WARNING: it gets sad.

Mari had been awake hours before her alarm. She was just starting not only high school, but an actual school as well! She had been homeschooled by her parents, but since their bakery had recently become popular, they were both constantly working and couldn't give Mari the education she deserved without sending her to public school.

She hopped out of bed excitedly, and began carefully choosing the outfit she thought would make the best first impression. It was a pair of pink jeans, with a white shirt and a black sweater. She brushed her teeth, pulled her hair into low pigtails, and started going downstairs to the bakery. She grabbed two muffins and gave each of her parents a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving.

Mari hadn't noticed it was pouring, and sighed as she didn't own an umbrella.

"Oh no!"

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Adrien had also been up hours before his alarm. He had finally convinced his father to let him go to public school, and not homeschooled by his father's assistant, Natalie.  He was finally going to a real school and was going to have real friends. Not admirers.

Adrien put on a pair of jeans and a white button up shirt which he kept unbuttoned, revealing his plain black t-shirt underneath. He brushed his sand-colored hair. He looked in the mirror and saw his own green eyes staring back at him through the reflection. He looked just like his mother. He walked over to his father's office to say goodbye.

"Father, I will be leaving now." He said.

"Remember Adrien, if you don't like it, I will pull you out right away. You may continue your homeschooling here. Is that understood, son?" Adrien's father asked.

"Yes sir."

Adrien left his house ten minutes early to go to the local bakery for some breakfast. He was grateful that he had grabbed a large, black umbrella before leaving his house, seeing as it was pouring. He spotted a girl just outside the bakery, the rain soaking her.

"Oh no!" She said to herself. Adrien decided to share his umbrella, as it was the nicest thing to do. He walked up to the girl.

"It's too cold for you here without an umbrella. Want to share?" Adrien asked. Upon closer inspection, the girl had ink black hair pulled into low pigtails and bluebell eyes.

"Thanks so much! Here, you can have one of these for helping me." She responded, handing him a muffin and stepping under his umbrella.

"I'm Adrien, what's your name?" He questioned.

"Mari Dupain. It's nice to meet you, Adrien." Mari replied. "Can you help me find the high school? It's my first day."

"It's my first day too, but I memorized a route. Don't tell me, you were just gonna wander around alone in the rain?" Adrien said teasingly, but his face grew concerned as Mari laughed nervously.

"Well, it's this way." Adrien grabbed her by the wrist and began pulling her in the direction of the school.

They finally arrived at the school about ten minutes later. Mari excitedly hopped up and down while Adrien smiled at his new friend, almost hoping their relationship could grow into something else. Adrien and Mari took their first step into not only high school, but school in general.

Together.

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"Class, meet our two newest students. Mari Dupain and Adrien Hayes. I hope you will be very kind to both of them. You two can sit together in the second row." The teacher, Ms. Cheng, said.

"Do you mean THE Adrien Hayes?? The famous movie star??" A girl asked excitedly. Adrien nodded shyly.

"That's me."

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A couple months later, Adrien and Mari had become practically inseparable, to the dismay of many fangirls. They had quickly become so close, you'd think they'd known each other for years. Mari had gotten more than a few nasty glares from her female classmates, for 'stealing' Adrien Hayes from them. Mari pretended to not notice, as she didn't want to start anything.

Adrien found their current class, math, very interesting, but he had to poke poor Mari awake quite a few times. Towards the end of class, Mari received a note.

Meet me outside of the classroom. Alone.
~ a friend

A friend? Mari thought excitedly. She had made a friend! Mari hadn't made any other friends besides Adrien yet, as they were all jealous of her and Adrien. She was so excited to meet her new friend, she could hardly keep still! Adrien smiled lovingly at his friend's antics, although he had no idea what the note was about, as Mari had already stuck it in her bag. The bell rung, and Mari immediately hopped up.

"Class, finish all the problems on page 394 for homework. That's all, have a nice rest of your day!" The teacher said. Adrien stood up, and followed his friend outside.

