Miracle Box - an MLB rewrite

Learning to be Happy

It was already the night of the dance and things were going better than expected. Well, the dance hadn't started yet, but Marinette was hosting a little get together with the girls of her class to get ready for it. It just seemed like an image from a rom com, really, and it was fun for them. Doing each other's hair and makeup, helping fit the dresses, having dinner, and enjoying each other's company. Only one problem arose.

"It ripped," Alya said with a trembling voice from the other side of the bathroom door which the rest of the girls were crowding around.

"What?" Rose squeaked. Alya suddenly swung the door open to reveal her dress was torn at the sides where the seams just couldn't keep together. Alya was tearing up.

"I ruined it," Alya whimpered. There were a few gasps and murmurs among the girls, most of which had already gotten in their dresses.

"Oh no!" Rose said, being the first to step forward. She looked at the largest rip which exposed a portion of Alya's bra under her armpit. "Um... maybe Marinette can fix it since... she works with clothes?"

"Yeah, just magically make the dress grow," Alya exclaimed, hiding her face in her hands. "This fit me just fine when I tried it last week."

"Hey, hey, don't worry!" Mylene piped up, "there's plenty of time to fix it!"

"We can't FIX it!" Alya sobbed.

"We don't have to," said Marinette, wheeling herself around the corner where she's previously been helping Juleka fit her dress so that it was smaller and less baggy around her hips. "I've already made a plan!"

"What?" Alya finally looked up. Marinette mysteriously disappeared.

"Um... Alya don't worry," Rose said, dismissing Marinette's oddness, "there's still a few hours we could use to find a dress real quick."

"Thrift stores have some magic stuff if you're worried about expense," Alix remarked.

"Nino is supposed to pick me up in an hour," Alya said, rubbing her cheeks with embarrassment.

"No thrift stores!" Marinette reappeared behind the cluster of girls in her room. With her, she brought a mannequin on wheels. It was the only plus sized mannequin she had, and adorning it was a nifty dress with a black sleeveless top, shiny like the leather of a biker jacket, and a bright lavender purple flowy bottom that barely would reach the ankles (if the mannequin actually had legs, of course). Around its waist was a little belt for accessories–its buckle had a wifi symbol on it which glitter in the reflection of light coming through the window.

"Wh-what is that?" Alya asked.

"I made it! For you!" Marinette said as the girls let her come forward with the mannequin. "I know you've been beating yourself up over the Lady Wifi ordeal, and you don't like talking about it. But... I don't know, I thought maybe this would help you appreciate yourself a little? I was planning on cutting the bottom to make it shorter for like... a date dress if you wanted, but I dunno, keeping it long makes it seem more eloquent. And it'll be fun to dance with!"

"You made that?" Alya asked in bewilderment.

"Yep! I tried sizing it for you, but I might need to make some adjustments."

"Can I try it on?"

"Of course! That's why I brought it out here, silly!" Marinette giggled. She unclipped the back of the dress and slipped it off the mannequin, passing it to Alya. "It might be small around the breasts, but I can fix that easily. Try it!"

"I- th-thank you..." Alya said, unsure of what to even say.

The girls continued to encourage her, even as she disappeared abc into the bathroom. Taking a deep breath, Alya unzipped the back of her torn dress and slipped it off. She inspected herself in the mirror for a moment, taking it in, trying to regulate her motion. She looked at her belly, embraced with horrible stretch marks which were now old and whitish, scarring over her hips and down her thighs. Her armpits were also cursed with these, as were her breasts. Alya felt ashamed. She was the only one in her family like this. Her older sister was fit and muscular, blessed with the body of a goddess. Yet, no matter how hard Alya worked for it, she couldn't lose her fat.