The Duel

Whispers

Marinette never went back to school that day, and it's good she didn't, by lunchtime the entire building had heard about what happened that morning, and nearly everyone was talking about it. Luka was relieved Marinette wasn't around to hear it. As much as Adrien was very deserving of a punch in the face, he knew Marinette would still be disappointed in him for doing it.  He was desperately hoping that by the next morning it would all have passed over and no one would remember it, or tell Marinette.

The next morning Marinette did get back to school, and it was still the most popular topic of conversation among the students, but word had got out that no one could tell Marinette, which almost made it worse. She walked into school that morning looking pretty bad. Bad like she'd been crying for the last 24 hours, hadn't slept all night, and ate nothing but ice cream and bread, which was an accurate description. She really wasn't in the mood to talk or interact with anyone, and before class even started she was beyond ready to go home and eat some more junk food. So at first when she walked in and noticed no one wanted to talk to her, she didn't mind, until of course she realized they were actually talking about her, and clearly no one wanted her to hear.

Alot of them were paired off in groups of four or five people, conversing in whispers about what conspired the day before, but as marinette got close or walked by, the whole group would fall silent until she walked far enough where she couldnt hear them anymore. Since she was already bothered by, other things, she decided to not let it get to her, and walked into class. The same thing happened there, the whole room with all her friends seemed to be talking but as soon as she opened the door it fell silent, and everyone awkwardly stared at her. Marinette, trying to act completely normal when clearly she was perturbed by multiple things now, took her usual seat next to Alya.

"What's going on this morning?" she said sort of as a whisper to her best friend sitting next to her, "I feel like everyone is talking about me or hiding something from me," she said with a sheepish smile almost as if she thought it was funny. But truly she thought it was anything but funny, she just didn't want to let Alya realize how upset she was. Alya had forgotten all about the one "rule" to not tell Marinette and didn't hesitate to start blurting out the story to her, "oh my gosh it was crazy, so yesterday like right after you left, there was-" she started, but was interrupted by Adrien, who turned around fast and shot Alya a dirty and scared look, reminding her how angry Luka would be at both of them if Marinette were to find out. Alya immediately stopped talking when she saw him and chocked on her breath for a moment trying to catch herself and find something to say to not make it suspicious, but no words came out.

"What is going on!?" Marinette screamed at both of them, she saw Adrien's look at Alya, and now she KNEW everyone was hiding something from her. "Alya come on why won't you say anything!?" she yelled again, but both her best friend and Adrien just looked down to avoid eye contact. Of course this sent the wrong message, and Marinette was furious, she looked at Adrien with clear anger "IS THAT ABOUT WHAT I SAID YESTERDAY!? DID YOU JUST TELL EVERYONE!?" She said at the top of her lungs, anything she said before didn't even sound like a scream compared to her volume now, "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO!? MAKE MY LIFE MORE MISERABLE THAN YOU ALREADY DID!?" everyone in the classroom was absolutely silent, no one had ever seen Marinette angry before, and frankly it kind of scared them to hear her yell. Marinette still didn't believe that Alya would be against her though, she looked at her best friend, calmed her voice, and made a final attempt, "Alya, please, you can't listen to him after what he did to me." she said whimpering, holding back tears, Alya just looked away again, without saying a word. "I thought you were my best friend," the crying girl whispered, and once again ran out of the room sobbing. But seeing Marinette so sad made Alya angry too, and she ran out of the room and into the hall after her.

As Marinette ran down the steps and back through the school, it was the same as when she first walked though, groups of people whispering but then falling silent as she ran past. She almost made it out the door to leave when Alya caught up and grabbed her shoulder, turning her around. Marinette was still crying but willing to give Alya a chance, since she really wanted to know what was going on.

"Please Alya, what really happened? What are they all saying about me?"

Alya sighed, "it's not about you it's just, they all feel sorry for you.....because....."

"Because what?!" Marinette said in a higher tone, desperate to pry the truth out of her.

"Uhg they're gonna kill me if I tell you!" she said, which clearly made Marinette upset again.

"Alya please! I can't handle being the only person in school who doesn't know! Especially when it's obviously about me!!"

Alya looked around to make sure no one was listening, then brought Marinette in close and whispered, "I can't say anything, but I'm going to send you this video, do NOT watch it until you get home, and do NOT tell anyone I showed you."

Marinette nodded and with that Alya quickly pulled out her phone to send it then went back to the classroom. Marinette stayed in the hall for a moment until she saw Ms. Bustier about to walk up to her class. Since Adrien had told the treacher most of the story yesterday, Ms. Bustier wasn't surprised or upset when Marinette asked for an excused absence to go home and skip school for "personal reasons." She agreed and let Marinette go without any questions, which was a relief.

So she went home, sat in her bed.....

.....and she watched the video.