She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 6: A Morning with Friends

"Wake up, Mari!" Alix shakes the young teens shoulder to get her up. "We gotta be on the bus in about 45 minutes."

"5 more minutes, Maman." She mumbles.

"No. Not 5 more minutes Marinette." Chloe pulls the girl up by her hand while Mari lets out a surprised squeal. "We are meeting for breakfast in about 15. We let you sleep in as long as possible." She hands her a pile of clothes and pushes her towards the bathroom. "Go get dressed and stuff. Just leave your hair to me."

"Ugh, fine." She grumbles as she stomps her way to the bathroom. "I hate getting up in the morning."

After 10 minutes of her noisily doing her thing in the bathroom, she comes out dressed and with a smile. "Chloe, you are letting me wear this? It's absolutely gorgeous."

"Of course, it is. I would never buy anything less than perfection." She smiles as she looks over at her friend.

Marinette wore a red turtle neck with bell sleeves paired with an asymmetric plaid grey, black and red pencil skirt. With it she had on thigh high black boots.

"This black handbag and beret will finish off the whole look, but first" Chloe pats on a chair in front of the vanity in the hotel room. "I need to do your hair and makeup. Nothing too crazy. Just some quick curls and maybe a red lip."

Marinette always loved when Chloe would do her hair. She could never quite copy they way she does it.

"I appreciate this Chlo, but why do I get to be your doll today? Did I miss something?"

"Only the fact that you saved us all from Scarecrow yesterday. Plus, red has always been your color. I tried on this outfit myself but it didn't scream 'Chloe'. You know yellow is more my color." She winks at Marinette.

"Thank you, Chloe. You're the best."

Chloe smiles down at her friend while she does her finishing touches. "I know I am." She pulls out a tube of lipstick from her purse. "Here, put this on along with your hat. All your things are already in your purse."

Marinette puts on a few swipes of lipstick then puts the beret on and grabs her purse. Looking inside, she finds her phone, sketch book and three kwami's smiling back at her "We ready?" She turns to Chloe.

"Yep. Everybody is already downstairs eating breakfast. Let me grab the room key and we can go."

The duo easily chats on the way down to the lobby and to the open breakfast bar. Spotting their friends and giving them a wave, they grab a plate and get a few things to eat before joining them at the table.

"Wow princess, you look great." Adrien says as the girls sit down.

"Thanks." She smiles back at her best friend. "Although Chloe here lent me the outfit."

"Team work does make the dream work." Alix nudges Marinette in a friendly way. "You do look hot though girl."

Marinette's face quickly goes red at Alix's words.

"Coming from the girl with two boyfriends," Chloe puts her arm around the bluenette. "I would take that complement to heart."

"I agree." Kim rolls his eyes at Alix. "She doesn't even give us complements, right Max?"

"Affirmative." Max nods. "But that's Alix for you. Although I wouldn't change a thing about her."

"Egh! This gooey stuff is making me miss Kagami." Adrien leans back in his chair. "If you are going to say stuff like that, make sure you do it far away from me." He jokes.

"How is Kagami anyways?" Chloe asked.

"Good. I just Facetimed her last night when you all fell asleep. She's very busy training for her fencing competition coming up."

"Wish her luck for us the next time you talk to her, will you?" Marinette says between bites of food.

"Sure thing." He replies as the table falls into comfortable silence while they all eat.

A few minutes later, Madame Bustier calls for the class to gather up and get on the bus. On her way to her seat, she passes by Alya and Lila. She isn't sure who, but one of them sticks their foot out into the aisle and she falls onto the bus floor.

Laughing, Lila says in a condescending voice, "Oh look. Maritrash seems to have made it on time today. Too bad she couldn't leave her clumsiness back at the hotel."

Half of the class laughs along with Lila as Adrien reaches down to help her up. "Don't listen to them, bugaboo. They aren't worth your time."

Nodding at him, she decides not to speak out of fear that her voice would betray her. Trying hard to not let any tears fall, she makes her way to her seat next to Chloe.

"She really has the class brain washed." Chloe whispers to her friend. "Alya was once your best friend and now she's purposefully tripping you up? How does someone do a full 180 like that?"

"I don't know Chloe. Maybe you should ask yourself?" She smiles weakly at her. "You once hated me but now we are best friends."

"I never hated you Mari. I was jealous of you and didn't know how to express my feelings." Chloe hugs her best friend. "But you showed me how to change for the better. I became a good person because of you. If the rest of the class can't see how wonderful you are then it's their loss. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is by far the best human being I know."

Releasing the hug, Marinette looks to the rest of her friends to see them all nodding with agreement. "Thank you, guys. I'm glad Lila hasn't taken everyone away from me."

"And she never will." Adrien gently takes Marinette's hand. "Not if we have anything to say about it."
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"You look nervous, baby bird? Are you anxious to meet Marinette outside the mask?" Dick teases his younger brother.

"I am not nervous. A Wayne never gets nervous." He says while adjusting his collar for the dozenth time in the last 30 minutes.

"Sure thing, Demon Spawn. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Jason teases.

"Boys." Bruce breaks them apart. "Behave yourselves. We all have a part to play today and technically Jason, you don't even need to be here. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself."

Jason puts his hands up in mock surrender. "I know Bruce. I Just wanted to see this all unfold for myself. I'll keep to the shadows."

"Well then you better make your way there." Tim informs. "The bus just pulled up. I'll see you all in a bit." And with that he walks off.