Bloom winces in sympathy as Mrs. Mendeleiev, the science teacher for their grade, zeros in on Nathan as he's drawing instead of taking notes - wonderful, really. Of all the classes for the artistically-inclined boy to go into the zone in...he had to pick the single strictest teacher in their year.
She can already hear Chloe's latest taunts even as the severe woman stalks over to her latest victim. Really, does she have to be such a brat all the time? She would've thought by the fifth or sixth Akuma that targeted her specifically, Chloe would've taken a hint. But, no, this is probably going to be the twentieth Akuma or so - that they know of - that Chloe's directly caused.
And then he gets sent to the principal's office, but trips on a bag halfway down the aisle and drops his notebook. True to form, Chloe snatches up the notebook and starts loudly mocking him. "Ooh, look, Sabrina! Its him, as a superhero. And look who he's saving, its Bloom Peters!"
Bloom snaps her head over at once, even as Nathan blushes as bright as his own orange hair and snatches the book back. Accidentally leaving one page behind, but he doesn't seem to notice as he heads out the door. Chloe does, though, snatching it up and putting it in her purse for later.
Bloom sighs inaudibly, pinching the bridge of her nose as she does - Chloe is the most immature, selfish, spoiled…actually, she can't even come up with an accurate description for the brat. She's got the worst attitude in all of Paris, has no concept of the consequences of her actions - on a daily basis, to! - and likes to grind everyone around her into the dust.
And then, Mrs. Mendeleiev announces the Particle Physics project groups, and that Bloom got paired with Nino and Adrien while Marinette with Chloe and Sabrina. Marinette groans, and Bloom reluctantly says "Alright, Mari. Just don't blow this with your usual stammer, got it?" You'd better be grateful, Mari. I'm not putting up with miss spoiled brat for hours on end for you to stammer, blush, and not get two coherent words out.
To Marinette's utter shock, Bloom asks the strict teacher to switch teams with her. Placing Marinette with Adrien and herself with Chloe, the girl she can't stand. "Bloom, you're the best!" Adrien and Nino glance backwards at the sudden thud that sounds behind them, and see Bloom pulling Marinette and herself to their feet. Apparently, Marinette just tackled Bloom.
In the locker room, Bloom walks in to hear Chloe say she can't do the project, and Sabrina just going along with it. "So, what's the problem, ladies?"
Chloe scoffs, and says "It's fine, Bloom."
Bloom crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow, asking "Then, you can help with the project if everything's fine."
Sabrina quickly says "It's fine, Bloom. You and I can do the research and writing, and Chloe will present it. That way, everything's equal."
Bloom pinches the bridge of her nose, praying for some patience to deal with these two for an extended amount of time, and says "That's not equal, Sabrina. That's called being Chloe's slave. Is this seriously how you two work all the time?" She'd had that idea, after the past few months, but hearing it confirmed wasn't something she desperately wanted.
Sabrina nods happily, saying "We've been doing this ever since grade school when I started doing Chloe's homework. We've been BFF's ever since!"
Bloom stares at Sabrina in silent shock, she really believes that. Even the ghost-thing above her head says as much. Gods, this girl needs some self-worth…
Chloe snidely asks "You got a problem with that? C'mon, Sabrina!"
Bloom flatly says "Actually, I do. You're just taking advantage of Sabrina, have been for years now. You treat her like she's your personal slave, never asking what she wants to do or if you can do anything for her."
Chloe scoffs, pulling Sabrina to the side and saying "Not only am I Sabrina's best friend, I'm her only friend. So she'd better do what I say."
Bloom shakes her head, entirely done with Chloe's attitude, and says "I'd rather have no friends than friends like you, Bourgeois. Real friends care about each other, you only give a damn about yourself."
Chloe leaves to get her hair done, and Bloom makes a sound of disgust before heading over to her own locker and getting the few things she keeps in there - mostly, her own sketchbook, charcoal sticks, and a bag of snacks for herself and Longg. She waves to Marinette, who's looking like she's got stars in her eyes already, only to get jumped from behind by a familiar person.
Marinette glances over when she sees Bloom out of the corner of her eye, and waves hello - she's so got to make this up to Bloom, she's the BEST! - when she sees Sabrina running towards her. "Bloom!" And then the shy girl hugs Bloom, saying "I can't believe you stood up to Chloe like that, it was so amazing!"
Bloom just shrugs, looking mildly uncomfortable with Sabrina's obvious hero-worship, and says "It was nothing, really."
