Chloe Bourgeois was not a good person.

Everybody knew that.

People believed that she was nothing but a spoiled brat.

And in a way, Chloe knew that they were right.

Her dad was the mayor. She grew up surrounded by the most influential people and she watched as her dad manipulated everyone to get what he wanted.

She grew up believing it was normal.

So as the years passed and her parents began to drift apart from her, Chloe did what her dad did best.

Chloe began to manipulate everyone around her.

She made Paris believe that she was nothing but a spoiled brat who had her daddy wrapped around her pinky finger.

It was too easy.

No one questioned her attitude.

After all, Paris only saw a basic white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

It made Chloe want to scream. She wanted a challenge.

She hated how people immediately did what she wanted them to do just because she threatened to call her dad.

Do they even know that the laws in Paris said that it was illegal?

How could people be so stupid?

It took Chloe several days before she decided to use this to her advantage.

In a matter of weeks, Chloe had everyone in Paris believing that she had no worth. The only thing she was good at was threatening everyone around her, just because she was the mayor's daughter.

Then, Chloe met Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Oh, how Chloe loved the tiny pigtailed girl.

Someone who actually made things interesting.

Someone who gave her a challenge.

But as Chloe continued to torment the pigtailed girl, Marinette slowly stopped defending herself.

Chloe didn't know why.

She thought that the more she made Marinette miserable, the more Marinette would fight back against her.

So why? Why did Marinette just accept the awful things that Chloe did to her?

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Her daddy always told her that the more you push someone towards the edge, the more they'll push back.

That's how politics worked!

Marinette was supposed to fight back and then they would slowly become friends.

Chloe and Marinette were supposed to rule Paris together.

Side by side.

The two five year olds were supposed to become sisters in everything but blood.

It took years before Chloe realized what went wrong with her plan.

Marinette didn't grow up with manipulative people. Chloe did.

Marinette grew up surrounded by people who loved her. Chloe didn't.

Marinette is a good person. Chloe isn't.

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Everyone knew that Marinette was a bubbly child.

She was always happy and smiling, even as a baby.

When she finally learned how to talk, she couldn't stop. She would walk around the bakery asking people if they needed help. Marinette could always put a smile on everyone's faces.

At least that's what she believed.

Marinette was excited for her first day of school. She was finally five years old. She could attend école.

She couldn't wait to make friends.

Her papa even let her take a pack of macarons from the bakery so that she could share them with her class.

Her papa told her that a good way to make friends was to give them food.

And he was right!

Everyone wanted to be Marinette's friend. Even when she didn't have food to give them.

They still wanted to get to know her. It was really fun.

Marinette never noticed the blonde girl from the back of the room staring at her with her calculating blue eyes.

As the weeks passed, Marinette began to realize that something was wrong.

It started off small.

But then it began to become more obvious.

Her friends began to ignore her.

But Marinette could tell that they didn't want to, she could see the fear in their eyes.

But why?

Marinette didn't think she looked scary. Her mama and papa always told her she was cute.

Marinette's eyes looked around the room and noticed that a blonde girl was staring at her.

Marinette's dark blue eyes met the girl's light ones.

The girl raised an eyebrow at her. As if asking, what do you want?

Marinette looked away and asked the boy next to her, Ryan, if he knew the girl's name.

The dark-skinned boy stared at her with his green eyes as if she was dumb and muttured a quick, "Chloe. Her name is Chloe Bourgeois."

Marinette felt her eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. Why did that name sound so familiar?

She tapped her pencil against her desk.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Chloe was the mayor's daughter. Marinette realized, her blue eyes were wide and she turned to look at the blonde again. She's pretty.

Ryan caught her staring at Chloe. "Don't talk to her."

Marinette looked at him with bewilderment. "What? Why?"

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Marinette didn't know anything. She didn't even know that Chloe was in her class at all. She never noticed the blonde until now!

"She told everyone to stop hanging out with you." Ryan slowly told her.

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"I don't even know her."

"Well, she doesn't like you."

"But why would she not like me if I don't even know her."

"I don't know." Ryan repeated. "Look. I already took a risk by even talking to you."

"Wha-"

Ryan interrupted her. "Stop talking to me!"

The whole class stared at them and Marinette felt her cheeks heat up. She heard her teacher's booming voice ask, "What's going on there?"

Ryan pointed at her. "She keeps talking to me even though I told her to stop, Ms. Delgado."

Snitch.

Ms. Delgado's dark brown eyes glared at the five year old. "Marinette, we are learning right now. You can talk to him during recess." Her teacher pointed at the problem on the board. "Since you keep talking, I'm guessing that means that you know what we're doing."

The pigtailed girl shook her head. "No, I don't know what we're learning about."

"Ma'am."

