(A/N: Hey guys, sorry I know it's been a while… hehe anyways ummm so like hows life everyone! I am in a relationship, yay me!!! So yeah, I'm sure none of you want to hear me rant about how life has been, sooooo on with the story!!)

"When I'm holding myself together, it's because I'm trying to find the strength to love myself."

Me to my girlfriend

Marinette woke up with a start, she was panting and crying. That dream… again. Ever since that night, I have the dreams. It reminds me of how much my parents didn't really care about me. I love my mom, she officially adopted me when I was 10. I was so happy! I kept my last name tho, as a reminder of who I am. It's hard without my real parents but from what I remember they weren't real parents. Today is my birthday, I'm 16. Today just so happens to be the first day of school. I promised mom I would try again when I was 16. Gosh, its so scary. When I was 10 I started school again, but it didn't really work out. I got made fun of and bullied on the first day, I didn't go back. I did homeschooling. Mom thinks it will be good for me, she even said if I needed I can come to her for anything. With my mom working at the school, I have to be there when she gets there, (but she let me go after her so I could get more sleep today). So I'm never late, if I had a choice I would be sleeping in everyday. Instead I get up at 6:15. I get out of bed and decide to dress up a little today. I wear a black sweet heart neckline dress. It goes just below my knees. I wear black tights and my usual black sneakers. Don't expect too much out of me. I quickly brush my teeth and leave my hair down, running my fingers through the soft curls. I look in the mirror and frown, I look so great… yet I don't feel great. I look at my face, studying it. I then add a touch of mascara and winged eyeliner. I look in the mirror again and smile. Even if I don't feel great I have to smile and keep going. I quickly grab my bag and run down the stairs. I lock the door since I'm the last one out, after I grab an apple from the fruit basket. I take a deep breath and being my short walk to school. You can do this Mare. It's just a few steps and mom will be there. With these thoughts I smile. As school comes closer and closer, my anxiety becomes higher and higher. I stop at the steps and take a deep breath. My first class is with my mom, so I should be fine. I run up the steps and quickly find the way to my moms classroom. As I walk in I can feel my anxiety slowly becoming less and less. Then I see my moms smile and I can't help but smile back.

"Good morning mom."

" Good morning dear, how did you sleep?"

"I slept okay , I'm just really nervous. I don't want what happened last time I went to school,to happen again"

"I understand baby, but just try for this week. If you don't like it then we can go back to homeschooling."

"Mom you know I don't want to stress you out with having me homeschooled, so I'll try."

"Thanks baby." Shen smiled.

"No problem mom." I say as I walk to my desk and sit down. Soon the students started to walk in. I recognize most of them, but there are two new people this year. First comes Kim, Alex, and Max. After them comes Rose, Juleka, Ivan, and Mylene. Then comes Chloe and Sabrina, last but not least Nino with two new people. They all looked at me and gasped.

"Mare your back!" I gave a forced laugh.

"Haha yeah I am, not sure for how long."

"Well you're trying again at least."

" Yeah I promised my mom that I would." Nobody knew that Caline Bustier was my adoptive mother, I always simply called her mom. Growing up she would tell me stories and she helped me get through my pain, but I could never forget the face of my parents. I ended up falling deep into depression and cutting myself. I still do. It's hard to stop once you've started. I have really bad PTSD because of what happened. Caline tried to help me but nothing would do. So I'm stuck with it. My mom clapped and got the attention of the class.

"Alright students now, we have two new students joining us today, would you like to come and introduce yourselves?"

Both the kids stood up with kind smiles and faced the class.

"My name is Alya."

"I'm Adrien." They said with littles waves.

"Alright Alya you can sit by Marinette right there." She said pointing to me. "And Adrien you can sit by Nino in the front row." The blonde boy moved to sit in front of me. I rested my head into my hand and looked at my mom.

"Okay, please open up your books to page…"

Bringggggg

The bell rang, waking up the class from what we were doing. It's the end of the school day and I got up from my seat. I packed my bag and left the classroom. It had been a long day, but I think I'll give real school a try. For mom. Alya, the girl I sat with for the day, was really nice and talkative. I think I made we are now friends. I'm not sure, I don't do well with other people, but for some reason people really love me. I don't understand why, I don't even love me. I felt someone tap my shoulder and I turn around. I see Nino and the two new students.

"Hey Nino, Alya and Adrien."

"Hey." They reply back.

"What's up guys?"

"We were wondering, if we could come over and work on the math homework together." Nino responded to my question.

"Umm I'd have to ask my mom, but I'm sure she would say yes." I say with a small smile. I quickly text my mom, and she says it's fine. "Alright she said it was okay."

"Perfect so lead the way Mare."

"Okay, I live right next to school so." I decide to tell them that Caline is my mom. I feel like I can trust these people.

"Umm also my mom is home and it might be kinda a surprise as to who my mom is, she is my adoptive mother."

"What happened to your real parents?" Alya asks.

"They left when I was young. I've been with my adoptive mother for… 8 or 9 years now, I think."

"Wow that's a long time."

"Yeah when I was younger I tried to go to normal school instead of being homeschooled, because it was too much stress for her, but something really bad happened."

"What happened?" Adrien asked, finally speaking.

"Let's wait to tell that story after we get to my house." I say and quickly realize that I stopped walking, while I was in the middle of talking. I lead them to the front door and open it.

"Mom I'm home!" I call out to the silence.

"I'm in the reading room." I very familiar voice said. I smile and instruct my friends to set their stuff by the door. I quickly head to the reading room and give Caline a hug. Everyone turns the corner.

"Dude… our teacher is your mom?!" Nino exclaims.

"Haha yeah she is. She adopted me to keep me out of the foster care system."

"Wow." All three seem surprised.

"Anyways let's get some snack and head upstairs to my room."

"At a young age I always hated myself because I blamed myself for everything. It took me 16 years to learn that life is full of pain and the only way to get over it is to let the pain out."

-Me to my girlfriend

(A/N: Make sure to favorite, follow, and review! Love you guys. I know… I know. It's been a while, but at least this one is longer. I could keep going but I thought that maybe the next one will be longer and I have more ideas that would just run on and on if I kept it all in one chapter. )