Look What You Made Me Do

Sorry Lila....No Mind Twisting Today

((A/N: Time for the first day of Gotham Academy!))

((A/N: Sorry there was such a gap again. I got a bit of writers block))

Marinette was looking forward to attending Gotham Academy. Their class had always been small and tight knit since they had known one another for awhile. She wanted to meet new people, though part of her was a little worried. What if Lila was able to spread her poison here like she had back in Paris?

“You okay?” Chloe asked. “You’ve got that look on your face.”

“What look?” Marinette asked looking amused. 

“That weight of the world look.” Chloe commented as they walked.

“I guess it’s just nerves.” 

“Come on….it’s a big school and you have people on your side. Plus I absolutely need to believe that the people at this school can not be as stupid as our classmates for my peace of mind.”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m hoping so too. I think the people of Gotham aren’t so quick to believe everything they hear.”

“Yeah they go through enough crazy stuff. Well here we go.” Chloe announced as they saw their class up ahead. “Remember, head high and don’t take shit from anyone.”

“Always.” Marinette smiled as she fist bumped with Chloe.

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“Look Marinette and Chloe are FINALLY here.” Lila smiled sweetly. “I wonder who they’re staying with and why there’s secrecy around it.” She hated not knowing something that could potentially be important. Plus not knowing where those two losers were staying made her feel slightly anxious.

“Probably some low level grunt that lives deep in the city.” Alya replied, her eyes narrowed a bit as the two girls approached them.

“What does any of that matter?” Alex asked, sounding a touch impatient. “I just want to get this school stuff over with!”

Before Lila could process that tone, Max spoke up. “What?! I can’t wait for school to start. Gotham Academy is a long standing and prestigious school. I hope we get a tour!”

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"Have you heard that the foreign exchange students are going to be in our class?"

"I heard they are from Paris. I heard it's really hard to travel there for some reason. There are all these new regulations."

"I know!! I wanted to go last weekend to buy a new wardrobe but we couldn't! It was so unfair. I had to settle for going to London "

Damian sat at his desk. To anyone who happened to observe him he would look like he was interested in his book. But in reality he was listening to the conversations going on around him. Ladybug had said the Paris mayor and French government were trying to keep things quiet. It seemed like things were getting more and more serious. 

He heard nothing else of note until class began and their teacher called for their attention.  

"Class these are our exchange students from Paris, please be kind to them."

Damian didn't really pay attention as one by one each student introduced themselves and said a little bit about themselves. He had already extensively looked into everyone's backgrounds.

"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. My interests are fashion and baking " 

Damian couldn't help but look up, he could tell that Marinette was nervous but he didn't know why. Until now he had never bothered to pay much attention to a female outside of his family unit. They were quite confusing. He heard older women giggle when Richard called them "Miss". However, calling a lady "Ma'am" made some feel offended, Richard said it was because some women at a certain age got sensitive about such things. And forget telling a classmate she was acting like a little girl. Yes, female seemed the safest word to use. Though according to Brown some people might find that term insulting…oh well, he couldn't make everyone happy. Not that he really tried.

“My name is Chloe Bourgeois, I find this exercise pointless as I doubt I want to get to know any of you.”

Damian felt the corners of his mouth lift a little bit. He could see himself warming up to a second female outside of his family unit. He absolutely loathe pointless social niceties. It seemed like Chloe also felt that way, she also spoke her mind without caring what others thought or said back. He couldn’t help but be envious since he had been scolded several times over the years for being too blunt in his speech.

There was a small pause before the teacher recovered enough to encourage the Paris group to find empty seats, more desks had been brought in and the students had been moved around so there were more of them sitting alone when before they had a desk mate. Of course Damian often had a desk to himself. People found him cold and difficult to work with. In the beginning of the year the teacher would encourage someone to pair with him or would assign him a desk mate. Eventually the complaining became too much and he was alone again.

“Can I sit here?”

Damian looked up to see Marinette smiling down at him. It took a few moments for him to process that someone wanted to sit with him without being forced. The darker parts of his mind whispered that Marinette had gone out with him because she had been put on the spot and was just too nice to say no. Yet here she was asking to sit with him when there were plenty of open seats. 

“If you wish.” he finally answered. Inwardly he winced, wishing he had said something nicer. But instead of being offended Marinette just sat down with a smile. In the past there had been some school mates who reached out to him thinking he just needed someone to try and reach out. Male or female they quickly realized he wasn’t their next project or charity case. He was alone because he wished it.

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“I can’t believe that girl went to sit next to the Ice Prince!”

“Are you kidding?! I can’t believe he let her sit with him!”

“I know right? He left the last girl who tried to be friendly with him in tears!”

Lila listened to the whispers floating around the classroom and frowned. So Marinette had gone to sit next to some boy. What was the big deal. She of course had started to think of ways to spin that in her favor the moment it happened but then she got distracted by everyone’s reaction. Sure the boy was handsome and looked kind of familiar but she still didn’t see what was the big deal about Marinette successfully sitting at his desk!

She pushed down her irritation and gave her desk mate a confused look. “Is something going on?” she asked in an innocent tone.

The girl she had sat down next to looked over. “Your friend just sat down with Gotham Academy’s Ice Prince! He’s so cold and stuck up. He never talks to anyone outside of class and only when he’s forced to. He thinks he’s better than everyone else.”

That was a lot to process but Lila knew she had to capitalize. “Oh…Marinette isn’t my friend. That is…I wish she wanted to be.” she said in a forlorn tone. “But instead she viciously bullies me.” She looked down with a tearful look and waited for the sympathetic response. When nothing happened after a few seconds she looked up in surprise to find the girl on her phone texting.

“Um….didn’t you….” She started to try and get the girl’s attention only for her deskmate to look up with a frown.

“I’m a little busy right now. I have to spread the news!”

Lila blinked and quickly turned her attention to the front of the classroom. Inwardly she was raging. How did Marinette steal all the attention just by sitting with some stupid boy?!

((A/N: Lila better up her game if she wants to play Gothamites. These kids have to deal with so much crap that little mind games are nothing to them))