Sitting in the principal's office at Collège Françoise Dupont with her father, she was nervous but hopeful. As the principal was telling them all the necessary information about joining the classes in the middle of the semester, checking the documents they previously filled out, she could hear the students walking and talking outside.
"Now, everything seems to be fine here" the principal said with a smile. "Your teacher should be here any…" he started, but then was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Hah, seems like she's arrived just in time. Come in, Miss Bustier."
As he said that, a tall woman with vermilion hair and green eyes entered the office. She and her father stood up from their seats upon the teacher entering. Closing the door behind, she looked at her and then her father, who was already taking a step toward her with his hand out.
"Good morning, Miss" her father said, excitedly shaking the hand of the surprised teacher.
"Oh, good morning, Mr… umm…" the teacher replied with a baffled smile, making the principal laugh.
"He is Mr. Jules Proulx" the principal said. "And the young girl is your new student, Danielle Proulx. I just finished going through her papers, so she should be ready to go to your next class."
"Good morning, madam," Danielle said with a small wave.
"Good morning, Mr. Proulx, good morning to you too, Danielle" she replied with a warm smile. "My name is Caline Bustier, I'm the teacher responsible for your class, Danielle. I also teach French, poetry, and literature. But you can come to me for help regarding any issues or problems you might have. The same is true for you, Mr. Proulx" she added, looking at him, still smiling. "If you have any questions about anything, feel free to contact me."
"Oh, that's very kind of you. Thank you so much. Everyone in this school is so nice and helpful" Mr. Proulx said with teary eyes. "I'm so happy. This is such a nice place" he continued, tears falling down his face, making the principal and Miss Bustier look at each other with wide eyes.
"Umm… Mr. Proulx…" Miss Bustier started.
"Come on, dad" Danielle said with a kind voice, handing a tissue to her father. "There's no need to get so emotional about it."
"Oh, you're right, sweetie pie" he replied, the tears stopping immediately. "Let's make the best out of this new situation" he said with a determined voice, giving a hug to his daughter, as the bell rang.
"Umm… right, shall we go, Danielle?" Miss Bustier asked, getting an approving nod from Mr. Damocles.
"Yes, thank you. Goodbye Mr. Damocles, bye dad" she said, as they left the principal's office.
On their way to the classroom, Miss Bustier told her some basic things about the school and classes that she already heard from Principal Damocles, but she didn't mind her talking. She seemed like a very nice teacher and she was glad that she would be her teacher. As they arrived at the door of the classroom, she could hear the chatter of her future classmates inside. Stopping in front of the door for a second, Miss Bustier gave her a reassuring smile and shoulder squeeze, as she opened the door and entered the room.
"Good morning everyone" she said, as the students greeted her in return. "Today is a special day, as you're getting a new classmate. Her family just moved to Paris from Marseille" she said, motioning her to enter the classroom.
The students watched as an average height girl with long wavy red hair and dark emerald eyes entered the classroom. She had grey cargo pants, white tank top and black leather coat on.
"Please, everyone, welcome Danielle Proulx. I trust you that all of you are going to be kind to her and help her if she needs any help from you guys" Miss Bustier continued, as Danielle waved and said hi. "There is a seat next to Ivan, you can sit there" she said, motioning to the only available seat next to a bulky guy with strange hair.
"Thank you" she replied, making her way to her seat, hearing the others murmuring as she passed them by.
As she sat down, the boy kindly introduced himself, telling her in a desperate voice that he hopes there will be no surprise tests today, making the new girl smile with relief. He seemed like a nice guy despite the tough and scary looks. The girls sitting in front of her, one with reddish-brown ombre hair and glasses and another one with blackish-blue hair in twin tails also said some kind words to her before the class started.
She was not particularly interested in literature, and seemingly, neither was her seatmate. She tried her best to pay attention but the class seemed to drag on forever. Well, she figured that was not a bad thing, because as soon as the class was over, her classmates would probably want to talk to her and she was really nervous about it. But before long, the bell rang again, and Miss Bustier left for the break. Then the classmates started to swarm her, introducing themselves and talking to her about the classes and teachers.
