The school board couldn’t believe what they were hearing. How had this been going on in Mrs. Bustier’s class. The Dupain-Chengs had come to speak with them regarding the problems in the school, and the board was horrified. They were told about how Marinette was essentially being forced to do her teacher’s job. Marinette had been the one submitting all the forms for field trips, fundraisers, and everything else for the class in the last year. She had also been organizing everything and was expected to keep the class in line. So the school board decided to do something. They tried reaching out to Mrs. Bustier for a meeting several times, but she always dodged the meetings and avoided them. They decided they would have to lure her into a meeting.
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They would give Marinette Mrs. Bustier’s pay, since she has been doing Mrs. Bustier’s job. That would force Mrs. Bustier to come and ask them about her pay, and then they could finally have the meeting they desperately needed with her. They cleared it with Marinette’s family and Mr. Damocles. They gave Mr. Damocles specific instructions not to tell Mrs. Bustier anything and that if she asks, he is to send her to them. Starting the next week, Marinette started receiving Mrs. Bustier’s pay.
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Mrs. Bustier was glad that Marinette was in her class. It made her job so much easier. Marinette was always willing to help with the more mundane and boring tasks. That gave Mrs. Bustier more time to spend with her students. And Mrs. Bustier was sure that the class would respond better to one of their own keeping them in line and being an example, instead of a teacher reprimanding them. Sure, it put more work on Marinette’s shoulders, but she was sure that Marinette could handle it.
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But Mrs. Bustier noticed a problem that had come up with her latest pay checks. Mainly, that they had never arrived. She waited for a week, thinking that maybe there was a problem with the bank. But they still didn’t arrive. When she called the bank, they said that they had never received the checks. She wasn’t sure what the problem was. By now she was missing two pay checks. When she went to Mr. Damocles, he told her that she needed to go speak to the school board about it. Mrs. Bustier didn’t want to, because she knew that they had been trying to set up a meeting with her for weeks. So far, she had managed to avoid the meeting, but now she had to go speak to them.
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Mrs. Bustier went to the school board the next day to ask about her pay. She didn’t expect to hear what she did. “Why haven’t I received my most recent pay checks? I haven’t received my last two checks, and I need to pay my rent. What is going on?” The board just looked at her with bored expressions. “You haven’t been paid, because you haven’t been doing your job.” Mrs. Bustier was shocked. “What do you mean? I show up everyday, and I teach my pupils all day. I am doing my job.” The head of the board just rolled their eyes. “That isn’t your whole job and you know it. We received information that you have been pushing responsibilities on to one of your students, one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Since she has been doing a major portion of your job, she has been receiving your pay checks. For now, we need to discuss your conduct in your class.”
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Mrs. Bustier stood in shock as the board reprimanded her for having Marinette help her in the classroom. She truly didn’t see what she had done wrong. Things only got worse for her when she mentioned how she handled the bullies in her classroom and mentioned all the ‘disabilities’ that Lila supposedly had. The final nail in the coffin was when she discussed the long absences of Lila’s without any formal documentation from her mother. Mrs. Bustier ended up being removed from her position at the school due to her ineptitude. Though she would be allowed to reapply, provided she completed several additional trainings on things like bullying. Marinette had taken all the money the school gave her as ‘payment for her work’ to charities that helped bullied kids, thinking that was a poetic way to use the money. She wasn’t happy her teacher was gone, but was happy that bullies were now being handled, and that Lila was revealed as a liar by the school board.
