Jerk in Sheep's Clothing

Storms Ahead

The next day at school, Adrien walked into school, preparing for another day.  He saw his friends in the courtyard and connected eyes with them.  Nino waved him over, and he ran to join them at the table with him and the others.  Marinette wasn't there yet, but then again, she was usually late.

"I wanna show you girls something.", said Rose, reaching into her purse.

She pulled out a tiny little dove sculpture of pale pink crystal, its wing spread out and catching the rays of the sun, glittering like a diamond.  "Tada!"

Juleka gasped in awe.  "I recognize that!  Its the one from the window, isn't it?  The one you've been eying for months!"

Rose beamed.  "It is!"  She sighed happily as she admired it's sparkling beauty.  "I had to save up two months worth of allowance to afford it!  But it was definitely worth—"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a hand appeared and knocked the little bird right out of her palm, sending it crashing to the hard cement floors, shattering into a thousand tiny shards.

Rose stared at the mess of glass at her feet, blue eyes doubled in size, completely paralyzed.  Everyone else slowly raised their horrified gazes from the devastating scene to meet the satisfied smile of Henri LeRoi.  He looked at Rose from the corner of his eye, smirking at her expression.

"Oopsie.  My bad.", he said, not sounding apologetic at all.  He looked at the broken pieces on the floor and clicked his tongue three times.  "Gee, hope that wasn't expensive."

Juleka stood up, fuming.  She looked up at Henri with fury in her auburn eyes, raising her clenched fist higher, closer to Henri's stupid smug-looking face.  "Why, you no-good, two-faced little—"

"Juleka?"

She gasped, her head turning to the left to see Marinette standing in the entrance.  She didn't look too pleased with what she saw.  "Juleka, what are you doing?"

Juleka froze, looking like a deer caught in headlights.  "I...I..."

Before she could answer, Marinette looked to see Rose fall on her knees before a bunch of shattered pinkish glass pieces, looking hopeless.

"Rose!"

She ran to her blonde friend and knelt beside her, looking back and forth between the petite girl and the scattered crystal shards at their knees.  "What happened?"

"Marinette!  It was an accident, I swear!"

Sure enough, Henri was back to playing the innocent one in the situation.  "I guess I wasn't watching where I was going, because I tripped and bumped into Rose and it fell out of her hand!"  He looked at the girl he had just hurt.  "Rose, I am so, so sorry!"

Marinette looked up at him, her bluebell eyes narrowing slightly, and for a moment, the class had hope.  Hope that she was seeing through this helpless act, and was realizing the truth about what had really happened.  But just like Rose's precious crystal dove, that hope was shattered in seconds when she turned to Juleka and spoke.

"Wait...why was your fist near his face?"

The shy girl gulped.  "Because...Because he..."

Marinette's eyes went wide, a spark of anger lighting in them.  "You don't think he did this on purpose, did you?"

Juleka's heart plummeted.  "I...I..."