Just A Baker's Daughter - A Daminette Story

Denial

I watch warily as the kids file out of the bus, waiting impatiently for Mari and Chloe to come into view. I was glaring at all of them before Dick elbowed me with a disapproving look on his face. He really shouldn't have cared about my facial expression when these kids are to blind to see what's right in front of them. Instead, they decide to bully the friendliest person I've ever met just because some witch told them to. He really should be more concerned with getting their brains checked than my attitude.

The two girls eventually exit the bus, and I can't help but get anxious. They both look awfully tired, way more than they did when they entered the bus. Something definitely happened on that bus. I've just started walking over when Chloe spots me and brightens up instantly. My steps falter as I slow to a stop. Chloe latches onto Mari's arm and starts to drag her over to me. When they reach me Chloe is panting and Mari is looking over at her a cute-NO confused expression on her face. 

I raise my eyebrow as I stare at Chloe, who just raises a finger in a "give me a second" sign. She straightens with a malicious grin on her face so suddenly it was unnerving.

"You will not BELIEVE what happened on the bus!"

"Chloe! No!" I glance over to Marinette. Her face is starting to turn red out of what is either embarrassment or anger.

"What happened?" I ask, genuinely curious. Her grin only gets bigger and I can't stop the shiver that runs down my spine.

"So, you know how basically the whole class hates us?" I nod my head, not quite sure where she was going with this. "Well, since they don't like us they go after our friends too. And on the bus, they were calling you a dog. Talking shit about how you were Mari's guard dog."

"Chloe," Marinette tries again, but I'm too caught up in what Chloe is saying to pay much attention.

"They're just being petty and trying to regain some dignity after you taught Adrien a lesson. Don't worry about that. Anyways, Mari here decides to take it upon herself to yell some sense into them!" She laughs a little and Marinette gets impossibly redder.  "She was all, "Don't you talk about him like that"! I swear I've never seen Alya get so mad!"

My ears start to burn as I look over at Mari for confirmation, only to find her hiding her face in her hands. I look back at Chloe who now has one hand on her hip and one finger pointed at me.

"You have to double up on your protector act because Mari basically signed her own certificate of death for you." Now that has my attention.

"Chloe. Don't." There's an edge of warning in her voice that wasn't there in her previous pleadings and I can see Chloe flinch at the tone of her voice.

"I'm sorry, Mari. But you and I both know this one is going to be bad. I'd rather avoid another incident happening again." she spoke the word incident as if she was talking about a certain event in particular. And at the mention of it, Mari backed off and went quiet.

"Not to interrupt, but if you could explain it would be greatly appreciated." Chloe laughs a little and I look at her.

"Sorry, sorry! You just sounded so formal!" She finally stops laughing and I breathe deeply through my nose trying to keep my annoyance to a minimum.

"Alya isn't like everyone else with the bullying. She leaves me alone for the most part. But when it comes to Marinette, well, she gets physical." My eyes widen as I look over to Mari. I feel my heart stop as I notice the light almost non-existent bruise, it's all across her right cheek. How did I miss this?

I tear my eyes away from her to look back at Chloe. "Mari stood up to Alya today. Loudly. In front of the whole class and on your behalf. And as awesome that was, Alya literally told her to watch her back. That won't be enough though, so I'm here asking you for help watching over Mari. Can I trust you?"

"Yes, of course, you can. That trollop won't get near her." I state seriously. She snorts out a laugh.

"Okay old man. I'll trust you. Don't give me a reason not to." Just like that, the conversation switched to a lighter topic. Yet, my mind was still plagued by what Chloe had shared. Never could I have ever imagined someone would hurt Mari emotionally let alone physically.  Though I can't say I'm surprised that it's Alya. I'd been watching her since I've gotten here. She's always the first to reassure Lila, the first to get angry, and the most anxious. If I had to take a guess I'd say she's in a constant state of denial. She knows Lila has been lying, but from what I've seen she also knows she has a lot to lose.

Lila's always offering up amazing, career-enhancing things and most of them go to Alya. She was probably too dumb to realize what was happening and staked her future on something Lila said. Now it seems that she'll do anything to keep her lies from being exposed so she doesn't have to face reality. It is truly one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen.

We enter the museum and all of the teens start to look around. I have to stifle my laughter when I see some of the more ridiculous outfits. How could my brothers possibly wear those? I spot Dick across the room staring at the "Disco Suit" from his earlier days as Nightwing. His face is a mix of pain and nostalgia as he stares down the horrid suit. I decided that if given the chance there is no way he'd turn down wearing it again.

I turn to go find where Mari and Chloe wandered off to when the alarm goes off, startling me from my search. Well shit. Keeping Marinette safe just got a whole lot harder.