"I'm supposed to meet someone out here alone. Go to our usual spot, and if I'm not there in ten, text me!" Mari told to Adrien. His green eyes narrowed in suspicion. Alone? That couldn't be good. He had quickly become protective of his friend, as she was too kind to notice when someone was being mean to her.

"Are you sure, Mari? I don't want you to get into any trouble." Adrien asked. He had come to think of her as so innocent, kind, and sweet. He wanted nothing bad to happen to her. Hurting her would be like kicking a puppy. He wanted to protect her.

"I'll be fine! The writer said they're a friend! They wouldn't do anything bad!" Mari said happily.

"Okay. Text me if you need anything at all." Adrien said seriously. Adrien smiled, waved goodbye at her, and began to walk away.

"See you soon, Adrien!" Mari smiled and waved at her friend as he walked to their usual lunch spot.

Just then, a girl walked out. Mari was pretty sure that her name was Ana and the girl walking next to her and talking was Marcy. They both saw Mari at the same time and glared at her.

"You." Ana spoke, making the word sound like poison. She grabbed Mari and forcefully dragged her by the wrist, Marcy not far behind. She finally got to her destination, and pulled out a key. One of the girl's bathrooms had been locked due to malfunctions and a broken mirror. Ana unlocked the door, shoved Mari in, and let Marcy go in. She then stepped through the doorway herself and locked the door from the inside. Mari realized that she was locked in and true fear was the only expression on her face.

"You little whore, how dare you try and take him from me!" Ana half-yelled, not wanting to be overheard. Marcy just sneered. Ana then threw Mari against the wall, pinning Mari's shoulders there with her own two hands.

"Stay away from Adrien Hayes! Do you hear me, little girl?" She threatened. Mari finally spoke up.

"No! Adrien was my very first friend who didn't find me weird or make fun of me or call me names. The only reason I've been homeschooled all these years is because I used to change schools every year due to being bullied every time. I am not leaving this school! More importantly, I absolutely will not be leaving Adrien! Leave me be!" Mari yelled defiantly. She tried to run, but Ana's hands stayed firm and pinned her to the wall.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Ana sneered. She lifted her leg and kicked Mari in the stomach once. Twice. Three times.

"The teachers won't take too kindly to you once you skip all your classes." She and Marcy then left and locked the door behind them. Mari, after recovering from those blows, scrambled towards the bathroom door and tugged. They didn't budge.

She had had enough. Mari crumbled to the floor and sobbed. She bit down on her lip and held back a scream. She covered her face with her hands and sat there, tears staining all the way down her face, and only the sound of her uneven breathing could be heard, but it was barely a whisper to anyone outside that bathroom. Suddenly, her phone buzzed.

Hey, where are you?

Adrien. What would she say? That she was curled up in a bathroom, sobbing? No. She'd do what she had always done, and pretend it was all okay. She redid her hair, and wiped her tears, and hoped nobody would be able to see the bruises that would surely form on her stomach. Her response came five minutes later.

Locked in the girl's bathroom next to our first class. I have no idea why it locked, but I can't get out. Help?

His response:
I'll be there in just a few minutes, just wait for me!

She cracked a smile because all she could do was wait. She was trapped, a sitting duck.  Even though he said he didn't mind, Mari hated it when he had to get her out of a difficult situation. He was always bailing her out of things and she wanted to repay him but didn't know how. As promised, a knock came a few minutes later.

"Mari?" Adrien called.

"I'm here!" She said, grateful her friend was here. A minute later, the door swung open. The only one there was Adrien.

"How-"

"Father thought it would be a good idea for me to know how to pick locks. It's a useful skill" Adrien intercepted. Just then, the bell rung. Mari stepped out of that awful bathroom and walked with Adrien to their next class, gym.

Ana made sure to beat Mari in every race, every test, every physical thing possible. She pushed Mari away from Adrien whenever possible and tried to talk to him, but he only made polite, awkward conversation with her. Ana was mad. The only good thing about gym was that Ana's little minion, Marcy wasn't there, so Ana was friendless, and Mari felt bad for even thinking that was good.