"Should we introduce ourselves to the new girl?" Sabrina asked Chloé with excitement.
"Me? Introducing myself to the newest loser of the class? Hah, you are being ridiculous" Chloé snapped, then proceeded to talk trash about the new girl's sense of fashion, getting Sabrina's approval at each statement.
Meanwhile, Max was frantically searching on his phone, before suddenly standing up with an excited gasp.
"I knew it" he exclaimed happily, grabbing everyone's attention. "Well, I knew it with 94,67% certainty that your name was familiar. Your father is Dr. Jules Proulx, right. One of the lead engineers who made the production of the Startrain possible. He created a new coating material for the train which was able to withstand even the train driven to outer space."
Every eyes fell on Danielle, who was just staring at the short boy with glasses. She didn't even know his name but here he was telling everyone about his father, something she was hoping to keep a secret, if possible. He seemed very happy about it, so she forced a smile on her face.
"I… uh, well…" she started, fiddling with her puzzle ring.
"What?" Chloé almost screamed, standing up from her seat. "Don't tell me her father is famous, or something."
"That's…" Danielle started replying, but was cut off by an overly excited Max.
"Famous? His novelty in the field of physics, especially in materials science and engineering is unparalleled. He not only created new materials, but wrote 7 science books, 218 scientific articles in peer reviewed journals and held 136 lectures at universities and international conferences all over the world" Max said, almost jumping out of his skin. "He is one of the greatest minds of our time with numerous awards, he even got a Nobel Prize in Physics for his ground-breaking experimental methods that enable the measurement of materials on an atomic level three years ago."
Everybody was blown away by all the information Max just told them about the new classmate. Well, about her father, anyway. Danielle secretly hoped that nobody would realise who her father was. She knew that now everyone will have impossibly high expectations towards her. Expectations she will never meet. Yes, she was interested in science and yes, she was pretty good at it… But she wasn't nearly as smart or talented as her father. Marinette looked at her with a big smile, only to see that she looked like she was feeling very uncomfortable and awkward, keeping her eyes on her desk. Her smile was immediately gone, looking worried at the new girl, then her best friend, Alya, who got the message in a second. Before any of them could say or do anything, Chloé was pushing everyone out of her way as she walked up the stairs to the new girl.
"I sense brewing frustration, sadness and stress. Trying to live up to such high expectations and feeling like failing each time. Ideal prey for my evil akumas. Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her."
"Seriously? Your dad is famous? Aaah, we will totally be BFFs" she said laughing, forcibly sitting down next to Danielle. "You know my father, André Bourgeois, the Mayor? How about my mother? She's Miss Style Queen. The most powerful woman in the world of fashion..."
"I… uhh… Haven't met…" Danielle started to answer, just to be cut off, yet again, by Chloé's forced laugh this time.
"Ahahahh, don't worry, I can easily fix that. They should get to know my new BFF, right, umm… what's your name, again?"
"But Chloé, I thought I was your BFF…" Sabrina said with a sad voice.
"Hah, ridiculous" Chloé replied with a sarcastic laugh. "Utterly ridiculous."
Danielle had no idea what was going on anymore, as she was looking around with a questioning look. She saw some classmates looking at the blond girl next to her with angry faces, some were just rolling their eyes, but she locked eyes with a boy with blond hair and emerald eyes, just like her. He gave her a sympathetic look, to which she could hardly suppress a smile, making the boy laugh.
As the akuma reached the school Hawk Moth could feel all those negative feelings slowly fade.
"What is this?" Hawk Moth asked. "All those emotions are fading… But wait. There is something else. Yes... I feel the anger rising. Humiliating and leaving you behind for a new girl. That is unacceptable."
As the akuma entered Sabrina's headband, with an evil smile, he started talking to her.
"Revenger. I am Hawk Moth. The new girl wants to take your best friend away from you. I am giving you the power to retaliate against anyone who thinks they can stand between you and your friend. In return, you will seize Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses for me."
"You can count on me, Hawk Moth" Sabrina said while her classmates were arguing with Chloé in the background, as she transformed into Reverner.
"Is that normal?" Danielle asked, pointing at Sabrina who was engulfed in a black goo-like substance.
