Warped Reality

Chapter 11

Marinette

"He's beating around the bush. We want to know why you two hate each other."

Adrien glanced up at her, silently chewing his bite of pizza. She sighed, setting her plate down.

"Shall I tell them our tragic tale of woe?"

He shrugged in response, and she looked down at the table.

"There are two sides to every story I guess. So after I tell mine, he can tell his."

"Sounds fair."

Alya sat next to her, and Nino between her and Adrien.

"It all started in preschool."

Alya squealed softly, and everyone turned to look at her.

"What? That's how all good stories start. When they're babies."

Marinette rolled her eyes, before continuing.

"Anyway. I had a crush on him, and I noticed every day at snack time he had oreos. He loved them. He'd even try bribing other kids to get them. And I was shy, so I figured maybe oreos was the way to go."

Alya made an awwwing sound, and Nino nudged her.

"Did you give him your oreos Marinette? Can you imagine Nino? Little Mari and sunshine boy sharing cookies at recess?"

"This isn't happy beginnings remember? This is the origin story for rivals. Stop being a sap." He chuckled, and she frowned slightly.

"Oh yeah. Forgot about that. Anyway, what happened? He shame your cookies or something?"

"Worse." Adrien muttered, and she glanced up at him.

He had stopped eating, picking at the pizza left on his plate.

"I went home, and... well. I broke out the glue, ate about six or seven packs of oreos, which of course led to being sick for a few hours. But I took the empty wrappers and glued them all over one of my best dresses. Mom was pretty pissed."

She smiled wryly at the memory, and when she glanced up again Alya was looking at her with wide, awestruck eyes. The sap.

"The next day I remember going to school. And I got there late, so class had already started. So I waited to talk to him until recess. I went to talk to him but... I uh... fell. Into an anthill. And got covered in ants." She finished, and Alya and Nino both looked confused.

"I don't get it. You hate each other because you embarrassed yourself as a kid?"

"No."

Her gaze met his across the table, and he seemed annoyed.

"What?"

"I appreciate it. Really. But let's not downplay what I did. Marinette didn't fall into that ant hill. I pushed her."

Alya gasped, turning to look at him, but his eyes didn't leave hers.

"Why?"

"Because I thought she was trying to turn everyone against me when it had taken forever to get them to accept me. They made fun of me because of her dress, and I blamed her."

Alya was quiet, and Nino awkwardly cleared his throat.

"And since then, it's been one thing after another. Awful things I'd never be able to take back."

But he wanted to. She could feel it. And she prayed that it wasn't just because of the other Adrien. She wanted it to be real. Something that would last when they got home, though she was almost positive it wouldn't. He would swear up and down that he'd change, but when push came to shove, she knew where they fell. And it wasn't on the same side of the line.