Things have been pretty strange since I joined the group for our superhero project. At lunch I sat in my usual spot, trying to work out whether I should invite everyone to my place so they could meet all the superheroes. Well, obviously it would only be Pegasus, King Monkey, Ryuko, Viperion and very possibly Queen Bee that would show up. All the other heroes are members of the group. Oh well. A few at a time, I suppose.

"Hey, Esme?"

I glance up, surprised to see Marinette. "Oh. Hey. Do you need something?" I ask. Why else would she be here if she didn't need something?

"No, no, of course not!" Marinette shakes her head quickly. "I was just wondering if you'd like to come have lunch with Alya and me?"

I blink, surprised. She wants me to have lunch with them? This hasn't ever really happened before. "Uh, yeah, sure," I agree, smiling slightly. "Thank you." "No problem!" Marinette replies sweetly.

She leads me over to where Alya's waiting. "Hey, girl!" She smiles. "Hi," I reply, excited to have lunch with others for once. I sit with them, biting my lip when silence overtakes us. I have no clue what to say.

"So... do you have any weekend plans, Esme?" Marinette asks me, quickly realising I won't be starting any conversations. "Not really," I admit, relieved I at least have something to reply with. "Probably just the homework project, chores and stuff. What about you?"

"Nothing much, just the project and helping my parents in the bakery," Marinette smiles. "What about you, Alya?"

"Ugh, my weekend's gonna be packed," Alya sighs irritably at the mere thought of this chock-a-blocked two days. "I have to babysit both of my sisters for part of Saturday and all of Sunday, so I'm not gonna have time to do anything! You can't babysit and get homework done, especially when there's two kids!"

"Double trouble," I agree, chuckling a bit. "You get it," Alya smiles slightly. "Sisters are the worst. Do you have any siblings, Esme?"

"Wish I did," I reply. "Must be nice, for all their annoying habits. Having a built-in best friend sounds really neat."

"When you put it like that, it is!" Alya chuckled. "But the work is absolutely insane! Every time you're trying to do something they're always, without fail, either whining that you're not paying enough attention to them or that they wanna join in and then if you don't give in to their every whim they complain to your parents until you're suddenly the bad guy! And don't even get me started on when they-!"

I listen in amusement to Alya's rant about her sisters until I notice a hand sneaking towards my bag. I quickly catch Marinette's pale wrist, looking her in the eye. She looks scared and guilty, knowing there's not a lot she can say to get out of this one.

"So that's why you asked me to hang out with you?" I ask, feeling my heart drop to the pit of my stomach like the most worthless penny in your possession that you toss down a wishing well for a small moment of fleeting amusement.

"No, I can explain, I promise-" Marinette starts, but I shake my head and stand up. "Save it," I sigh. "Sorry, Alya. It was nice hanging out with you."

Without another word, I head back to my usual spot and sit alone. I can't believe Marinette - Marinette, of all people! - would bring me over only to try and steal stuff from me while I'm distracted! The nerve of that girl!

And here I thought I'd finally made a friend...

"... mind if I sit...?"

I glance up, surprised to see Alya. "Go ahead," I nod, feeling kinda guilty about leaving while she was mid-rant. She smiles slightly and sits down beside me. "Thank you... what happened back there, Esme?"

"I don't know why, but... Marinette was trying to go through my bag or something," I reply. "What?! That's crazy!" Alya gasped. "I know, it just doesn't seem like her," I frown. "But I know it wasn't just that her hand got a bit close by accident. I saw it in her eyes. She knew she was caught out. She knew she had no excuse that would get her out of it." I glance down. "I understand if you don't believe me, though. I wouldn't believe it either."

Alya shakes her head and sets a hand on my shoulder. "No, I believe you. You're right, that doesn't sound at all like Marinette, and I'm her best friend so I always wanna believe her and back her up. But... she admitted that she just messed up, she just wouldn't tell me what she did. She looked super guilty. Whatever she was planning to do, I think she genuinely is sorry."

"I know," I sigh. "I still can't believe it, though. What was she trying to do? Stealing just doesn't seem like a Marinette move." "No, it doesn't," Alya agreed wholeheartedly. "But she still did it... what are you gonna do about it?"

"... Nothing," I admit, sighing. "I don't wanna get the school involved or anything that would get her in serious trouble, so what can I really do?"

"You've gotta stand up for yourself, girl! You can't just let Marinette get away with that!" Alya argues. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but you have to show Marinette she can't just mess with you! It's such a Chloé move!"

"Heh, yeah," I chuckle. "Chloé stops by my place all the time lately as Queen Bee to demand my homework. One of these days I swear she'll use her Venom attack on me so she can grab it."

Alya laughs. "I'm surprised she hasn't done it already. Let's be honest, Queen Bee's a bit of a joke." "True, but I guess she usually does come through in the end," I shrug. "Even if it takes a hell of a long time to reach that point."