Marinette walked into school, both looking and feeling drained. Her usual pigtails were untidy with odd strands of hair poking out here and there, and she had dark, heavy bags underneath her bluebell eyes.
It had been a week and she still hadn't found the butterfly miraculous. She and Adrien had spent the rest of that night looking for it until they eventually retreated back to Marinette's house in the early hours of the morning. Every day since had been sent searching for the brooch, but it was nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if history was repeating itself. Master Fu had once lost two miraculeuses and now she had managed to loose one.
That was the other thing. The peacock miraculous. Marinette hadn't really thought about it until now but she realise it must still be at the Agreste's house. But why hadn't Gabriel handed it over along with Nooroo? She'd have to talk to Adrien about it. Oh Adrien. He was the only thing keeping Marinette going right now.
Marinette turned the corner and began walking up the school steps. Seeing Adrien stood waiting for her, she flashed him a weak smile, but could see his face was lined with worry.
It pained Marinette to see him looking so upset and tired. Without any hesitation she ran up the steps two at a time, using almost her last ounce of energy to throw herself into his arms.
Both of them stood holding each other, just for a while.
Their hug was soon interrupted though, by a friendly girl with glasses tapping Marinette on the shoulder.
"Hey you two lovebugs!" Alya said, whilst grinning. " sorry to interrupt, but I have someone to introduce you to!"
Marinette looked up properly and suddenly noticed not only was Nino stood with Alya, but so was another girl who Marinette failed to recognise. Marinette, who was still feeing slightly unsteady, was very grateful to feel Adrien's soft hand gentle place on her shoulder. It was a small gesture which she found extremely comforting.
"Well aren't you going to say-" Alya then paused and looked at Marinette with a slightly concerned expression.
"Hey are you ok girl? You look a bit.... off colour?"
"Yeah-" Nino began to stutter, "to be honest you guys have both seemed to be a bit.... uneasy since you suddenly got"
Nino wasn't able to finish his sentence because he felt a sharp jab in the ribs, straight from Alya's elbow to signal 'shut up before you dig yourself into a deeper hole'.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Marinette replied unconvincingly, taking a moment to sweep some of her dark hair from her face and tucking it behind her ears. "I just haven't been sleeping as well recently that's all" she stammered.
"And you could say I've had one or two... family issues recently"
"Your old man giving you hassle again?" Asked Nino sympathetically.
"Something like that" Adrien replied muttering.
"Well as long as you're sure" Alya sais before lowering her tone to add, " and I'm here still if you ever need to talk either of you." Alya then returned to her normal voice and said laughing "you guys still haven't told the story of how you got together yet! One day Marinette was all blushing and stammering around you , hardly able to breath when you're near and the next you're suddenly a thing!"
Adrien allowed himself to smirk. "Wow Marinette, i never realised you were that head over heals for me. I must have that affect on some people"
"Hey!" Laughed Marinette, as she gave him a friendly nudge.
Suddenly she froze and remembered the other girl who had been stood all along for the past few minutes.
This random girl had brown hair , hazel eyes and wore a sort of confused yet happy look on her face. Marinette assumed this was because of what she had just witnessed.
Alya noticed Marinette's glanced fixed on this new girl and she soon cut in.
"As I was saying, this is Rebecca! She's new here."
"It's nice to meet you," Marinette smiled and Adrien nodded in agreement.
"Good to meet you too," said the girl, returning a smile.
Before there was time for an awkward silence the bell rang and students began to flood into their classes.
The gang walked into their usual classroom and Rebecca hovered at the front. Had anyone looked closely enough they might have noticed how she frequently glanced down into her bag as if to check something or seek some sort of reassurance.
"Today class we have a new student, Rebecca! I hope you all make her very welcome."
"Hi" a few students shouted.
"Marinette, why don't you take a few minutes to show Rebecca round the school" suggested Ms Bustier.
"Of course". Marinette stood up and walked over to the door and the new girl followed.
"There are one or two different places I could show you, but first I'll start with the art rooms," started Marinette, trying her best to remain cheerful and keep the missing miraculous issue from her mind for now.
"Your school seems very pleasant" she replied politely.
"I'm sure you'll like it here, the teachers are good and the students are really friendly, well... most of them."
"I hope so," said the girl. Until now she had been surprisingly timid but had finally plucked up the courage to say what she had been thinking since she first noticed Marinette, and the way she had adjusted her dark blue hair earlier, pushing it back from her face. " by the way" Rebecca began calmly, "your earrings are so pretty!"
