Like most people, Caline Bustier made mistakes. She was human. She regularly made typos in business emails, occasionally sorted her recycling incorrectly, and even made a few mistakes while grading her students' papers. Caline made mistakes, and she was perfectly fine with that.

What she wasn't okay with, however, was the colossal mistake that she had made at the expense of one 14-year-old girl.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sat in a chair in the principal's office, flanked by her parents, listening closely as one tearful Lila Rossi confessed to Mr. Damocles that the past day had been a massive misunderstanding. Lila cried as she apologized to Marinette, sharing that she had a rare medical condition that caused to her say things she didn't mean.

The entire story brought tears to the principal's eyes but to Caline Bustier, Lila's elaborate tale of triumphs and failures, neatly wrapped up in a heartfelt apology towards Marinette ignited something dark and heavy in the pit of her stomach.

Judging by the looks on the Dupain-Cheng family's faces, she was sure she wasn't the only one who felt that something wasn't right.

"Of course Marinette," Damocles sniffed, blowing his nose into a handkerchief, "You may come back to school as soon as now, if you'd like."

Sabine Cheng placed a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder, "That's it?" she said. "All of this, and you're just admitting her back into school? Just like that?"

"Of course. No harm, no foul."

Sabine's dark gray eyes glinted furiously at Mr. Damocles. He seemed to shrink under her angry gaze, quickly adding onto his casual comment.

"Well, what else is there? You heard the story. It was a misunderstanding, and Miss Rossi here had already explained-"

"-Oh, I heard the explanation," Sabine interrupted, "What I want to know is why you or Miss Bustier," Caline winced at the venomous mention of her name, "hadn't properly investigated this the first time."

"Madame Cheng..." Mr. Damocles began, but Sabine stepped around her daughter, leaning down to meet the principal's eyes.

"I got a call saying that my daughter, who has had impeccable grades since she started grade school, stole an answer key, pushed Miss Rossi down the stairs where nobody saw or even checked it out with a nurse, and stashed her grandmother's stolen necklace into her locker, where we conveniently found it after Miss Rossi shows us my daughter's unsecured locker."

Sabine's fingers curled into the desk, "You then expel my daughter, humiliate her in front of her classmates, and decide that everything's fine because of this story that Miss Rossi has conveniently conjured up without any mention of a doctor's note."

"Actually, Madame Cheng-"

"Lila, don't," Caline shushed, patting her student's back, "Let her finish."

"How do you think that makes my daughter feel, Mr. Damocles?" Sabine questioned furiously, "To know that the staff at this school made her feel humiliated and unsafe? You haven't even offered her an apology. None of you have, and you expect me to allow her to come back to this school?"

"Maman, it's okay-" Marinette replied.

"No, it's not," this time Marinette's father spoke, his booming voice almost shaking the picture framed on the walls. Tom Dupain dropped two large hands on Marinette's shoulders, comforting his daughter. Tom looked Damocles in the eye, frowning deeply.

"This entire ordeal has put our family through emotional distress due to your negligence. Mr. Damocles, I'm afraid we're going to have to bring this up with the board."

Mr. Damocles, as Caline recalled, typically saw no threat in parents like Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. When he had to deal with the likes of Audrey and Andre Bourgeois, Gabriel Agreste, and the rest of Paris' upper crust families, she supposed he considered the owners of Paris' premier boulangerie-patisserie to be the least of his worries.

How sorely mistaken he was.

Mr. Damocles paled at Marinette's hulking father. Like she had seen in Marinette, Caline noted that Tom Dupain had a very strong moral compass and wasn't afraid to stand up to authority when something was wrong.

"T-There's really no need..."

"Actually, there is," he replied, "you have no idea what could have happened to Marinette-"

"Papa, Mama-can I just go back to class now?" Marinette asked, exasperated, "This entire debacle has put me behind in schoolwork by a few days, and I'd really like to catch up."

"Of course, Marinette," Sabine said, "And if you need to come home for any reason at all, call us."

"Miss Bustier," Mr. Damocles instructed, "Please escort Miss Dupain-Cheng and Miss Rossi back to class while I sort this out."

"Of course," Caline replied, ushering the two girls out of the classroom.

By the time the office door had closed, Sabine and Tom were almost yelling at the principal, blaming his incompetence for the disruption in their daughter's schoolwork.

The tension on the way back was palpable, even with Lila chatting away despite Marinette's half-hearted answers.

"Oh, Marinette, I am glad that you weren't expelled," Lila prattled on, "and I am sorry for this little misunderstanding. I'll be more careful next time."

Caline noticed Marinette bristle at Lila's apology.

"Yeah," Marinette replied, "Just make sure you keep a better eye on your grandmother's necklace. And watch your step when you're walking by stairs. And make sure you know where your own locker and backpack are before you go lobbing stuff in there."

Lila didn't seem offended at Marinette's not-so-subtle dig, "You're so silly, Marinette. Whatever would the class do without their everyday Ladybug?"

"I'm sure they'd be okay."

Caline cleared her throat, "Alright girls, we're here. Lila, go ahead and take your seat. I want to talk to Marinette for a second."

