Pretty soon, the school year had started. Zoe wore a daffodil in her flower crown. Once again, Nino had Ms. Bustier as his first teacher (and also home teacher).
"So, why a daffodil?" Nino asked.
She smiled. "Daffodils symbolize new beginnings. This is first day at a new school, in a new country, so why not?"
"Um, excuse me, but I'm saving this seat for my friend Adrien. You probably know who he is." Marinette said.
Zoe hesitated. She looked very confused. "Uh... Who's Adrien?"
"It's alright, you can sit behind me." Nino said.
"Is Ms. Bustier mean?"
"What no. She's really sweet, and firm only when she needs to be."
He wasn't part of the return of Copycat akuma attack, but he can easily remember the last akuma attack before things escalated downhill. It was a normal day like any other, that is until math class. They had already finished up yesterday's notes, which didn't get done because of so many distractions.
"Where are Alix, Kim and Max?" Sabrina asked.
"More importantly, where's Zoe?" Nino asked.
Alix and Kim were the first to enter. Alix was obviously unhappy. She carried a bag in her right hand. She then set her bags down, got out what appeared to be a big stack of newspapers from the bag and started ripping them into pieces. A few seconds later, Max entered and walked to his seat. Zoe walked in behind him, wearing a pair of pink sunglasses and a heather flower in her crown. She took her seat behind Nino and tried to act like everything was normal. A few seconds after that, Ms. Mendeleiev noticed the arrival of the four students.
"Oh, there you are. Where have you been?"
Max sighed. "Long story."
The teacher looked at Zoe. "And why is Zoe wearing those sunglasses? Take them off!"
She hesitated. "Are you sure? The damage is really bad."
"I've seen a lot of eye damage before. It can't be too bad."
"Well... Okay..."
The flower girl slowly removed her glasses, revealing a severe bruised left eye and a red bruise on her face. Everyone, aside from Alix, Kim and Max, who had already seen the injury, gasped.
Ms. Mendeleiev was visibly upset. "Oh good heavens, child! What happened to you?!"
"Ask the pink haired menace."
Everyone looked over at Alix. Many of the students, including Nino, Adrien, Marinette and Nathaniel glared at her. Others, such as Rose, Juleka, Alya, Sabrina and Kim, simply looked at her with sadness and/or curiosity.
"What? She deserved it!"
"You did not have a legitimate reason for hurting her." Kim conveyed in a serious tone.
"She had it coming! She's blind and dumb! And she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut!"
"Uh, why is Alix angry with the flower girl?" Marinette asked.
Max reached down and grabbed a newspaper from Alix's bag. "Read this article. It'll tell you almost everything." He gave Marinette a copy of Francoise Dupont News. Nino took it and examined it. "Read the headline. Then skip to Paragraph four."
"What does it say, Nino?" Alya asked.
"The headline reads 'Fire and Ice (Alix and Kim): Perfect Rivals or Perfect Lovers?' Skipping to paragraph four..."
Alix groaned. "Why, Max? Why?"
"They're gonna find out sooner or later."
She sighed and then groaned again. Nino continued reading, "People have been wondering why Alix and Kim suddenly tossed their rivalry aside after last year's Summer Solstice Gala. Well, thanks to a flower girl leading me directly to Alix and Kim themselves, I found out something very amusing; Alix and Kim got together after Queen Bee's attack on the dance floor."
The remaining students (except Sabrina) and Ms. Mendeleiev gasped.
"Woah. No wonder she's angry with Zoe." Juleka said.
"Please continue." Nathaniel added.
Alix groaned again, this time even louder. Nino continued. "They were conveying this to Kim's best friend Max, who did not seem too surprised by this revelation. While I was writing this, Alix overheard my pencil lead snap and she turned over in our direction. She immediately locked eyes with the girl with flowers in her hair and I promptly skedaddled out of there to a safer location. I climbed up the stairs as Alix screamed, 'You f****** b****!' She then punched the flower girl right in her left eye, and probably would have done the same to her right eye or worse had Kim and Max not interfered so quickly. Kim had to use both of his arms to restrain her while Max tried his best to comfort her. Fred Haprele, one of the many employees, saw the whole thing and took Alix to the principal's office. Kim went with her (possibly to try and reduce the punishment she would get), while Max took the girl to the health office. I can only imagine the amount of trouble Alix is in, and how mad she's going to be at me for writing this article..."
"Well, that would explain a lot." Alya said. "Can't say that I blame her."
Alix pointed at Zoe. "She exposed a relationship that was supposed to stay secret. I've beaten her, yet I'm still angry with her..."
Kim grasped her shoulders. "Alix, don't. You already have a week's worth of detention. And the principal went easy on you because you've had a clean slate for the last two years!"
"She's dumb and blind! She's so oblivious and she can't keep her mouth shut! No one was supposed to know!"
Kim looked tense. "Well, there's only one thing that scares me more than Hawkmoth's akumatized villains; Alix's anger..."
Max turned to Sabrina. "I did not hear you gasp." He looked at her curiously.
She appeared quite panicked. She blurted out, "Okay, I saw everything that happened between Alix and Kim on that night of the gala! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time! I knew, I wasn't supposed to know, and they didn't even know I knew and I knew I wasn't supposed to know and... And..." She breathed in deeply before exhaling. "I didn't say anything tough..."
"I appreciate that." Alix said, before clinching her fist. She glared at Zoe again. "But it still doesn't change the situation."