Ana's attacks weren't over yet. The one class Adrien and Mari didn't have together, science, Ana took to her advantage. She grabbed Mari right after class, whom was not only physically weak from gym and Ana's abuse, but emotionally exhausted from pretending the entire day that she was fine. In other words, Mari couldn't get out of it. She took her to a slightly empty hallway, as school was over and students were filing out. She began speaking when the hall was empty.

"Why don't you just die? Adrien is too nice and only pretending to be your friend. He hates you. He wishes he had never met you. Why don't you make it easier on him and just kill yourself? In fact, you'd be doing the whole world a favor. You don't deserve a movie star's time." Ana spat.

Mari pushed her away and ran out of the school, crying. She ran past Adrien, who was shocked and tried to stop her, but failed. She ran all the way home in the pouring rain and when she got to the bakery, put on a fake smile for her parents. The rain covered her tears. The rain covered her pain. The rain covered the real Mari.

"Honey, how was your day today? Looks like you got soaked! I'll be sure to buy you an umbrella next time I go shopping." Her mother said, smiling at her.

"It was really, really good! I'd appreciate that umbrella, though." Mari joked. "I'm gonna go upstairs and change."

"Okay, sweetie, the bakery closes in a few hours but feel free to grab anything you'd like!" Ms. Dupain answered.

"Thanks, Mom!" Mari called as she climbed up the bakery stairs that lead to the rest of the house. There was two bedrooms, and each had a small bathroom. Mari headed directly to her room. She changed into a pair of jeans and a short sleeve, white t-shirt with the bakery's name on it. Dupain's bakery, it said in a swirly font.

There were a couple texts from Adrien too.

I saw you.  Are you okay? Can I come over?

And ten minutes later:

Mari, I know something bad happened to you. I'm coming to see you. Just hang on, okay? Don't do anything you could regret later.

Oh, Mari wouldn't regret this. Or at least that's what she thought. She pulled out a pair of scissors she usually used for arts and crafts and held it to left wrist, the blade starting to dig into her skin. She pressed harder, finally drawing blood. She swiped it against her skin. One for all the kids who laughed at her. Another for the ones that called her names. Four for Ana. Two for Marcy. One for not being worth Ad-

"Mari!" Adrien yelled in horror. He had ran all the way there and talked her parents into letting him up there, only to find this. Eight, almost nine cuts across her porcelain skin. Across the skin of his one and only true friend, the only person he truly cared about. He grabbed the scissors from her hands.

"Mari, what were you thinking?" He asked as he began to wet some cloth with water and clean her. He found the bandages and grabbed those too.

"I was thinking of the people who caused me to become homeschooled. Ana, who made today a living hell. I was thinking, who am I to be friends with someone as famous and perfect as you? You deserve someone so much better than me, so go on, leave me." Mari stated. Tears began falling down Adrien's face, slowly. He no longer saw the innocence of a puppy in her eyes. He saw the anger, the sadness, the pain, and most of all, he saw the ferocity of a wolf. He knew he only had one chance.

"You're perfect, Mari. Forget those kids, forget Ana. You're energetic, kind, and very caring. You don't have a single mean bone in your body. You're my only friend and I want you to stay with me, and be happy and never do this to yourself again. We can stand up to Ana together, I promise." He finished bandaging Mari and stood up. He held out his hand to her.

"Together, please, Mari?" He asked.

She thought about it. Stay in school, stay friends with Adrien, and all she had to do was stand up to Ana and Marcy with him? It was like a dream come true to her. She looked up at Adrien happily and gave him a smile, but it was real. She tried to forget about the bandages on her skin and Ana's bullying. She tried to forget about the bad things and cherish the good. She wanted to go with Adrien.

She took his hand.

"Together!"

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This is about 2500 words long, a new record for me! Does anyone want a part two, where they stand up to Ana and maybe some romantic *things* happen?

............ I know you ship it.