Holding Out for a Hero

Part 2

"We need a good place to sit." Alya said as she looked over the stands. The bleachers weren't overly crowded but were still fairly well occupied. The seats closest to the pool had been already been taken by some enthusiastic parents who were holding signs with swimmers' names on them. Marinette curled her hand tighter around her own banner. Compared to some of the parents' signs, it was pretty plain. Just their school colors with big block letters stitched on to read 'bonne chance swim team!' On the upside, it was bigger than the banner she'd made for Alix and Kim's race.

"How about up there? Near the center?" suggested Tikki from behind Marinette's hair.

"Alya!" Marinette called. Alya turned around, her camera bag swinging from her shoulder. Marinette pointed up at the direction that Tikki had spied.

"I'll go check out the angle from my camera." Alya nodded as she started up the stairs. Marinette shared a look with Tikki and they both stifled giggles as Alya proceeded to whip her new camera out to 'test' the angle.

Tikki suddenly darted behind Marinette's hair. That was her first clue that someone was coming up behind her. Marinette turned towards the footsteps she heard. "You made it!" Jean exclaimed as he came up beside her.

Marinette laughed, "Of course I made it! I said I would."

"Marinette, this is a good spot!" Alya yelled down from the bleachers as she waved a hand through the air.

"Alright! I'll be up in a minute." she called back.

"Is that the banner?" Jean asked as he pointed to the fabric in her hand.

"Yeah, you want to see?" she offered as she held out one end to him. Marinette let the banner fall to it's full length as they held it out. Jean let out an appreciative whistle.

"It looks great Marinette!"

"Really? You think so?" Marinette gave him a dubious look. Despite the fact that Tikki had assured her that the banner looked just fine, Marinette wasn't really all that happy with it. It could've been so much more.

"It's great." Jean nodded enthusiastically. He gave her a conspiratorial wink, "Would I lie to you?"

"I guess you really wouldn't have a reason to." Marinette said after a moment of consideration.

"Jean! I need you poolside for warmups!" the swim coach yelled.

"Be right there." Jean yelled back before turning again towards Marinette. "Hey after my heat can I come and find you?"

"Of course. Alya and I will be sitting right up there I guess." She pointed to the spot that Alya had picked out. Alya already had her camera out and was filming the crowd around the pool. Leave it to Alya.

"Great, don't forget I'm in heat three for the hundred meter backstroke."

"Heat three," Marinette nodded and held up three fingers, "I got it."

"Jean! Now!" the coach called again. There was irritation in his voice. Jean flashed her a smile before hurrying off to the side of the pool to meet his teammates. Marinette waved as he left and then turned to head up the bleacher stairs.

"He seems excited." Tikki commented.

"I would be too. Jean's worked really hard to compete today. He's going to do great." Marinette assured her.

"And I'm gonna get it all on film!" Alya told them as she motioned to her camera. Marinette shook her head at Alya's antics and sat down. Alya remained standing, panning over the bleachers and watching through the LCD screen of her camera. "Ah! I wondered if he was going to show up."