Marinette's eyes slowly dried up. She didn't really know why she had been crying. She knew Nathaniel was bad news, she did this to herself. She didn't want Adrien's pity, though his hug was comforting. She was tired of being some weak little girl.

Back in Paris, Chloe had teased her, along with her group of brats. Apparently being a bakers daughter was 'so uncool'. Marinette wasn't affected by those words, until others followed along. Nearly everyone in the school had made it their point to tease her. She never understood why, until now. It's because she let them, she let them walk all over her. But she was done being a doormat. She was done being picked on and beat up. She was done.

She slowly pulled away from Adrien's hug. She had been crying awhile, and she now felt embarrassed. She could feel light makeup streaked across her face. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was starting to develop a crush on Adrien. She wasn't gonna lie, he was hot.

She pulled her head away, forcing herself to look into his eyes.

He wiped her cheek attempting to clean of the smudged mascara. His finger wiped of her foundation, revealing the bruise on her face, she winced in pain.

"Marinette, what happened?" His eyes were laced with concern as she moved her hand to hide her cheek.

"Nothing I'm fine." she faked a smile, one that he saw right through.

"No Marinette, what happened." he took her hand away, examining her cheek. The dark bruise looked quite disgusting. Small freckles dotted her face, under her red puffy eyes and on her nose.

"It was just an accident." she tried to convince him, but he wasn't buying it.

"This," he gestured to her bruise. "There's no way that's an accident."

So much for being strong Marinette. He's really persistent.

She sighed and closed up her thoughts.

"Tell me what happened." he looked back into her eyes.

"No, it's fine. I don't want to trouble you." She looked down, trying to escape his gaze.

"Marinette, if I thought you were troubling me I wouldn't have came to help you." he gripped her shoulders, trying to reassure her.

It was true, he hadn't even known why she was crying. Why had he cared so much? Why had he wanted to help her?

As if hearing her thoughts, he spoke again.

"I want to be there for you Marinette." She shuddered when he said her name.
"I know it's hard to move, especially for you. I mean, you went from a big city to a beat up small town." he hooked his fingers under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"I want to get to know you, Marinette, I want to be your friend." he smiled down at her, his white teeth shining.
"Okay..." she couldn't help but smile too. "Sure."

"Okay. Let's start by you telling me where you got that bruise." his face turned slightly more serious, but still smiling.

"What are you doing here anyways?" she said, trying to change the subject. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Adrien, she just didn't want to be a snitch. Being a snitch was a weak move.

"I'll tell you if you tell me where that came from." he pointed at the blackish-blue blob on her face.

"Okay.." she sighed, excepting the defeat.

Adrien chuckled. " I'm here to help set up."

"Set up?" she looked at him in confusion.

"For an art club. I for one, am a horrible artist, but I've seen you scribbling in class," he smiled down at her blushing face.

"I think you're an amazing artist! Really, you should join." he suddenly held up his pointer finger.

"Hey, that's one thing I know about you!"

She giggled at his child-like reaction.

"I also know that you are very sweet and kind, and that bruise wasn't an accident."

There he goes, again....

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone." she looked into his eyes.

"Hmm." he nodded, after a little bit of hesitation.

"Brooklyn." she felt she didn't need to use a full sentence. Brooklyn seemed like the type of girl everyone knew about.

"I should've known." he stood up, his fists somewhat clenched. He started to walk off

"Wait where are you going?" she stood up, slightly chasing after him, grabbing his jacket sleeve.

He turned back to her. "To tell her off."

"What? No!" She gripped his sleeve.

"Why not? She had no right to do that to you." he looked down at her petite figure, her smeared makeup. She was hurt.

"She can't know I told you!!!" she was basically begging him now. She shot him a puppy dog eyes look.

"Fine." he crossed his arms, she let go of his arm. "But, if it gets any worse, I'm not holding back."

She giggled and pulled him into a hug."Okay."

Time Skip.

After her strange encounter with Adrien, Marinette had fixed her makeup in the girls bathroom. She went to her meeting, telling the woman in charge that she would like to join the art club.

Now she was in the car with her mother, who was humming a song from the 80's.

"Mom," She started

Her mother glanced at her, hmming, telling her to go on.

"Could we go shopping?" Marinette asked.

"For what?" her mother's eyes were still in the road.

"Maybe a knew bookbag, lunchbox, some knew clothes?" she smiled, waiting for her mother's answer.

"I guess so dear, but why?" she glanced over at daughter again, this time wondering what she could be thinking. Marinette rarely wanted to change her style.

"Just wanna," She shrugged "try something new." she smiled.

She wasn't completely lying. She did want to try something new. But not for her sake perhaps. She wasn't going to be hopeless, weak, Marinette anymore. She was gonna be strong.

No one is gonna walk all over me.