Jan 25th
"Adrikens?" Chloe says, in a whisper. She reaches for smartphone in pitch black darkness. She fumbles for it after grabbing it from her nightstand. Opening up her phone she squints past the brightness of the monitor. It was somewhere during the quiet hours after midnight when she realized he had left a stack of unread messages.
-Chloe-
Wednesday 1:00AM
Adrien - Aren't you ever coming back to school again? Everyone is wondering whether you'll come back or not. A lot of them keep asking when that will happen.
Chloe - Think about it for a moment, Adrien. Think really hard because if you never held that mirror up to my face. If you never told me I was acting exactly like my mother whenever she throws those tantrums of hers! You seen it before Adrien. She dug those claws. She dug those claws deep inside of me, Adrien. And it scares me.
Adrien - Come back, Chloe.
Chloe - Alienating anymore of my classmates won't do me any good, Adrikens. If you love someone, you'd give them every single opportunity to improve and from the looks of things I'd much rather let them all be happy without me. Maybe next semester I'll give it another shot. Or even next year.
Adrien - How are you supposed to experience your own growth if you keep letting your mother hold you back all the time!
Chloe - I already made up my mind. What else did that experience have taught me? I have a lot to learn about myself. That is something you know I don't understand.
Adrien - Chloe, please don't do this! Don't go sabotaging yourself! We have the answers! You don't have to do this alone!
Chloe - Adrikens, I'll be okay.
Adrien - You never were okay! That was the point I should have made to begin with!
Chloe - Isn't growth supposed to be painful? Isn't that the point you were trying to make?
Adrien - Since when should that suffering be at the hands of your own MOTHER!? Why should you have to pay for it this way!
Chloe - …
Adrien - Answer me!
Adrien's words had doubt changed her in a way she could never have hoped to imagine. Adrikens was always right about these kinds of things. He was an incredibly honest young man, but ever since then, it had changed her into something hateful, confused, and unsure.
She hated the way she was feeling right now, the way she was acting, but she knew better than anyone it had to be this way. She would stay disconnected, she had to stay separate from them. She had to pretend things would be easier, simpler, and she would be able to handle it.
But she knew better than anyone she couldn't.
Collège Françoise Dupont
11:00AM
"Mr. Agreste I'm more than happy to tell you about what a great student Chloe had been." Mrs. Bustier says, unlocking the door to her empty classroom. "I can't say she wasn't proficient in nearly all of her studies. She's truly a straight A student - only."
"Only what? Mrs. Bustier?" Gabriel asks.
"Chloe reminded me a lot like a stray child." She says, turning towards the door. She had paused before her hand reached for the handle. And peered back at Gabriel from over her shoulder.
"A child?"
"Yes, a child. In many ways Chloe reminded me of a very young child."
Gabriel studied the end of his cane thoughtfully, considering her answer. "I guess it appears to me Chloe has some growing up to do."
His gentle tone of voice helped disguise the uneasiness he was truly feeling.
"You're right about that Chloe has a lot of catching up to do." Mrs. Bustier says, after a moment.
"Would you mind explaining?" Gabriel says, his smile is genial. "I'm sure there's a lot of ground to uncover."
XxX
"Chloe what's wrong?" Marinette asks, taking a seat next to her new classmate.
"Some kid got really angry about showing me this really funny meme he found on the internet." Chloe says, almost pleading. She needed an explanation. "All of his friends thought it was funny but when I told him I didn't feel the same way he snubbed me. Then why get upset for asking me at all?"
"Get this, Chloe," Alya says, softly. She brushes a strand of Chloe's blonde hair back with just a finger. "It's nothing worth getting upset about. Listen, your feelings are valid. His feelings are valid too. Just because you aren't happy or sad or upset by things groups of other people are feeling doesn't mean it's not an appropriate response."
XxX
"Don't mind me asking," Mrs. Bustier says, it's a question that exercises caution. "Are you aware of Chloe's home life? She must be a completely different Chloe when she's around someone like you."
The question alone had assaulted Gabriel's brain. Mrs. Bustier had managed to short-out Gabriel's ability to speak. He could feel its heart drop like a stone. A very tense silence had stretched endlessly for several long minutes afterwards before he finally volunteered an explanation.
"Chloe doesn't stray too far from her mother," Gabriel says, his voice growing unusually soft. "It's not very often I have the privilege of having Chloe stay over for long periods of time whenever Audrey spends a week or two visiting New York."
"Does she always leave Chloe with you?"
"A few times each year."
"But how does Chloe manage? Has she always been so alone?"
"To answer your first question Chloe was never handed any resources to cope or even manage herself when left in Audrey's care. It's that kind of a learned helplessness that keeps Chloe locked away in her mother's home most of the time.
