Nothing Left to Lose: Chapter 7 – Endings and Beginnings and Secrets Spilled
I don't sleep that night, my mind running a million miles an hour. Tikki came back at around 9, carrying more macaroons and cheese for when I next saw Chat. As Ladybug, of course. Tikki also came bearing a letter from Master Fu, expressing his sympathies, and knowing that I'd be able to handle myself. And that Tikki had been strictly instructed to get the earrings to safety as soon as me becoming akumatised was imminent. I sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that.
When the sun rises, I'm reminded of the sunset last night as fragments of the sunrise peek through my window, lighting it up with pink and orange beams of light. I begin getting ready for school a few hours later, and I'm not looking forward to it, as I'm running on no sleep, and the day will no doubt be horrible. If anyone tries to start more shit with me today, it will not be fun, as I am not in any mood to deal with them. They'll find the fiery pits of hell.
I'm dressed in a similar outfit to yesterday, with the same cropped halter top, only this time with ripped black skinny jeans and combat boots. I keep my hair the same, and my usual basic make-up.
I leave for school at around 8, so that I'll be on time for class, with only 5 minutes to spare before the bell so that I hopefully don't encounter too many problems. Although it's a lot of good that hoping does for me, since the moment I walk into the locker room I'm cornered by all of my old friends, with Lila hiding behind them all. She smirks at me, and I go stone-faced.
"What has your bitch queen lied about this time?" I deadpan, rolling my eyes at them and shoving my way through them to my locker.
"OK, first off: the only liar in this room is you –'' Alya begins, and I cut her off with a patronizing giggle.
"Ooh, good one! If you keep repeating that to me, I may just believe you! But wait, such a shame, it's still not working on you. Real pity." Alya lets out an unintelligible shriek in absolute fury. "Alya, be a big girl and use your words, hm? I can't understand a thing you're saying when all you're doing is yelling."
Her eyes blaze, and I just hold a smug look in my own eyes, knowing looking smug would piss her off that much more than simply smirking would. "You, Marinette, are an absolute bitch!You're worse than Chloe, for fucks' sake!" She yells, and I just slip back into my stone-faced look.
"Well, Alya, you're saying that as if I should care? Am I supposed to?"
"Of course you are!"
"Oh. How unfortunate then that I don't give two shits. But don't worry, as soon as I actually care about…whatever it is you have to say, I'll come and ask you!" I slammed my locker shut, and pushed through them again to get to class, the bell going before anyone could retort.
Despite everything, I am very proud of my parting words to her.
I almost wish I had found out what Lila's latest lie was, but I knew I would be hearing all about it before too long.
Sure enough, as I walked in, Nino and Kim were talking about Lila and me.
"We keep on saying this, but how could Marinette do that to Lila?" Nino asks, their backs turned to me, not realising I was hearing what they were saying.
"Hm, let me think, maybe because whatever bullshit she's spitting about me isn't true, and I actually didn't?" I suggest, leaning in between them.
"Give it up, dudette." Nino sighs.
"Why, so you can all feel high and mighty about the fact that you were right? Well, piece of advice, enjoy that feeling while you still can, because eventually you're going to feel like a fucking idiot when it turns out that you were wrong to trust Lila." I say cooly. I walk away from them and sit in my seat.
I can see the conflict and confusion flickering on Nino's face as he processes everything I just said.
Its interesting, by now you would think that someone would have stopped to think if maybe I was innocent, with how adamant I am about Lila and her lies. But no. They can't think for themselves. They just accept the first thing Lila says as gospel, never once questioning her or anyone else involved.
Adrien comes in right as the bell goes and sits beside Nino; but not before giving me a smile and a small wave. What? Shouldn't he be…mad at me?
5 minutes go by, and still Ms. Bustier hasn't arrived.
After 15 minutes, she and another teacher come in.
