Jump

Part 11: She didn't look

Ugh, Marinette thought.

She was standing in front of her mirror in only her panties and her bra, her hair wet from just getting out of the shower. She was twisting this way and that, trying to look at her mess of a body. And oh, it was a mess.

The entire back of her was covered in bruises; black, blue, purple, yellow and green. All the way from the back of her neck, down to the heels of her feet. Cuts and scrapes also littered the wasteland, that you could call her body. Her back was probably the worst, bruises of all colors swirled across her skin in dark blotches. Gashes and abrasions, starting to scab in crusty red and brown globs.

Ugh, I look disgusting, she thought.

As Marinette turned her body to the front, it looked a little better. Lighter bruises curled their way up her ribs and down the sides of her waist going onwards to her legs. Bruises, cuts and scrapes continued upwards from her ribs to her arms and her shoulders before barely brushing the side of her neck. The two bruises directly on the front of her neck weren't, however, from the accident...those were Chat's marks. She allowed her fingers to trace over them before flushing a dark red.

I can't believe he actually did this. She mused. But then again, its not like I didn't enjoy it. She blushed again as she started the painful process of pulling up her pants. She heard her phone beep as she was struggling to put her back brace on. Not only was that thing hard to get on, put it pressed on her still sore bruises. And the damn thing looked awful under her clothes. She knew that the brace was supposed to help make sure her spine stayed in its correct place but it was still a pain in the ass. And she knew that if she came downstairs without it on, her mom would throw a fit. Marinette knew that her mom was just worried and she wasn't really upset at her per say, but it was still a pain. Actually, everything was a pain. She scowled at the brace in the mirror as she picked up her phone.

Hey, Princess.

Marinette smiled. The one thing that didn't upset her; Chat.

What's up, Kitty? She typed before quickly pulling her shirt over her head. At this rate, she was going to be late to school. Chat and her had agreed to text, to give his kwami a break. Apparently his kwami wasn't exactly happy that Chat was abusing his suit to come see her.

Marinette sighed as she dotted concealer over her Chat's love marks. She understood his Kwami's position, but not seeing her boyfriend was not exactly fun. She started on her hair as her phone buzzed again and she picked it up, only one pigtail done.

You're going back to school today, right? Don't forget to wear your brace :)

That goddamn cat. He knew how much she hated that thing. She typed out her snarky reply as she heard her mother call out.

"Marinette! Hurry up, you're going to be late!"

Her eyes widened as she quickly finished her hair and hurried out of the bathroom. She grabbed her bag and rushed downstairs, ignoring the flaring of pain that seemed determined to slow her down. As she quickly shut her front door and headed off to school. Mentally preparing herself for all of the questions and the pain sure to follow throughout the day.

Marinette had no idea, that no matter what preparing she did, she could never be ready for this day.

Somehow, almost miraculously, Marinette managed to get to school three minutes early. She made her way to Alya's and hers usual table and sat down her stuff lightly. Trying to sit down in her chair as gently as possible, to avoid any pain. She managed to accomplish the task with a meager amount of pain and in absolute silence. Marinette was so used to muffling her pain that by now she was a master. She turned a bit to see Alya ranting and raving to Nino and Adrien, and Marinette knew from experience not to interrupt.

"...I'm just saying, Nino, its been a week and a half since anyone has seen Ladybug or Chat Noir!"

"Well there hasn't been any akuma attacks, so its normal not to see them, right?" Nino replied, hesitant. He was also well aware of how passionate Alya could be when it came to the subject of Paris' two superheros.

"But usually they patrol! But they haven't been out at all! I was so hoping to track them down and get an interview!" Alya wailed.

"They might be busy, Alya. After all, they have civilian lives to lead too." Adrien put in gently.

Marinette cocked her head, an amused smile making its way onto her face. Poor Adrien, she thought. There was no way that logic was going to work on Alya.

"They should still be patrolling." Alya responded stubbornly. She pouted before dropping her head into her arms with a groan.

"C'mon Alya, its not that ba--"

"Okay, class, get out your reading from last night." Nino's comforting was cut off by Mrs. Bustier.

"Oh, and Marinette, its good to have you back." Mrs. Bustier said before turning her back to the class to write notes on the board.  Alya's, Nino's, and Adrien's head snapped to where she was sitting silently. She gave a small smile to them before bending over slowly to get out her materials for class. If she hadn't been concentrating on not whimpering she would have saw bright green eyes focus on her. And if she had looked into those green eyes, she would have seen much more than worry for a friend.

Too bad she didn't look.

Author's Note: Sorry, guys, I know this chapter is really short but I need the next part in Adrien's/Chat's point of view. I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as I can ( Which is, hopefully, today) Btw, I went through and edited all of the chapters, yes, all of them. I fixed some grammatical and spelling errors mostly, but I also added some things here and there. I believe the most prominent change was in the previous chapter, Part 10. Its in the first couple paragraphs if you want to go back and reread it. But you don't have to. Also the image at the top, is sort of what Marinette's back brace looks like.

Anyways, have a good whatever (night, day, morning, evening, whatever. I don't discriminate ;) )

Oh and I love getting you guys' messages and comments. I love them all, just like I love each and every one of you. I know I haven't been very active the last couple of days, and that's because of family issues, but I'm sorry! I'll try to be as active as possible. If you guys ever want to talk about the story or anything, feel free to message me!

Love,

Cutesylittledemon