Shandy: Next chapter is up!

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KawaiiFanficLover: I do too, but I'm guessing that Chat didn't really appreciate all of the sneezing. And Thanks!

Flik98: Thank you! I hope you enjoy reading them as well as I enjoy writing about them!

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It appeared as though his luck didn't appear in school.

Although he was instantly popular, he couldn't help but put them all at arm's length.

There were too many people his age. Too many different things going on. Too many different possibilities.

Why had his father forced him to come here again?

He walked into his first class and looked around at his fellow students, recognizing only a few faces.

Specifically one with blue hair in pigtails- the one that Lizza had tried to bully into giving the brunette her umbrella. She was sitting in the second row, closest to the door. No one had sat in the front row yet, so he decided to do so- right in front of her.

The seat next to him remained unoccupied throughout the time before the teacher came in.

'Great.' He thought. 'I don't have to deal with any of those idiots.'

"Good Morning class! I'm Mme Madeleine, and I'm glad to have all of you in my class this year!"

'More like you have to so that you can keep your job.'

"Now, I'd like for everyone to scoot up and fill in all of the empty seats in front of you!" Felix didn't look up from the book he had been reading as the girl moved from behind him and sat in the chair next to him. She cleared her throat.

"Hello! I'm Bridgette Creatif, and you are?" She asked, holding her hand out to him. He eyed the hand, and then looked her in the eye. Didn't she already know?

"Felix Solennel." He replied, but he didn't move to shake her hand, turning his attention back to the book he was reading.

Such a weird girl, he decided when she let it drop. Not many people he knew did.

Then again, he didn't normally work with people his age.

"The person you're sitting next to will be your partner for the rest of the year in any and all group projects unless I say otherwise." The teacher continued once everyone sat down.

'Just Peachy.' He decided, and he noted that the girl beside him looked even less pleased. 'At least I'm not alone in this disagreement.'

When the first class was over with, he didn't expect the Bridgette girl to be in his next class. Their seats were right next to each other again. And the same was with the rest of their classes, they soon realized, when Bridgette asked if they could compare schedules.

It gave him a headache worse than the one Plagg gave him.

When it was time to leave their third class and go on to lunch, she spoke again to him.

"Look, I don't hate you or anything. I don't know why you're here or why you are in all of my classes and sitting right next to me, but I do know that we will be working together on projects." She said sternly. "I refuse to work with a rude partner, so please at least try. Thank you." She didn't even wait for his response as she walked away, smile bright on her face and with a skip in her step. "I hope you have a great lunch!"

He stared at her, still for a few moments.

Hadn't Ladybug said the same thing?

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Bridgette was having a not-so great day, but she wasn't going to let that get her down!

She hadn't even heard of Felix Solennel until that day, and he clearly wasn't one for making good impressions. She didn't care if he just didn't like school and that he was going through this for the first time- she would not work with someone who was stuck-up and rude.

She wondered if any other boys she met for the first time would be like that. He and Chat Noir were only proof that this could start up a trend, and she wouldn't be very happy with that trend.

As she walked towards the front of the school to end the depressing day that she refused to let end on an unhappy tone, Liz and Samantha cornered her the the hallway. She sighed.

"Liz, you've already tormented me today, what else do you want?" Bridgette sighed. She tried to move past, but Liz blocked her.

"Nu-uh, I still don't have my umbrella." She said, holding her hand out. "Give it."

"No, Liz. This is my umbrella." Bridgette said, moving to go a different way, but Samantha blocked her way again.

Dangit!

"This is your last chance, Creatif." Liz said again. Bridgette looked between the two girls. "Give me the umbrella."

Now, normally, Bridgette wouldn't mind, but she had slaved over this umbrella, and she wasn't about to give it up.

Her silence was taken as a no, and Liz snapped her fingers. Samantha moved forward and pushed Bridgette against the wall. Bridgette fought back, but with Samantha having lessons from her father on how to protect herself (her father being a fighting instructor for the boys at school), it was futile. Samantha punched Bridgette in the gut, but Bridgette kneed her in the stomach right afterward.

Bridgette attempted to shake Samantha off while the other was distracted with her blow, but Liz had decided to get dirty and punched Bridgette in the cheek with her gloved fist. Although it was weaker than Samantha's, it was strong enough that her head hit the wall hard. For a moment, stars danced before her eyes. Samantha took that opportunity to pry the umbrella out of the other's hands.