"Good morning class! My apologies for being late, but I have an announcement. With me this morning is Ms. Lomode, your new teacher. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I need to move to London, and so for this week, Ms. Lomode will be observing our class, and next week she will be your full-time teacher. I am so deeply sorry to leave you all, but I will be keeping you all in my heart. I love you all so much, and it has truly been a pleasure to teach you all."
Gasps went around the classroom, and everyone rushed up to give Ms. Bustier a hug. All but me. I was so overcome by shock that I just couldn't move, I just sat there with horrified eyes, as a few silent tears slipped down my cheeks. She couldn't be leaving. No.
After the bombshell, class continued on as semi-normal, until the bell for lunch went. Everyone slowly filed out, until it was just me, Ms. Bustier and Ms. Lomode.
I walked up to Ms. Bustier, and gave her a hug from behind. "I'll miss you a lot, Ms. Bustier. You've always been my favourite teacher."
"Oh, Marinette." She sighed, wrapping her arms around me as I started sobbing. I as doing a lot of that recently. "I love you, Marinette, and I know that you've lost your way a little bit recently, but if I know you, and I do, I know you'll be ok and you'll find your way back."
"Thank you, Ms. Bustier. But…can I actually talk to you about that? And Ms. Lomode too, so she knows what's gone on?"
"Oh, of course. Jemima, this is Marinette."
"Marinette, lovely to meet you. I've heard a lot of good things, and some out of place things considering those good things, about you."
"Well, allow me to explain it all to you. First, I need to know I can trust you Ms. Bustier, as this first piece of information I'm going to share with you sets everything up."
"Marinette, always, you can always tell me anything with trust."
"Ok." I rose up and leaned into her ear, whispering, "I'm Ladybug." I watched as her eyes went wide, and then a large smile split her face, before she leaned down and hugged me.
"Of course, you are, Marinette. Who else could be better for it than someone like you?"
"Sorry, Ms. Lomode, but that was information I can't really say to you."
"No, its fine. Now, what do you need to tell us now that that's out of the way?"
"Right…Well, 3 months ago on Lila's first day, she stole this book from Adrien that belonged his dad, and basically, I exposed her for it, and called her out on her lie about being best friends with Ladybug. Oh, and I did all that as the thing I told you." She nodded. "So, straight from that, that's already a lie. And then I ended up upsetting her, which then lead her to threaten me about taking away all my friends, and stuff like that. She said: you and I are at war. To that I just said that we'll see, because this was also after I tried to make up with her.
Remember when she accused me of pushing her down the stairs? She walked down there and got into position. Last week when I slapped her? Technically, yes, I did. She said: I'm not done yet, watch this, and then grabbed me by the wrist, and used my hand to slap herself, as ludicrous as that sounds. Everything else against me, I haven't done. Those threats? My phone has been getting fixed in the shop for the past 2 weeks, call my parents and find out. And the emails? I've been locked out of it since two days before the dates on those emails. Don't believe me? Ask my parents and check for yourself."
"Marinette…I'm so sorry." Ms. Bustier sighs out, bringing a hand up to her mouth.
"Yeah, so am I. The only reason I've said all of this is because I figured you'd believe me and at the very least listen, because no one else will. And well, you're leaving. And Ms. Lomode, the reason I told you is because I don't want you coming into this already having a bad notion of me, especially by what's going on. At the moment, I'm so broken by what's happened that I'm protecting myself by being exactly what they want to see."
"Do you want us to do something about it?" Ms. Lomode asks, and I shake my head.
"No, there's nothing you can do, and nothing you do do won't help, and will probably do more worse than good in this situation."
"Oh. Ok. If you're sure then."
"Marinette…Thank you for telling me."
"Yeah…of course." I mutter.
Sorry for such a long wait, but I had a lot happen, like having to move really last minute, and trying to settle in there, as well as the house I've moved into not having any internet and my computer going kaput during the move. But, to make up for it, I have given you an extra-long and very interesting update, so I hope you've enjoyed. (I just gave you all a solid 1705 words not including this little authors note.)