"Oh no, she's been akumatized" one of the girls said with a scared voice as they started scattering and trying to run out of the classroom.
"She's what?" Danielle asked, confused.
"There's no time to explain" the blond boy said, grabbing her hand, as the girl started to turn into a blue-skinned black-haired humanoid form, with some funny clothes on.
"Ughhh, again, Sabrina?" asked Chloé with her hands on her hips.
She didn't hear the rest of the conversation, as she was running down the stairs with the blonde boy and some other classmates, hiding in the locker room.
"What is going on?" Danielle asked in whispers, hoping somebody will fill her in the situation.
In reply, a short, nervous blond girl quickly told her a story about some evil dude who transforms people into supervillains if they have strong negative emotions, and only the superheroes of Paris can save them now and turn the villain back to a normal person. Right now, their classmate, called Sabrina, has been turned into one and they have to wait for Ladybug and Cat Noir to defeat her and save them.
"Oh" Danielle replied, trying to process the information she just heard. "Okay."
"Where is she?" they could hear Sabrina's deepened voice. "Come on, my BFFs, go and find the new girl for me."
Well, crap. As she walked to the door to peek through the small window on it, she could see some of her classmates wearing the same headband that Sabrina girl had on, walking around with glassy eyes, chanting BFF. They were looking for her, and her alone. But she couldn't see the transformed girl anywhere. Taking a short look at the other students behind her, all of them looked worried and scared. The short blond girl she previously talked to was hugging a taller goth girl, while the others were trying to hide, and some boys were looking for things to possibly defend themselves. They were looking for her. She could just lead these brainwashed guys away from here, so that possibly, others wouldn't get hurt. For now, nobody was close to where they were hiding, so if she slipped out right now, she could get their attention when she managed to get further from the locker room. Slowly opening the door, she looked behind her once more, locking eyes with the goth girl.
"Wait" the girl whispered almost inaudibly, to which Danielle only responded by bringing her index finger to her lips before slipping out.
She could see some brainwashed students wandering around the other side of the hall, while the transformed villain was upstairs, complaining, with the blond girl following her every step.
"Where is she?" Revenger screamed. "Are you really my BFFs? You can't even help me find the one I'm looking for."
Keeping her eyes on her and the surrounding students, Danielle slowly crept next to the wall, seeing a big room with an open window at the end of a hallway. She had a plan, now, she just needed their attention. And the nearest trash can was perfect to get it. As she reached said trash can, she kicked it as hard as she could, watching it land a few meters away from her with a big crash, the trash flying everywhere.
"Finally found you. Well, hello there, new girl" Revenger said, jumping through the railings to the ground floor.
"Oh, hello, umm, old… girl" Danielle replied with a questioning voice, mentally facepalming herself for the stupid comment.
"What did you say?" Revenger screamed in anger. "Me? Old?"
"Well, I mean, not old as in old, old. As in you know, I am new here but you've been here for a while, so you're not new" Danielle rambled, taking small steps toward the hallway as she spoke.
"Ughh… You are so annoying" Revenger said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright, my BFFs, I will be dealing with her on my own" she said as a handful of headbands appeared in her hand. "Come here and be my BFF" she screamed, throwing a headband at Danielle ducked to the ground to evade it.
"Yeah, right… About that" Danielle said, slowly getting up from the floor, looking at the now hardened headband stuck in the wall. "I mean, don't you think we're moving a tad bit too fast? I don't even know your name" she added with a fake smile, taking small steps back.
"How dare you" Chloé said, outraged, as she was coming down the stairs. "What do you mean you don't even know her name…"
Taking her chance while Revenger was distracted by Chloé praising her, Danielle sprinted to the window. Realising that her target was nowhere to be seen, Revenger pushed Chloé away and angrily made her way through the hallway. Seeing the big open window with the curtains ripped down, she stepped on the window still, looking around the street below before she was dragged out of the room with a yo-yo wrapped around her ankles. Getting out of her hiding, Danielle could faintly hear Revenger and two other voices, a boy and a girl talking. Should she get outside to see what's happening? Or if she could help with something? At least looking out the window will not hurt anyone.