Mrs. Bustier would hesitate a few seconds before answering. "I understand. Audrey was always that sort of parent who would never leave my classroom without any constructive support to speak of."
XxX
"I would like to inform you I am not some over-glorified babysitter, Madam." Mrs. Bustier says, with a huff of frustration.
"Let me tell you something. Why would you ever have Chloe challenge something I always taught her as true," Audrey says, impatiently. "Chloe doesn't need anyone putting those kinds of thoughts into head of her's. She might actually start having ideas."
"Mrs. Bourgeois, please listen to reason." Mrs. Bustier says. "Chloe lacks emotional maturity. She-"
"As I told you before, Mrs. Bustier," Audrey says. She's affronted and angry. She holds up a warning finger towards Bustier's lips, requesting her silence. "I've seen your kind before. You're bright, young, and optimistic. But you aren't going to change her. She's been this way all of her life. She'll always be this way. There's nothing we can do about it."
XxX
Gabriel would stare back at Mrs. Bustier. His eyes widened at the shock of sudden understanding then exclaimed, taking Chloe's teacher by surprise. "I would have never put it past Audrey to extinguish any traces of independent thinking. During a winter gala not too long ago Chloe had tried standing up to her mother Audrey."
XxX
Gabriel had noticed a feud had broken out between Audrey and her daughter Chloe. He had stepped outside greeting a few former business associates. Enjoying the cold, December weather before returning inside. Chloe's left cheek bore a noticeable thin red line. Gabriel wasn't sure he wanted to know the explanation behind the mark she was given.
Chloe was only happy that she didn't have to tell him without saying so her mother had slapped her with the hand that bore her ring finger. (Andre's ring no doubt)
Nathalie laid a cold hand against Chloe's hot and stinging cheek.
XxX
"I never would have known how vulnerable Chloe was until Nathalie had sat her down on a love seat away from the party," Gabriel answered quite frankly. "Away from her mother Audrey who was determined to have the last word even if she was wrong."
XxX
Chloe's eyes remained vacant. Cast off as she stared into the distance. Gabriel had stolen a visual cue from his wife Nathalie. She had wrapped her arms around a dangerously mute Chloe if it meant defending her from any more blows to the face. It was Gabriel who protectively stood in front of both of them to better shield them from Audrey's lingering, hateful glare.
Audrey was ready to dole out another punishment without hesitation.
"Audrey what right do you have to go hitting a defenseless child?" Gabriel asks.
Audrey assumed this was an expression of deep thinking, and then responded. "If my daughter had truly loved me then she wouldn't have done what she did. A good daughter behaves. A good daughter would never use back talk against her own mother."
Knowing Gabriel's motives Audrey wasn't sure whether he was asking the question because it was downright obvious. Or whether he actually cared about the answer itself.
Chloe - I'm not ever letting you hurt me again! I refuse to go out there and perform like I'm some kind of doll that you can just dress up and make me say whatever you want me to say for your stupid publicity stunts!
All of Paris, France pretty much agrees Chloe Bourgeois has a close mother daughter relationship. It was an unfair advantage Audrey had over most journalists when she realized it helped to drive a wedge between herself and her many detractors.
Yes, Chloe at times served as the perfect mouth piece.
XxX
"I'm pretty much shatterproof whenever Chloe stands behind me," Gabriel admitted, blinking back some fresh tears that suddenly sprang from his eyes. He swallowed the burning lump in his throat, clearing his voice. He was left breathless as though someone had sucker punched him expelling all the air from his lungs. He stood on shaking legs and he steadied himself with his cane before he collapsed in a nearby chair Mrs. Bustier had pulled out for him."I'm the only shield she knows that won't break, or bend, or bust around Audrey," he sniffles. "do you ever watch superhero films, Mrs. Bustier?"
"Yes, I watch them with my husband." Mrs. Bustier says. "why do you ask?"
"Chloe had once told me years ago that she compared me to the likes of the Dark Knight," Gabriel says, a watery self-satisfied smile curled on his lips. "there was certain phrase she used from the film that summed up those exact feelings."
A husky, chuckle rolls of his tongue bothering himself to remember the phrase itself.
Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You are truly incorruptible, aren't you? Huh? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun.
"Chloe thinks of you as an indestructible shield." Mrs. Bustier says, snapping her fingers.
"Truly."
"Not all heroes wear capes, Mr. Agreste," Mrs. Bustier consoled. "I couldn't imagine what it's like enduring Chloe's pain without her ever knowing how much it's hurt you during the past."
"And if I don't act soon Chloe may be lost to me forever," Gabriel says, sadly. "Audrey will find someway of manipulating her so she may never be able to ever escape from her clutches."