A Miraculous Musical 3: Senior Year

Chapter 9: Scream

One night, Adrien had been feeling quite downtrodden. Nothing was the same without Marinette around, and he wasn't the only one that felt this way. There were times when he wanted to call her just to hear her voice, but it was hard to do that with the time difference. He sat in his room watching Plagg eat his share of camembert when there was a knock at his door. When it opened he was relieved to see that it was Natalie.

She had a heavy expression on her face as she closed the door. "Adrien, I've been meaning to speak with you."

"Oh Natalie, what is it?" He asked as she made her way over to him and took a seat on his bed next to him.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. I've noticed that you haven't been yourself lately." She honestly responded.

Adrien took one last glance at Marinette's contact picture on his phone. "I just miss her. I know she's only gonna be gone for a week for now, but after graduation I don't even know if I'll see her again. I was really hoping that if we stayed together long enough, father would see that I'm happy. Then maybe he'd change his mind about the arrangement."

Natalie couldn't take it anymore. Adrien had already suffered enough and she couldn't sit by and watch it anymore. "Adrien, your father is extremely stubborn. When he wants something, he doesn't care who he has to hurt to make it happen. Yes, he started out with the best intentions for you, but his morals have become corrupted over the years."

"Natalie-" Adrien tried to argue back.

"No, Adrien, it's true. You need to sit down and listen to me. Do you know what he's been doing to you and more recently, Marinette? He's been targeting her ever since he moved here." She told him with a stern look in her eyes.

"I know, Marinette told me about that time when he tried to get her parents' bakery shut down. But since then, he hasn't really done anything besides push for me to pay attention to Chloe over the summer. And it seemed like he was warming up to the idea of being together this year. Well, that's how it seemed at first."

Natalie sighed. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's only a fraction of what he's done. When you and Marinette first met, Chloe came complaining to your father about Marinette. He told her to suggest the idea of tampering with her family's bills to her father. Then when you had helped her family by supporting them on social media, he resorted to planting mice in their establishment. He intentionally sent over a health inspector to check the area the next day."

The blonde in what looked like a mix of astonishment and hurt.

"Then over summer, he sent your cousin over to the country club. He told him that if he broke the two of you up, then he would consider acknowledging Felix and your aunt as part of the family." She explained further.

Adrien shook his head in denial. "No, Marinette left me because I was turning into someone that I wasn't and I refused to tell her about the engagement."

"Who do you think told her about it, Adrien?"

Adrien stopped to think about it. The only people at the country club that knew about it were Chloe, her family, Felix, and himself. Of course, Chloe definitely could've blabbed, but Felix also lurked around the grounds like he was up to something. Adrien knew that he was, but he never suspected that he was up to something like that.

Natalie continued. "And this year your father's been quiet up until now, just so he could lead you both into a false sense of security. A few days ago, he invited Marinette over to have a talk with her. He threatened her with the details of the arrangement. He informed her that you would be cut off if you didn't go through with it. He even threatened to slander your name to prevent you from getting into any school at all. That's the main reason why Marinette left. He didn't give her a choice."