"Lucky Charm!" she heard the girl's voice shout, which sent a shock through her body, and she felt like her puzzle ring was burning her finger.
"Not yet" Danielle whispered, wrapping her other hand around her ring.
Soon, the fight was over, and everything turned back to normal after what looked like a bunch of ladybugs flew around furniture and people to fix them. The burning sensation of her ring slowly faded but she couldn't shake those feelings off. After that, students slowly got back to their classes, the girl who was turned into a villain apologised to everybody for the inconvenience, and the day continued as if nothing had happened.
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Juleka was sitting in her room, doing her homework while her brother was practicing the guitar. Well, she was trying to do her homework, but she couldn't focus.
"You seem particularly distraught today" Luka said, putting his guitar down. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
"No, nothing really" she said first. "I mean, there's this new girl at school…"
"New girl? In your class?" Luka asked with interest.
"Yeah. She's the daughter of a scientist. Max knows a lot about him" she said, putting her pen down.
With that, Juleka started telling her brother about the events that transpired that day, along with her sneaking out of the locker room to distract the akumatized Sabrina.
"I don't think anyone realised it beside me" she added, finishing.
"Wow, that was very brave of her" Luka added, thinking for a moment. "Did you talk to her?"
"I… uh, no" she replied, fiddling with her fingers. "I think Marinette told her my name after literature class but she probably already forgot it.
"You can never know that" Luka said with a playful chuckle, walking to her sister.
"And after the attack, I think she only talked to Ivan before she went home" Juleka added.
"Maybe you should talk to her tomorrow" Luka suggested, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Me? I don't think I…" but she was quickly silenced by her brother's kind smile and encouraging words.
ˇˇˇˇˇ
"Dinner's ready" Danielle called out for her dad, sitting down at the table.
"It's already dinner time?" she heard her father asking as he entered the kitchen. "And it's… it's my favourite" he added dramatically, tears streaming down his face.
"Alright, dad, it's just food" she laughed. "No need to cry about it."
"How could I not cry when my sweet baby angel just made my favourite food for dinner" he said, wiping his tears away, as he started eating.
"So, how was your day?" she asked as her father put his laptop on the table, working on something.
"Ah, I read this article about the synthesis of construction materials from different industrial wastes, and you won't believe what this guy found out…" her father started explaining enthusiastically.
She listened to him with a small smile, watching him alternately eating a bite, reading something then typing on his laptop. After he was done with his story, the only thing breaking the silence was his fingers tapping on the keyboard.
"On my first day, I managed to get someone to hate me so much that they turned into a supervillain" she said jokingly, feeling her stomach tighten at her own comment, as she was poking some baby carrots with her fork. "I bet not many people can pull that off."
"Hmmm" her father replied, deep in his thoughts just staring at his laptop screen. "Yes, yes. Good job, sweetie pie."
"Dad… Can I eat in my room?" she asked with a sigh, already knowing what the answer would be.
"Hmm, yes, sure, darling" he said, not looking up from typing.
Grabbing her plate, she headed to her room. Closing her door, she hopped on her bed, sighing.
"At least he could've asked how my first day went" Danielle said with a sad voice.
"I can ask you how your day went, Dani" a small voice said, as a kwami flew out of her side pocket.
"Silly" Daniella replied with a smile, caressing the kwami's cheek. "You were there. You had a first-hand experience."
"Hihi, right" the kwami said with a laugh. "Do you think that every day will be this interesting?"
"I hope not" Danielle replied, before offering some food to her companion.
"Dani…" the kwami started with a curious voice. "Do you think that was the Ladybug Miraculous holder fighting?"
"I'm sure of it, Buzzy" Danielle said. "I could feel it."
"Are you going to talk to her someday?" the kwami asked.
"Someday…" Danielle mused. "But I'm not ready for that now. Not yet" she continued with a low voice.
"How about the guardian?" Buzzy asked, settling down on Danielle's shoulder.
"I can't look for the guardian just yet. If a new young Miraculous user suddenly appears when a new girl is transferred, someone might find out that there's a connection" Danielle sighed. "We just have to wait for the right time, Buzz" she said, laying down as she turned on the TV to hopefully see the broadcasting of the news about today's attack.