Chapter Fourteen – Tears of Betrayal
Marinette blinks at her phone, her gaze locked on the sheer amount of unread text and Facebook messages displayed on the screen. They're all from members of her class, both boys and girls. Over the past few weeks she has stopped reading any messages from her classmates, Nino aside (Adrien never messages her), but she has never gotten quite so many messages from all of them in one morning within the span of five minutes.
There's still fifteen minutes until class starts – she, herself, is standing at the door of her apartment building, about to step out onto the street when Tikki and Wayzz told her her phone kept going off – so that can only mean one of two things: either there's some kind of field trip they had to get to school early for which she's forgotten about and the teacher has told all of her classmates to find out where she is, or Lila's spun some other tale and everyone's against her again.
If it's the former, Tikki or her mum probably would've said something. If it's the latter, she would much rather go back up to her bed and hide under the covers until all of her problems have disappeared.
As if sensing her train of thought, Tikki sticks her head out of Marinette's purse and clears her throat to get her holder's attention. "You should get a move on; if you're late again Ms Bustier will send a note home to your parents."
Marinette sighs, feeling a headache beginning to form, but she knows Tikki is right. Ignoring the messages – she's far too tired to deal with Lila right now – she silences her phone, before deciding to put it on airplane mode just in case. Doing so makes her feel just a tad bit lighter and she even manages to offer the kwamis a small smile as she tucks her phone back into her purse.
She keeps her head down for the walk to the classroom to avoid the stares of any students who have heard Lila's lies, and to, hopefully, limit any interaction she has to have with anyone before the bell rings. She can hear quiet murmuring inside the classroom before she opens the door, and she takes a deep breath before pushing it open, bracing herself for the impact.
There's a beat of silence, then arms wrap around her and she is squeezed to the point she's sure she hears her bones scream in protest. She looks over Rose's head to take in her fellow classmates faces, and is surprised by the amount of concern etched into their faces. Mylène and Alya rush forward and wrap her up in a tighter hug, squeezing her even tighter. The pressure of having three pairs of arms around her and the warmth emitting from their bodies starts to become too much for her and her breathing quickens. It takes everything in her to not yell at them to leave her alone or shove them off of her.
She doesn't have to do either.
"Guys, let her go!" Marc calls out. Marc? What is he doing in the class? Marinette peers through the girls' heads to see him standing with Nathaniel and Nino, both of whom are looking on with worry etched into their expressions as if they've just been told she's dying of cancer or something. "You're going to hurt her and–"
"Oh, Marinette!"
The girls release her and she stumbles back a step at the sudden lack of arms around her. Alya immediately grips her shoulders and Marinette searches her and the rest of her classmate's faces, trying to figure out what the fuck's going on. Her eyes land on Lila's and her stomach plummets at the smirk gracing her lips. Shit, this can't be good.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Alya continues and she looks back at her.
"You know we would've supported you." Alix chimes in, gesturing to her and the rest of the class. Lila quickly switches her smirk to a supportive smile as Rose looks over her shoulder to smile at them.
"We've always been here for you, and we always will be." Mylène says, and everyone chimes in their agreement. Marinette flicks her gaze between them, still completely confused and at a loss of what to say. Unable to hold back any longer, Mylène tackles her in another hug, squeezing her so tightly she actually gasps in surprise at the girl's strength.
"Careful! You're going to crush the baby!" Nino springs forward and gently pries Mylène's arms from around Marinette. He slips his arm around her waist in a side hug. "She can't have too much pressure on her, especially during the early months–"
"What?" Her voice comes out louder then she expected and everyone jumps slightly, herself included. "What are you talking about? What baby?"
"Oh, Marinette," Lila saunters towards her, hands clasped in front of her as if she's praying, her face the perfect picture of concern and reassurance. Perfect except for the obvious glee shining in her eyes. "You don't have to hide it anymore." She puts her hand on Marinette's shoulder and she barely suppresses the urge to shrug it off immediately. "We all know, and we're all here for you." She bats her eyelashes innocently, smiling.
"Hide what?" She gets the words out through gritted teeth and Alya frowns at her.
"You don't need to be so defensive, Marinette." Alya's tone is condescending and it makes Marinette's skin crawl. She crosses her arms and cocks her hip, raising her chin defiantly, but her eyes remain gentle. "We just want to help you."
