Just smile. Just keep smiling. Keep being bubbly, and cheerful and they'll never know. No one will ever know.
Marinette drew in a shaky breath and turned off her phone. She turned back to Alya and smiled at her as she talked about whatever. She nodded enthusiastically as her friend squealed. She felt her phone buz. She knew she shouldn't, but she glanced down at the screen.
Just breath in, and smile. And she did. Alya was completely oblivious.
In the middle of the lesson, her phone buzzed, eyes glancing down before she could stop herself. That hidden crack broke just a little bit more. She breathed in, but she couldn't quite force the same smile. She raised her hand, feeling one very particular set of eyes on her.
"Yes, Marinette?", she smiled.
"Sorry, could I go the bathroom?", just keep smiling, just a little bit longer.
"Fine". And the teacher resumed her lesson. Marinette got out of her seat and left normally, still feeling that particular set of eyes on her. Once she left the classroom,she just had to wait a little longer. She walked around the corner, and collapsed against the wall, slowly sliding down until she was sitting in a little hidden corner, away from all eyes. And she finally stopped smiling. She buried her face into her arms and breathed shakily. She knew it was the worst thing to do, but she unlocked her phone, messages immediately open. She scrolled to the top and began her way down.
You're so pathetic, staring at him. He doesn't even notice you.
Her hands gripped her legs tighter.
What makes you think he'd ever be interested in trash like you.
You're worthless compared to him.
Just keep breathing, her throat felt like it was closing in on her.
You left you're stupid designs out, on the table you know. I saw him looking at them.
Her breath hitched.
He laughed. He asked how long ago these were drawn. And when he saw the date scribbled in the top corner, he laughed again.
He wouldn't. But...
His exact words were, "Is this a joke? Was she blindfolded and drawing with her left hand? I can't believe she calls herself a designer".
No. He wouldn't. He was too nice.
And then Nathanaël' came up, he looked at the page and burst out laughing. He couldn't understand how he could have possibly liked you.
Nathanaël wouldn't. They were friends!
No one likes you. Why would they? You're just worthless and pathetic. Alya just feels sorry for you. She doesn't care about you, she just likes having someone who will hang on her every word.
... Alya was always the one who did the talking... And she didn't notice anything earlier. It doesn't matter if she was trying to hide it, she should have noticed.
Did you really think you had friends? Everyone just feels sorry for the pathetic, desperate, loser you are.
Her nails dug into the material of her jeans.
Just kill yourself. No one would care.
That broke her. She dropped the phone and shoved her fingers into her hair, curling up tighter, just wanting to disappear. She tried to breath, feeling suffocated. There was no air. No space. She couldn't breath. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe.
"Marinette?". She froze. She had no idea what to do. There was a person. Someone could see her, and she wasn't smiling. She wasn't cheerful and bubbly. And everything was closing in on her.
"Mari? Marinette?! ". She didn't move. She couldn't breath. Suddenly she was being shaken. She blankly stared up at worried green eyes. Adrien. Adrien was shaking her. Adrien was calling her name. And then her phone buzzed. They both looked down at the glowing screen.
Did you do it? Are you killing yourself now? Trying to scrape up attention? Ha. You're so pathetic.
They both froze, still staring at the screen. His fingers gripped harder on her shoulders.
"... Mari? Marinette, what was that?". He whispered. He sounded angry. She couldn't breath again.
"Marinette! Answer me! What was that!" She looked up at him. He flinched. Her eyes were empty. They were broken. They were colourless and dead. They were broken.
He picked up the phone. She had no password. He swiped the screen. He stared down at the messages. His breathing deepened, and got quicker. And then he read the last two. And re-read them. And again. He slowly turned to Marinette, who hadn't moved.
"Marinette", he whispered, voice cracking.
"Marinette! Who sent these? Who Godamn sent these?!". She didn't answer, staring at the number in the top corner. He recognized it. How could he not?
" No".
"No ! She went too far! Don't listen to her Mari, she's full of crap! Okay? These are lies. These are horrible, disgusting lies. Do not listen to her. You are one of my best friends. You are sweet, and kind, and way too forgiving for your own good. You are beautiful, and amazing. You are the most kindhearted person I have ever met. Don't listen to her!".
She still had that blank look in her eye. It made him shiver. Broken. And then a horrible little smile came onto her face, a smile that meant she had given in. A smie that was blank, and broken. And even now she smiled.
"But you don't love me". It was a whisper. A hoarse, broken whisper.
"You think I'm amazing, and kind, but you don't love me. No one loves me, no ones cares about me.", her eyes moved from blankly staring, to staring into his eyes. She hadn't blinked.
