When Marinette lost all her friends, she didn't break down like she thought she would. Or how anyone in class thought she would. There were no tears, no apologies, no anger or frustration. It had happened one sunny Tuesday afternoon, in the middle of class, of month after school started back up again.
Alya, the new class president, had announced in the middle of class after Miss Bustier had stepped out for a moment, that Marinette was an awful bully; she wasn't the girl they knew anymore, and so... "We're not your friends anymore."
"You all feel this way?" Marinette asked.
There were a lot of nods, and yes's."
"I didn't hang with Chloe for reason," Nino glared. "I'm not hanging with Chloe 2.0."
"Just another disappointing useless male," Chloe shook her head.
"You've been really mean lately," Rose said softly. "Sorry."
"Lila only wanted to be friends with you," Mylene insisted. "You didn't have to be so nasty!"
To which Marinette looked at her blankly, shrugged and said, "Okay."
That was it.
The other students in class didn't know what to do or say. They had prepared themselves to argue and defend their decision. But what could they say to "okay."
Nathaniel looked at the rest of the students like there were stupid, "I'm still your friend, Marinette." He got glares.
Adrien nodded, "We're still friends," he assured. "Though," he glared at the rest of class, "Some people should definitely lose my number."
The statement got shocked looks. No one expected Adrien to side with Marinette. At worst, when the lines were drawn, they expected him to be neutral. They didn't know the boy as well as they thought. Lila looked dismayed as she had thought the boy to be a pushover.
"I wouldn't mind a permanent truce," Chloe offered. The Bluenette and the blond's had entered into a truce that had slowly turned into a good friendship. "Maybe i'll take over the spot as the new bestie."
Marinette snorted.
Adrien glared at his oldest friend, his hair raising on ends; if Alya was officially out of the way that meant technically he had the number one friend spot. He wouldn't lose it to Chloe. That wasn't fair! "It's taken!"
Chloe smirked, "For now!"
Marinette smiled. She would be just fine.
The class, however, wouldn't.
It took them three days to realize that ending their friendship with Marinette had consequences.
The first time was when in the middle of lunch, Rose let out a happy scream, "Prince Ali is coming back to town. He's invited me to a fundraising gala for the children's hospital. This Saturday." The other girls immediately launched into excited screams.
The four, who had been exiled from the rest of the class, ignored them. Mostly because they were all going to the gala as a well. Adrien because of his father. Nathaniel because his art was being displayed. Chloe because she was Chloe. And Marinette because her great aunt was hosting it.
When four was the first to make it back to class and sat in their seats in the very back; talking amicably, they barely noticed the other students come in. But they did notice Rose when she ran to the back of the class with a huge smile on her face.
