A/N : I do not own Miraculous Ladybug
Marinette's pencil lead breaks as she accidently presses it to roughly into the paper. She sighs, flicking the loose piece of graphite off the desk. Her best friend, Alya, smiles snarkily at her situation.
With a tight lipped smile, Marinette slides out from the desk and walks over to the sharpener by the classroom window. The class is quiet, students leaning over their assignments. Every sound feels too loud compared to the suttle etches of pencils on paper and sniffles of noses. Although, few students talk to each other in hushed and whispered tones. Sometimes a laugh will escape, disrupting the class into a wave of nose.
At the sharpener, Marinette only hears one conversation. It's between Chloe, the major of Paris' daughter, and her best friend, Sabrina.
"— and he's coming from a farm? So... like, he's a hillbilly?" Sabrina asks, her high pitched voice failing at being quiet. Sabrina's nice, sometimes, well... when she isn't around Chloe. Chloe is naturally a rude person. The typical blonde rich girl, who gets everything she wants from her dad. Although, she is nice to Marinette, but only because of Marinette's parents' reputation.
Marinette's parents have to be the most famous bakers in Paris, well known for their perfectly delicious macaroons. The Major is close with Marinette's parents, which is also the cause of a long lasting 'friendship' between her and Chloe. Marinette doesn't want to be mean to Chloe, but sometimes she can make it hard to be someone to stick up for.
"TOTAL hillbilly," Chloe says, her voice baring to much ego to even come close to quiet. Marinette finishes sharpening her pencil to a point, before she walks up to Chloe and Sabrina. They both turn toward her as she nears, and Sabrina tucks a strand of red hair behind her ear that had fallen into her face.
"Hey Marinette!" Chloe says, partially sitting up in her desk to give Marinette a hug. Marinette smiles uncomfortable and wiggles from Chloe's embrace. The whole classes attention was diverted to them. Yet the teacher, Mrs. Bustier, is gone from the classroom.
"I just wanted to know what you guys are talking about. Or... who, I guess," she asks. Chloe laughs, a cackle and pitchy sound that hurts the ears. Her ponytail doesn't even swing from her shaking her head it contains so much hairspray.
"Didn't you know? We have a new student in our class tomorrow!" Chloe says. This time, the whole class is sitting on the edge of their seats.
"New student?"
"Who is it?"
"Guy or girl?"
"Where are they coming from?"
Chloe just smirks, then laughs, and smirks again. "Daddy says he's coming from a farm. Can you believe it? A FARM! His mother is an actress, of course no one really knows what she's an actress in. My bet, is the hick won't last a day in school," she explains. Marinette raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms.
"Why?" Marinette asks. The room suddenly feels hot.
"Isn't it obvious? Small town school. They're loose cannons! You've seen the movies right?" Marinette nearly scoffs, but she stops herself and instead sighs at Chloe's ignorance.
"Chloe the movies don't prove anything," she says.
"She's right though, the school's going to be too hard for him!"
"Yah, she's right."
"Poor guy is going to get trampled!" According to the class, they disagree. Suddenly, someone clears their throat. The whole class turns, eyes wide as they take in the tall figure of their teacher, red hair tucked into a high bun. Her eyes immediately land on Marinette.
Marinette scurries over to her desk, head bowed. "Sorry," she murmurs, sliding in next to Alya.
"Class, get back to work," Mrs. Bustier orders, and like that, the uncomfortable quiet returns. Even still, she feels Alya nudge her arm.
"New student huh?" Alya says, much better at talking quietly then Chloe and Sabrina. Marinette smiles, already she can feel more comfortable around Alya. Her and Alya became friends at the beginning of the year, and now they were inseparable.
"Guess so," she whispers back. Alya leans more toward Marinette, eyes glancing at Mrs. Bustier at her desk to see if she will notice.
"I feel bad for him already, Chloe's going to ruin him, not the school," Alya says. Marinette nods at that. The glasses on Alya's nose slip slightly, and she pinches them back up with her finger.
