Secrets

Chapter five - First day

Mareinette hugged Harry goodbye. She smiled widely at him. This smile was almost real. She had grown to like the old man's presence. He was always nice to her and seemed too frail to ever hurt her. Marinette didn't reuse easily sometimes. Other times, she trusted you with the whole of her heart with just one week.

"Bie, Harry!" She waved as she headed to school. She had told Him that was was exited and nervous to be going to a new school, but in reality, she knew this would be like her old schools. She would sit in the corner alone, and the rest would pretend she wasn't there as she did the same to them. If there was a group project, they would let her do all the work. She didn't mind. She tried to be partners with them, trying to save someone else the work of not only dealing with them, but the research of the whole project themselves. Mari had nothing better to do anyway, and it gave her an excuse to go up in her room and not be disturbed.

When she got there, people where still walking around in the space surrounded by the school itself, kind of like a courtyard. She didn't stop to talk, but instead went to her class on the second floor. No one noticed her. Mrs. Bustier was shuffling papers on her desk. Mari was five minutes early. There where people scattered throughout the classroom, Talking about their summers. Mrs. Bustier looked up when Marinette cleared her thought. She smiled, standing up straight. "You must be Marinette." Mari smiled at her and nodded. The teacher pointed to a seat in the second row. Next to a girl on her phone. "That'll be your seat. That girl is Alya. She's very nice." She held out a hand and put it on Mari's shoulder lightly. "Welcome!" She said with a smile. Mari smiled back and made her way to seat.

She tried to sit as quietly as possible, as to not disturb the girl. She was fairly good at going around quietly and not getting noticed.

But Alya was good at noticing things people wanted to keep quiet. She looked up and saw Marinette putting her bag down. "Hello." She said brightly. Mari held back the urge to flinch, and instead turned to her with a bright smile. "Hi." She said quietly, then sat back stareing at her interlocked hands resting on the table. Alya wasn't going to give up that easily. She reached  out a hand for Mari to shake. "I'm Alya." Mari shook it. "I know. The teacher told me- ah! I mean, umm. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound rude. You have a nice name." She finished, blushing. Alya laughed. "It's cool  girl. What's your name?" Mari looked up, confused. Before she could answer, the warning bell rang, and the rest of the class filed in, not wanting to be late. The brown-haired boy in front of Alya was joined by someone, but Mari, who was still looking at her hands, didn't bother to see who. 

School began.

"Students." Mrs. Bustier said, calling the class to attention. "We have a new student. Please stand up and come to the front of the class." Great. Marinette groaned. Just peachy. She walked down the stairs, and stumbled a bit. There was a snicker to her right. A girl with blond hair sat next to another girl with orange hair. She made it to the front without further incident. She looked down at her feet. "Class, this is Marinette Dupain- cheng. She-" Marinette interrupted the teacher. "Cheng." She said. The teacher looked confused. "What?"

"My name is Marinette Cheng." She said quietly, not looking up. "Class," the teacher started over.   "This is Marinette Cheng. She just moved from a different side of Paris. She comes from America originally. I expect you to treat Mrs. Marenette with respect. Does anyone have questions?" The blond girl raised her hand. "Is that where you got that ridiculous accent?" She asked snidely. Mari nodded. "What happened to your other parent, Marinette Dupain?" She asked another question. Mari seemed to fold into herself. She should have pretended to be sick. Instead, she rushed to her seat, nearly falling on top of Alya. The girl steadied her, but Mari didn't bother to say thanks. "Chloe! I said to be nice!" The teacher scolded.

The day passed, and the bell rang for school. At lunch, she climbed up the tallest tree in the courtyard with her lunch. She went up the highest she could go without the branch breaking. She thought about her dad.

Alya's POV

When the bell for lunch rang, the girl, Marinette, rushed out of the classroom. Adrien, Nino, and I sat down at our usual lunch table. "That was really mean of Chloe." I ranted. "It's obvious something happened to one of her parents, whip ask about it just To make her upset?!?!" Alya was seething. The new girl seemed sweet, and definitely didn't deserve what Chloe did. "Ya, she seemed pretty upset about it." Nino said. Adrien agreed, nodding. "We should go find her." He said. Alya jumped up, grabbing her lunch. "That's a great idea!" The boys hurriedly grabbed their lunches and followed after her as she ran in the direction she had last seen the girl go. 

"Marinette!" She yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth. Nino leaned up against a nearby tree. "Where'd she go?" He asked."I'm up here." Their heads snapped up, and there, high in the tree, was Marinette. "Woah!" Adrin said. "How the heck did you get all the way up there?" He helped up to her. She climbed down halfway, so they didn't have to yell. "I climbed." She stated simply. Nino laughed. She smiled. It was a nice sight. "Can we eat with you?" Alya asked. Mari's smile turned to confusion. "What? Why?" Alya looked at Nino and Adrien. "Uh, cause you seem nice?" She didn't come down. "That's quite nice, thanks, but-" she began to argue, but Alya wouldn't take no for an answer. "Girl, I don't care what your reason is! You need good friends, and that is what we are! So get your butt down here before I come up and get you!" She said, angry. Mari laughed. "Alright, alright! I'm coming down."

She reached the ground. "Do you want to go back to main lunch place or stay here?" Alya asked brightly. Mari was staring at the ground. "I'll stay here, you guys can go and sit with the others." She said timidly. Alya put her hands on her hips and stood in front of the small girl. "Why are you so against us being friends with you?" She demanded. Mari looked up at her, and for the first time, the trio saw her eyes. They where a beautiful, striking blue. "Cause you have no reason to?" Mari said, making it into a question. Alya took a breath, and Nino stepped in. "Dudette, don't even try to reason with her. Just sit down." Mari did so, and they sat with her. "Th-thanks." She stuttered.