Sabrina squeals, actually squeals, and says "I'm so super excited to have a new best friend, one who'll actually help with the project! We're going to have the absolute best time together! Then, we'll do the presentation, and tell Mrs. Mendeleiev the truth about Chloe. Sound good?"
Bloom nods, and says "One step at a time. First, lets just head to the library and start researching. We can do everything else when it comes." Another squeal out of Sabrina, and she's off to the library before anyone can even blink.
Adrien startles Marinette out of her shock, saying "Wow, looks like Bloom's got a worshipper."
"And they haven't even been in a group for five minutes." Three and a half, actually.
At the library, Adrien's looking for a Particle Physics book when he hears Chloe incredulously asking "What do you mean your not doing my assignment?!" When he glances over, Bloom's sitting between Sabrina and Chloe…and looking supremely irritated.
Sabrina glares at Chloe, saying "Bloom's right, Chloe, I'm not your slave!"
Chloe smirks, and says "But Bloom didn't buy a super-cute Beret at Gabriel's, and I did. Maybe I could lend it to you."
Bloom pinches the bridge of her nose, and Adrien figures she's about at the end of her patience right now. Because she snaps "Enough." Adrien can only wince at that, that's a lesser version of the same tone his sister uses on Akumas right before she goes off on them. It usually means the Akuma had better get running...in this case, he's positive CHloe should just be quiet and get to work if she doesn't want Bloom to rip her to shreds with nothing but words.
Both Chloe and Sabrina stare at her in alarm - and not without good reason, in Adrien's opinion - and Bloom says "Chloe, if you want to be part of the grade for this project, then your going to help with this project. End of story. So, either help get books to use as research material or get a zero for the project."
Sabrina cheerfully asks "What books do you need me to get, Bloom?" She's so glad she's got Bloom on her side! Seems her protection extends to anyone not on Chloe's side, instead of just Marinette.
Bloom rubs her temples, then says "Anything you can find on Particle Physics. I'll stake out a computer, you just bring any books you can find. I'll have the research part done soon enough if there are no interruptions." Sabrina nods and darts off, and Adrien can only shake his head - Bloom's apparently working some real magic…no, its not possible, right?
His super-sis' magic is always based on fire, explosions, jets of flames from her hands, and telekinesis mostly. Dragon Fyre doesn't have the ability to give people confidence…that he knows of, anyway.
Maybe…its just Bloom.
When he glances back, Bloom's already at a computer typing away and Sabrina's darting away for another book. And then she quickly flips through a book, and…are words just appearing on the word document she's using? Deciding his head is starting to hurt too much from the potential revelation of his super-sister, he heads back to Marinette and Nino, who're reading a Physics book and hunched over a computer respectively.
Marinette groans, muttering "I hate Physics…"
Adrien chuckles, and says "I think Chloe's hating it more. Bloom's actually making her help or risk getting a zero for the project."
Marinette glares at the book, then mutters "Good for Bloom, serves Chloe right." Make the blonde brat actually have to work for something instead of having it handed to her on a silver platter for once in her life.
Adrien frowns at Marinette, but Nino just shakes his head at him and motions over towards the computer. Then types out 'Chloe has Sabrina do everything for her. Always has. Expects everyone to bend over backwards for her, and she picks on Mari here the most.' He then quickly deletes the sentence from the research he's gathering.
Adrien just nods - he knows Chloe seems to take an almost sadistic pleasure in making Marinette's life miserable in school, though Bloom's presence beside her apparently mostly stopped that for the time being, but still…she was all he had for so long. He knows he can't keep using that excuse forever, that sooner or later things will come to a head and force him to decide whether or not he can be friends with her, but still…
When he glances back at Bloom, hoping his possible-sister's presence might help him even a little, her turned back doesn't give him much inspiration.
Deciding the best thing for now would be to focus on the project, he cracks one of the books and heads to a useful section. And then he hears Chloe screaming, and Bloom yelling "Get down, Sabrina!"
AN: Hey, everyone! I know, I left it on a cliff-hanger, how could I? And with a short chapter, to...honestly, there was so much in this episode that I wanted to do that I split it up into multiple chapters, sorry! Anyway...yeah, I see Nathan as having a crush on Bloom - they're a lot alike, both like to draw for instance. It's not who I see her ending up with permanently - if at all - but he wouldn't take no for an answer for now.
Anyway, enjoy! More chapters coming soon!