Chapter Text
okay. how does she say this?
Rose self-identifies as a dumb bitch. more accurately, a dumb bitch who is so averse to conflict that she persistently ignores any and all signs of it by pretending to be a naïve, ditzy blonde with no concept of how the world works beyond Disney movies and happily-ever-afters. she is not, however, dumb. a dumb bitch, yes, but not dumb. so it tickles her pink when her classmates treat her like she is. granted, she can't exactly blame them, but still, very fucking rude thank you very much.
from her dysfunctional, conservative family to her own internalized issues and the stress of school, she has a lot going on in her head at all times. which means that beyond emotional support she can barely muster up the energy to deal with anyone else's problems, which is what friends do, right? they help each other or something, or at least that's what the movies say. she never really had that many friends growing up, because Mme. and M. Lavillant in their entitled and self-appointed glory thought her to be above her peers and limited her social interaction with other humans to her teachers, one or two spoiled rich kids, and Mme. Lafayette who took the time to raise her in-between the numerous labor-intensive tasks she had to complete around the house every week before Mme. and M. Lavillant returned.
Mme. Lafayette was good friends with a crazy silver-haired pirate she called Mlle. Annie, who had a son a few years older than Rose and a daughter who was really pretty and her age, 9. on the days she was sure Mme. and M. Lavillant were staying at the office (and leaving her home, alone, no message telling her they're gonna be late, almost like they forgot kids need actual fucking parents, wild), she would beg Mme. Lafayette to carry her by Mlle. Annie to play with her pretty friend on their really cool boat house, wasn't that cool? they lived in a boat! on water! on the Seine! wow!
it was probably very illegal, but Mme. Lafayette couldn't resist the eyes, so she frequently gave in. and so began Rose and Juleka's (her name was really nice) (and sometimes Luka's because he had a nice voice and he could sing the low notes with her that Juley couldn't reach) dream of being rockstars.
until she was 11 and Mme. Lafayette got sick and Mme. and M. Lavillant found out about their outings and that she wasn't their perfect daughter and Mme. got fired and Rose was all alone and now homeschooled and she heard the gardener tell the cook that Mme. Lafayette died and she begged and screamed and cried but Mme. and M. Lavillant wouldn't let her go to the funeral and she wanted to board Mlle. Annie's boat house with Juley's pretty eyes and Luka's comforting hugs and sail far far away and never return.
she was sure whatever cosmic force out there had pity on her because not even a few months after Mme. Lafayette died, the company Mme. and M. Lavillant worked for was under hot water from some scandal or the other and went bankrupt so they had to cut back on her private tutors. Mme. and M. Lavillant sent her to an elite private school (because even though they were literally out of a job they couldn't drop their dumb classism) in the heart of Paris: Francois-Dupont. only it wasn't as elite as they thought, because she wasn't in a class with heirs and heiresses, she was in a class with a baker's daughter and the son of athletes and Juley who she hasn't seen in months and Rose was ecstatic.
of course she kept this information from Mme. and M. Lavillant went back to being sneaky and two-faced and it felt bad to lie, but this was a good thing and home was where good things went to die. to make sure her tracks were covered, she played up the sweet act in front her teachers so they could only give glowing remarks. It Worked.
It Worked So Well that her classmates bought it.
at first, they didn't think she was naïve or ditzy, just really sweet and a good friend. which was nice. to be thought of as a friend. Juley was the best but she'd always felt like more than a friend. (what's just as close but somehow a little different from a friend? a sister? do people think about holding hands with their sisters? sisters hold hands right?) and Luka was her big brother. friends… friends were nice. especially Marinette, wasn't she just the cutest?
now here's something no one told her: friends give advice. when a friend comes to you with a problem, you're supposed to talk with them. not just jump on their bed and curl up with them and snuggle. that's what she and Juley always did, so that's what friends do, right?
(for some reason the thought of doing that with anyone else other than Juley and vice versa was... unappealing. that's a no. no snuggles.)
talking about feelings was never her strong suit, so in a panic, when they were 13 and Nino confided in her that he like-liked Marinette, her brain went blank and the only thing that came out of her mouth was:
"maybe you should tell the birds to bring her flowers!"
yeah, he was never coming to her again. in hindsight, she got the feeling that he probably told their other classmates that she wasn't quite grounded in reality because from that moment on no one came to her for advice. they'd go to Juley.
which, while still very fucking rude, actually worked out great. because she was a dumb bitch.
she's not even going to unpack how much more of a dumb bitch she became because of stupid Hawkmoth. nope. not touching that. she doesn't address trauma unless Juley looks at her with those sad eyes and that almost-pout and thankfully they have both been too busy to have another one of those discussions.
good thing too because she's discovered that Juley is not a sister because it is not normal to want to kiss your sibling on their lips whenever they pout because the thought of doing that with Luka is gross. plus he's like 2 years older than her. practically an ancient relic.
anyway. she made 3 new friends in the new class: Alya, Adrien, and Lila.
actually….
she made 2 new friends, and a pity project.
now Rose knows it's not nice to refer to people like that. she knows everything about being nice. her class regularly refers to her and Marinette as the Sunshine Sisters.
but Lila is off. something about her rubs her the wrong way. Juley seems to like her, or at least not have a problem with her, so maybe she's just imagining it?
except Marinette doesn't like her. at all. at. all. Rose has never seen Marinette be mean to anyone ever, yet Lila seems to bring out the worst in her by just being in the same room.
this can mean one of a few things: Marinette is just like her, in that she appears sweet to avoid any sort of conflict and Lila openly challenges her and that gets her mad (only that can't be it because Rose can't even begin to count the amount of feuds and in-fighting that Marinette has been the mediator for and has resolved).
or, Marinette knew Lila from before and didn't like her because of a misunderstanding. (Lila said that she lived in Italy all her life though, and from what she knows of Marinette, the only foreign country the designer has been to is China to visit relatives. and the chances of them knowing each other online are very low.)
or, Marinette is actually just a mean two-faced person. (PFT, next.)
or, Lila is actually just a mean two-faced person. it would explain why she feels off and even Chloé seems wary around her.
but she has already established that she is a dumb bitch, and instead of at least attempting to mend to rift that's being created in the class because of Marinette's claims of Lila being a liar and her inherent dislike of her, Rose buries her head in the sand and hopes it goes away.
she doesn't want to believe Lila is a liar because that will crush Juley and that is unacceptable, that sin cannot be forgiven. she likes Marinette, a lot, she's such a good person, but Juley comes first.
she will, however, consider inviting her to snuggle with her and Juley.
and Luka, she has a feeling he'll like that, if his speechlessness whenever the designer comes around is any indication of his deep affection for her.
simp.