanks. She fell quiet for a moment.
"Marinette?" Bustier prompted.
"What? Sorry. I - umm - I really like you - I mean, your, um, hair today! I mean. It's always nice! But it's extra nice today!"
Lacy winced in sympathy, and Alix rolled her eyes.
"Alright class," Bustier said. "Let's get started. Marinette, can you collect last night's homework?"
The first couple classes went by as usual, and then came chemistry.
Lila had some sob story about hurting her wrist that kept her out of the lab, so Nathaniel ended up partnered with Alix and Lacy. It took a total of three seconds for him to become overwhelmed by the two unfocused girls.
"Miss Hatzi," Miss Mendeleev said as she passed by their table. She snatched a beaker from Lacy. "That's not even remotely safe."
"Sorry," Lacy squeaked, intimidated as usual by the teacher.
Mendeleev sighed. "The three of you will be getting an extra homework assignment on lab safety. For now, please be more careful." She placed the beaker back on the table and moved on to helping Sabrina with something.
Lacy released a breath. "Sorry. My last school wasn't big on safety."
Well, that wasn't totally true. Bad safety practices was something Lacy picked up at Camp Half-blood, where nectar and ambrosia fixed most injuries and anything could be repaired by Valdez. Piper had tried to encourage safety practices in her cabin, but it never reached far.
"Don't worry," Alix said. "Mendeleev may be mean, but she catches everything before it happens."
"I appreciate your faith, Ms Kubdel, but I won't always be around to 'catch everything," Mendeleev said.
"She also hears everything," Alix added.
Lacy smiled, and did her best to be more aware as they continued the experiment.
About ten minutes before the period was over, everyone's phones beeped with an akuma alert.
"It's just outside the school," Alya reported. "We're in the evacuation zone."
"Confirmed," Max said. "We should find somewhere away from the streets to hide."
"Good idea," Mendeleev said. "Turn off your burners, put your chemicals back in their akuma-proof containers, and get to the library."
While Alix and Nathaniel replaced the chemicals, Lacy flicked the switch off on their burner. The rest of the class did the same - a process which took less than five seconds.
They were too slow.
Something shrieked. The outside wall began to crumble. Lacy felt herself push Alix and Nathaniel away from the wall.
Lacy slid shoulder-first into the corner of Chloe's desk, and car crashed into right where they had been a second ago.
Lacy's heart rammed in her chest as she stared at the car. It looked like on back in New York, the one where if Mitchell hadn't pulled her out of the way -
Lacy could still hear Amelia's scream, could still see the blood from the two asleep mortals - the two dead mortals - stuck in the front of the car, could feel the roar of the monster who had thrown it, could -
"Lace? Can you take a deep breath?"
Lacy forced her eyes shut. She wasn't there, she wasn't there, she was in Paris, and the car hadn't hit anyone, and she wasn't still in New York with monsters and dead sisters and -
Lacy forced herself to inhale.
"There we go. Inhale, hold, exhale. Inhale, hold, exhale."
Lacy obeyed. In, hold, out. In, hold, out.
"Open your eyes," Alix said.
Lacy opened her eyes. Alix was kneeling next to her, concern in her eyes. Nathaniel was heaving as Ivan and Nino helped him with his leg, which was stuck under the car. Mendeleev and Mylene were on Lacy's other side.
"Okay, five things you can see," Alix said.
"You," Lacy breathed out. "Um, the ceiling. Miss Mendeleev, Mylene, and Nino."
"Good. Four things you can hear?"
Lacy nodded. She was familiar with the technique, now that she could think.
"I can hear Nathaniel talking, um, is that Chat Noir yelping in the distance? Police sirens, and a helicopter?"
"Three things you can touch?"
"The ground," Lacy said. "I can feel the ground, I can feel - ow, my shoulder." The burning sensation has started, or she could finally feel it again, and she was suddenly aware of how close she was to the leg of a desk. She tried to push herself up, but it made the pain worse. "What happened?"
"You collided with a desk," Alix replied. "It was actually pretty cool. You basically tackled us out of the way of the car."
"Almost out of the way," Nathaniel complained.
"Don't worry dude," Nino said. "You'll be out of here in no time. Chat Noir and Ladybug are already at the scene."
"Feeling better, Lace?" Alix asked.
Lacy nodded. "Yeah, a little."
"Good," Alix said. She sat down next to Lacy and crossed her legs. "Anyways, did I tell about my new art project?"
By the end of the school day, the tightness in Lacy's chest had finally gone away, but she still felt drained from the akuma attack.
It was way too easily for Alix to sway her to go with to the movies with the girls instead of doing homework. Since the movie started later, the girls (minus Lila, who was busy with a "charity event", and Chloe and Sabrina, of course) all met up in Marinette's place after school.
While Marinette, Alya, Rose, and Mylene talked romance up in Marinette's room, Alix, Lacy, and Juleka took advantage of the large number of sweets in her kitchen.
"I wish my dad baked like this," Alix said, munching on a macaroon Marinette's dad had given them.
"If he's willing to learn, I could always teach him," Mr. Dupain offered.
Alix shook her head. "Maybe someday, but right now he's busy with that new baroque exhibit the louvre is putting in."
"Hey girls," Alya called, stepping down the stairs. "Marinette said she had some new creations for you."
