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

Chapter 45: Word Getting Out

"So, what did Bruce want to talk to you about yesterday after training." Marinette asked while on her ride to school with Damian. "I wanted to stay up and ask you but I was just so tired that I fell asleep instantly after my shower."

"Nothing important." He kept a neutral face. "Just some... helpful suggestions."

"You would think that with you training with him for so long that you would practically know everything he has to teach. He's a very wise man."

"Yes." Damian nods. "Wise."

While stopped at a red light, Marinette caught a glimpse of a flash in the corner of her eye. Looking over, she saw a small group of people with cameras pointed at her. "I thought people didn't care about seeing Damian Wayne around town." She turned her attention back to her boyfriend. "Why are they taking pictures of you?" The bluenette looked back to them.

Damian follows her line of sight to see that none of them seem to be paying attention to him. Instead, they were watching his girlfriend. "Word must have gotten out. It was probably my class." He drove off when the light turned green again.

"Word about what?" She looked confused.

"About us. I'd imagine that if anyone dated a member of my family it would be big news."

"Okay. Makes sense. I do remember seeing something about Selina awhile ago." Marinette went quiet for a moment. "Didn't you say that Dick had a girlfriend? I've never seen anything about her before."

"That's because she is very different and could attract some unwanted attention. It's best for everyone if she stays out of the spotlight." Damian informed.

"What do you mean by that?"

"She's an alien." He shrugged like that was the most normal thing. "You may know her as Starfire."

"What? How cool. Why haven't I met her yet?" Her eyes lit up with excitement.

"Remember me telling you that Kori was out of town?" He asked as she nodded her head. "She's actually off world. She has some business to take care of on her home planet. Kori is royalty where she's from and she has to periodically go back for her royal duties."

"Dick is dating an actual real-life princess?" She raised her eyebrows in shock.

"I believe she is queen now. Although her sister still fights with her over the throne." He says casually as he pulls into his parking space.

"Dick's girlfriend just got a whole lot cooler." She stepped out of the car and met up with Damian to hold his hand when they met each other at the back of his car.

"I think you two would like each other." He smiled at his excited girlfriend. "You are both very happy and bright people."

"Hey, Marinette!" Her friends waved at her as they approached.

"Hey, everyone." She gave each of her friends a hug. Looking around, she found Alya ignoring her again. "You all ready for day number two?"

"I hope we aren't doing anymore introductions." Chloe rolled her eyes. "The guy I sat with was completely distracted by 'the Ice Princes' girlfriend."

"Yeah, mine too." Juleka whispered.

"So, it was more than just one of them." Damian had a stern look.

"What do you mean?" Alix asked.

"He thinks that word got out about us because people were taking pictures of us at a red light earlier."

"Who knows what lies they spread about us." The young billionaire scoffed.

"Okay, students." Madame Mendeleiev spoke up. "Time for us all to head to class. Follow me."
--------
Both classes found that class today is a lot more boring than it was yesterday. They were stuck doing a science project that Madame Mendeleiev made. Science wasn't Marinette's strong suit but she found it to be very easy with the help of Damian. They were both finished way before anyone else and they found themselves just talking to each other again minutes before the lunch bell ever rang.

"Mr. Wayne, Miss Dupain-Cheng, why are we talking instead of working like you are supposed to?" Madame Mendeleiev asked. "I would hate to split the two of you up.

Damian deadpanned at the teacher. "We already finished."

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow at the two. "Let me see your work then."

Marinette handed over the lab paperwork with a smile. "Here you go."

The teacher looked over it for a moment before nodding. "Okay then. Well done you two."

Just then, the bell rang for lunch. "When you come back, make sure you keep your voices down. People are still working on this." She handed them back their paper with a smile.
--------
"Do you really think she wants to sit all by herself?" Marinette asked while sitting down at lunch with her friends. "I hate that Alya looks so lonely."

"She did this to herself." Nino shrugged. "She knows how much of a forgiving person you are but she still won't admit her own wrong doings to even try and make things even a little bit better. She's being unreasonably stubborn."

"I still think she will come around." Rose still seemed hopeful. "She just needs more time is all."

"You're too sweet, Rose." Alix shook her head. "I wish we all had your positivity."

"Honestly, she's not even worth all this trouble, Marinette." Chloe scoffed.

"I know, but she was once my best friend."

"Exactly." Kim nodded. "And she threw that all away for a liar."

"Maybe she can give up her journalist idea and swap it out to be a best-selling fiction writer." Adrien joked.

"Adrien!" Marinette tried to keep a stern face but ended up busting into laughter. "That's not nice."

"I don't know. He's kinda got a point." Max agreed with a laugh.

The whole table was bubbling with laughter and Alya found herself looking back at all of her old friends with sadness.

"Hey, you're one of those bully girls, right?" A GA student sat down next to her. "Why did you do it?"

"I'm not a bully!" She snapped.

"Right..." The student didn't look like they believed her.

"I though she was the bully." Alya looked down at the food she hasn't touched yet.

"So that makes your actions okay? You like to fight fire with fire?"

"No, I..." She was at a loss for words.

"She seems like such a genuinely nice person." They look over to Marinette's table. "I even heard them saying that you were once her best friend and for some strange reason she still cares about you even though you have clearly treated her like shit."

"She ruined everything I have worked so hard for. Because she exposed Lila, she ended up exposing all of her lies and the stories I wrote about them. I'll never be accepted into journalism school now."

"It sounds to me like you didn't check your sources. This has nothing to do with her."

"What do you know?" Alya scoffed.

"Okay then." The student got up and started to walk away. "I hope that one day you can see through all this rage and think clearly." They said over their shoulder before walking back to a group of their own friends.