Chloe wished that she could say things got easier after that, but they didn't. At least she didn't feel as guilty as before...most of the time. In truth, she had nightmares a lot. They were about her turning on everybody again and watching Paris be destroyed. They were awful really, but she didn't tell anyone, not even Zoe.
Zoe was in fact the reason Chloe was still trying to change at all. It was hard and more than challenging to try and change her ways. But the first thing Chloe had to do was mend her relationships, and ask for forgiveness. And the first person she went to, was Adrien.
Nathalie had let her in, and now she was waiting patiently in his room. It was amazing, but not nearly as cool as her own.
"Chloe?" Adrien said, clearly surprised to see her here.
"I have some things I need to say," Chloe admitted, taking a deep breath. She had only done this a few times before, and she was still new to the idea. "Adrikins- I mean, Adrien, I wanted to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being such a horrible friend and making it hard to chose between me, or your other friends. To be honest, I only clinged to you because you were the closest thing I had to a friend too." Before Chloe knew it, tears were forming in her eyes. "You don't have to take me back as a friend, I just, had to tell you that I'm sorry and that I won't do anything like what I did ever again." Now she felt like bawling. Why? It was just a simple apology, wasn't it? Except it wasn't. It was apology to her best friend in the whole world.
Adrien, she realized, looked like he was about to cry too. "Oh Chloe, you'll always be my friend. No matter what."
Before she knew it, Adrien pulled Chloe into a tight embrace. It felt..warm, and reliving at the same time. He actually cared too, and he cared about her enough to give her a second chance. That feeling was better than anything else in the world."
"Thank you, Adrien. I won't fail you again." And Chloe meant it. You stick beside your friends no matter what, and you try your very hardest never to hurt them.
***
Talking to Sabrina and apologizing went in an entirely different direction. "And so I'm sorry, for mistreating you and everything. I promise, that if you stay my friend, I'll treat you better like a real friend should."
Sabrina blinked a few times. "What do you mean? You've always been an amazing friend! Sharing your items, inviting me over, and all sorts of things that friends do."
"Well I am pretty great, aren't I?" Chloe said as she waved her hair around. Zoe let out a cough and nudged Chloe slightly. "I mean, I wasn't really that good of a friend. You don't have to pretend."
"I'm not! Your the only friend I've ever had."
"Sabrina, I locked you in a closet to do my schoolwork. That's not what best friends do," Chloe said, mentally cringing at doing something so awful. It had been a rough time in her life, she told herself.
"Not what most friends do," Sabrina added in. Zoe did a facepalm and Chloe rolled her eyes. How had Sabrina not seen how horrible of a friend she was?
"Well, the important thing is that I'm ready to change, and I'm happy to have a loyal friend like you at my side," Chloe said.
Then a strange thing happened. Sabrina hugged her. It felt a little weird and out of place at first, but then it was nice. "Oh, Chloe! I've been waiting to hear you say that from the moment I met you! I knew there was good in you."
And that, made Chloe realize that once again, she had been wrong. Sabrina had cared about her too, but she hadn't been paying enough attention to notice.
***
Apologizing to Marinette had to be the weirdest one of all to Chloe. They'd been enemies, rivals, since, well, forever. Chloe had never thought of why, until today. She supposed the real reason she despised her so much was because she had everything that Chloe didn't. A supportive family, kind friends who genuinely cared about her, and an amazing life. Chloe had never had those things, but deep down, she had always wanted them.
"So, I'm sorry, for being so rude, and mean," Chloe finished. By now, she was fairly good at giving genuine apologies.
Marinette smiled at her. "Thank you, Chloe, for the apology. I'm sorry too, for not always being able to understand."
Well, Chloe hadn't expected an apology back. That was new. "So...we're good now?" she asked, a little uncertain.
"We're good." The two looked at each other and tried to smile a little. Zoe peeped her head in between them.
"You gonna, hug, or something?" she asked. Both Chloe and Marinette looked at her.
"Nope."
"Not there yet." All three of them laughed wholeheartedly.
As Chloe exited Marinette's bakery, she realized she'd been wrong about her. Marinette wasn't mean, or stuck up. She was kind and giving. Even after all those horrible things Chloe had done to her, she'd still been able to apologize. That took guts. In a way, Chloe had always looked up to Marinette. It wasn't like she worshipped, or idolized her. Just that, a part of her always wished she could be selfless like that, like Ladybug too. Now, maybe she could be.
***
Chloe let out a long, exasperated sigh. It was evening, and she had spent close to the entire day giving out apologies and asking for forgiveness. By now, she was just plain tired of it. Can't a girl take a break?
"Now who else do I have to beg forgiveness for?" Chloe asked Zoe, who was the one helping her do all of this in the first place. If it wasn't for her, she would've gone back to her old ways almost immediately.
"No one. You've done a good job today Chloe. I think you deserve a break," Zoe said with that bright smile of hers.
"Finally!" Chloe announced, flopping upright on her bed.
"Come with me," Zoe said as she grabbed her hand. "I have a surprise for you!" Chloe followed, a little eager as to what Zoe had planned.
***
"Ta-da!" Zoe declared a few minutes later. They were on the Couffaine's houseboat, surrounded by all of Chloe's classmates, and a few others, including Luka.
Chloe didn't feel comfortable. In fact, she felt as far from it as she could. These were the people she had bullied, the people who she had made fun of...what would they think of her now, after she had nearly caused the destruction of all of Paris?
