As Alya sprinted into her classroom uttering excuses to Madame Bustier and internally cursing her little sisters, she took little time to examine her surroundings and so did not entirely notice the significantly larger aura of excitement than usual. She barely had the time to set her bag down before Marinette, who was in school earlier than her for once, yanked her into her seat and whispered furiously in her ears,
" Alya! It's switching season!"
Alya was baffled and it obviously showed on her face because as the lesson settled down she saw Marinette scribbling fiercely as madame Bustier dug through her online lesson plans. Marinette set the pencil down and shoved the note pad towards the reporter. Madame Bustier was busy searching for a file that seemed to be lost so she began to read.
'Switching season is where you spend the last half term of the school year designing a collection of outfits, designed or pre owned, that you then have your class vote on to decide which one is your new uniform for the year. You and Adrien joined this year so you didn't get to participate last time and just had to select something that fit within the original school dress code; but this year you spend free time and art lessons creating 5, 7 or 10 outfits that fit within specific guidelines. No one is allowed to assist your choices as this is about expressing yourself, not even parents (unless you fail to meet the guidelines). I wouldn't be able to make you anything from now until selections but I know the guide by heart so you can have mine. You need photos of all options and wear them for the last week of term ( don't forget one or two P.E options plus possible winter versions. They like to be snippy if the outfit changes too much ).'
Alya now understood why Marinette seemed so exited and alert. She must look forward to this every year. She looked up at the teacher and saw her on the phone looking worried,
"What did Cindy do? She what! how much will it be to get her out? 200, okay I'll be there soon, she cant be there too long or she'll start to get overwhelmed. Yeah? Uh huh? Yeah, bye." she put down her phone, "I'm sorry class but it seems my daughter has found herself in the back of a police car again and I can't leave her in a holding cell all day or her tourettes will begin to work overtime. I'll ping a message to Mr Damocles and have him send a substitute over, this might take a while." she didn't say anything more as she grabbed her purse and rushed out the door.
Talking broke out at once but very few seemed surprised, Madame Bustier's daughter, Cindy, was clearly well known among them. Alya decided to disregard it and turned to Marinette,
"So. Switching Season?" she said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.
"Yeah! Gabriel Agreste is actually a massive sponsor for the school and has been since he hit it big, one of his conditions was apparently to alter the way the student dress code was managed and the art department has been one of the school's most fruitful since." Marinette rambled.
Adrien cut in, "I didn't know father financed the art curriculum here. You learn something new every day."
Marinette didn't even stutter, she was in her element. "I love it, its my favourite part of Dupont and the reason that unless I was moving to the other side of the world I wouldn't transfer. The basic guidelines are that you have to cover your chest, crotch, upper thighs, a crop top can't have a gap between the waistline and the edge that is larger than 6 inches without an undershirt; what else? Anything else? Oh! And if there is a cut out it has to be sheer. Accessories and extras are to be decided as you wear them"
Adrien beamed at the confident and exited girl before his smile slowly faded, "Father would never let me pick out clothes for myself, it would ruin his 'image'." Adrien mimed quotation marks as he bitterly spat the last word.
Marinette looked shocked and angry for a second before swooping down and hugging him as tightly as she could. After a second she seemed to realise just who she was hugging and released him in favour of scampering back to her seat. She then shook herself and declared, "Well guess what Agreste, due to the rules that your father himself placed on this event, he is banned from interfering. Guess who is choosing their own wardrobe?"
Adrien looked shocked at how Marinette was acting, she had always been awkward and stiff around him, he thought she was uncomfortable with him being there and disliked him. But here Marinette was, confident and acting as if she were a civillian Ladybug, he was pleasantly surprised at this and even more so when her declaration finally sank in. He could be himself, "Me." he murmured and ran his hands through his hair at the revalation.
"That's right," Marinette turned back to Alya satisfied at how she handled the situation while oblivious to the shocked mutterings of the class who knew of her obvious crush and reactions to the boy sh had just hugged.
Alya was freaking out but could verbalize her emotions in fear of doing the disservice to her best friend of exposing her crush. Instead she chose a topic that she thought would keep this Marinette (who she really liked as a change from day to day self conscious Mari and Adrien seemed to like too) upfront.
"So what are you thinking for your outfits?
She expected more gushing but instead, Marinette coyly smirked and said,
"I'm afraid Alya, that if I tell you, You will give me your opinion and feedback. And feedback, especially biased feedback, will alter how I design. I can't afford that; You see - Gabriel Agreste either online or in person - uses Switching season to scout for talent. And when we showcase our outfits I would particularly like him to notice me this year."
Alya was on the verge if pushing before Alix cut in,
"Believe us Alya we've seen Marinette like this on occasion, It's rare but she is IMPOSSIBLE to crack." The reporter looked around for assurances to the opposite but was sorely disappointed. She shrank down and pouted. The class broke out into laughter and just then a perky blonde woman walked in with a bunch of sketchpads in her arms. She set them down on the desk and turned over to smile at the class.
"Hello there, my name is Mademoiselle Tarìon, many if you will know me as one of the many art teachers at Francois Dupont High School and specifically I am our specialist textiles teacher. Now, as we have missed half an hour of today's lesson, I believe now is as good a time as ever to begin you switching season projects. As I know, few of you are experienced enough to make long lasting clothes that will last you an entire year and so a majority of you will be simply assembling outfits instead of hand crafting them. That being said, Gabriel Agreste will see these and he is constantly on the look out for stylists as well as designers, so filling out these sketch pads with photos, collages, mindmaps and the like will assist you. Think of these as your project portfolio, customisable on the inside and the outside, and enjoy your switching season!"
Mademoiselle Tarìon walked up the centre of the classroom and placed 2 sketchpads on each desk, Marinette and Adrien both snatched their pads up as quickly as possible and began to skim through the rules leaflet that was tucked inside. It was funny for most to see them unintentionally mirror eachother.
The teacher continued to speak as she handed out the sketchpads, "Now remember, you are to document everything you can in regards to this. The fabric and brand choices, the styles, the stitching technique. Anything you can to earn bonus points. And fair warning, if you fail to comply with rules such as independent work without outside assistance, your preferences in anything to do with fashion will be ignored when we select your uniform. So nothing will be expensive, colours won't be your favourites and complaints will be ignored." She directed the bit about the rules towards Chloe and Sabrina who had been respectively ignoring or reaching for Chloe's sketchpad.
When the teacher walked back to the front of the classroom she turned around, stayed quiet for a second before saying and a smooth and joyful voice, "The switching season, starts now."