Waiting for the Water to Boil
"That girl evaded the akuma again!" Gabriel clenched his fist at the missed opportunity. "I was so close, the feelings subsided, but I am sure it was only temporary. Unfortunately someone sent an alert and the butterfly was cleansed. She is still distressed. I can feel her. If only her feelings got a little stronger. She will make the perfect akuma. She will go after Lila, Ladybug and Chat Noir will have to save Lila and then Lila can help the akuma to get the miraculous. And if my guess is right, we will have the earrings the moment the girl gets akumatized."
"Gabriel, Adrien was tagged in a video on the school blog." Nathalie informed her boss. "I think you should see it for yourself."
"School blog? I do not have the time for that. What did he do this time? Can't you deal with that?" Gabriel stared at Nathalie, but the woman simply turned her tablet around and pressed play with a blank expression on her face.
"I think it is that school project." Nathalie replied flatly. "Most of it is fine but he made a comment ..."
"This video goes on and on for forty minutes." Gabriel protested. "What is the problematic part?"
Nathalie sighed and took a deep breath.
"Adrien mentioned that he felt uncomfortable doing photo shoots." She summarized the line she found problematic.
"That is nothing new." He was surprised that such statement could possibly distress Nathalie.
"It is bad publicity." She replied flatly. "There are several bad comments about it already."
"The models are paid to look comfortable even when they are not." Gabriel brushed her off. "That is the point of their job. We are not going to waste time on each reaction. Since when do we react to comments from some online anonymous?"
Nathalie shrugged and looked at her boss expecting a further reprimand for wasting his time.
"Please leave me alone, I have to concentrate, that girl is still distressed." Gabriel brushed his assistant away.
Lila left the locker room long ago, the akuma was cleansed, but the two kids were well away from being calm. Adrien did not call Jean right away as he said he would. The boy kept Marinette in his arms while he looked at his phone. He merely verified that he had the video and how big it was. He wanted to make a copy, just in case. But he was far away from his computer, he wanted to send it to Nino.
When he opened the "To" option, _Nino was the first, but Alya was the second, so he checked both recipients. He could trust his friends with the video, right? He did not bother to type a message. He was too distressed for that.
They stood there in a hug for a few more minutes. Everyone was either in the library or gone for a lunch break and they knew they had time.
Adrien had stored the contact details of the experts advisors on dealing with bullying and harassment in his phone on the day he got them. He dialled Jean's number. The man answered promptly, the conversation was very short.
"Hi Jean, This is Adrien. There has been another incident. This is a serious threat." The boy spoke in a shaky voice.
"Yes, I filmed it on the school grounds." Adrien confirmed. Then Adrien uploaded the video where Jean told him to. They briefly said their greetings as Jean promised to contact the boy later.
It was the beginning of a lunch break so there was little chance of finding either principal Damocles or their teacher. The two of them went straight to Marinette's. He refused to let her be out from his sight. She was obviously shaken and disturbed. Adrien felt his kwami scratched and patted his chest from his shirt pocket. Marinette felt Tikki from her purse, but she did not dare to open it and peek inside. They agreed on going for the lunch break straight to her parents without words. The boy simply typed a message to his driver that he was spending his lunch break at the bakery.
They both looked very serious when they entered her house through the side door. Tom peeked from the bakery kitchen and noticed their worried expressions instantly. He wiped his hands in the apron and approached them on the bottom of the stairs.
"What is wrong children?" He asked gently.
"Papa, there is something we want you and maman to see." Marinette whispered quietly.
"Could you go upstairs? It might take some time." Tom replied calmly. "We can't abandon the ovens this instant, a fire might start."
"Okay papa." Marinette replied.
"We can wait, I will stay." Adrien smiled. Her parents did not say that they have to tend customers during the rush hour when they sell the most, her father told them about a real danger if they simply abandoned the bakery.
"I can switch them off, but even then we should not abandon them until they are reasonably cold." Tom explained in a way of apology. He brought them a box of pastries.
"Here, have something to eat while you wait." Tom sighed and went back to the bakery kitchen.
Adrien took the box gratefully.
They ate in silence and exchanged a few encouraging smiles. Jean called back just like he promised. The man only wanted to know where they were. Adrien replied and did not think more about it. They both assured the man they were safe.
