Miraculous Firehawk: Revenge and Redemption

Chapter 3: Strained Bonds

Terrence POV

As I figured, returning to school was a royal pain in the behind. Ever since the audio leak, which was edited by Lila, I was getting nothing but cold shoulders and dirty looks by my classmates. Despite Casper and Jeanette's support, I was still given negative comments behind my back.

At first, I was bothered. But now, I couldn't care less.

My relationship with Marinette hasn't gone any better. She's still giving me dirty looks and ignores me every time. It made things worse when she lied about how she and Luka broke up, saying that he cheated on her with another.

Juleka and Alix didn't believe her since Luka told them what really happened, leading to a heated argument between them and the girls who believed Marinette, causing them to no longer talk to each other.

Time went on and I was in my room, looking through the book and trying to figure out the code. To no avail. This had been going on for weeks, causing me to feel stressed out.

How the hell does Master Fu deal with this?

Thankfully, the others have been helping me out. But, even with their help, we were going nowhere.

Suddenly, Mum told me that Nino, Ivan and Casper arrived.

"What's going on with you, T? Did the audio really rile you up?" Nino asked.

"You think? You guys, except Casper, have been giving me the cold shoulder because I 'threatened' Lila." I replied, crossing my arms.

"Well, you did keep giving her dirty looks because you said she's been making up stories." Ivan replied.

I sighed. "Well, she has. Especially that lying disease crap. And I'm pissed that you guys believed her when I was framed. Casper, however, didn't and supported me when I was down on my luck."

"T, we're your friends. But, we can't help but worry since you've been distant towards us when you came back from Shanghai." Ivan says.

"Who told you I went to Shanghai?" I asked.

"Alya. After Marinette told her." Nino replied.

"Of course." I sighed. 

"Speaking of which, she's downstairs with the girls." Casper said.

I frowned and walked downstairs, only to see Alya and the girls, frowning at me.

"What are doing here? Come to lecture me about being mean to Lila?" I asked.

"We just want to talk, Terry." Mylene says.

"You haven't been yourself ever since you got back. You've grown distant and hostile towards us. Especially Lila." Rose added.

I scoffed. "You are the last people I want to talk to after the shit you allowed me to go through before I left. I was harassed, looked down and degraded by those who were comforting Lila and believed I bullied her and stole her necklace."

Alya grows frustrated. "God, Terry! Marinette is right about you! You never let others get close to you when you're like this!" 

I glared. "Oh, so you're agreeing with Marinette? Need I remind you that I heard you and Celeste getting into an argument when she beat the daylights out of her when she ruined my room and destroyed my stuff! And you still sided with her? Hell, you even helped Marinette stalk Adrien without any consideration for his feelings! And don't get me started on how you treated Caroline because she was close to Adrien!"

"This isn't about Caroline, Terry! It's about Lila! You really hurt her feelings!" Mylene says.

I scoffed. "Feelings!? I doubt that a liar like her has any feelings! She's a lying bitch who poisoned you with her words!"