A Black Cat's Luck

Getting Adjusted

Another day at Françoise Dupont High School, and Marinette was having a nice lunch with her friends; Alya, Juleka, and Rose. The four were chatting until Alya noticed a lone girl over in the back of the cafeteria. "Hey, who's she?"

Alya pointed to the girl who was sitting all alone; she had long brown hair with strands tucked behind her ears, she seemed to be wearing a light purple shirt underneath a white crop top. A pair of red and black earbuds were stuck in both of her ears while she watched whatever was on her phone, all the while munching on a piece of her lunch.

The rest of the girls looked over in her direction.

"Oh, that's a new girl." Rose chimed. "I think she just moved here."

Marinette got a slight uneasy feeling in her stomach, considering what their last new girl was like. But to be fair, this one wasn't parading around like she owned the place. Rather, she was minding her own business. Marinette also thought that if she just moved here like Rose said, she must not have many friends, if any at all.

Her kind nature kicking in once again, Marinette stood up from her seat and grabbed her lunch tray. "Well, let's go say hello."

The rest of the girls smiled and nodded, following Marinette's stride as they all took their lunches and walked over to the lonesome girl. Once the girls reached the table, the brunette gazed upwards, her light blue eyes wide in surprise. She popped out her earbuds and finished the slice of Brie in her hand before speaking, "Hi..."

She said it almost like a question, like she was curious as to why anyone would approach her.

Marinette just smiled. "Hello. May we sit with you?"

"Oh, of course." The brunette quickly nodded as she hastily made room for the four girls to sit down. Marinette sat right beside the new girl, Alya on Marinette's other side, and Juleka and Rose sat together adjacent from Marinette.

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng." She said, sticking her hand towards the brunette.

"I'm Shayla Pearl." Shayla took Marinette's hand and gave it a gentle shake before setting her own hand back in her lap. She didn't give much of a reaction, just a blank slate, like she's almost never been greeted before.

"We saw you sitting alone, so we thought we'd come and say hi." Alya spoke up, trying to put the girl at ease. Make her feel more comfortable. "I'm Alya, by the way. And this is Rose and Juleka." Rose and Juleka waved at Shayla respectively when Alya called their names, just so she would know which is which.

"It's nice to meet you all." Shayla said with a shy smile before looking back down at her lunch. She seemed like she didn't really know what to do, or say.

Marinette tried to strike up more conversation by asking Shayla more questions: Where did she come from? How the move was? What's her family like? What she likes to do?

Once she got Shayla talking, she seemed a lot more confident. She went on about how great her parents are, how much she and her younger sister get along, and she gushed about how much she likes to dance for a good while. Before they all knew it, the lunch bell chimed, indicating that it was time to go to class now.

As the girls packed up, Marinette asked Shayla one last thing: "So, what's your next class?"

"I have Ms. Bustier."

Marinette got a small jolt of excitement that this Shayla would also be in her class. The two walked to the class together, then Marinette realized, the only available seat for Shayla was in the back. With Lila! Marinette bit her lip as Shayla took her spot next to the villainess; Shayla seemed so nice, and Lila was incredibly good at manipulating people. Marinette hoped that she'd be able to handle herself.