Chapter 7: Helping the needy

Marinette woke up the following morning with a headache. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, trying to ignore the pain. With eyes scrunched in pain as she put on the same clothes as always, too much in agony to bother with anything else. She rubbed her temples throughout breakfast, trying, unsuccessfully, to ease the pain. Her head was still pounding while she snuck some chocolate-chip cookies into her purse, kissed her mom, hugged her dad and walked out the door to school.

As the day progressed, her headache subsided, leaving a dull ache following her around. Her nightly headaches rarely lasted until morning. She wondered, not for the first time, what was wrong with her. The headaches, forgetfulness, and exhaustion. It was difficult getting through the day.

She was walking down a corridor when she suddenly felt dizzy, the dull ache taking a front row seat. Stumbling into the nearest classroom, she closed the door and leaned back on it, waiting for the world to stop spinning.

"Marinette?"

Marinette looked up to find herself in the music room. The chairs lined up in a semi-circle around a podium. Between the chairs stood numerous music stands, some sporting a booklet or a few loose pieces of paper. The shelves around the rooms holding different musical instruments and the walls boasted framed photos of school bands from previous years.

The source of the voice came from the back of the room where a petite girl, with short blond hair, oval face with way too much makeup, sat with a violin in her hands. What she was doing with it was beyond Marinette's limited musical knowledge.

"Oh, hi," Marinette squeaked. Getting better control of her voice, she tried again. "Hi Cheriss. How are you?"

Cheriss looked askance at her.

"Erm. Fine," she hesitantly answered.

"I'm sorry to disturb whatever it is you are doing. I needed a minute to clear my head, away from everyone. Don't mind me, I'll just stand here for a few minutes."

"Ok," said Cheriss, continuing to stare at her.

Marinette rested her head on the door and closed her eyes, surprised at the turn of events. She was never this lucky. This was a perfect opportunity to help Nino. How does she approach this girl that she never speaks to? How do you give advice to someone who clearly mistrusts you? She could not blame Cheriss. Marinette said nothing bad to Cheriss, but she was never friendly to her either.

She could do this. It isn't scary at all. She took a big breath.

Opening her eyes, she found Cheriss sitting low in the chair with her head slightly turned, sinking into her shoulders, watching Marinette wearily.

I have no reason to fear a cornered mouse.

Squashing her condescending thoughts, Marinette smiled and asked, "What are you doing there?"

Cheriss stared at her for a few seconds, looked down at the violin then back up at Marinette, as if she wasn't sure herself..

"I left my shoulder rest at home," Cheriss said, sounding apologetic. "I found one here, but it is a different type than the one I have. I'm trying to attach it but it just doesn't sit right."

Marinette walked over to stand above Cheriss, inspecting the violin in her hands. There was some sort of padded stick with hooks half attached to the one side of the violin. Cheriss must have been trying to get the two sides to hook onto the violin, but the second hook was dangling too far to be attached.

"I don't know anything about violins so I am probably completely wrong, but it looks to me like it's the wrong size."

"What do you mean?" Cheriss said.

"Can I look?"

Cheriss hesitated then handed over the violin. "Just don't drop it. You tend to be.." she halted mid-sentence.

"Clumsy?" Marinette completed for her with a smile. "I know, I am terribly clumsy. I promise I will be extra careful with your violin."

Marinette took the strange stick that Cheriss called a shoulder rest and detached it from the violin. It was too long, probably for a bigger violin. Examining it, she found some pins in the back, seem to be for adjusting the length. With some fiddling, she shortened it and neatly attached it to the violin.

"Oh!" Cheriss exclaimed, taking back the violin and examining it. "Thank you very much. That was very clever of you."

"Not really. I fiddled with it and it worked. You… You play the violin. That is way more clever. If I try to play that thing you will run out screaming, pulling out your hair."

Cheriss laughed. Marinette noticed Cheriss leaned back on the chair. Her spine no longer held tight.

Now for the hard part.

"Cheriss, I did want to talk to you. I know we're not friends and you don't need to take my advice if you don't want to. We both know Alya is my best friend, so I understand if you don't trust me. Just know that I am not here for Alya."

"What? This is about Nino, right?" Marinette nodded. "You want me to believe you're here for my benefit?" Cheriss sneered.

"No. I am not here for you. I am here for Nino."

"And you think Nino should be with Alya, hey?"

"You're right," Marinette answered honestly. "I think Nino should be with Alya. More than that, I want them to be together."

"You admit it?" Cheriss faltered.

"But what I think and what I want is not why I'm here. Like I told you, I'm here for Nino. Nino, for whatever reason I don't understand, wants to be with you. So I'm here to tell you how not to lose him."

Marinette waited while process her words. Cheriss's face took on a blank look, hiding her thoughts.

"What is it you wanted to say?" Cheriss finally asked, keeping her voice flat and lacking emotion.

"You're suffocating Nino. You're not letting him be with anyone else. He does not hang out with Adrien and is too scared of your reaction to talk to other girls, especially Alya."

"What do you mean? He is with Adrien all the time?" Cheriss became defensive.

"Adrien sits around when Nino is hanging out with you. How much do they interact? How often do they do 'guy stuff' together? How often does Nino spend time with Adrien without you?"

Cheriss opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. She slowly closed her mouth as she looked down in thought.

"I love him so much I don't want to ever be apart from him."

"If you don't give him space he will have to find his own space by running and hiding from you. Eventually, he will run away from you and not come back. By holding him back you will end up losing him."

The room was silent as Cheriss digested those words.

"Well, you want him to talk to Alya so he can leave me for her."

"Maybe. Maybe if you let Nino talk to Alya he will realize that he still loves her, and wants to be with her, so he will dump you and go be with Alya. On the other hand, if you hold him too tightly he will first dump you and then go talk to Alya. At that point, it won't make a difference if he goes out with Alya or not, he's already left you. Best case, he hangs out with Adrien and Alya and still wants you as his girlfriend. You did not hold him back, and he still chose you."

Cheriss was quiet. Marinette got up to examine the class photo on the wall if she recognized any of the students. Realizing it was from 1995, she was mildly surprised it was in color. Cheriss said nothing. Maybe she went too far and upset her. The only thing she needs now is an akumatized Cheriss roaming the school, putting everyone into cages.

"Cheriss? Are you ok?" Marinette asked hesitantly.

Cheriss looked up and gave a small nod.

"I'll think on what you said."

Relaxed, Marinette walked to the door to leave the room.

"Marinette." She looked back at Cheriss. "Thank you for being honest with me."

Marinette gave her a warm smile and left the room.

A/N Next chapter : Impressing the ex"