Chapter 3: First Changes

It was Monday morning and like always Marinette was running late!
Sometimes even she didn't understand how she managed that when her house was beside the school, but here she was.

Marinette didn't expect to see still everyone out in the schoolyard, normal they should all be in their classrooms.

This was the first sign that today would be very different.
Another was that a lot of teachers run around the place with other unknown adults, who wore grim expressions.

Something was definitely going on.

Thank god, she saw Alya, her new best friend, and run up to her.
"Alya, good morning what is going on?"
Alya, who was fiddling with her phone, answered her absent-minded: "Hi, Marinette, this is a huge scoop you won't believe it!"
"What I won't believe?"
"Someone apparently told the school administration that we have here a huge problem with bullying and teachers who don't do their job right.", explained Alya and put her phone away.

The midnight black-haired girl blinked.

Someone really did this?

And it was taken seriously?

She remembered how often she has gone to Miss Bustier about Chloe and her teacher had always said she should be the bigger person and show Chloe how to be a nice person.

This...this was actually good.

Maybe now Chloe would get what she deserved.

Ha, Chloe.
The nerve of her after years of bullying to apologize to her and then say she wanted to chance.
Marinette didn't believe her one bit.

"What do you mean, girl?", Alya voice stopped her thoughts. "Who was it to tell the school administration that?"
Before Marinette could answer she heard Kim yell: "Is that Chloe?!"

Since the hotel was near the school you decide to walk there. It was stupid taking the car for that little walk.

You weren't a spoiled brat like Chloe.

In your hands, you had your favorite Starbucks drink and one for Sabrina.
You both decide to meet at the schoolyard, well you proposed the idea and Sabrina just said yes.
You hoped the therapy would help her to think for herself.

When you enter the schoolyard you felt how the people near you stared at you in disbelief and stopped talking.
You heard them whisper and point at you.
You ignored them.
You had expected that kind of behaviour.
You didn't look like the Chloe Bourgeois they knew.
You wore clothes that you liked, the hairstyle how you preferred and the make-up you felt comfortable with.

"Morning Sabrina.", you greeted her.
She looked at you like you were Papillion in Person.
"C-Chloe?!"
"Yeah?", you said nonchalantly and gave her the drink you bought for her. "Anything all right with you? You seem a bit pale."

Sabrina blinked and looked from you to the drink in her hand. She looked like she needed to reboot like a computer.

You gave her the time and took a sip from your drink.

"A-Are you really wearing an Anime T-Shirt?", Sabrina finally asked. "Didn't you say that anime is for losers?"
"Oh, did I? Yeah, I'm actually a huge otaku. Decide to say fuck it and finally show the real me, no more rich brat bitch.", you explained to her.
Sabrina just nodded, stupefied.
"Does, does that mean we can watch and talk about it now?", she asked like a lost little lamb.

Poor girl.
How mind fucked had her Chloe?

You signed and pat her shoulder.
"Sabrina, you can do what you want no one but you to decide over your life."
It was like if you told her the moon was actually made out of camembert. A certain Kwami would surely like that.

That's when you heard Kim yell: "Is that Chloe?!"

Marinette and Alya looked with big eyes to you, then at each other, and then back to you.
"Marinette? Does Chloe actually wear a T-Shirt with [Your Favorite Anime Character]?", asked Alya shocked, and gripped her hand.
Marinette, who remembers how Chloe last year throw apple juice on her self-made Sailor Moon T-Shirt and said anime was for losers, could only nod.
Did they land in a parallel universe or what?
Was that an Akuma?
Should she transform?

Meanwhile, you looked to Kim and gave him a little wave. "Morning to you too, Kim. I hope you had a nice weekend."
You could have said that you were actually Papillion that shocked was everyone because you were nice to someone!
It was so silent you could hear a nail drop.
You just raised an eyebrow and took a long sip from your drink.

"Hey Chlo!", you heard Adrien calling for you and tried to hide your grimace.
It worked half since Sabrina looked even more shocked at you.

