Miraculous Games

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

"Gather round!" Juleka called. "Alec is about to announce your scores to the country!"

Marinette and Nathanael both looked up from their food as Rose turned on the TV. The two designers had been invited to come eat dinner with the two Charms in honor of the broadcasting. Marinette had to admit, it had been very lonely without the two of them.

"Am I allowed to bring my food in there?" Nathanael questioned. When neither of the girls answered, he shrugged at Marinette and picked up his plate, walking into the living room and plopping on the couch.

Marinette bit her lip, glancing down at her own food. It was untouched. She was so nervous. It had been about two weeks into training when Master Fu had decided that they were ready to be tested and scored. Luckily, she hadn't fallen off of the climbing wall, which what she had been the most worried about. Now, after receiving the scores from all the other Charms, Alec and Mrs. Chamach were ready to share the numbers with the country.

The national anthem played in the living room as the broadcast began.

"Welcome, everyone, to the reporting of the Charm's scores!" Alec announced, his voice way too happy to have been realistically believable. "We're going to start with our first district and work our way down the line."

Mrs. Chamach pulled out several envelopes, each stamped with the Agreste crest. She opened the first one.

"Chloe Bourgeois, five."

"Yikes," Rose muttered. "For being scored out of twelve, that's not very good."

Marinette couldn't help but smile. If she could get better than Chloe, she would be eternally grateful. Hopefully, her hard work had beaten Chloe's half-effort. They continued to read off the scores. Kim, nine. Ivan, seven. Alix, six. Sabrina, seven.

Finally, they got to the last two envelopes. Marinette and Nathanael were on the edge of their seats, staring at the screen. They both held their breaths.

Please be higher than a five, she pleaded for Nathanael. Please, please, please.

Mrs. Chamach ripped the flap open, pulling out the slip of paper.

"Nathanael, eight."

Juleka and Rose smiled, patting his shoulders happily.

"That's a great score," Juleka complimented. Nathanael was beaming with pride. He looked back at Marinette and gave her a confident thumbs up.

With his score having been said, that only meant that the last envelope was Marinette's score. She began to sweat. She could feel the droplets roll down the back of her neck, causing the neckline to become slightly damp.

Mrs. Chamach opened the final flap. Unfolding the paper, her eyebrows shot up in shock.

Oh no, it's horrible! Marinette panicked. I'm going to be sent home to face my family because I sucked so bad! I'm never going to get a job, much less my dream job, and I'll have to live on the streets. My parents will disown me and hate me for the rest of my life and Alya will never want to be around me ever again. OH NO! I'll never get to be with Adrien!

Mrs. Chamach glanced at Alec as if looking for reassurance, then cleared her throat.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, eleven."

The room erupted. Rose and Juleka both cheered, running to her and enveloping her in a giant group hug.

"You did it! Marinette, you did it!" Rose celebrated.