Chapter Text
The coffee got on Chloé’s new designer jeans and it took all her strength not to burst.
“Oh my god, Chloé! I’m so sorry!” The saccharine voice was only a plus to Chloé’s utter annoyance.
She still looked up to glare, just in time to see the hint of a smirk before Lila’s expression turned crestfallen.
“Get out of my way, klutz,” Chloé managed to not scream. It was a win, her therapist would say if she had been there to see her.
“Chloé, I know our friendship fell through but…”
“But nothing. Don’t talk to me ever again. Don’t look at me. Do as if I don’t exist and I’ll do the same with your pathetic, lying self,” Chloé hissed, the last part low enough to remind Lila that she knew all of the Italian’s sins.
“Oh, if only I cared about what you feel,” she whispered back, her hair hiding the smirk to the rest of the class, all gawking at them. She then took a step back, her fake hurt on her face: “Why are you being so mean?!”
Chloé rolled her eyes and went to sit at her desk, ignoring the discomfort of her now wet t-shirt. At least her coffee hadn’t been burning hot.
Lila once more exclaimed something for the rest of the class to fawn over her, but Chloé didn’t acknowledge them, opening her phone instead.
“You should just respect her boundaries.” Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s voice rose above all, commanding people to give her attention. Something Chloé always loathed in the baker’s girl.
Lila, in all her theatricals, gasped. “Marinette! Are you defending her?”
“After the way you two so publicly ended your… friendship, it’s not far-fetched that she wants space. You should try to distance yourself too.”
Yeah, out of this country, Chloé thought bitterly, but she couldn’t help the gratefulness that rose in her heart. It was annoying that Dupain-Cheng was coming to her rescue, but it felt like maybe she could tell her the truth. Maybe Chloé could redeem herself from all the awful things she had done, or at least those done for Lila and-
“Yeah, by talking to her you are being forceful, and it’s as mean as she is,” Alya piped in. Chloé quickly erased the previous thoughts.
To them, she would always be a mean brat. A bully. They would never listen.
She glanced their way and Adrien was looking at her, his face impassive.
She looked away.
She was alone in this.
Thank god for summer vacations , Chloé thought as she quickly escaped out of the school.
She had no obligations that summer. She would probably go a week in their villa in Greece, just to be out of Paris and away from her family drama, but other than that, she would be focusing on her dance class.
The only place Chloé truly felt like she belonged these days was her dance class.
She had started because her therapist had told her to explore new horizons outside of school.
Chloé had always loved dancing, but had stopped because, like most things Chloé enjoyed, her mother had commented about it. Now that she was trying to break free from her mother’s influence, she had turned to it and for the first time in a while, she felt like herself.
It did help that everyone in her dance class was older, knew nothing more than her father’s occupation, and loved her sass.
As soon as she had started, she had fluttered around 3 girls more: Thea, Julie and Andrea. They were also from the upper class, as their designer clothes revealed the first time Chloé had laid eyes on them.
“Hi Chloé! Free at last!” Julie cheered. She was a tan woman, with long brown hair, and just a little taller than Chloé. Her nails were almost always with colourful extensions. Her family owned a big alcohol company.
“Yeah, but you guys are in university. I still have one year in that hell that we call lycée,” Chloé replied, putting her gym bag on the floor next to Andrea, who was doing stretches.
“You have to be positive,” Andrea said as Chloé mimicked her, “there’s only one year left.”
Andrea was a dark-skinned curvy woman, who changed her hair almost every week. She currently had long, dark braids going to her ass. Her father owned the biggest construction and raw material company in Cameroon and he spent his time between there and France while Andrea, her mother and siblings stayed in Paris. Andrea’s standards of life were even higher than Chloé’s.
“Hey Chloé!” A third voice chimed.
Chloé turned to Thea with a smile. Thea, who was their unofficial dance leader, was like her name suggested: a goddess, from her curly hair that she had recently dyed with red highlights, to a svelte body and cafe-au-lait skin. Chloé had a major crush on her before Thea became the big sister that the blonde girl never knew she needed. Her family owned a luxurious watches company that now did all types of accessories. “Hi Thea.”
“You see, you survived your last day!” Thea teased.
“Yeah, barely.”
“Oh, shoot! Did that ex of yours do something?”
“She’s not my ex,” Chloé replied, still feeling unsure about how much she could tell them.
“You guys kissed,” Andrea piped in.
“Like, full-on making out,” Julie added.
“Yeah, but we weren’t official or anything. Anyways, like I told you guys, she was only using me,” Chloé added. Every time Lila was mentioned, Chloé tried to cut the conversation short. It reminded her how stupid she had been for falling into Lila’s lies.
“What a bitch,” Thea said, “so what did she do?”
“Oh, the usual. Managed to make me spill coffee on myself and still make herself the victim.”
“The more you talk about her, the more I want to punch her in the face,” Julie huffed.
“Ok people,” the teacher’s voice rang across the dance room, “You can gossip later. Get in formation for our latest routine. Let’s see what you remember.”
While Chloé had done classical training when she was younger, there was something freeing in doing hip hop. It made her use her whole body and was empowering.
In a way, it reminded her of her short time being Queen Bee.
Ever since she was stripped from her superhero persona, Chloé had been lost; now it finally started to feel like she was allowed to be herself.