"Hey Chloe," said Marinette. She sounded more cheerful than usual. But, that was reasonable considering that Chloe had personally apologized to her a few hours ago. The same for everyone else on the boat, although she wasn't sure if they had forgiven her. They looked cheerful enough...but she didn't know. How did they really feel about Chloe? Did they think she was incapable of changing her ways? Was she?
Stop it! She told herself. Worrying about what other people thought of you never got you anywhere. Chloe managed a weak smile, before pulling Zoe and herself over to the side, out of the spotlight.
"Are you alright?" Zoe asked, a little unsure.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Chloe said, with fake confidence. She couldn't explain to Zoe why she felt so uncomfortable being here.
"Well, okay. Let's join the party," Zoe said. Chloe pulled away from her grip.
"You go. I'll join you in a minute."
Zoe nodded and walked away, while Chloe let out a deep breath. Phew, that was close. Now all she had to do was hide so no one would find her. That way, they wouldn't be able to make fun of her or rub it in her face that because of her, all of Paris had almost been destroyed.
Chloe supposed it wasn't exactly polite to be roaming around someone else's houseboat without their permission. But, she wouldn't be snooping or anything like that. She was just trying to find a nice place to hide where no one would be looking.
Chloe went below deck and found herself a small room with rosebuds on the wall, and a bed over in the corner. She flopped down into a fuzzy chair and allowed herself a moment to relax.
At one point, Chloe had thought of everyone, all of her classmates, to be below her. They were peasants. But now she realized that she was really the one below them. They were better than she was. They cared about other people, they were kind, generous, and creative. Chloe had been the opposite of that. She had been self-centered, rude, and vain. She cared about no one but herself, and she had abused what little powers she had. How could I have been so blind? She asked herself. Why couldn't she see that she was the one who had been wrong all of this time?
"Hello," came a soft voice. Chloe almost fell out of her chair.
"Ah! What are you doing- here?" She stopped midway through, once she saw that it was Luka. She hadn't seen that coming. Her heart did a little dance of its own as she tried to calm herself.
"This is my room," Luka said.
"Oh," Chloe remarked, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. "Well, I'll, I'll leave and, do something else that I want to."
"No, you can stay. It's nice to have company sometimes," Luka said. Chloe blinked, but she didn't move. Why was this guy always so...strange? But he was strange in a good way.
Luka pulled out his guitar and played a soft tune on it. It was calming, and if Chloe was alone, she would've hummed along with it. "Why aren't you with the others?" she asked, after peering out one of the windows. It must be weird to live on a boat, she thought.
"Sometimes I need a break from people," Luka told her. "What about you?"
"What?" Chloe asked again, shocked by his question.
"Why aren't you with the others?" Luka asked again, just as calmly.
"I knew you meant that," Chloe retorted. She bit her tongue and reminded herself to stay polite. "I just, was shocked, because, most people don't ask me those kinds of questions."
Luka waited for her to continue. The truth was, Chloe needed someone to talk to, other than Zoe. She could tell her some things but others, she couldn't.
"The reason I'm not up there is because I don't deserve to be," Chloe admitted. "I'm a horrible person. I've bullied people, and I've worked with Shadowmoth, and I almost caused the destruction of all of Paris. No matter how many apologies I give, or how many people forgive me, I'll never be able to change that. I'm not good like everyone else."
Chloe stared at the ground, as tears blurred her eyes. This was not the time to cry, she told herself, but despite that, a few tears slid down her cheeks. Luka looked sad, almost scared to see her that way.
"That's not true," he said. "You're not a horrible person. You have the ability to change, and you can see that now. Taking the right path might be hard, but it will lead you to where you truly belong."
For some reason, Luka's weird way of phrasing things made Chloe feel a little better. "You really think so?" she asked, very unsure of that.
"I believe everyone has it in them to be good. Sometimes, they just need a little help."
Chloe smiled at him, and he smiled back. She hadn't really paid attention before, but boy, was he handsome. Those ocean eyes, that dark blue hair...maybe it didn't matter that his clothes looked like they came from a dumpster.
Luka didn't say anything more. He once again played a soft tune on his guitar that eased Chloe's mind. It was going to be alright, she told herself. As long as she was willing to change, she could. It would be hard, but with some help, she could do it.
Chloe lost track of time. She wasn't sure how long she had stayed down there with Luka. She talked to him, and he actually listened. He gave her advice that was helpful, and he didn't interrupt her or wandered off. He listened, really listened to her. Finding someone who could do that for you was rare. Very rare.
"Hey, Chloe, Luka." Chloe once again almost fell out of her chair as Zoe peeped in and scared the living daylight out of her. Luka giggled, and Chloe sent him a glare, but it softened, once she realized he wasn't making fun of her.
"You ready to go?" Zoe asked. She was eying the both of them, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What? Why?" Chloe bit her tongue. She didn't mean to sound desperate like she didn't want to leave Luka...even if it was true.
"It's night. Mom and your dad will wonder where we're at."
"Probably only daddy." Chloe realized she shouldn't have said that from the hurt look on Zoe's face. "I mean, yeah, we should get going."
"Okay." Zoe headed on out the door as Chloe rose from her seat.
"Have a good night," Luka said with that warm smile of his. Chloe nodded and headed to the door. Once she reached the doorway, she stopped and turned back around.
"Luka, thank you, for listening." Chloe dashed off before he could reply. Luka smiled softly to himself. So he'd been right. Chloe did have it in her to be a good person. It was going to be a tough journey, but he had no doubt that in the end, she would get there.