"Help with what?" She exclaims, pushing back from her classmates. Tears of frustration prick in her eyes but she blinks them away. "What are you going on about?"
"What are you going on about?" Kim asks, crossing his arms.
Max tilts his head. "Perhaps she's experiencing some pr–"
"Yes! That is definitely it!" Lila cuts Max off, grinning at him broadly like he just cured cancer or ended terrorism or something. "I know the signs because back in Italy I used to help my neighbour with it. She even had it after she had her son. He was such an adorable little boy." She sniffs and wipes her eyes, before the crocodile tears start. All the girls flock to her to offer her comfort. Nino looks at Marinette worryingly and slips his arm around her waist again. "It was so sad! She was suffering from so much memory loss that she completely forgot she had already had her son! It was awful!"
She starts bawling her eyes out, and even Marinette feels a twinge of sympathy. A twinge of sympathy that immediately leaves her when Lila lifts her head enough to look at her. The look in her eyes is an obvious 'I'm getting attention and you're not' and Marinette rolls her eyes.
"I just wish I could have done more for her, but I was so busy helping Prince Ali with his charities!" She drops her head back into her hands.
The class cries out, telling her it's not her fault and they're sure she did all she could to help 'that poor woman'. Marinette shakes her head in disbelief and Nino's arm tightens around her, drawing her flush against his side. He whispers something in her ear, but it's lost in the noise of their classmate's comforting Lila.
"What's going on? What are they talking about?" Marinette asks, turning to face Nino. He frowns at her confused and worried, and reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear.
"We know Mari." Nathaniel murmurs.
She frowns. "Know what?" She rubs where her forehead is pounding with her headache, frustration creeping into her bones. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"We understand if you weren't ready for us to know." Max cuts in before Nino can say anything. This draws the attention away from Lila yet again and Rose and Alya move back to her side. "But you don't need to lie."
"Yeah, that's not very nice." Mylène frowns at her, hurt, and Ivan wraps an arm around her shoulders.
"Don't gang up on her!" Lila cries out, sniffling.
She steps closer to Marinette, and Alya and Rose move aside to let her give Marinette a hug, but thankfully Nino stays put. Her eyes flash dangerously before she wraps her arms tightly around Marinette, trapping her arms at her sides. Marinette grunts and tries to get her arms free, but thankfully Lila lets her go after a moment.
"You don't have to hide this," She says, her tone gentle, her eyes dangerous. "I understand you feel ashamed, I would be too. I never thought this would happen to a girl like you!" The insult is implied and Marinette bristles. Nino grips her closer to him, frowning at Lila.
"What are you talking about, Lila?" Marinette matches her gaze, clenching her hands into fists. She can feel Tikki and Wayzz patting her side, trying to get her to calm down, but right now she doesn't care. She would love to see Hawk Moth try to akumatise her.
Lila smirks and pulls her phone out of her pocket. "Don't worry, I took the liberty of alerting your parents for you, I know that would've been so very difficult for you to do." She bats her eyelashes innocently.
She holds her phone out to her and Marinette drops her gaze to it before she can stop herself. At first she's even more confused, before she realises exactly what she's seeing, and what it looks like out of context. Her eyes flick back to Lila's and she clenches her jaw to stop from screaming at her. She is well aware that the look in her eyes reveals just how dangerous it would be to push her anymore. Apparently, Lila has a death wish.
"I'm sure you at least know who the father is, unless you're not as faithful as we all thought you were." She crosses her arms smugly, raising an eyebrow, daring Marinette to fight back.
Before she can stop herself, Marinette's eyes search her classmate's faces until they find Juleka's. The look of anger and pain on her face kicks her into gear and, without saying another word to anyone, she turns around and marches out of the classroom. They call out to her, telling her to 'wait' and 'stop', but she ignores them, along with the stares of the few students still lingering in the courtyard.
Tears of betrayal prick in her eyes and this time she is unable to stop them from falling. She swipes at her cheeks angrily and quickens her pace further. She bumps into someone and mutters an apology, not even stopping to look at who it is, and breaks into a run, determined to get home so she can fix this fucking stupid mess Lila's gotten her into.
This time, that liar has gone too far.