Lila nodded and flounced away, leaving Caline with the disgruntled young lady.

"Marinette," Caline said, "I know the past few days have been rough, but I want to make sure you're okay before we move forward."
Marinette looked her teacher in the face, and Caline took note of the intense fire burning beyond the girl's bright blue eyes. She wrinkled her nose, "I'm okay with coming back to school. What I'm not okay with is Lila getting away with lying all the time."

Caline groaned, "Marinette, what did we talk about-"

"I know that she's lying!" Marinette interrupted, "That test you gave was on geography. I have perfect marks in that class—I even aced your pop quizzes and answered every single question right when you called me up to the board. Why would I cheat on a subject that I'm already good at?!"

Caline hadn't thought about that before.

"None of this makes sense!" Marinette confided, "Lila said I pushed her down the stairs, but nobody checks it out with the nurse or calls her mom. Lila said that I stole her grandmother's necklace and knew that it would conveniently be in my locker—we don't even have locks for those!"

Marinette's voice had risen considerably as she drew up her frustrations against her classmate to Caline, "And, okay, let's say that she has a rare medical condition that makes her say whatever. That doesn't explain how the answer key got into my bag or how the necklace got into my locker!"

That dark, unpleasant feeling Caline had felt before dropped into the pit of her stomach. She felt as if ice cold water had been dumped over her head, shocking her still as she came upon the realization that Marinette was right.

None of this did make sense.

"I'll retake that test if I have to, Miss Bustier," Marinette continued, "And I will ace it, because it's me. If anyone can ace a geography test, it's going to be me. I don't need an answer key to pass."

Caline nearly winced at the dig, but figured that she deserved it after all.

"The only thing I ask from you is to keep Lila away from me in class. It's better for the class, and it's better for me."

Caline didn't know what to do, other than to nod.

Marinette nodded in return and entered the classroom.

The classroom was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop when they arrived, a rather disturbing difference in comparison to its normal rowdy energy. Caline could see Lila happily bouncing in her seat, sharing with Nathaniel her latest conversation with a world-renowned manga artist in Japan.
The entire back row of the class seemed enthralled in her thrilling tale.

Marinette, on the other hand, gave everyone a noncommittal wave and quietly slid into her row next to Alya. The red-head wrapped a comforting arm around the girl. Caline watched as Nino and Adrien turned around in their seats as well to greet Marinette.

"Dude, we missed you!" Nino cried.

"Yeah, I missed you guys too," Marinette said, "the past two days have been...stressful to say the list. I think I'm experiencing whiplash at this point."

"You didn't miss a lot in class," Alya offered, "We primarily did review packs and vocab review."

"And if you need our help, Marinette," Adrien added, placing a gentle hand on her arm, "We'll definitely help you out."

Caline watched as the girl turned pink and hastily thanked her classmates before unpacking her supplies. As Caline prepared to start her afternoon lesson, she began to hope that things would look up. It was so unfortunate that one of her best students had been dealt such a horrible hand over the past few days.

Marinette was back in her class, everyone was happy, and Caline was more than prepared to help the class move on.

"Miss Bustier!" Lila raised her hand, "Since Marinette's going to be busy doing make up work, do you think it'd be better for me and her to switch seats? So the lesson won't distract her while she's filling out those packets?"

Caline considered herself extremely empathetic, however, the sheer force of rage that rippled through Marinette Dupain-Cheng's body threw her off. This was Marinette. Her happy-go-lucky student who goes out of her way for all her friends.

It wasn't until Caline saw Alya shift to cover Marinette's clenched fist with a comforting hand that Caline finally made a decision.

"As much as I appreciate your concern for Marinette, Lila," Caline replied smoothly, "I will be the one deciding seating charts from now on, and how people will be doing make up work."

Lila frowned, "I just wanted to help her," she countered, green eyes growing misty, "After all, it is my fault she was expelled. If only I didn't have this super rare medical condition..."

"Oh no! What's wrong Lila?"

"Please let us know how we can help!"

"Marinette, let her switch with you. She only wants to help!"

"Yeah, Marinette. Lila didn't mean it, let her help you. Switch seats!"

The classroom erupted into pandemonium, and Caline was struggling to call attention to the front. Through the chaos, she saw movement in the front and quickly averted her eyes in that direction.

Adrien Agreste rose to his feet, and turned to face the back of the classroom.

"Marinette isn't going anywhere," he snapped, an out-of-character gesture from the normally shy student, "You already heard Miss Bustier. Stop badgering Marinette."

"Have I touched a nerve, Adrien?" Lila asked, challenging Marinette's newest defender, "I didn't mean to get Marinette in trouble when I fell-"

"But you did," Adrien answered, "and you said you're sorry so it's fine. And if you really wanted to help her, you'd let Miss Bustier continue her lesson."

The class fell silent yet again, giving Caline the chance to clear the tension in the room.

"Alright kids, let's get started-"

Caline Bustier was far from a perfect person, but she was always more than willing to own up to her mistakes.

It seemed that this particular mistake was going to be challenging to overcome.