Chapter Text
Marinette's life had been on a downward spiral ever since Lila had showed up. Her friends turned against her in a few months, and the one that didn't, stood by as she was being bullied. Her crush was almost completely gone, but did that stop them from accusing her of being jealous? No, it did not.
Her friends -no, she couldn't call them that any more- Her classmates left nasty notes in her locker saying things like, 'Bully,' 'Go back to China, @#%$!,' 'Jealous B!%#$' and those were the nicer ones. They had all but outright hit her, maybe that's why Adrien never stepped in, he didn't think anything was wrong. Even though Marinette banished herself to the back of the classroom and started wearing all black. The spark in her eyes had disappeared and showed no signs of returning.
Tikki helped her to see that she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng and that she was strong. She was precious. She was loved. She was special. It took almost jumping off her balcony and almost getting akumatized to see that. She wasn't healed, but she wasn't getting worse and soon she would start to get better.
Now, Marinette was sitting in the back of the classroom while her classmates tried to produce ideas for the movie contest that was announced. They had three months to produce and film a movie. Right now, Lila was telling them that they should make a documentary of her life and assigning parts. "Mylene can be the light person. Nino the sound. And Alya can be the camera girl. Good! Now, let's star-"
"What about me?" Marinette demanded. They had forgotten her, again.
Lila pretended to look guilty, like she hadn't purposely tried to exclude her, "Oh, I'm sorry. Maybe......you can be the........snack girl!" Marinette's class was a mix of agreeing with Lila and glaring at Marinette.
Marinette rolled her eyes, a plan was forming in her mind, "Actually, Ms. Bustier, can I film my own movie?"
Her classmates glared at her, Alya spoke up, "Oh, so your too good for us now. I see how it is."
Ms. Bustier nodded, she looked relieved not to have to deal with the drama that was going to arise if Marinette worked with Lila, "Of course, as long as you follow the guidelines."
Marinette grabbed her black backpack and walked past a smug Lila, "I will." She marched out the class door and down the hall.
Marinette got so caught up in her plans -like using Trixx- that she didn't look where she was going. She ended up crashing into a warm body and falling backwards into the balcony railing. A sharp pain in the back of her head gave her an instant headache and made her vision swim.
"Oh, I'm so so sorry! Let me help you!" A sweet voice filtered into Marinette's ears. She shook her head a few times to clear her vision and turned to look at the girl she bumped into. It was Mireille Caquet from Ms. Mendeleiev's class and the KIDZ+ Studio. She hoisted Marinette up all while apologizing. She was strong for her small frame, Marinette noted. Mireille looped her arms around Marinette and dragged her to her classroom.
"Ms. Mendeleiev!" Mireille yelled when she got back to her classroom. Marinette winced at the sudden loud noise that assaulted her ears. The class was arguing over something, Marinette thought it might be about the movie contest.
Everyone went quiet after Mireille burst into the room with a limp Marinette at her side and her arms holding her up. Then questions bounced around the room and worsened Marinette's growing headache. Thankfully, Ms. Mendeleiev silenced everyone and guided Marinette over to one of the empty tables. She had her sit on the table and turned to Mireille, "What happened?" She asked before turning to examine Marinette.
"I was walking down the hall, coming back from using the bathroom, when I ran into her and knocked her into the balcony railing. I'm so so sorry!" Mireille directed the last part to Marinette.
Ms. Mendeleiev quickly walked over to the door, "I'm going to go get the nurse." Then she hurriedly left the classroom.
"It's fine." Marinette told Mireille, "Don't worry, I get banged up a lot."
Ms. Mendeleiev's class took special note of the last part of her statement, "What?" Aurore Beaureal asked.
Marinette's eyes widened as she realized what she said, "No, um, not that I mean people hit me or a-anything. I mean just that I'm r-really clumsy." She tried to save. Apparently, she wasn't that convincing because of the concerned looks she was getting. True, her classmates never hit her. They just tripped her and shoved her, before blaming it on her clumsiness.
Mireille looked genuinely concerned, "Is there anything you want to tell us? I promise whatever you tell us won't leave this room."
Maybe if Marinette had been 100% conscious and not have just taken a hit to the head, she wouldn't have told them. But since she had, she told them. She told them of the bullying, Lila, even of the almost suicide. She knew it was going to come out sometime, she just didn't expect it to be in a room full of strangers.
A blond-haired boy she didn't know was the first to speak up, "That's one heck of a story."
Marinette groaned, "I shouldn't have told you all that." She hid behind her fingers.
The blond boy smiled, "I'm glad you did tell us. I'm Claude, by the way."
Aurore fumed, "How dare they do that to you! I've only met you a few times, but you were literal sweetness and defended me!"
A few other classmates shouted out all the times Marinette had helped them in some way or just gave them some encouragement.
"Chloe smashed my science project the day it was due, and Marinette helped me put it back together."
"I tripped and scrapped my knee, Marinette whipped out some band-aids and helped, even though she was late to class."
"Chloe was picking on me and Marinette stopped her by making Chloe pick on her instead."
"Marinette baked me cookies when she found out my grandma had died."
Marinette's eyes widen as each and every student in the classroom mentioned sometime or other when she had gone out of her way to show a little kindness. "I think we have our movie idea." Claude interrupted.
Marinette looked at him questioningly, "Your story." Claude exclaimed. "We could base a movie off your story." Everyone enthusiastically agreed. "Only if you’re okay with." Claude hurriedly added.
Marinette looked around at everyone's faces, and smiled up at Claude, "Only if I don't have to play me."
Claude leaped up and punched the air, "Yes!" That was the moment that Ms. Mendeleiev decided to rush back in with the nurse. She looked at Claude questioningly. "Is it okay if Marinette joins us in making the movie?"
Ms. Mendeleiev looked around at her student's hopeful faces, "Only if it's okay with Miss. Dupain-Cheng." Claude did another fist pump.
Marinette looked around at all the kids smiling at her and decided that this was worth the minor concussion she got. And she was going to have a wonderful time.