Chapter Text
Marinette sighed as she landed on her rooftop. That was too close back there. While that girl did see her holding that car up in the air, she managed to leave fast enough that hopefully she would think that she just imagined it thanks to the adrenaline running through her body. Falling back onto one of the lounge chairs that she had placed up there, Marinette lazily stared at the sky. All she wanted to do was walk around the city, but of course something just had to come up!... Eh, it didn't matter.
"I wonder what maman and papa are doing?" Marinette casually muttered to herself as she rolled out of the chair. Walking over to the trapdoor, she proceeded to open and jump through it into her room. Walking over to the trapdoor that leads down to her living room, she grabbed the handle and proceeded to pull on it...only to accidentally pull it off its hinges. Blinking slowly at it, she let out a sigh before placing it to the side and walked down the stairs.
"Maman! Papa!" Marinette called out, but quickly realized that they weren't anywhere in the room. Peeking her head into the kitchen, she saw that they weren't in there either. Rocking her head back and forth in thought, she came to the conclusion that they were both still working down in the bakery. Looking around and thinking, she shrugged, "Better than doing nothing."
Scratching the back of her head, she walked out the door to head down to the bakery. Maybe they'll let her help cook some sweets. Sure, the last four times that she helped them out, she ended up breaking half of the cutlery and bowls...and destroyed several bags of flour...
"They'll probably do their best to convince me to stay out of the kitchen down here," Marinette muttered to herself as she continued down the steps. Soon she reached the bottom and headed to the entrance of the bakery only to pause at a sudden shout. Blinking in confusion, she looked over and sighed.
"Of course I run into the same girl who saw me lift a car almost immediately after leaving the scene," Marinette thought to herself as she could almost feel the annoyance...almost. Man, she wished she could feel that annoyance.
The girl continued screaming before rushing to Marinette's side. As she began shouting something at a speed that Marinette couldn't follow, well she could if she tried, but she really didn't want to, Marinette just stared at her. Examining the girl's appearance, she noticed that the girl had a similar appearance to her...well similar to her a few years ago when she was still wearing her hair in pigtails. The girl was taller than her by a few inches, she had the same hair color as her, but she her hair was longer than Marinette's used to be so her pigtails were much longer. She had her hair tied with two long red-orange ribbons. Glancing at her clothes, Marinette noted that she wearing a black blazer with rolled up sleeves, a white shirt with an extended collar underneath it, jean shorts, and...ballet shoes similar to her own.
When Marinette finished examining her, she noted the sudden silence so she looked back at the girl's face and saw that it was slightly red. Raising an eyebrow, Marinette decided to ask what was wrong, but she stopped when the girl began to shyly twirl one of her pigtails. "Uh...can you stop staring?" the girl quietly asked while looking to the side. Marinette nodded her head and looked to the side.
"Um...so how did you..." the girl quietly got out before she was stopped by the entrance of Marinette's mother.
"Oh Marinette! I thought you headed out for a walk. Did you get back just now?" her maman asked her. Marinette nodded which earned a smile from her before she looked over and spotted the other girl, "Oh! Who's this? Is she a new friend of your's?"
Marinette looked over at the girl quietly. How should she answer this? She didn't want to come off as rude to the girl, but they definitely weren't friends. "Uh...yeah, this is...?" Marinette trailed off as she realized that she never even caught the girl's name. Thankfully, this girl seemed to catch on as she quickly bowed to Sabine.
"Bonjour, I am Bridgette. I recently moved to Paris. I was on a walk around the city today to try and familiarize myself with everything as well as find out where my new school is when I...ran into..Marinette. She ran off after our 'meeting.' I was coming here next anyway to check out the sweets when we happened to run into each other again, ehehe," Bridgette sheepishly scratched the back of her head as she finished explaining. Marinette just groaned. Bridgette basically confirmed they weren't friends and just strangers.
Sabine hummed as she inspected the two before smiling as she handed a macaroon to Bridgette and patted her on the shoulder. As she walked pass Marinette, she leaned over to whisper, "She seems like a nice girl. I hope you two become close friends." Marinette watched her maman walk back over to her papa who waved from the back before getting back to baking. Letting out a sigh, Marinette looked over at Bridgette only to see that the girl was now staring at her.
Marinette proceeded to stare back as she didn't understand why she was being stared at. Bridgette seemed to come to her senses though as she quickly looked away with a light blush. "Uh, sorry about that. Ahem, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about earlier," Bridgette mentioned only for Marinette to look back in confusion.
"What do you mean? I saw you save that man earlier. That was very impressive and heroic of you," Marinette gave a small smile while crossing her arms in front of her chest. She'd be lying if she said it was hard to force the smile. She used to smile so much that her face still has the muscle memory to do it. Now if only she was able to still feel based off memory...