Marinette turns back to her work, but her mind wanders from the questions inked on the paper. She comes to be like this a lot whenever there's a new student. Excited, impatient, curious. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough. Is he going to be a new friend to her? Or is he going to be rude and quiet? Will he even like her?
She releases a long breath, tugging one of her short pigtails tighter.
The bell rings out suddenly, and the class begins to move and talk, putting their supplies into their bags.
"Okay class! That assignment is due first thing tomorrow!" Mrs. Bustier informs. Marinette frowns and she looks down at her uncompleted paper.
"Did you finish?" she asks, turning to Alya who flicks her long auburn hair over her shoulder as she leans over her bag, stuffing her paper in a file. Alya straightens, swinging the bag over her shoulder.
"Yah, right at the bell. Did you?" she asks. Marinette shakes her head.
"No, I became... a little distracted half way through," Marinette explains. Alya smiles and laughs lightly.
"Of course you were Mari," she says. Marinette rolls her eyes with a smile and she walks out from their desk. Both of them exit the classroom together. As they walk, they weave around the scattered students easily. The hum of voices is loud, carrying the occasional laugh.
Marinette can't help but try to imagine what it'd be like to be new to this. Or is it no different in the school he's coming from? Quickly she decides that it would be quite frightening.
They leave the school, walking outside in the bright sun, the breeze cooling them before it can make them too hot. Pigeons coo from their perch on top of buildings, almost like a background noise to the hum of conversations of students leaving the school around them. Marinette squints against the sun as she walks down the steps, her shoes clacking on the stone.
"I'll see you tomorrow? Oh and call me if you need help with the homework," Alya says, patting Marinette's shoulder with a smile.
"I will, see you tomorrow," Marinette replies. They turn seperate directions down the road and walk away.
Marinette tries to walk quickly, her small bag swinging at her side. Already she jots out her chores that need to be done in the bakery in her head. Mix the batter for three dozen macarons, there should be a couple trays of cookies that need to be taken out of the oven, knead the dough of the croissants and pass them over to her father, and when everything's done, scrub the oven clean. She was supposed to clean the oven yesterday.
All her jobs are quite small. Her parents have yet to trust her to bake something completely on her own yet, so they give her pieces of them.
The bakery is a larger building, tall too because on their home in the top levels. Marinette enters through the shop doors, immersing herself in the smell of sugary icing, flour, and soft batter. Customers hover in front of the glass containers with their heads inclined at the baking. There's a line up at the counter at the back of the shop, and her mother stands there smiling, greeting and typing in the numbers into the cash register speedily.
Marinette walks toward her, and the kitchen door behind the counter. Her mother sees her and she smiles brightly at her daughter. She's a prettier woman, raven black short hair, thin eyebrows that sit high on her forehead in an bemused expression, a smile that coaxes one out of everyone she meets.
"Marinette!" she says. Marinette smiles in greeting.
"Hi mom."
"Your father's waiting for your help in the kitchen," her mother says. Marinette nods before walking behind the counter and walking through the swinging door. The smells grow even stronger now.
Her father is leaning over a cake, carefully dotting the top with icing. His burlly figure is nearly still, statued, other then the slight bob of his hands.
"Hey dad, do I start the macaron batter?" she asks. Her father doesn't even look up.
"Oh hello sweety, would you please?" he says, his voice mumbling. She walks around the many counters and ovens, gathering the ingredients she needs.
"So, today I found out that we're going to have a new student in our class tomorrow," Marinette says as she begins pouring the ingredients into a bowl.
"Really? But it's already a month into the school year," he says.
"I know that's what I thought too, but Chloe was telling everyone about it," she explains. Her father makes a huffing noise with his breath as a blob of icing doesn't settle that way he wants.
"Do you know anything else about it?"
"Chloe was saying he's coming from a farm outside the city and his mother is an actress," Marinette explains. Her father looks up from the cake briefly.
"Would we know of anything she's in?" he asks. Marinette shrugs her shoulders.