Adrien came over with Nino behind him. The boy with the cap walked slowly and cautiously up to you like you were a wild animal and would jump at him any moment.
Why did everyone need to be this dramatic?
"Morning Adrien."
That you didn't use Chloe's nickname for Adrien was even more shocking for people.
Marinette and Alya pinched each other to see if they were dreaming.
"I see you like [Favourite Anime]. You never told me that.", said Adrien grinning.
If you remembered right Astruc said once that Adrien was an otaku too.

Yeah, still no brownie points for him.
When he learns to drink respect woman juice then you would maybe see him as a friend.
But for the time being you needed to play your part.

"Adrien, I was more worried over a stupid queen bitch image that I created myself than to show who I really was. What a throw from the Eifeltower and recurring nightmares over your own death and funeral can do to a person.", you said so loud and clear as possible.

You did explain it to Marinette and your classmates Saturday that this was Chloe's reason to change, but they hadn't believed you.
Anyway, you would repeat it as many times as possible so that it would stuck in anybody's head.

Adrien smiled nervously, he didn't seemed to know what to say. Nino behind him looked at you like you talked in a strange language and Sabrina gave you a worried look.
The other kids in school were still floored about anything.

Thank god, that at this moment came Mr. Damocles with the teachers and the guy from the school administration.
You didn't know how long this tense atmosphere would hold till it exploded.

"Children.", called Mr. Damocles for your attention. "Please go to your homeroom teacher. They will explain to you anything."

"I bet with you, the real Chloe got abducted by aliens!", whispered-shouted Kim to his classmates.

All of Bustier's class minus you and Sabrina were sitting together at a table at the Collège Françoise Dupont cafeteria and talking about the strange happenings of the day.

First of all Miss Bustier had taught them the whole day under the sharp eyes of Miss Cortez, from the school administration, and Miss Cortez seemed not happy with Miss Bustier.
If the grim expression and the continually writing on her notebook were any giveaways.

Then of course you who acted so...un-Chloe.
You were nice, and respectful and did your own work!
Normal Sabrina did it for you!
What was going on?

Anybody had their own theory of course.
Kim was the first who brought aliens up.
Alix shook her head and said: "I'm still going with the Akuma Theory from Alya."
"An Akuma who acts like a decent human being is abnormal.", reminded Max everyone.
"You all know Chloe better than me.", said Alya. "What else could it be?"
"Chloe isn't that bad, I know her since we were babies. I'm happy she is showing you guys her nice side.", came Adrien to your defense.
"Adrien, bro, Chloe was never ever one day in her life nice to us. I don't know Akuma or Alien but that's not Chloe for sure.", told Nino.

Marinette had a pensive look on her face.
"Don't you guys find it strange that Chloe is so nice when the school administration is checking our school?", she asked her friends and classmates. "I mean Chloe's dad is the mayor he sure knew that today would happen this and maybe gave her a heads up."
It was Max who shook his head.
"While this is a plausible theory, Marinette, it gets invalid, since the school administration wants to talk to any student about their experience with bullying. I don't think any of us wouldn't tell them what Chloe did to us all these years. She can't save herself from the consequences of her actions now."

This was true and you could hear agreements and see nods from anybody.

"Why can't you just believe that Chloe really wants to change?", wondered Rose. "I'm writing with her since Saturday and she was only nice and friendly to me."
"You don't change that fast, Rose.", mumbled Juleka.
Kim nodded and hit his fist on the table.
"Yes, so that is clearly an alien!"
"I'm still going with Akuma."
"Aww, Alix, why?"
"Because I can."
That made the group laugh a bit.

Unknown to them you heard them all and felt how your eye was twitching.
Your classmates weren't far off with it that you weren't Chloe, but that their only theories were aliens or Akuma was a bit sad.
They couldn't come up with something better?

And also what kind of bitch was Chloe then her being nice was surreal? Was she 24/7 only a bully?
Stupid question you had her memories and Chloe was like this since kindergarten.

It was still so unfair to you.
How you would like to yell aloud you weren't Chloe, so you didn't have to endure all of this!
But you couldn't, everybody would think you were crazy and the mayor would probably put you in a psychiatry.
You needed to stay and continue your mission.
So you had to endure all this.
What one does do to save the world…

It was now afternoon and afternoon class was cancelled so the people from the school administration could talk to you kids.

