Living With Agreste

Chapter 41- The Truth

Marinette stared at Lila as the brunette walked back and forth, giving orders to Cole. The snapped orders didn't bother her so much as the fact that the girl could just swoop in and take her job like that. With a deep breath in, Marinette called for a break and walked over to put her clipboard back in the holder. The entire time she stood there, organizing clothes and picking outfits, she couldn't keep her mind off of Adrien and Tikki. In an instant, she pulled up her social media and began scrolling through her feed in an effort to see how her blonde friend was doing. Avoiding Adrien was all well and good, but it didn't stop her from worrying about him. But there were no posts from him, with him, or of him for today. When she reached Twitter on her search, she was stunned to see quite a few tweets mentioning her name. Pressing the notifications, Marinette prepared for the worst. Since she hadn't been on Twitter in forever, she wasn't quite sure what she was going to see.

It didn't surprise her that there were a number of hostile comments about her on social media. But the fact that they were on Twitter was taking it a step too far. There were many tweets from random people who had seen Marinette at Brielle's Halloween party, mentioning the frazzled girl's state and the fact she'd almost drowned in the pool. Then there were some from a long time ago accusing both her and Adrien of wretched things.

Gabriel could end up seeing this.

Though if she remembered correctly, Adrien mentioned that his father wasn't big on the whole internet thing which relaxed her a little bit.

There were some comments asking if Marinette was okay, or defending her. There were also some private messages asking about her relationship with certain people. But the anonymous comments that asked her personal questions and accused her of things came from none other than the same Lele from before, two other people she couldn't quite recognize at first glance, Chloe, and Lila. They traced all the way back from the day the rumors started. This made the dark-haired girl reading them visibly cringe and force herself to put the phone down. They were shady and petty. There was always one mentioning her name that linked them all together, but they were still obviously all about her.

"Marinette?"

Looking up, Cole could see the sadness in the teenager's eyes.

"Do you remember everything we talked about... the other day? Do you remember... when you fell in the pool?" His face grew red and his eyebrows furrowed to show concern. Placing his water bottle on the table where Marinette was standing he placed his hands delicately on her shoulders.

"How are you feeling?"

Marinette forced a smile. "Yes. I'm feeling better now. I had to come in today to avoid suspicion anyway. T-Thank you for saving me."

"No problem," Cole responded.

"With everything going on, I'm starting to wonder if I should.. just tell him the truth."

"Well, that's what we've talked about. Have you changed your mind?"

The thought of Master Fu, Tikki, Chat Noir, and Alya crossed Marinette's mind in a flash of memory and she pursed her lips.

"I think so... I just don't know if I can.. maybe I should wait a little longer," She peered down at her phone, "Last night kind of messed it all up even more."

"I don't think you should wait," Cole said sternly. The look on his face seemed as if he was torn and jealous of what he wanted Marinette to do. The girl noticed his stress and laid her hand on his, which was placed on the table. His knuckles turned white as he balled up his fist.