"No one cares about me. I'm the girl who smiles. I'm the girl who does all the favours. I'm the girl who doesn't seem to need rest, I'm the girl who won't hesitate when asked to do something. I'm everyone's friend, I'm the one who'll make you feel better, and be happy. Nothing can ever go wrong with me. I'm the girl who notices when something's wrong, and asks about it, and listens, and helps, and smiles, and makes everything better. But no one does that for me. No one notices when my smile is fake, no one cares about what I want. Nobody listenes to me, and makes me feel better. No one does favours for me. No one asks about my day. No one, cares, about how I'm feeling. And why should they? I'm just pathetic. I just smile. I'm just Marinette".
She finished and went back to staring into space. Her fingers had been digging into her the whole time. Adrien stared at her horrified. She couldn't possibly believe that, could she? He didn't no what to do. So he hugged her. She didn't respond, but he hugged her tighter. Her words were ringing in his ears. All she did was help people, was put everyone else first. This wasn't fair. She didn't deserve this. Not Marinette, she didn't deserve any of it.
"I love you, Mari. I love your smile, your real smile. I love your laugh. I love your selflessness, I love how you'll think of everyone before yourself, even Chloé. I love how you notice when I'm sad, and when my smile is fake. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not noticing when your smile is fake. I'm sorry for not noticing when you're tired, or stressed, or not well. I'm so, so sorry".
And that's when Marinette finally cried. They weren't huge sobs. She was quiet and small. A few tears fell. And her eyes sparkled. She blinked and more tears fell. She was staring at him. And then she kissed him on the cheek, and smiled, and hugged him. And he held her tight, not wanting to let her hurt, not wanting anything to happen to her. He wanted her to feel safe.
"Chloe!". Adrien stormed into the classroom making the teacher drop her pencil and every head tiurn to face him as he stormed over to the blonde's desk.
"What the HELL is this?!". He slammed his hand on the table. The teacher was shocked. He shoved the phone into Chloé's hands. She stared down at it and then back to him.
"Adrikins, I don't understand". He stared at her in disbelief.
"You don't understand?! Can you see that?!" He stared down at the phone. She looked at it, then back to him.
"So?". He wanted to punch her. He might have.
"So?! Chloé! You told her to kill herself !". Anything the teacher was going to say died away. The entire classroom stared at Chloé.
"Wel-"
"You told her to kill herself, and that no cares. You called her pathetic, and desperate. You told her she would never achieve her dreams. You told her lies, about me, and Alya, and everyone else! And you made her believe them! You even taunted her, asking if she had killed herself, once she left the room! I don't care what you have to say, Chloé! I'm done! I don't want you to ever speak to me again. I'm done!", and he left the room, slamming the door being him.
No one moved. No one spoke. The teacher didn't know what to do.
"Where's Marinette?" Alya asked quietly. She stood up, chair crashing to the ground.
"What the hell did you do to her?! Where's Marinette!" She was getting frantic.
"She's been gone for half an hour, Adrien's only been gone for fifteen minutes. What did you say to her, Bourgeoise!? What did you tell her?!", she was panicking. Nino stood up and tried to calm her down, she shoved him off.
"What did you make her do?!". Chloé didn't even care, she just stared at the door where Adrien had left. She grabbed the phone, frantically swiping it. And then read the texts. Her eyes burned with each word, fist tightening. She slammed down the phone.
"You BITCH ! You absolute bitch ! What the hell is wrong with you?!". She raised her hand to slap her. Nino stopped her by grabbing her hand.
"Alya! Stop!". She glared at him and threw the phone into his hands. He read the texts. And stared. He glanced up at Chloé, and then back to the phone. All he did was let go of Alya's hand. The teacher didn't even try to stop her.
Marinette sat with her head leaning on Adrien's shoulder. Her eyes were closed and they were just sitting in silence, with their hands entwined. Then they heard her name being shrieked. She opened her eyes and looked down the hall. Alya was screaming out her name and running around frantically.
"Alya!". The brunette stopped and turned, seeing her. She ran towards her and fell to her knees, wrapping the girl in a deathgrip. Marinette realized she was crying.
"Oh my God. You're okay, you're okay. I thought- you're okay!'. Marinette hugged her back. Adrien smiled at them. Then Alya saw their hands.
"Oh my God! What happened! Are you guys a thing, now?!", straight back into reporter, fangirl mode. Marinette laughed, Adrien blushed. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, before closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder again, a smile on her face.
A/N: So. I have no idea what made me write, this, but here you are. I stayed up until 2:35 am because I had to finish this. I hope you enjoyed if. Well, you get me. Please review, I want to know your thoughts. -Crys