"We closed the shop for now." Sabine announced. "What is it?"
Adrien gave a brief explanation. Then he played the video. It was just a few minutes, but he could see how her parents changed. Suddenly he realized they could be akumatized and he definitely did not want to fight another Weredad. He started to look around for violet butterflies, but he noticed Marinette was looking through the window already.
"We need your advice on what to do with it." Marinette stated calmly.
"I have already sent the video to one of those experts." Adrien spoke quietly.
"They should help you better than we can." Tom sighed sadly. "We are here for you. We can go to the school principal with you."
"We are really sorry you have to go through this Adrien." Sabine felt her voice wavered.
"Because the two of us can't keep your father from pulling you out from school, son." Tom added.
"And that is the biggest problem you have." Sabine added calmly.
The conversation was interrupted by the ring at the door. Tom excused himself to see who dared to interrupt their conversation. But he returned with company.
Alya stared at her phone in disbelief. Her mouth open wide. She watched the video only once, but everything was clear. She was sitting in cafeteria next to Nino who had his headphones on. Little did she know that the boy watched he same video just a minute after her. Suddenly he started swearing, really loudly. It was Max and Kim who grabbed him and calmed him down.
Alya was fuming. The anger in her eyes would bore holes in a human soul. She searched for her prey around the cafeteria, but Lila was nowhere to be seen. Mylenne and Alix noticed her distress while Ivan approached Nino. At first everyone thought that the pair was angry at each other. Nino simply shook his head unable to speak about what he saw without swearing and unsure if he was supposed to share the video with his classmates, he resorted to silent dismissal of their assumptions.
Alya, on the other hand, did not have such issues, she could hardly resist sharing such a video, she had the information, it was against her nature to withhold it, she had to share it, it was her journalistic gene, she had the scoop. She simply played it again and pushed up the volume.
None of the students could hear the whole conversation. It was hard to stay silent for each of them. Even Juleka was shouting.
Alix and Kim had a swearing contest.
"We need to show this to Ms Bustier." Rose suggested.
"We should take it to principal Damocles." Mylenne shook her head.
"I should call my father." Sabrina muttered, walked away for a few steps. took out her phone and dialled the number.
Alya played the recording once more as more students gathered to listen and demanded to hear it again. The suggestions were coming from all sides.
"Guys, stop." Nino shouted. "We have to do whatever keeps Adrien in school."
"Are you suggesting that Marinette should leave our school?" Alya shouted. "Because if you do, you should watch you back, Lahiffe!" The passionate journalist was almost livid.
"No" Nino shouted back. That shook Alya back to a state in which she was able to take in any information. Then he took a deep breath. "We are not making Marinette leave the school." He repeated quietly but decisively. "We are keeping them both."
"How?" Was a collective question.
"I don't have a clue." Nino admitted.
The suggestions were pouring like rain in April.
"We should send the video to Chloe." Alix snickered.
"What?" several people screamed at once.
"You can't be serious. She would only see Marinette away from school." Alya protested.
"What is going on in here? Why all the shouting." Mme Mendeleev demanded.
Without a word Alya played the video again. The teacher scrunched her face at the phone but watched and listened nevertheless.
Nino finally typed a message to Adrien, but he noticed the boy neither read it nor replied. He checked the news, it was good, there was no akuma around, that meant neither of his friends got akumatized.
In the meantime, Lila was trying to arrange another meeting with Gabriel, but he was too busy with deciding who to akumatize. The girl even walked over to the mansion, and called over and over, it was Nathalie who finally answered the phone.
"Hello Ms Rossi." Nathalie answered the phone.
"I have to talk with Gabriel, please." Lila pleaded.
"Mr Agreste is too busy to take on your call or to meet you right now." Nathalie replied flatly.
"It is about that school project." Lila rushed her words. "You have to pull him out from school, instantly, to protect him, that girl is bullying and harassing him."
"They were acting, Lila." Nathalie sighed, she remembered quite clearly that Adrien said it was Lila who proposed Marinette does the project.
"That was just an excuse for her to touch him." Lila protested. "She made it so that she could harass him. If you saw what I saw ..."
"I have seen the video of the performance on the school blog and discussed it with Mr Agreste. We decided there was nothing there that demanded our action." Nathalie interrupted Lila with a cold voice.
