Adrien crouched and peeked through the crack of the door into the empty classroom. This was the moment of truth.

His choice had been relatively easy, considering his goal. He needed someone Chloe didn't actively antagonize, and someone who was likely to forgive her, but without being so much of a doormat that she'd give in lightly. And he'd admit, he was kind of hoping to set Chloe up for an easy first win. Now it was up to her to…

"What's Rose doing?"

Adrien bit his lip before he screamed and looked at the girl peeking in above him. "Oh, uh… Hey Juleka. What are you doing here?"

The goth raised an eyebrow at him before looking back at the empty room. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you cornering Rose as soon as we were separated?"

Yes, Adrien answered in his head as he looked back in the class, yes I did.

Chloe and Rose looked uncomfortable.

Rose glanced around, "So… uh, Adrien said that he needed me for something."

"Hmm? Oh, he lied," Chloe said.

Adrien's hand met his face. She was meant to try and befriend Rose, not make her want to stop being friends with him.

"Oh? Why would he do that?"

"Because you wouldn't come if I asked you. Or you'd bring your broody girlfriend."

Rose squeaked at Chloe's accusation. Adrien glanced at Juleka who was turning red.

"Well… why did you want to see me?" Rose asked, her voice growing quieter.

"She's losing her," Adrien said.

"Losing what?" Juleka whispered.

"I wanted to…" Chloe hesitated. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I wanted to…" She stopped again.

"Chloe?" Rose asked in concern.

"Give me a second." Chloe snapped before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Adrien could guess what she was thinking by how her face contorted in pain, similar to it had yesterday.

"Chloe, are you-?"

"I'm sorry for making fun of your letter to Prince Ali."

The room went completely silent.

Adrien smiled. He looked up at Juleka whose jaw had dropped.

Rose stared at Chloe.

Chloe stared back.

After a few seconds of staring, Chloe started getting angry. "Uh, whatever," she started walking towards the door.

Just as she passed the small blonde, a hand grabbed her wrist. She looked back. Rose was staring at her. "Do you mean that?"

Chloe was startled by how serious the girl seemed to have gotten. "Uh… yes. I… I'm sorry for it because… that was mean of me. And it probably hurt your feelings. And I didn't care about how you felt when I insulted you and," Chloe's voice began to break, "and you must have felt horrible, but I just did that because I'm… why? Why did I do that? Why couldn't I give you a chance? Why did I do that? Why didn't I think you're good enough?"

Adrien's eyes widened. Chloe clearly wasn't talking about her and Rose anymore.

Chloe stared at the ground as fresh tears fell from her eyes. "Why would I say that to you? Why am I like that? Why don't I think you're good enough? You try so hard. You deserve better than that. Or maybe you don't? Maybe we're both terrible people who don't deserve to have anyone like us."

Rose had no idea what Chloe was talking about, but she knew what she needed. So she pulled the bigger girl down into a hug. "It's okay," She whispered. "It's okay."

Chloe cried, mumbling apologies into the smaller girl's shoulder.

"Hmm…" Juleka said. Then she looked at Adrien. "Should I ask?"

"Please don't." He reflected on the previous day. Chloe's crash course in empathy had been way more effective than he'd expected.

/

"Are you okay?" Sabrina asked.

Chloe nodded mutely. She couldn't believe that she'd started crying. And in front of Rose of all people. How? How was this possible? It was the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her.

She glanced back at the girl in pink who was whispering to her goth girlfriend. Surely she was sharing the details of her embarrassing breakdown. With her luck, everyone would be calling her a crybaby by the end of the day.

Chloe looked back at Miss. Bustier who was going on about… something. There was a surprisingly good drawing of a rose on the board that she was sur connected to the lesson. She remembered what Adrien had said yesterday about complements in his, 'make Chloe less despised' plan. Her words, not his.

"That's a very good drawing," she said.

The class screeched to a halt as everyone turned to look at her. Chloe looked around, heat rushing to her face.

"Well," Miss Bustier said with a small smile. "Why don't you tell Nathanael about the quality of his art after class Miss. Bourgeois."

