She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 41: Moving Forward

Damian begins speaking in perfect French. "My seat partner is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, but I like to call her my Angel. Any of her friends could tell you that her favorite color is pink or that she is an aspiring fashion designer, which she is very good at, but what many people can't tell you is that she is a fantastic dancer and it's a shame she never shows anybody how graceful she can be. Many of her friends would describe her as clumsy and maybe even a little bit scatter brained but they don't know her like I do. She is creative and funny and sweet and always thinking of others first. She's what my family likes to call the 'Sunshine of Gotham'. It only takes one smile to brighten your whole day. She's also incredibly brave. She will stand up for what's right even if it means having everyone turn against her and even though these people turned their back on her, she would still risk her life to save them. She did just that last week when she took down Scarecrow while on fear toxin. If I had to choose one word to describe Marinette, it would be extraordinary. She's extraordinary in every way humanly possible." The whole time he spoke he never broke eye contact with the bluenette and his smile gradually widens as her blush darkens. "I could also go on and on but I wouldn't want to take up everyone's time."

Every one of the people in Damian's class look at him like he had just grown a second head.

"Thank you, Damian." His teacher smiled fondly at the young couple. "You both did very well. You may now take your seats."

Damian nodded at his teacher and dragged the blushing teen back to the table with him. "Breathe, Angel." He whispered to her.

Finally, she took a deep breath she didn't know she was holding. "Damian..." She whined softly.

"What?" He said playfully while raising an eyebrow at her.

"Why did you do that?"

"You started it." He gave her an amused look. "And I didn't want my description to fall flat."

"Well I think you succeeded." She cracked a small smile at him.
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When the bell finally rang signaling the end of the school day, madame Mendeleiev spoke up. "I'm going to need my class to stay here while all the others leave. This shouldn't take too long."

Damian packed up his things but stayed where he was at to wait with Marinette. Not too much longer, the rest of his class piled out of the room leaving only the teacher and her students.

Madame Mendeleiev looked at him for a moment before continuing. "As you all may know, this class trip hasn't gone as planned but with that being said, I want you all to learn from this experience. I feel ashamed that your teachers and even your own principal has failed you all. Even I could have done more to try and stop all of this from happening but I was afraid I would have lost my job if I spoke out against our old principal. The school board is very angry that it took such an extreme measure such as a villain attacking one of our students or a restraining order being filed for all of the bullying and lies to come to an end. I want you all to be cautious of what people tell you. Usually if it's too good be true, then it probably is." She looked at every single one of her students and stopped on Marinette last. "I'm sorry, Marinette. This is the time in your life where you are supposed to make friends and learn all you can while in school. Instead, you filed a bunch of bullying reports that no one took seriously and was left alone by some of your closest friends." The teacher finally looked back to the rest of her students. "Do not blame her for this. She did everything the school system told her to do and the school failed her. She is lucky that Mr. Wayne and his family sought out to make this right. I fear that if he never would have intervened then we would all still be stuck in the web of Lila Rossi's lies."

Nino put his hand up to ask her a question and when she nodded to him, he asked. "What's going to happen to our old teacher?"

"Caline Bustier has been found unfit to teach by the school board and has been fired along with Mr. Damocles. I also just got word that Lila's mother has pulled her out of school and she will be finishing the rest of her classes online. Hopefully the worst of this is behind us and we can move forward, together." She took a deep breath. "Any more questions?" The room was silent. "Okay then class, looks like its time for us to get back onto the bus. Marinette, I will see you tomorrow."

The class followed their teacher out of the room and to the front of the school where the bus was waiting for them. "We'll see you later, bugaboo." Adrien hugged her along with the rest of her friends. She even gave a short hug to Juleka, Rose and Nino.

When she made her way to Alya, all the young girl did was scoff and turn her back to her. "I'll see you all tomorrow." Marinette told all of her friends as she looked sadly at the back of Alya's head.

Damian got her attention by grabbing her hand. "Are you ready to go home, Angel?"

The bluenette looked at Alya for a little bit longer before turning her attention to her boyfriend. "Yes. Let's go home, Damian." She smiled.

They made their way to Damian's car and got in. As they were pulling out of the parking lot, Marinette looked over at her boyfriend. "Are you ready to be bombarded with questions the minute we get home?"

"You know my family too well." He nodded. "It's a good thing my father, Selina, Grayson and Drake won't be home for another hour or so. We will only have to deal Todd. Alfred won't bother us."

"You did say Alfred was the sane one." She giggled. "Maybe we can convince Jay to wait until dinner."

"Good luck with that one, Angel." He laughed.

"Are you kidding?" Marinette grinned. "I'm practically made out of luck."