Class started. The class was listening to Lila. There was someone missing, but they almost didn’t notice.
“Ms. Bustier? Where’s Marinette?” Was Adrien’s hesitant question.
“Marinette has been transferred to Ms. Mendeliev’s class.” The teacher said stiffly.
The class erupted. One thought was on their mind.
She abandoned us.
—
“Did you hear? Marinette Dupain-Cheng finally got her class transfer approved!!”
“Oh good for her! She’s been trying to get away from Ms. Bustier for years!!”
“Did you hear? Marinette Dupain-Cheng is out of the cult class!”
“That poor girl... I’m so glad she’s out of there. Those kids were some really bad eggs.”
“Without those nasty kids clinging to her, this is prime time to woo the school sweetheart!!”
“What kind of flowers does she like? Would sweets be an insult since her parents are bakers?”
“I’m gonna try and sit with her at lunch! She’s been looking lonely, and now those weirdos can’t stop us!”
—
“Marinette! I didn’t know what flowers you liked, so I got you a couple of my best from my garden!” An eager boy, dashed with dirt, handed over a handmade bouquet of several beautiful flowers.
“Oh wow! Pierre, right? These are wonderful! You’ve obviously taken really good care of them!!” Marinette smiled happily, hugging them to her chest. The crowd around her cooed and fawned over her.
She’d been surprised by how many other people in the school were interested in her, giving her tons of heartfelt gifts. She thought she would be truly alone in Mendeliev’s class, but the entire class was eager to get to know her, and Marc and Nathaniel, who’d transferred out almost a year prior to Marinette, were happy to help her catch up to their speed. Bustier’s class was super behind on classwork!!
Everytime she went to lunch, tons of people wanted to see her and talk to her. They were interested in her and what she was doing, not because they wanted something, but because they genuinely liked her and were curious. The girls and boys alike fawned over her designs, and she ended up bringing home a small group of them almost everyday to hang out. Her parents were delighted by the massive influx of friends, and were happy to let the groups mingle in the cafe area of the bakery as long as they didn’t disturb customers and didn’t take up too much space.
Marinette did her best to remember everyone who approached her, which just made her more adored by all as she effortlessly recalled dozens of people and their interests. She did her best to make time for all of them, and they all appreciated her doing such. To help her organize, she emptied out her binder used for class president stuff (as she was no longer class president), and instead made entries of all her new friends, their likes and dislikes, etc. She showed it to her class president, Aurore, and she thought it was unbearably sweet.
Pierre Weaver, gardener, liked to talk plant breeding strategies, grew the freshest strawberries and the prettiest sunflowers.
Lake Rainer, painter, who liked to ask very philosophical questions that didn’t always make sense. Marinette enjoyed their conversations while she sewed in the art club.
Jacques Fawkes, a genius engineer that built a robot out of scrap and was not able to have it taken by teachers because it was a registered learning AI. The AI, Rat, was as cheerful and rambunctious as his creator. Both of them had volunteered to walk Marinette to and from class to help her avoid her old class. Jacques’ intimidating height cane in handy at scaring away her class in the hallways.
