Chapter Text
Friday
One of Marinette's guilty pleasures was listening to American musicals in her limited spare time. Not only could they be therapeutic, but it helped her grasp the language, especially since English was the language of business in the world and being bilingual would come in handy after University.
Today she had decided to mix it up, and allowed the music service she used to pick what musical she'd listen to while working on her homework before patrol. It had been a long week, and she honestly needed a break.
As the music floated through her ears, she got to work on her literature homework. It was one of her easier subjects and hammering it out would be a good warm up for preparing her brain for maths and physics later.
She was almost done with the assignment when a rocking beat drew her attention. Her blue eyes looked curious at her computer screen and was met with the song's name.
I'd Rather Be Me - Mean Girls
One of her dark eyebrows rose as she leaned back in her computer chair and listened to the lyrics. The beat was good...but the lyrics hit home.
The way the character dealt with being treated badly was clear. She didn't put up with it and called her bullies out, but also refused to laugh at their pain. She refused to be molded into what they wanted her to be.
By the end of it, Marinette was crying. As she hit replay, Tikki flew out from her little bed and nuzzled her Chosen's cheek. Marinette cupped her hands around the small kwami and held her close throughout the song.
When it ended again, silence filled the room for several long minutes.
"Tikki," the ravenette's voice cracked. "I...I can't change Lila or anyone, can I?"
The red goddess shook her head. "No. And that was never your job, even as Ladybug. Sure you can offer them a vision to aspire too and advice to change their perspective...but you shouldn't sacrifice yourself in the process." She placed a gentle kiss on the girl's cheek. "You have a huge heart, Marinette, and you freely give to anyone around you. It's part of the reason you were chosen!" She sighed gently. "But that doesn't mean that you should lose yourself in the process. You deserve self care. And with everything going on now that Master Fu is...now more than ever do you need to find yourself. You need to be yourself, Marinette, not what I or anyone else tell you to be. You have a responsibility to yourself to help you."
The kwami's words were like a soothing balm. Marinette felt her shoulders, which had been straining under the psychological and physical weight of her duties and the harassment, relaxed as if a huge burden had been lifted. And it felt amazing .
She placed a gentle kiss on her kwami's head and smiled. "I need to talk to my parents...I-I need more help than I thought."
Tikki smiled brightly. "Do you want me to come with you?"
Marinette opened her jacket to reveal the inside pocket. "Only if you want too."
Tikki dove in and rubbed a soothing paw against her Chosen's collarbone. "I'll always be here for you, Marinette."
"Thank you, Tikki." The twin tailed girl squared her sore shoulders and headed downstairs. "Maman? Papa?"
Sabine Cheng poked her head out from the kitchen and smiled at her daughter. "Papa is down in the shop, baozi."
"Okay." She took a deep breath. "I'll tell him later. But, Maman, I've been having some...problems...in school."
Sabine frowned slightly, putting down the dish she had been drying and giving her daughter her full attention. "Are you okay?"
"Honestly...no I'm not." Tears stung her blue eyes. "I'm..I'm being bullied. Th-there's this girl in my class, Lila. She's a transfer from Italy and she lies about everything , like having medical conditions that don't add up later the same day she mentions them or knowing people that my classmates have met and saying things that don't add up about them. She got me expelled, you'll recall. And after that...I'm not sure how she's doing it, but she has my friends convinced I'm a bad person and a bully and no one will talk to me or fact check what Lila says." Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. "A-Adrien knows she's lying, but he a-asked me to not expose her because she's gotten akumatized several times already. He's convinced her lies will eventually unravel and at the time no one was getting hurt...but now I'm getting hurt...and I don't know what to do!"
Her last statement came out as a pitiful wail, almost like a little child's. Marinette reached for her mother and she was swept up into the shorter woman's embrace. The young girl sobbed into her mother's shoulder, releasing weeks of tension, realizing just how much she was bearing alone.
Sabine rubbed soothing circles into Marinette's back and sung a Chinese lullaby softly into her daughter's ear. After maybe 5 minutes, she guided her daughter to the living room couch and, after both sat down, continued to hold and soothe her while tears continued to fall.
Thirty minutes later, Marinette's sobs died down but she continued to lay in her mother's warm embrace, seeking as much comfort as she could. Sabine has pulled her hair loose from the twin tails and was running her fingers through the inky locks.
"I'm so proud of you for telling me what's going on," Sabine whispered. "Papa and I have been worried about you. You've been looking stressed and the last time Alya was here, neither of you were particularly happy to be with each other. Papa and I were planning on talking about it with you this weekend. It looks like you beat us to the punch."
A weak smile graced Marinette's face. "I love you, Maman."
The older woman smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her daughter's head. "I love you too, baozi."
~~~~~~
After dinner and a few rounds of UMS3, Tom and Sabine sat Marinette down for a talk.
"Your father and I," Sabine started. "Have been gathering some information on counselors and resources the Board of Governors has. Your expulsion, while reversed, is cause enough for us to report Françoise Dupont for investigation. Much of it wasn't handled as it should have been, especially since a mass akumatization occurred, even if it failed."
Marinette's blue eyes blinked at her mother.
"What your Maman is saying," Tom piped up, holding his daughter's hand in his very large one. "Is that we've spoken to the Parent Teacher Association who told us we should put in a request for your case to be looked into by the Board. Knowing now that there is bullying also taking place, and it doesn't sound like your teachers are helping or doing as their state mandated training requires, we believe now is the best time to submit that request."
"Our teachers are trained to deal with bullies?"
Sabine nodded. "As of 2014, all teachers have been required to take a course on bullying and be recertified yearly. I believe this was increased in earnest after Papillon appeared."
Marinette raised a skeptical eyebrow. "If that's the case, they have failed for years since Chloé has been allowed to do as she wishes without consequences. Just as an example, she destroyed my gift for Mme. Bustier and instead of getting either punished or some kind of talk, I was taken aside and told that I needed to be a good example for Chloé. That my gift was a joint gift because Chloé had added her 'creativity' to it."
Sabine pursed her lips and Tom's eyebrows gathered. "That is defacement of property. Was it in your locker when she did that?"
The young girl nodded slowly.
"That's also breaking and entering. The locker rooms have cameras in them right? Was no CCTV looked at?"
Marinette shrugged. "Honestly I don't remember much because Mme. Bustier was akumatized not long after."
Tom and Sabine looked at each other with concern before looking back at their daughter.
"We are going to submit our complaint to the Board on Tuesday. Do you feel comfortable going to school on Monday? We would bring it in on Monday, but we have that huge order we can't miss."
Marinette twiddled her fingers, thoughtfully. "Would I be able to come home early if something happened or I don't feel safe?"
"Of course, baguette!" Tom replied immediately, taking his daughter's hands in his. "You can even call and we will come get you ourselves."
Marinette laughed at that. "Papa, we live right next door!"
Sabine smiled at her daughter's genuine laugh, happy that they weren't too late in listening to advice.