Jerk in Sheep's Clothing

Red Alert

The boys of Madame Bustier's class walked down the hallway, shooting the breeze like buddies did, happy and carefree, as they should be.

"Well, well, well..."

And just like that, that happy, carefree mood flew right out the window. Henri LeRoi peeked out from behind his locker door, smirking devilishly at his fellow male students. "Look like its time for backpack inspection!"

Max shook his head. "No! Not backpack inspection! Anything but that!" He clutched his own bookbag to his chest as if it were his own child. Thankfully, fortune seemed to smile upon him today, as Henri dove in and snatched Nathaniel's bag off his shoulder. The redhead reached to grab it back, but Henri held it out of his reach. The taller boy unzipped it and peeked inside.

"Hmm...looks good...but its missing something." He looked up. "I know!" He reached into his locker and took out an old sandwich, covered in slimy green mold, and dropped it into Nate's backpack, never once breaking eye contact between him and his prey. "There we go!"

"A moldy sandwich?", remarked Nathaniel in a shaky voice, trying to sound brave in face of the bully. "You're slipping, Henri." Henri looked back at the backpack, then at the other boys, and smirked.

"You're right." Keeping the smirk on his face, he took out a cherry-red slushie, popped the cover off with a strong flick of his thumb, and poured the wet, colorful slush into Nathaniel's backpack, all while the poor boy and his friends watched helplessly with wide, horrified eyes. As if that weren't enough, he then zipped the bag closed again and shook it like a cocktail shaker.

He threw the backpack back to Nate, smiling at the boy's defeated look, the slump of his shoulders, the glassy look in his eyes. "Backpack's ship-shape. All in a day's work. You're welcome." And he strutted off like a proud peacock, leaving his enemies in the dust.

Nathaniel looked as if he was about to cry. "I put my sketchbook in here..."

Ivan sighed. "I told you to put it in your locker."

It had been a solid month since Henri had first made his threat to Adrien and the class, and he seemed to be following through on it quite well. He was determined to make their lives a living hell, and he had proved to be worse than Chloe in that regards. He vandalized their belongings, jabbed them with cruel words, and even beat them physically sometimes, when they were alone.

The worst part was, there was nothing they could do about it. If they tried to fight back, or tell a teacher, Henri would go to Marinette, crocodile tears in his eyes, and claim that they were the ones who had hurt him. Of course, Marinette confronted the accused classmate every time this happened. Then she would give them the cold shoulder for days. The class soon fond out that there was no worse feeling in the world than the feeling you got from having your Everyday Ladybug raise her voice to you, scold you, call you a bully, all for something you didn't do.

As much as Adrien hadn't wanted to believe it, Henri had been right. Marinette was wrapped completely around his finger. She took his side every time. It terrified Adrien. He was scared to try to confront Henri, or try to warn Marinette. What if he tried to turn the situation on him, just like he had with all the others? He couldn't risk that. He couldn't risk losing Marinette. He just couldn't. He had to find a way to expose Henri, but until he figured something out, all he could do was roll over and hope Henri had mercy.

He sighed as he walked into the classroom, mentally preparing himself for another long day of Henri.

"Hi, Adrien."

He looked up to see a certain sausage-haired liar sitting in the seat next to his, fluttering her eyelashes at him. "I'm back! Did you miss me?"

Adrien groaned, making no effort to hide his displeasure. Great. Just when he thought life at school couldn't get much worse.
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Alya sat next to Lila at lunch, smiling sincerely for the first time in a while. "Girl, you gave no idea how much I missed you here! Ever since Big Boy LeRoi started playing victim, Marinette barely talks to me! She actually thinks I'm the one spreading lies about her boyfriend, not the other way around!"