Dear Bugaboo

The Meeting

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   "Good evening, Collège Françoise Dupont! This is your Gossip Girl, Alya Césaire with this evening's announcements!" Alya spoke enthusiastically through the speaker system, "Two more days until the magical night of the masquerade dance! Tomorrow will be the last day tickets will be sold."

   It was Monday and school had just ended. Marinette had a slight headache and was tiredly rubbing her eyes. But, she smiled, feeling pretty confident about her finals.

   Tomorrow would be the last day of testing but it wasn't anything hard for Marinette, just art and gym. She will be able to pass them with flying colors.

The bluenette was heading towards the locker room to gather anything she may need from her locker before school break. Yet, she paused midway to her destination when seeing Luka talking to his group of friends in the hallway. Marinette still wasn't quite ready to face her ex-crush and decided to go the long way to the locker room.

She made a break back the direction she came, almost running into a pole in the process.

   Then, sapphire orbs spotted another obstacle heading her way. Lila was caressing her bloated stomach with a small entourage of people following behind, listening to that liar's tall tales of make-believe.

Marinette looked back and forth.

It was either face her greatest enemy or high levels of awkwardness.

Quickly thinking, Marinette stumbled into an empty classroom at the last moment and shut the door. She let out a sigh, sliding down the door and sat on the floor.

That was her choice.

Chickening out.

"What are you doing, Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette's head shot up at the familiar snobby voice of Chloe Bourgeois, who sat at her usual seat with Sabrina next to her. The supposed "empty room" was a little fuller than what the designer expected.

"So much for avoiding drama. Thank you, karma," Marinette thought, standing up from the ground.

"You know, just seeing if I...left my physic's book in here?" She answered, sounding more like a question. Chloe didn't seem to care about Marinette's excuse or anything she said in general. The blonde continued to examine whatever was on her phone while Sabrina continued to do their homework.

   "What are you doing here?" Marinette asked, causing Chloe to look away from her phone in annoyance.

   "My daddy and I are going to meet some lady to fund some athletic group to represent our school. Something about possibly meeting a rich and famous future business partner or something," Chloe explained before returning to her phone, "Now, shut up, get whatever you need and begone."

   Marinette rolled her eyes before peeking outside the door. She scanned the area for any signs of Lila or Luka still around. Seeing that the coast was clear, she sighed in relief and walked out the door. Marinette was walking in the direction of the locker room but wasn't paying much attention.

  Of course, Marinette's clumsiness had caught up to her after bumping into another person, causing them to drop something. The designer paused, seeing that she bumped into a girl she didn't recognize.

   "Oh, I'm sorry," the bluenette apologized, kneeling down to help pick up a vaguely familiar box with the fancy DC symbol on it. A box from her parent's bakery. Marinette picked it off from the ground and handed the box back over to the girl.