Marinette clenched her fists, "No, I don't know what we're learning about ma'am."

"That's what I thought." Marinette lowered her eyes so that her teacher couldn't see them. "As punishment, you will stay here five minutes after I dismiss everyone for recess." Marinette gulped. She could feel everyone's eyes on her. "Am I understood?"

Marinette could only whisper a quick, "Yes, ma'am."

Things only got worse after that.

Marinette didn't know what happened during the five minutes she missed but no one could even look at her. Whenever she tried to talk to another kid, they would ignore her. Some would even glare at her.

Marinette didn't know what she did wrong. She wasn't the first person to get in trouble. So why was everyone only ignoring her and not the other kids that got in trouble too.

It wasn't fair.

Why didn't anyone like her anymore?

She didn't even notice someone approaching her until it was too late.

"What a crybaby." she heard a girl scoff.

Marinette didn't even notice that she was crying. She tried to wipe the tears from her face but it was too late. She glanced up and saw the blonde girl glaring at her. "What do you want?" Marinette's voice was hoarse.

"From you? I want nothing." The way that Chloe was looking at her made Marinette uncomfortable. "I thought I had competition but looking at you right now, you're just pathetic. Even more pathetic than the macaroons you brought to school on our first day." Chloe let out a shrill laugh. "You're worth nothing."

As Chloe started to walk away, Marinette found her voice. "I am not pathetic. I'm not the one who made people stop being friends with me because they were jealous."

Chloe's icy blue eyes glared at Marinette, "Jealous? Why would I be jealous of you?" Marinette opened her mouth to reply before Chloe cut her off, "Trust me. No one wanted to be friends with you anyways. I just gave them a reason to stop."

"You're lying!" Marinette protested. Her tiny body was shaking. "They were my friends. And they wanted to be my friends until you opened your big stupid mouth."

Chloe walked towards Marinette. Every step forward that Chloe made, Marinette took a step back.

A few seconds later, Marinette felt her back against a wall. She saw Chloe smirk. "Pathetic and stupid." Chloe taunted. "You really are just a baker's daughter." Marinette felt her eyes tearing up and judging by the way Chloe was walking closer towards her, Marinette knew that Chloe noticed.

Marinette waited for Chloe to say something but she didn't. Instead, Chloe was just staring at her. "You're wrong." Marinette spat out. "You're wrong."

She saw Chloe smirk before she began to walk away from her. "We'll see. Marinette. But trust me," Chloe's eyes met hers. "It'll only get worse from here."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chloe knew that she didn't deserve Marinette's forgiveness. She made her école years a living hell.

Chloe made sure that no one wanted to be her friend.

And the sad part was that it was too easy.

If they were her actual friends, then they would've at least tried to argue against Chloe. But nope. They didn't even care. They just let it happen.

People would argue that they didn't know any better. They were just kids, everyone would say, it was their first year of attending school. They didn't know any better.

It made Chloe want to scoff. Those kids watched as she humiliated Marinette over and over again.

For six years.

Sure, they were probably scared of Chloe because of who her father was. But all Chloe told them was to ignore Marinette. Make sure that she doesn't have friends.

That's it.

Of course, the last threat didn't even matter because Nino befriended her. But at least it gave Marinette a bit of her fire back.

Too bad it was nothing more than a weak flame.

It was so weak that Chloe would've blown it out with a swish of her ponytail.

Honestly, Chloe knew that she should've stopped tormenting Marinette right after she stopped defending herself.

But it was too late.

The friends that Marinette made during the first few weeks of school loved the fact that they could do anything to Marinette and they wouldn't get in trouble.

This happened a few years after Chloe made her first threat against Marinette. They were in what, their final year of école.

Chloe made sure that everyone stayed in the same class during their years of école.

Did she regret it?

Yes.

Did it teach Chloe anything?

Yes.

Those six years Chloe spent with the class, she promised herself one thing.

She would never be gullible in making friends.

The people that Marinette once called her friends, made her final year a living hell.

They treated her worse than Chloe ever did.

Way worse.

All Chloe did was torment Marinette verbally.

She never pretended to be someone's friend only to stab them in the back.

Chloe had standards.

Plus, Chloe never meant for things to go that far.

So when Marinette wasn't in the classroom, Chloe did what she knew best.

Manipulate the people around her.

Chloe didn't know if Marinette noticed the difference in the class dynamic, but it was the least she could do.

In the next year, Chloe would never see the imbeciles around her again. It would only be Chloe, Marinette, and Nino who would be attending Francois Dupont.

Chloe would have a fresh start. Then she would slowly begin to redeem herself. And she would apologize to Marinette.

So, as Chloe sat on the edge of her bed, her phone in her hand. She finally liked the picture that she's been staring at for the past few minutes.

After all, it was the least she could do.

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