Bridgette gasped at the praise before going back to petting her pigtail shyly. Bridgette quickly snapped back to her senses though and took a step forward to exclaim, "What about the thing with the car?!" Marinette looked back at her with a confused face. Bridgette saw this and felt her shoulders slump a little. "You remember right. You were lifting a car with one hand like it was nothing..."
Marinette gently placed her hand on Bridgette's shoulder and calmly said, "Are you sure you didn't imagine that? I mean I'm sure you had a lot of adrenaline running through you at the time so maybe your mind was causing you to imagine things in the moment." Bridgette just looked down as she began thinking back on the events of the situation.
"Maybe, I did imagine it? I mean, Marinette is smaller than I am. She definitely doesn't look like she could lift a car, especially with one hand. Heck, she doesn't look like she could lift one of those bags of flour over there...Maybe I did imagine it..." Bridgette sighed sadly as she rubbed her left arm.
Marinette saw this and sighed in relief on the inside. There goes any possibility of people annoying her with questions about her strength. "Don't feel bad about it. Thanks to that, it lead to us meeting, right?" Marinette stated with another fake smile which caused Bridgette to smile back at her.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks to my imagination, I managed to make a friend so soon after moving here," Bridgette smiled brightly at this while taking one of Marinette's hands into her's. Marinette glanced down at their hands and just stared at it for a moment before nodding back at her. Looking over at a clock on the wall, Bridgette gasped as she saw the time. "Oh no, I need to head home...I'll see you later, Marinette!"
Marinette waved back with an awkward smile on her face. "Uh...yeah, see you later," Marinette awkwardly replied back. Continuing to wave until Bridgette was out of sight, Marinette sighed in relief. "It's been too long since I actually interacted with someone in a friendly manner. Everything feels...off," she thought to herself as she began to go back over their interactions in her mind. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to just head back to her room and try to work on some of her clothing designs that she came up with a year ago.
Maybe she will finally get one done without losing inspiration. It's been hard ever since she lost her emotions. She hasn't even been able to really come up with new designs. It's been hard to think of anything that could inspire her, after all. Working on the designs did help her relive some of her emotions, but they never lasted nor did they ever feel...real. More hollow, really...
You know, maybe working on designs is not a great idea?
The Next Day
"Marinette! Wake up! It's the first day of school!" Marinette's eyes slowly opened as she sat up in her bed. Looking around tiredly, she groaned as she fell back on her bed and pulled the covers back over her head...until her own alarm clock went off. Groaning, Marinette rolled over and smashed the clock to pieces with her fist...which sent a resounding shockwave through the floor which shook the house. "What was that?!"
Her mother's scream finally caused Marinette to jump out of bed. Looking over at the pieces of her alarm clock, Marinette deadpanned. This was the third time this month that she destroyed her alarm clock. Shaking her head, she quickly ran over and grabbed her normal pair of clothes while heading towards her bathroom to get ready for the day.
After a quick shower, Marinette threw on her clothes, brushed her hair as best she could without bending the bristles on the brush, and ran downstairs so she could eat breakfast.
"Maybe it was an earthquake honey," Marinette heard her papa tell her maman. Looking to the side awkwardly, she stepped into the kitchen and walked over to her parents. Hugging them both, she moved to sit at the table.
"Did you feel that earthquake, you two? Wow!" Marinette faux exclaimed trying to reassure them that everything was fine. Her maman looked over before nodding and sitting down at the table along with Tom. Marinette smiled before eating her cereal.
"So, Marinette are you excited for school today?" Sabine asked her daughter who looked up at her with a mouthful of cereal. Staring at her mom for a second, Marinette swallowed her food and shrugged.
"Eh, not really. I'll probably be in class with Chloe again," Marinette stated before taking another spoonful of cereal. Her parents just gave each other amused looks before enjoying their breakfast as well. As soon as they finished breakfast, Marinette kissed both of them on the cheeks and left with a quick 'good-bye.'
As Marinette ran down the street, she made sure to dodge each of the passersby while also dodging the cars at speeds too fast for humans to see. She didn't want to be late for school on the first day like she used to do. Stopping next to a tree outside the front of the school, Marinette looked around to make sure no one saw her before walking out from behind the tree and towards the steps. She noticed a few of her old classmates hanging out in the front so she waved at them before heading up the staircase to her class.
Opening the door, she headed on inside and walked up to her usual seat. As she was about to sit down, she paused before looking up at the back seat. Taking a second to think about it, she nodded as she moved up to the back where she could watch over everything. Nodding to herself, she sat down and relaxed in her seat. She was the first one in class, even before the teacher, so she had some time to relax. Laying her head on the desk, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off.
While she hated dealing with Chloe, today shouldn't be anything different from all the other school days of the last few years. Maybe if she was lucky, things will be even more peaceful? A girl could dream.