Guess Again [A Miraculous FanFiction]

Chapter Eight: New School, Same Ol' Drama (Sort of)

The bell rang out in a set of unfamiliar tones and the group of sixteen and seventeen-year-olds groaned in unison. They stood in the rain, glaring up at the grey-black sky, and then entered the muddy-colored building before they got completely soaked.

"Why can't we just go back to the old school?" A shrill, obnoxious voice complained as the doors swung closed. "That was much closer to my house."

"Chloe, you ride in a limousine to school. It doesn't make a speck of difference to you," Alya glared at the blonde as she stripped off her blue jacket and hung it next to the door. "Besides, it's not like they had any choice. The school was damaged during the break; you know that!"

Chloe tossed her hair and glanced at her nails before replying, "Everyone knows that." Her snide tone did nothing to ruffle Alya's feathers, however, because Alya and Mari were already heading for their first class.

"I don't know why you must antagonize her, Al." Marinette muttered good-naturedly as she held open the door to the plain-looking classroom.

"Because it's fun, Mari. Simple as that."

The girls laughed as they chose seats in the second row from the front of the room. Slowly, their classmates trickled in after them and the late bell rang as Chloe walked through the door. Their teacher, who had been sitting at a desk in the front right corner, didn't even look up when it rang. Marinette strained her neck to see around Juleka, trying to get a view of the desk, to no avail.

They sat, chattering and talking quietly, until there was the squeak of a chair and the person stood up.

"Hello class."

"Hello," they chorused back. Marinette was surprised to see how young their new teacher was. His hair was a light brown with natural blonde streaks, his eyes were almost as blue as hers, and his face....Marinette blinked and looked away from him before he could see her staring.

"He's cute!" Alya leaned over and whispered.

"Shut up," Mari growled and blushed. Alya grinned wickedly but was quiet as the man began to speak.

"My name is Jeffrey Jones, but please just call me 'Jeff.' I just moved from the States and I dislike the formalities." The class giggled and he smiled. "Now, I know all of you have had a rough couple months. I'm sorry about the loss of your last school and the complications of everything else, but I sincerely hope we can get back on track ASAP."

Alya sniggered at the last part and leaned over to whisper in Marinette's ear, "Did he really just use 'ASAP' in real life?"

Mari shook her head and made a shoo-ing gesture to her best friend. Alya ignored her and continued to make snarky comments the rest of the class period.

The bell rang and everyone stood. As the students began to exit the class, Mr. Jones called, "Marinette, would you mind staying behind for a moment?"

She and Alya exchanged startled glances but Mari stayed in her seat as everyone else filed out of the room. Chloe threw her a smug look that said she was sure Mari was in trouble. Marinette sighed inwardly, praying Chloe hadn't done anything too-Chloe-ish on their first day back. She wasn't sure she could handle it right that second.

As soon as the classroom was empty, Mari stood up and wandered down towards the teacher's desk. Mr. Jones was ruffling through his papers, seeming to have forgotten she was there.

"Yes, sir?" Marinette finally asked and Mr. Jones jumped.

"Oh, hello." he smiled at her.

"You....asked me to stay behind...?" Marinette tried to keep the annoyance out of her tone. She didn't want to be late to her second class.

"Yes, yes," he said, looking up from his papers and stretching as he straightened. "I had a question for you."

He didn't continue immediately and Mari raised an eyebrow at him. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do you have a cousin in the States named Michelle Ancelet?"

Mari was stunned by the randomness of the question, but she replied quickly, "Yes, actually." Her thoughts turned to Michelle, who was her mother's closest cousin and the very person they had last visited overseas. Michelle lived in the Northwestern part of the States, and they visited her as often as they could. However, Mari wasn't sure where the conversation was going.

"Aha. I thought I recognized you. I'm sure she's mentioned me." He flashed a bright grin at her and she blinked, thinking hard.

"Uhm...no?"

His face fell. "Oh. Hmmm. I was certain she would have."

"Well," Mari began, feeling strangely guilty for hurting his feelings, "it has been over a year since I saw her. And last time I did, we mainly talked my life here."

"Alrighty then," he grinned suddenly, throwing her off balance. "If that's the way it is, I should probably re-introduce myself." He held out a hand to her and she shook it in confusion, "Jeffrey James Jones, nice to meet you."

"Uhm...Nice to meet you too? How," she coughed self-consciously, "does Michy know you?"

"Right!" he dropped her hand and grabbed his cell phone from off the desk. He scrolled through it for a moment and then showed it to her. The screen showed a woman who resembled Sabine Cheng very closely: she had the same grey-green eyes and sweet smile, along with the trademark blue locks, flowing down her shoulders. The woman was arm and arm with no one other than Mr. Jones. "She's actually my best friend."

"Oh!" Mari was happily surprised by this revelation. "That's so cool." She hesitated then, remembering something that Michelle had told her, "You know, she actually has mentioned you. She called you JJ though, so I didn't make the connection. It's really nice to meet you." She grinned at him and he met her smile with a large one of his own. Again, she was struck by how....attractive he was. He couldn't be more than a couple years older than she was, after all...she started doing the math in her head....

Suddenly, she kicked herself. What was she doing? He was her teacher! Plus, she had Adrien. Okay, she didn't HAVE Adrien, but he was a giant part of her life. And Chat. She couldn't forget about Chat. Not that she felt that way about him, but if she should be discovering some kind of attraction for anyone other than Adrien. Freaking. Agreste. it really shouldn't be...

Again, she kicked herself. She was letting her mind get away from her.

"Okay, well I suppose I should let you head to your next class," her new teacher said with another large smile. She grinned and waved, shoving her bag more securely onto her shoulder.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Talk to ya later," she hesitated and then added recklessly, "JJ."

He chuckled and waved back.

Marinette shut the door and hurried to her next class, trying to shove away the unsettled feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to simply pretend the whole conversation never happened. She was determined not to mention it to Alya.

No one could know what was going on inside her head. No one.