First Day of School

Her first day at work had been very tiring but nonetheless fulfilling for Sarabella. She met a few of her work colleagues, helped in rendering a few drawings and overall made her day productive. The young woman did her best to give a good impression towards her co-workers due to the trauma from her first day. "Ah. All is well…" She whispered to herself while the side of her face was planted on her bed, her body forming a straight line across her bed. "Now I just have to create a good but not too proud impression of myself for tomorrow, too."

Little did she know that fate, once again, have a lot in store for her.

Waking up at six in the morning, the girl got up from her bed and groggily made her way towards the bathroom. Sarabella did her usual morning routine of preparing herself for the day and then proceeded to prepare her breakfast. It didn't take her long to finish so by eight 'o clock, she packed her bag with a lot of the utensils required by the school. There were several tools she bought but had no idea how to use. She planned on practicing the use of those tools back in her home country but Sarabella ended up lazing around and taking road trips with her university friends.

The girl left her apartment a few minutes after preparing, not forgetting her jade pendant that she wore when she met Nathanaël (in which was somewhat a good thing), and reached her destination with the buses dotting around Paris. The school was more impressive than it was in the pictures, she'll give it that, but the girl can't stop comparing it from her previous prestigious university. "Geez, this is much smaller though." Sarabella complained. The campus wasn't that huge that they make it seem, she carped to herself, remembering the reviews which specified that the campus was very hard to go around due to it's massive size.

"Sarabella!" A familiar voice rang through her ears amidst the chatter of the students around her.

The girl inwardly cursed her luck, profusely cursing herself with distaste. She wanted to throw the jade necklace right then and there, thinking that it's just a fraud. Sarabella willed herself to turn around and fake innocence with a tinge of a plastic smile. "Oh. W-We meet again!" She shrilly replied to him in French. Damn it, why so early in the morning!?

Handsome boy walked towards her with a confident stride, a smile gracing his flawless face. "What are you doing here in university?" He asked nicely, surprise visible through his eyes. In her mind, Sarabella was forcing herself to not think about him as a divine god of handsomeness because she might say something weird.

She looked away, answering him with a meek reply, "I'm a foreign-exchange student…" Her focus kept dwindling back and forth between fangirling from his gorgeous face and embarrassment from their first meeting.

"Really?" The blond replied, amazement lacing his tone, "I thought you're just a traveler."

She looked at him with a slight offended face. "I'm a good multi-tasker, excuse you." Sarabella blurted out casually, forgetting that he's a mere acquaintance. The ravenette realized her mistake and faked a cough, "I mean… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound too casual-"

He laughed good-naturedly, "It's okay. So, what program are you in? Fashion design?"

"Uhm.. What makes you think that?" The young architect inquired quizzically, her face warping into an unbelieving expression. She face-palmed at the Parisian's theory, I'm a fashion disaster, wtf. She reminisced her time back when she was still in high school. Sarabella was often teased as a 'hobo' due to her poor choice of fashion because she had never cared much about her clothes. That problem was a little bit fixed when her cousin, Christa Olivier, had begrudgingly agreed to help her – what with the pressure of bullying from Sarabella's sisters.

The native tapped her shoulder in a friendly manner, shattering her reverie. "Your clothes are as fashionable as is." He complimented.

That was the first time that a guy had praised her looks - and a handsome guy at that. Yes, she admitted that a lot of men had tried to court her but that was because she belonged to a rich family. Sarabella knows to herself that she wasn't the prettiest rose in the bunch and that compliment actually made her heart melt. "I-I'm in culinary arts. The pastries and baking program." She blushed in reply. Freaking- Why are you reacting like a teenage girl, damn it?!

The Parisian blinked twice, a moment of silence was shared between them as the young man processed what she had just said. "What?"

"You know…" The ravenette shrugged modestly, a little bit disappointed at the level of air-headedness that the Parisian displayed. Her face looking up, her dark brown orbs taking a peek at the Handsome boy. "The cooking thing where you cook cakes and-"

"No no no." He cut quickly, "I mean, you're in culinary arts? And in the baking program, too?"

"Oh, are you in the same program?" She inquired, her heart thumping louder and louder every second passing. It can't be. Sarabella mentally groaned, he can't be in the same program! "Wow, that's unusual." The girl stated with forced disbelief.

She was internally having a war with herself at that moment. A part of her was happy to see at least a familiar face in her university - and in her program, at that. It was a plus that he's nice and handsome, too. However, the downside is that their meeting is not exactly the friendliest or the most romantic (what being them in the City of Love, it was expected to be romantic). He was the constant reminder of her first massive fail on her first independent travel. Talk about trauma to last a life time.

"Indeed." He nodded in agreement. "You think we're classmates?"

She wanted to ask his schedule. It was a tempting thing to do because Sarabella was secretly hoping that they won't ever have to cross paths for every meeting of her Paris university life. "Ca-Can I see your schedule?"

"Sure." The Parisian nodded and gave her a piece of card paper where a time table was specified.

Sarabella took it from his hands, careful to not touch his fingertips. She prayed for every god in existence to avoid the impending doom that will befall her if she ever has to be with him for the whole year. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the paper. "Oh, it's the same as mine." Sarabella felt as if the heaven and earth crashed down on her.

The blond native laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders in a friendly manner, which was not hard to do so because she was nearly a head shorter than him. "You think this is a sign that we'll be best friends for the whole duration of uni?"

Now, Sarabella felt as if she's being squashed down by heaven and earth.

"I-I have to go…" The foreigner faltered, her face red as a tomato, her heart racing faster than the fastest track athlete and her lips as dry as the Sahara desert. "The… The principal asked me to come in early for some… papers! Bye!"

With that, she walked briskly, nearly switching to a run just to avoid the Parisian.

She wanted crush the jade necklace that her mother gave her when she turned eighteen. It will bless you with a good life, her mother had told her. She even wanted to slap herself for thinking that an ancient jade that came from her Chinese ancestors would help her with this bad luck. Freaking hell, this day is worse than being stuck on a thirteenth floor under a ladder with a bag of seven broken mirrors holding an open umbrella and only a black cat as a companion on a Friday the Thirteenth.

A/N:

Whooohoooo! Here's the update and I'm not even ashamed to say that I have put down a test and a graded recitation for this fanfiction.

I just—I— AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH. THERE'RE NEW EPISODEEEESSSS. I'M—THE ADRIENETTE IS STRONG IN THE LATEST EPISODES LIKE, HOLY SHIT. HOW WILL I EVER FIT THAT IN THE STORYYYY?

Okay, okay. To clarify something! Adrien is 22 years old. Marinette is 22 years old, also. Sarabella is 21! They're all grown ups but Marinette and Adrien never ceased to be Lady Bug and Chat Noir. In this storyline, however, they still haven't known each other's secret identities.

So, that's that. I have to review and memorize soooo. Yeah! Wish me luck. Hahahahaha. I'm so cool and ironic, aren't I? What? Okay okay. Bye guuuuys~ Leave a review, too so I knwo what to improve on! Ciao ciao~