"I never asked for a name," she admits. Her father pauses for a moment longer, standing straight and looking off for a moment as he thinks.
"I think there's a woman living a couple houses down that's an actor. Maybe that's her," he says. Marinette stops in the middle of pouring an ingredient in.
"Really? Right by us?"
"As far as I know." They both return to their work.
The afternoon goes by. Marinette scurrying between chore and chore, her father ordering her to something else after she finishes one. Everytime Marinette isn't completely focused on a task, she thinks of the new student, playing around with ideas on what kind of person he could be. Eventually Marinette is leaning into the large oven, scrubbing furiously at the blackened burnt crust at the sides.
She's forced to pull all her hair back into a ponytail as her bangs keep falling into her eyes. Her gloved hands scrub at the back corner of the oven. Behind her she can her father doing his own tasks, washing what he used for baking. Out in the shop Marinette can hear her mother cleaning up the cash register and cleaning out the shelves.
Finally, after what feels like forever, Marinette wipes down the inside of the oven one last time and crawls away from its tight space. Her hands feel numb, and an ache has formed in her shoulders. Although she isn't done yet, she has homework.
In her room, Marinette sits hunched in her pink rolly chair, the length of her desk surrounding her. Her pencil sits in her hand, pinched in between her fingers as she scribbles down her answers for the questions. One by one she completes the questions, her eyes growing tired and heavy.
Her phone buzzes.
Rubbing a hand over her eyes, Marinette picks her phone off the desk, holding the screen out in front of her. Immediately she see the text from Alya.
ALYA - FOUND MORE INFO ABOUT NEW STUDENT!
Marinette releases a breath sharply from her nose and her mouth turns up in a smile. Of course Alya would look into it. It always marvels her how Alya seems to know the inside scoop on every situation.
MARINETTE - WHAT DID YOU FIND?
ALYA - HIS NAMES ADRIEN AGRESTE AND HE LIVED WITH HIS FATHER ON A CATTLE FARM A COUPLE HOURS OUT OF PARIS.
MARINETTE - ANYTHING ELSE?
ALYA - NAW GIRL, IT'S PRETTY VAGUE ON EVERYTHING. I JUST GOT THAT OFF THE SCHOOL WEBSITE ;)
MARINETTE - OH...
Marinette slumped in her chair. Tomorrow couldn't come quick enough.
ALYA - IT HAS HIS ADDRESS THOUGH.
Marinette immediately straightens. Maybe his mom could be the actress who lived nearby.
MARINETTE - WELL... IS IT NEAR ONE OF US?
ALYA - YOU ACTUALLY. HIS HOUSE IS LIKE A BLOCK AWAY. GIRL, MAYBE YOU CAN WALK TO SCHOOL TOGETHER!
MARINETTE - I STILL DON'T KNOW THE BOY ALYA!
ALYA - HEY, YOU WERE THE ONE TAKING AN INTEREST IN HIM!
MARINETTE - YOU ARE THE ONE THAT LOOKED HIM UP! DIDN'T YOU KNOW, CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT?
ALAY - BUT, SATISFACTION BROUGHT IT BACK :)
MARINETTE - AH, YOU HAVE A POINT
ALYA - I'LL SEE YOU TOMORROW?
MARINETTE - YA, SEE YA
Marinette sets her phone back on her desk, and she quickly finishes her homework. Alya's text hangs on the top of her mind.
Walk to school together. Walk to school... together? Was she nuts? Marinette loved the five minute walks in the mornings by herself. It was nice to have that time to think and not have a voice in her ear. But to have someone beside her? The whole way? With her?
Marinette leans back in her chair groaning.
This boy better be good enough to walk to school with. But what if he doesn't like her? What if it's just an endless cycle of awkward encounters before and after school?
Marinette would have to get a bike, then she would ride to school after he walked because she would be able to arrive there quicker. Yes, that would work quite well.
But she didn't want to have to do that. Guess she will just have to find out tomorrow.