You were nervous, you had to admit.

No one of Chloe's classmates would hold back on what she did to them and you, who was innocent, would pay for it.

But this was the price you would pay to get Damocles and Bustier out of the picture and get competent teachers who wouldn't fall under a specific liar's spell.
And you hate them too, they weren't good teachers, period.

Damocles wanted more to play superheroes and Bustier told the victims of bullying to ignore it and be the bigger person.
You so hoped they got fired.

"Chloe Bourgeois?", called Miss Cortez for you and you followed her into the classroom where the interview was held.
"So, Miss Bourgeois. I hear a lot about you from your classmates.", said Miss Cortez with an icy tone.

To be truthful, you wanted to cry and say how you weren't Chloe and didn't do any of this shit she did, but you had to make the sacrifice for the good of this Show aka. World.
You nodded and signed defeated: "I assume only bad things?"
Miss Cortez was surprised and leaned back on her sit.
"You are not trying to defeat or deny anything?"
"No, till a week ago I was a disgustful human being and a pest to my classmates. Mostly to Marinette and I treated Sabrina, who should be my friend like a slave.", you started. "It took me nearly losing my life and having recurring nightmares of my death and funeral to see that I'm excuse my language a huge bitch."
The brunette woman wrote something down on her notepad and gave you a once over.
"Chloe, you look like you are prepared for an execution, why?"
You frowned.
"Well, I need to be punished for what I all did, don't I? Even if I said sorry and try to be a good person, I need to pay for my sins."
"Yes, your classmates told me that you apologized to them and were acting strangely in their eyes. But I didn't expect such self-reflection from someone as your classmates described as self-centred and heartless.", told you, Miss Cortez.
"Well, I can't and won't blame them.", you answered and felt the tears in your eyes.

You probably hated Chloe the most right now. She got reborn into a new family and you had to continue her fucking life with all the shit she did!

Fucking stupid deity who couldn't let you be reborn as someone else! You bet that fucker and his buddies enjoyed your suffering right now.

Miss Cortez wrote again something down and then looked at you with a milder expression.

"Chloe, why do you think, you acted the way, you did, with your classmates before?"

You took a deep breath and told her your headcanon why Chloe was the way she was.

"Well, I think it all starts with my mother. She is the boss of the Fashion Magazine Style Queen and lives in New York with my younger half-sister Zoe."

Miss Cortez looked surprised at you.

"You have a half-sister? I didn't see it in my documents."

You gave her a bitter smile.

"Well, nobody should really know that little secret of the Bourgeois family. It's not good for my father's political carrier if people knew his wife cheated on him and prefers her extramarital daughter over the one who was born in marriage."

"So you are saying your mother doesn't love you?", asked Miss Cortez and wrote something on her notepad.

"She always forgets my name and say's to me I'm not exceptional. She only comes for Fashion Week to Paris and never has time for me. The way I acted with my classmates? So acts my mother like with anybody and only when I acted like her she took note of me, but I'm tired of this. She will never love me the way I want and I have an awesome father who loves me and a kind sister who is very forgiving."

"I'm really surprised Chloe.", told you, Miss Cortez. "It seems like you took a very good look at your life and saw what you have done wasn't good and you want to chance. Not even adults are that good to see their own flaws."

"I just want a second chance. I will take my punishment, but I just want a second chance.", you begged and a few tears escaped your eyes.

This was all so stressful and unfair.

You so hoped Chloe had it worse than you in her new family! Learning to be a good person should be her personal hell!

Miss Cortez gave you a handkerchief, which you were thankful and wiped your nose.

"You are still young Chloe. And if you really want and show people that you want to change they will give you a second chance."

You really hoped she was right.

It was night-time in Paris and you took a walk around the blog.

You needed to digest all the happenings of the day.

Chloe's punishment for her bullying and harassment was that you had to visit a month-long work-shop about this and how to avoid falling into old patterns.

