Jerk in Sheep's Clothing

Bad News

Alya tried to focus on the school lesson, but her attention was elsewhere.  From the back, she had a good view of Marinette and Henri in the second row.  And she saw a few things that were not to her liking.

Marinette was trying to focus on what Mme. Bustier was saying, but she had a distraction of her own.  And his name was Henri LeRoi.  He kept whispering in her ear, drawing her attention away from the teacher, giving her smiles instead of looking towards the front of the room.  One time, he even put his arm around her, his right hand resting on her right arm, rubbing her skin up and down.

Alya frowned.  Had this boy shamed her out of her seat just so he could flirt with Marinette during class?  Alya knew she had been in the wrong, pushing Mari out because of Lila, but that did not give Henri the right to do the same to her.  Especially not that it was clear that he did not really care about avenging Marinette, he had only done what he had to get to sit next to her.

Marunette seemed annoyed by this new attention, shushing Henri and pulling his arm away.  She scolded him in a whisper, making it clear that now was not the time for romance.  After that, Henri seemed to settle for giving her charming smiles when she wasn't looking.  Alya watched him like a hawk for the rest of class.

Soon, the lesson ended, and it was almost time for lunch.  Henri followed Marinette out of the room, while the rest stayed behind to discuss their own lunch plans.  Alya walked up the gang and knocked on a desk to grab their attention.  It worked.

"We need to talk about Henri."

Rose blinked. "You mean, Marinette's new boyfriend?"

Alya was flabbergasted. "Boyfriend?!"

.She announced it to the class before you came in.", explained Kim. "Apparently, they've going out as of yesterday."

Alya was shocked. Marinette was dating the new guy?! She hadn't even known that Marinette was over Adrien. She felt guilty for not being around much more and not being aware of her friend's new love.

She frowned. "I dunno if I want her dating that kid...there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. And the way he used my past mistakes against me, just to get what he wanted...I mean, I know what I did to Mari was wrong but...does that mean he gets to hurt me in the same way?"

Adrien stepped forward.  "Guys, come on.  He loves Marinette.  He's probably still mad on her behalf.  And you can't blame him.  I'm sure he'll come around."

Alya's cocoa lips twisted into a tight pout of deep thought.  "I dunno...did you see the way he was trying to distract her in class?  With his whispers and his arm rubs and everything, always trying to get her attention...I think he just wanted the seat so he could flirt with her during class."

The rest of the class was silent.  They didn't know how to respond to that.  Ivan and Mylene just walked out of class together, hand in hand.  They saw Henri and Marinette by the staircase.

"I need to get something from my locker.  Can you wait here?"

"No problem, babydoll."

She pecked him on the cheek and hurried off, leaving Henri alone.  Now was as good a time as ever.

"Hey!"

Ivan came up to Henri.  "That wasn't cool what you did to Alya."

"What?"  "You know, how you shoved her to the back just so you could flirt with Marinette during class."

Henri just shrugged like it was nothing.  "Why not?  Give her a taste of her own med, sounds good to me."

"Except that's not really your business, Henri.", Ivan told him.  "Sure, what they did wasn't cool, we realize that now.  But that doesn't give you the right to attack them in the same way. Especially since we're pretty sure what you did wasn't about getting justice for Marinette.  You just wanted to get Alya's seat so you could make the moves on Mari."

Henri narrowed his eyes and took a step towards his tall classmate, towering him by a whole head.  "Look here, Bruel.  If I were you, I'd watch what I said.  I can make you regret those words.  Trust me, you wouldn't like me as an enemy."

Ivan simply quirked an eyebrow at him.  "Bold of you to assume I liked you to begin with."

Henri smirked.  "Very well.", he spoke calmly, stepping around Ivan so that he stood on the edge of the stairs, still facing his foe.  "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Out of nowhere, he grabbed Ivan's hands and placed them on his shoulders.  Before Ivan could ask what the heck he was doing, Henri toppled over backwards, tumbling down the hard metal steps until he hit the ground in a moaning heap.

"Henri!"

Ivan and Mylene turned around to see Marinette, who had barely arrived on the scene.  She pushed Ivan aside and went running down the stairs to her beloved boyfriend's side.

"Henri, are you alright?!, she whimpered, helping him to an upright sitting position.  "What happened?!"

Henri pointed a finger right up at Ivan, wearing a face of hurt and despair.  "He pushed me down the stairs!"

"WHAT?!", Marinette screamed, her head whipping to glare up at a shellshocked Ivan.

Henri hung his head.  "Its true.  He yelled at me for pushing Alya out of her seat, called me a jerk, and then shoved down the steps."

Marinette rose up, her eyes narrowed up at her classmate standing on top of the stairs.  "Ivan, how could you do that?!"

"I didn't!", the other boy exclaimed.  Some of his classmates were now out of the room, watching the scene unfold.

Marinette crossed her arms.  "Ivan, I saw you with your hands on his shoulders!"  "I didn't push him!", Ivan insisted.  "He put my hands on his shoulders, and then pretended to fall!"

"The fall looked pretty real to me.", Marinette remarked.

"Marinette, Ivan's telling the truth!", cried Mylene.  "Henri set him up so it'd look like he pushed him!"

For a moment, Marinette looked as if she might believe them.  Suddenly, Henri moaned loudly, getting her attention.  She knelt beside him, both hands on one of his shoulders.  "Henri, what is it?  What's wrong?"

Henri looked at her like a kicked puppy.  "I think I banged up my ankle pretty bad in the fall."

"Oh, you poor thing!", she cried.  "Here, let me take you to the nurse!"

She slung his arm over her neck and helped him stand on one foot.  "Keep it elevated."

Her head lifted up, and the look she gave Ivan and Mylene was the dirtiest anyone had ever seen on her sweet face, even dirtier than one she had given Chloe and Lila.  "Ivan, when you're ready to apologize to him, let me know."

All jaws hung open as she watched Marinette help her boyfriend hop towards the nurse's office.  Alix ran up to Mylene.  "My, what happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened!", Mylene cried.  "Ivan confronted Henri about what he did to Alya.  He didn't yell or anything.  He wasn't even mean about it.  He just said that it was up to Marinette to decide how she treated Alya and Nino for what they did, and it wasn't up to him to decide how she should treat them."

"And then, Henri got all up in my face, saying that he could make me regret what I said and I wouldn't like him as an enemy.", explained Ivan hysterically.  "And then he set things up and put my hands on his shoulders and fell over to make it look like I pushed him!"

The class gasped in horror.  "He did that?"

The class couple nodded their heads.

Adrien leaned over the railing, watched as Marinette helped stagger to get his ankle checked. Henri caught sight of the blond's eyes on him, and looked at him with a nasty grin, similar to the one he'd worn on the first day, and the one he had given to Alya when he guilted her into giving him her seat. Of course, when Marinette looked back at him, he was all sad and whimpering, like a wounded gazelle.

Adrien's eyes narrowed as he watched the two vanish from sight. He knew now. It wasn't just jealousy that was making him feel nauseous around the new boy. Henri LeRoi was bad news.