Chloe glanced at the artist in question who looked away when their eyes met.

As the class got back on track, Chloe sunk into her seat, hoping it would swallow her in the process.

"Are you okay?" Sabrina asked again, puzzled by Chloe's behavior.

"I'm fine," Chloe whispered. "But I feel like going out and doing something after school. Any ideas."

Sabrina stared at Chloe. And stared. And stared.

"Sabrina?" Chloe asked.

"Sorry, you want… my suggestion?"

Now Chloe was annoyed. What was the point of being nice if all her attempts either embarrassed her or led to being asked stupid questions?

"Forget it."

/

"I think today was a success," Adrien said. He and Chloe were sitting on a bench in the courtyard after school to discuss the day's progress.

Chloe glared at him.

"What?"

"It was a disaster. I cried in front of Rose, who if anything should be the one who randomly cries in front of people, I embarrassed myself in class and, as if that wasn't bad enough, when I asked Sabrina what she wanted to do, she just stared at me like an idiot. I thought you said it would be easy."

Adrien simply nodded along to her ranting. I never said that, he thought.

Chloe stopped and looked down. "Maybe I'm not cut out for this."

"You are."

Chloe glared at him.

"Chloe, it's your first day. Just the fact that you were trying is great."

Chloe glared down. "Trying isn't good enough."

"Now that's just wrong."

"What?"

"Getting things wrong on your first try isn't bad as long as you don't let it stop you." He looked off to the side. "Actually, I have an idea."

Chloe blinked in confusion before following his gaze and landing… on Nathanael.

"No."

"Come on."

"I've already embarrassed myself enough today."

"It wasn't that bad Chloe. Go talk to him. Tell him what you really think of his art."

Chloe glared at him. "I said that I don't want to do it!" She yelled.

Adrien blinked at her in shock before sighing, "Sorry," he said. He glanced around. Several people were looking at them.

Chloe looked away from him and glared at the ground. Adrien tentatively put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to him. "It's okay, we shouldn't go too fast if you don't want to."

Chloe simply stared at the ground.

"Plus, you did successfully apologize to Rose."

The rich girl made a grumbling sound.

"And you didn't even make fun of anyone today."

Chloe was silent.

"Chloe?" Adrien asked, not liking the silence.

"I told Dupain-Cheng she had the fashion sense of a walrus while you went to talk to Rose."

Adrien stared ahead of him. "Why?" he asked.

Chloe was silent for a few more seconds. Then she spoke. "What's so great about her? She's not that impressive."

"Are you still upset about what your mom said?"

"How could my mom like her? She met her for a day." I've known her my whole life, went unsaid.

"Marinette's really into fashion," Adrien said.

Chloe moved her face to glare at him.

"Let me finish. She spends most of her time drawing new designs. Her room is full of half-finished clothes. She has a sowing machine."

"How do you know what's in her room?"

"Same way I know what's in yours. Anyway, my point is that Marinette lives and breathes her dream of being a fashion designer. I've honestly been thinking about introducing her to my dad. It makes sense she'd catch the eye of someone in the fashion world eventually. That being said, the problem isn't with Marinette."

"Yeah, it's that my mom doesn't love me."

Adrien hesitated. He really had no idea how to broach that topic. "Marinette being good with fashion impressed your mom. But she hasn't done anything wrong. So, maybe ease up on her.

Before Chloe could answer, an explosion the school shook and both teenagers were thrown to the ground.

They both looked at each other. "Akuma."

/

Is Chloe done crying? Probably not.

So many classmates, so little time. Honestly, I'd say Chloe has done exceptionally well all things considered.

I'm starting to see why the show just had Chloe reconcile with her mom. It's a lot easier than acknowledging and dealing with all the abuse in that relationship, and once you open that can of worms, you can't really close it. I mean, at the end of the day, it's still a kid's show.

Rose and Juleka. Well there's a duo to include huh. But don't worry. Chloe's got a lot of classmates to get through before her boss battle: Being genuinely civil with Marinette. Huh, I wonder what she's doing.

Follow me on twitter at WriterImmigrant.