"No! Give that back!" Bridgette cried. It had taken forever to get the umbrella just right! They couldn't!

But as Bridgette was punched in the gut again by Samantha, the sickening realization that they did came upon her. It weakened her will to fight, leaving Samantha and Liz with her handmade umbrella, and her sliding down the wall and onto the floor to cry to herself.

"Good by little Brat, we'll see you tomorrow!" Liz laughed. Bridgette didn't pay them any mind, her day now officially ruined. Though they started small, the sobs still wracked her body as she tried to calm down and keep it together.

She was so weak! She had become a superhero basically over night, she had the ability to save others, but she couldn't even protect herself?!

She bit her lip, the stinging pain from the blows she had gotten coming into play on her misery as she curled up into a ball on the floor.

Maybe Tikki wasn't right about her. Maybe it was life's cruel, sick joke that made this happen to her.

Footsteps approached, but Bridgette only curled in on herself more, not wanting anyone to recognize her. They stopped right in front of her.

"Are you alright?" Bridgette shook her head, not willing to look up as she knew that voice.

It had been the voice that had been haunting her all day.

Meanwhile, Felix had only heard the ending of what had happened. He knew that Lizza and Samantha had something to do with it (he'd talk to her father later), and that the usually bright, optimistic girl that reminded him of Ladybug was crying her heart out.

"What did they do?"

"Th-They took my umbrella away." She admitted. "I-It's stupid, but I worked hard on making that umbrella. I-I should've just given it to th-them, but I'm so, so weak. I couldn't-t fight back. S-Such a w-w-weak coward." She admitted, rubbing her eyes and sitting up, through her eyes still didn't meet his own. A bruise that was beginning to form on the cheek that Lizza had punched caught his eye as she spoke. Felix's frown increased further. "It doesn't matter- I'm being a stupid baby about this." She stood up, hugging her backpack straps closer to the front of her body.

"Bri-"

"I-I'm sorry for being a bother." She apologized. He could still see tears trail down her cheeks. "Th-Thanks for ch-checking on me, but I-I'm fine." Then she turned and left, Felix watching dumbstruck as she turned towards the front of the school to go home.

The only thing that echoed through his mind, was the fact that his father had raised him to help those who were less-fortunate. To help those who needed help.

And right now, Bridgette needed help, and a certain brat needed to be put in her place.

Plagg looked at the growing expression of anger and determination on his protector's face as the other stood up and walked toward the principal's office. He chuckled to himself.

That girl, whether she knew it or not, was the only person who could get these reactions out of Felix so far. In or out of the mask. One day, Plagg might be able to accomplish that, but there was no way that he'd be able to do it as easily as she did.

Clearly, Tikki had chosen well.

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The next day at school, Bridgette was wearing a cough mask, having caught a cold in the rain yesterday and not wanting to get anyone else sick. A bandage was placed upon her cheek to hide the bruise on her insistence, so as to not worry her parents or anyone. She wouldn't even talk to Tikki when she got home, just saying that she needed some time for herself, her excuse for the bandage being that something had fallen on her face and scratched her.

As she trudged towards her first class, she couldn't help but notice that a pair of black pants and shoes walked into step beside her. She paused a moment, the person beside her also stopping, before looking up.

As she expected, Felix stood there. She was surprised that he actually seemed a little nervous, but she hid her shock well. That was, until he held out her red umbrella to her. She stared at it, surprised beyond words, forcing him to speak.

"Here." He said. "Don't ask. Just- take it." When she only continued to stare, he continued. "Look, I don't really know how these things are supposed to go, so just take it." Bridgette looked up into his winter blue eyes and slowly took the umbrella.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"Don't mention it." Her grip on the umbrella grew tighter, and she found herself looking him in the eye.

"What can I do?"

"What?"

"To repay you." She explained. "It couldn't have been easy to get this back from Liz, so what can I do to repay you?"

"Nothing. You don't have to do anything, and it was no trouble at all." He said, turning sharply away from her. "Come on, we should get to class so that we aren't late." He began to walk, and Bridgette quickly followed, shocked.

But that shock slowly turned into conviction as she observed the back of his head. She was going to repay him for his unneeded kindness that had escaped her observant eyes before. Perhaps she had judged him too quickly.

As they sat down next to each other just in time for the bell, Bridgette nodded to herself.

One way or another, she was going to pay him back.

She just had to find out how.

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