"I'm worried that Alix will be akumatized back into Timebreaker at this rate..." Adrien said.
She scoffed. "Unlikely."
Max added, "Usually Hawkmoth strikes before anger is released and on those who try to conceal their emotions. Although it is still possible..."
Rose looked at him, concerned. "And even then, what would happen?"
"She'd go after the person she hates the most." Max answered. "That's what she did last time."
Nathaniel was confused. "I thought she hated everyone equally as she said, 'You're all to blame!'"
"That's true, but who was her first target?" Several pairs of eyes looked at Kim. Max nodded. "Exactly. At the time, she hated Kim the most, so he was the first victim in both timelines. But if Alix was to lose her marbles again..."
He looked towards Zoe, and she became terrified. "You.. you mean... Alix is going to lose her marbles.. and then she'll hurt me?!"
Nino gently put his arms around her. "No, she won't. Even if she does lose her temper and her mind again, I won't let her hurt you." Zoe sobbed into his chest. "You mean everything to me, and I'm not letting anything happen to you."
Rose went, "Aw..." as Alya started steaming. She glared at Zoe intensely.
Marinette noticed. "You ok, Alya? You're gonna drill holes into Zoe if you keep giving her that look."
She turned away with her arms folded. Nino asked, "What's the matter, Alya?"
Alya turned back to him. "You care more about her than me."
"What? That's not true!"
"It is. You cancelled many of our dates just to spend time with her!"
"Really?"
"Yes! Remember June 29th? We were supposed to go to the ice cream parlor, but you skipped out to go spend time with Zoe."
"I was supposed to give her a tour of the city, but that didn't happen because of the return of Darkblade!"
"Remember July 14th? August 20th? September 1st?"
A few flashbacks came to his mind. On Bastille Day (July 14th), Alya invited Nino to her Bastille Day party at the Cesarie Mansion, but he took Zoe to a skating rink instead and treated her to some treats from the Dupain-Cheng bakery before going to the park to watch fireworks. He remembered enjoying some profiteroles on a park bench.
"Mmm. These are incredible!"
Nino smiled. "I know right?"
Zoe pointed to the sky. "Oh look, the fireworks show is starting!"
As she spoke those words, the fireworks exploded in the sky. Colorful explosions of red and blue lit up the night sky. Then he remembered August 20th. He was supposed to meet Alya, Adrien and Marinette for a double date at a beach in a city called Nice. He declined because he said that he had too many chores to do, but he was actually taking Zoe to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Finally, he recalled September 1st. He was supposed to meet Alya at a fancy restaurant for dinner, but because Zoe had caught a cold, he declined. Zoe was in her bed, sitting up while Nino handed a cup of hot tea to her.
She sipped a little of the tea, being careful not to burn her tongue. "Are you sure Alya won't be mad at you?"
"Yeah, I told her that I was looking after my sick sister. She'll never know."
He snapped back to reality and looked at Alya. "What makes you think that I don't care about you?"
"You're not telling me the truth. You said your sister was sick, but Ella and Etta told me that Leah was just fine. She went to school that day, went to volleyball practice and even her private violin lessons."
His face turned into a panicked, nervous expression. Oh crud, I'm screwed.
"You're only angry because you're jealous!" Nino retaliated.
"Ooo, burn!" someone said.
"I am NOT jealous!" Alya said.
"Really? Your face says otherwise." Marinette quipped.
"You're not helping!"
"I'm not trying to."
"You're not explaining why you're spending so much time with her. You're trying to protect her 'akumatization', yet you don't even try to profess that the Miraculous Legends are true!"
"You don't understand! Zoe doesn't believe in the existence of akumas!"
"Why not? Everyone knows of Hawkmoth and his threat to Paris!"
"There's an old saying," Max began. "'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.' The same principle applies to Zoe. We can tell of the Miraculous Legends and evil akumas all we want, but we can't force her to believe any of it. In the end, it's her decision. An arguably foolish decision, but her decision nonetheless."
"Au contaire! I beg to differ. Remember the words, 'Seeing is is believing.'? The only reason Zoe doesn't believe it, is because she hasn't seen it. If she saw footage, or even better, saw an akuma attack live, she'd believe it." Alya retorted.
"No way! It's bad enough you're already risking your neck to get footage for the Ladyblog, but directly trying to eliminate Zoe?! That's low!" Nino accused.
"I am not trying to eliminate her! I'm not trying to hurt her like Alix is!" She glared at her boyfriend. "And I know basic safety precautions! I've never gotten severely injured during an akuma attack!"
"What about that time you were kidnapped by the Pharaoh?!"
"That was only one time! And need I remind you that Zoe is one of the few students in this room who has yet to be akumatized, alongside Adrien and Marinette. Also, what's the big deal if she gets akumatized? Then maybe she'd learn the truth!"
Every student (except Alix) gasped. Nino gasped the loudest and then glared at her. "How dare you wish akumatization upon her!"
"I DO NOT..!"
"ENOUGH!" Ms. Mendeleiev exclaimed. "You're acting like five year olds and it's driving me nuts!" She muttered something under her breath that Nino didn't hear.
Alya looked sternly at Nino. "Meet me over nearby where Raphael D'Argencourt's classroom used to be at three o'clock. Bring yourself and the clothes on your back."
The rest of class was eerily silent. The other classes had the same silence as well.
Oh gosh... I'm so screwed...