"But Adrien is being sexually harassed in school, you have to pull him out to protect him." Lila continued to argue her point. "I am only worried about Adrien and what is good for him."
"It is Adrien's wish to go to school." Nathalie spoke calmly.
"May I remind you of the services I did for Mr Agreste? You can't just dismiss me like that. I am only concerned for Adrien." Lila made sure that Nathalie understood what she really meant.
"Mr Agreste is aware of your services. Thank you for expressing your concern, have a nice day." The woman cut the connection.
Meanwhile Jean introduced himself to Sabine just like he did to Tom on the entrance door.
"Hello, I am one of the advisers in the project about prevention of bullying and sexual harassment in schools. Adrien has sent me the video where your daughter was threatened." The man spoke quietly and quickly.
"She threatened him too and much worse." Marinette protested while Sabine patted her shoulder to calm her down.
"Yes indeed." Jean confirmed. "Have you informed the school authorities about the event?" The man asked the two teens who simply shook their heads.
"It was the beginning of a lunch break and I am not sure if this recording can be used as evidence." Adrien replied timidly.
"She always turns around everything we say." Marinette added.
"You are not going to a court of law, Adrien, Marinette, you are going to your teacher and the school principal. Both of you will make a statement and the video is there only to back you up. " Jean spoke gently.
The two kids relaxed a bit.
"Have you spoken to your father about this?" Jean asked next.
"I don't think it is a good idea." Adrien whispered. "I do not want him to pull me out of school."
All three adults stared at the boy. Marinette took his hand. He was just a boy who needed help.
"Are you telling me that part of the threat is real?" Jean demanded.
Adrien nodded. "She can definitely influence my father's decision. As she told in the video, she had that photo shoot and ..." The boy looked at everyone around him helplessly.
"How soon could you talk to your father?" Sabine asked.
"I could make an appointment with his assistant and get a fifteen minutes meeting some time next week." Adrien replied with sadness in his voice.
"Well, it is obvious now why you contacted me." Jean encouraged the boy as much as he could.
"This should be reported to the school authorities first. I have about one hour until my next meeting, I can go with you, young man, Marinette can take one of her parents as an accompanying adult." Adrien beamed at the man.
"We should start then." Tom turned around towards the door.
"The next thing is about your father, that one worries me much more." Jean got to his feet and followed Tom while he talked to Adrien. "So the threat is real?"
"I'm afraid it is possible." Adrien replied with a shaky voice.
"Are you saying that that girl can influence your father and make decisions about your education?" Jean asked incredulously.
"It is plausible. He named her his muse, publicly." The boy sighed. They were going down the stairs. "It was her who touched me, it was her with whom I had to do a photo shoot that made me feel sick." That was much to admit in front of so many people, but Adrien trusted them. None of them would dismiss his claims and attribute his feelings to teenage hormones.
Marinette took his hand and squeezed it. Sabine and Tom saw the move and smiled to each other. They got out from the building and walked to the school. Jean was silent for a while.
"We will think of something." Marinette spoke quietly to Adrien. The boy hung his head low, he felt so helpless, he should never feel so helpless, he was a superhero, he could destroy stuff. He felt Plagg in his shirt pocket and he was sure that the tiny god of destruction might have floated away and used his power on the lying brat already if he only had a moment alone to escape unnoticed. He wielded the power of destruction.
"Destruction." Adrien pronounced aloud. Marinette flipped her head towards him. Plagg scratched his chest. The boy was aware that he might give away his identity. "That video might destroy the image of my father's company."
"Seriously?" Jean looked at the boy. So far, the man did not have a celebrity son of a rich, famous and powerful father to represent and defend against his own father. Such cases were rare and ugly.
"Adrien, the image of your father's business is not worth your happiness." Tom spoke from behind.
"You should be more important to him." Sabine sighed.
"Adrien." Marinette spoke gently as she smiled at him. "You are the image of his company."
At that moment they were passing by one of the large posters featuring Adrien in a commercial for the brand products. All of them looked at the add and then at the boy and smiled.
"It is my job to protect the rights of the students and their right for education." Jean smiled. "I can make sure that pulling you out from this school becomes rather complicated and difficult."