Miraculous Birthmark by Summer Cheng@SummerCheng37

Chapter 3 Ugliness It Runs In Your Blood

            Marinette arrives late to school!  No surprise here!  She barely got any sleep.  How could she under the circumstances?  She is under a lot of pressure. It seems like she never can get a break from Chloe's  ridicule.   She cannot seem to find a way to avoid this bully.  

            "Well,well, if it is not Miss, Late girl!"  Chloe sneers.

         " Yeah, that is right, you are tardy as ever!"  Sabrina joins her.

        "Haha, it is late Dupain-Cheng!"   Kim scoffs.

          "Wait, leave her alone!"  Adrien says.

         "Oh, yeah and just why should I?"   Chloe mocks.

         "She is a human being that is why."  Adrien answers.

               Class goes as usual.  Everyone has papers to turn in to the teacher.  Adrien hands his in first, than everyone else does.  Marinette has trouble when it comes to her.  She cannot seem to find it anywhere.  She checks the last pocket to her book bag and sees it.  She hands it to the Miss Bustier.

               "Thanks,Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng."  Miss Bustier says. She is glad to see Marinette found her assignment on time.

                  Marinette smiles, and goes to her desk.  Adrien smiles at her.  He is glad to see her.  He has no idea why she always arrives tardy.  He has no idea that she looses sleep each night, nor does he know that Chloe knew her as a baby.  He just knows he cannot help, but smile more when she shows up to class.

                 After class,  "Hey, you!  Wipe that ridiculous smug off your face!"  Chloe says.

                   "Hey, meanie  find something better to do!"  Marinette remarks.

                    "Oh, yeah!  What is that suppose to mean?"  Chloe sneers at her once more. Sabrina sneers at her too.

                  "It means, you need to stop!  Just cut it out already, will ya?"  Marinette blurts out.

                  "Hey, do not talk to my best friend that way."  Alya says.

                "Yeah, leave our friend here, alone."  Mylene says.

                 "Dudette, just cause you wear globs of  makeup does not make you pretty!"  Nino remarks.

              "Oh, yeah just because you wear ear buds does not make you cool!"  Chloe says.

               "Chloe, just can it already!  Leave them alone."  Adrien remarks.

                "Nerd boy, hang around the loosers long enough and we will see that you will become like the rest of them!"  Chloe retorts.

               "Chloe, is downright cruel.  Do not stoop to her level because it positively wicked." Marinette says.

                "Marinette guess what?"  Chole smirks.

                "No, one cares, but we are sure that we will hear it anyway despite it being a waste of all our time."  Marinette remarks.

                "Ugliness It Runs In Your Blood!  As in it  stains your very veins!"  Chloe says with a rude smirk across her face. She laughs, "haha, hehe!"

                 "Come on Marinette, let us go!" Adrien says.  He does not wait for an answer.  He just grabs her hand and pulls her away from the others.

                    Marinette lets him pull her away and thinks, wait what is this?  Why does it make me feel all fuzzy because he grabs my hand?  why should it?   It is not like it could mean anything, anyway, could it?

                 Adrien smiles.  He lets go of her hand. He says, "Marinette, Chloe does not know what she says.  The way I see it, you are pretty!  Really, pretty!" 

                 Marinette frowns. She shakes her head. She runs fast!  She does not say another word. She just goes home in a rush. She enters the bakery without a word to her parents, up the stairs and does her homework.

                  Adrien thinks, ugh!  Why that Chloe, the blonde, wanna be ice queen!  She is as cold as they can be.  She maybe into fashion, but that is not everything.  She maybe rich, but who cares?  She is wrong, dead wrong!   Marinette does not have a shred of  ugliness in her.  Why her blood is nothing, but full of pure, kind and  beauty like none I have ever seen ever before her.  

                   Marinette thinks, is it true?  Does Ugliness really run in my blood?   Does it stain my veins?   Does it?   Does it seep through from the inside out?  If so, then why does Adrien ever bother to pay attention to me?   If it is true, than why do my parents love me?  If so, then how can my friends stand to be near me?  

                    The rest of that night and all the next day, Marinette ponders over the notion that her blood is ugly.  No wonder the rest of her is so  hideous to see.   No wonder she does not stand a chance with a boy.  No wonder everyone takes Chole's  side.  No wonder she is stuck this way from top to bottom. 

                   No wonder,  Marinette struggles so much to try to fit in when it is a lost cause anyway.  Why, the very idea that Ugliness runs in her blood is enough to make her want to give up on ever finding love, or  a better job.  It makes her want to run away and never look back!  It makes her want to stop caring.  It makes her want to stop standing up for herself or anyone else.  It makes her one to break any mirror she sees so she will not have to see herself in the reflection to them.

                Little does she know that bit by bit others will catch on to Chloe's  cruelty and back away from her!  Little does she know that Chloe will slowly loose what few friends she has due to her crude behavior!  Little does she know that the others only stand up for Chloe because they are afraid of her!   Little do she know how much Adrien and many others agree with Marinette!   Little does she know that Adrien has real feelings for her and not fake ones unlike some people she met in her past.

         Original post July 8, 2019 and Edits made July 12,2019

                   to be continued in Chapter  4  Takes One to Know One!