That wouldn't be a problem, since you weren't a bully in your first life. You could handle the workshop.

Miss Cortez was happy that you already would go to a therapist because that would have been the second part of the punishment to prevent being again a bad person.

You could stay in Bustier's class, but if you slipped up you would get kicked out of school.

This was Chloe's first and last chance.

You tried to be optimistic that you could do it.

You were nothing like Chloe.

After your talk with Miss Cortez, you let yourself be hugged by the mayor. It felt good. He really loved Chloe and gave you now the love you needed.

Also, he told you, that you should prepare yourself since Damocles and Bustier were in the eyes of the school administration unfit for their jobs.

At the end of the week, it would be official and Collège Françoise Dupont would get a new homeroom teacher and a new principal.

That was a huge win in your eyes.

All in all a productive day and no Akuma came for anybody.

You did wonder a bit why Papillion didn't send one. There had to be someone really angry about all this, Chloe wasn't the only bully at school, but nothing had happened.

Oh well, you shouldn't look a gifted horse in the mouth.

The next Akuma would be on Friday, you were 100% sure.

Why?

It was Adrien's birthday, so that meant Nino would get akumatized and become the Bubbler.

How you should prevent that, you had no idea.

Signing and feeling like the weight of the whole world were on your shoulders, you walked to Luka's secret place.

Maybe he would play again under the bridge?

Sadly he was nowhere to be seen. It didn't stop you from sitting now under it.

You had your arms wrapped around your legs and your head with closed eyes on your knees.

Damn, if every phase of Save Miraculous from Canon, would be like this you would need the therapist for all the stress you would sustain.

Was it like this for dear poor Marinette?

You needed to find a fast way to become a Miraculous holder. She needed a partner who would help her to handle all the stress she had. You could barely handle your own.

One step after another, don't forget.

That's when you heard the melody from last time. The melody which reminded you a lot about your old life.

So, Luka was here today too?

You kept your head on your knees but smiled.

The music was like balm for your stressed-out soul. It was what you needed right now.

Luka repeat the melody a few times, till you put your head up and looked for him.

The boy was sitting a few meters from you and was again playing with his guitar pick.

"Thank you again. I needed that.", you told him.

For the first time, Luka faced you and you wanted to swoon! God, he was so hot and his eyes, ahhh!

He gave you a little smile, you felt how your breath was stolen from your lungs and said: "You are welcome. Thank you for enjoying my music."

You felt how you turned red and played nervously with your fingers.

"No, I have to thank you make me listen to it. It's a privilege."

Bashful he rubbed his neck.

"Now you make me all shy. What's your name?"

"Chloe."

The boy gave you once over and frowned.

"You know…the name doesn't fit what I hear in your heart."

Okay, you admit you got scared for a second. Could Luka sense with his talent that the soul in this body was not the right one?

You grinned wobbly.

"I-I don't really like it either. If I would I would name myself [Y/N].", you don't know why you said that, but you were in panic, okay?

"[Y/N]?", Luka repeated thoughtfully. "You know, this fits better, no it's perfect with the song in your heart."

You blushed hard.

"Oh thank you, erm?"

"Sorry, I'm Luka, nice to meet you [Y/N]."

You blinked confused.

"My name is Chloe?"

Luka grinned crookedly, god that was adorable, and explained: "Well you said you like that name better, we can use this as your nickname if you want?"

"[Y/N] is totally okay, Luka!", you told him happily.

At least someone would call you by your real name, even if he thought it was a nickname.

The black-haired boy with the turquoise tips stood up from his spot and put his guitar on his back.

"Well, I have to go home now [Y/N]. And you probably too. Want me to escort you?"

Luka.

Couffaine.

Wanted.

To.

Walk.

You.

Home?!

Where you dreaming?

You didn't care and jumped up like an Akuma was after you.

"I would love to!"

Luka gave you a soft smile, a smile you had seen him normally give to Marinette, but he hadn't met her right now.

You turned red like a tomato.

Does…does…this mean…?

"Come, [Y/N]."

He reached for your hand and you took his in yours.

This day was turning awesome!