"Ugh, great," Alix said. "More clothes."
"Oh shush," Lacy replied. "We all love Marinette's designs and so do you."
The three girls followed Alya back up to Marinette's room, where a pile of clothes covered her chaise.
Marinette was helping Mylene into a new sundress, but she smiled at the girls as they entered.
Alix sat down on her desk, pushing papers out of her way as she did so. "So what'd you have for us?"
"Just give me a minute." Marinette finished fixing Mylene's sundress and walked to her chaise. She pulled out a skating helmet, with a jagged green and pink design.
"Cool," Alix said. Marinette handed her the helmet, and she tried it on.
Alix gave Marinette a bright smile. "This fits so much better too! I'll wear it for my competition next week for sure!"
"I'm so glad you like it," Marinette said. "I had the idea while watching you race with Kim the other week."
"You mean watching me beat Kim in a race," Alix corrected.
The girls all chuckled.
"Oh did you hear about Lila winning that competition in Venice?" Alya asked.
And Marinette's face dropped instantly.
"The one with the big clean water charity?" Rose asked. "Designing those awareness posters?"
Lacy rolled her eyes immediately, and then regretted it when Alya raised an eyebrow at her.
"I just," Lacy started. "Making paper posters for environmental awareness doesn't make any sense." And she definitely had heard enough about that. Environmentalist came by the handful at Camp Half-blood.
"Weren't you listening girl?" Alya asked.
"Um, no actually?" Lacy replied. "I was distracted from the akuma attack earlier."
"Oh, right," Alya continued. "Rose brought up similar concerns too. But Lila said that she managed to convince the manager of the contest that it should all be paper-free! The posters were for online uses only."
"Of course she did," Marinette muttered.
"Girl, you're impossible," Alya replied.
"If it's online, did she show it to you?" Marinette challenged.
"She said she would," Alya replied. "She just didn't have the file with her."
"But wouldn't she be able to look it up?" Marinette questioned.
"Marinette, please, there's no needed be jealous," Alya replied. She leaned in closer to Marinette. "Adrien wasn't listening either."
Marinette rolled her eyes.
"Who cares?" Alix asked. "Marinette and Nathaniel have both done cooler things with their art. Anyways, if we want to make the metro, we should be heading out now."
The girls all nodded and began gathering their items. Alya and Mylene continued talking about Lila's achievements, and Rose and Juleka talked about how excited they were about the movie. Alix gave Marinette another thank you for the helmet before walking up next to Lacy.
"Did I ever tell you about the time Juleka-"
Lacy kept her eyes on Marinette as she cleaned up her chaise. Something was definitely wrong, but she barely knew the girl. How could she help?
She almost kept going, but something stopped her. Maybe all Marinette needed was someone staying behind, even if she wasn't close with Lacy yet. After all, what was wrong with trying?
"Why don't you go on?" Lacy asked. "I'll meet you down there."
"If you say so," Alix said.
She followed the rest of the girls down, and Lacy turned to Marinette.
"You alright?" Lacy asked, sitting on the armrest of the chaise.
Marinette gave Lacy a fake smile. "I should be asking you that. Sounds like the akuma really scared you."
"Yeah, I - Alix was able to talk me through it. I guess those akuma survival classes have been making a change." Lacy frowned. "You just avoided the question, didn't you?"
"I'm fine, really," Marinette lied.
"If you don't want to talk about it, I won't push it," Lacy said. "But I can tell something's bothering you."
Marinette sighed and sat on the chaise. Lacy moved so she was sitting next to her.
"It's Lila," Marinette said. "I know you probably think she's some great person."
Lacy shook her head. "Lila? No. She lies like she breathes."
Marinette looked up at her. "You know?" There was an accusation hidden in her eyes, and Lacy had to look away.
"I'm, uh, really good at reading facial expressions," Lacy admitted.
"Then why haven't you said anything?" Marinette questioned.
"Because..." Lacy sighed and looked down at her hands. "Well, she scares me. Back at my old school in Brooklyn, there was this girl a lot like her, who used to bully me, and I don't know I guess since Lila reminds me so much of her I just... get scared. I don't want to have to deal with that again."
Marinette's facial expressions softened. "I know bullies like Lila can be scary. I have my own history with them, even before Lila showed up. People always tell you that you're the bigger person, that people like that shouldn't bother you, but-"
Lacy nodded, remembering something her father once told her. "You can't just flip a switch on what's bothering you and what's not."
"Exactly," Marinette said. "She hasn't done much to ostracize me yet, but just hearing all her lies, and seeing her use everyone, just-" Marinette groaned and stood up. "I can't just sit back."
"Well then, you're a lot braver than me," Lacy replied.
Marinette smiled at her. "Don't sell yourself short. You never know how brave you can be if you don't give yourself a chance."
"You'd make a great inspirational speaker, you know," Lacy commented. "Marinette, just so you know - I may not be vocal in class or around others but, if you need support, just let me know. I've been told I'm a good listener."
"Thanks Lacy," Marinette replied. "I might just have to take you up on that."
The trapdoor opened, and Alix's head popped up. "Are you two coming? We're going to be late!"
This was my first time writing a flashback like this, so I hope I did it justice. I've had panic attacks before, so that experience was what I drew on.
