I held tightly onto Marinette's phone, staring at her text conversation with Lila, which had abruptly started only a few days ago.
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I felt like smashing the phone in anger as I read over the messages Lila had sent. I kept my eyes on each word, wondering how Marinette must have felt while reading them.
I looked up, my eyes on the message moving to the glistening doorknob of Mr. Damocles' office. I reached out and knocked on the hard door, a little too harshly, my knuckle popping.
"Come in." A stern voice replied.
I grabbed onto the cold handle and opened the door, my eyes staring straight at him. Why did I feel so mad? He didn't do anything wrong.
I took a deep breath as I entered the room.
"C-chat noir!? What a pleasure. Please, make yourself at home." He stated. I nodded and closed the door behind me, my eyes locking on the silky blue hair walking into a classroom across the hall.
Marinette came to school. She must feel horrible right now. I need to get this done, quickly. Why would she even come? That's social suicide! She needs to stay in her room, protected. I know her suspension ended yesterday but...
"Why m-might you be here?" Mr. Damocles' surprised voice reminded me of my work. I cleared my throat and sat down in front of him, my throat hot.
"I'll get straight to the point, Mr. Damocles. I work with teenagers struggling with social issues when I'm not on patrol. One of your students, Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been talking to me about issues at school for a while, and a certain situation she's involved in has gotten too far for me to ignore." I said slowly, keeping my voice low yet clear.
"Ah. I'm aware. Marinette and her classmate Lila have had an incident involving Marrinette physically and mentally abusing Lila." He said, meeting my tone.
My voice rose. "Have you checked security cameras to insure that this story is one of truth?"
"No. There is no need considering multiple other classmates confirmed Lila's story." He said, his voice rising as well.
"Sir, have you asked those students where they got their information from?"
"...No. Where's your point in this?" We made eye contact. He looked angry yet confounded. I could feel my eye twitching of anger.
Marinette didn't deserve any of this. This staff was so crappy, the students too.
I cleared my throat, but I couldn't lower my voice no matter the attempt. The dusty, old air rose, it grew outstandingly quiet for a moment, which was odd for our school. I stood silent, my nerves getting the best of me.
Suddenly, I heard yelling. Someone cried. Marinette. Her beautiful voice was crying out for help. For me.
"Sir, do you hear that?" I said quickly, turning around to open the door. I could hear his chair scoot back as I ran towards the sound of Marinette's gentle voice muffled by yelling and arguments.
There was barely enough time for my feet to stop before I opened the door to our classroom. There she was, crying and confused, in the center of a circle of angry classmates.
Lila fake cried in the corner, protected by Rose.
"ENOUGH!" I shouted, my voice reaching a volume I never knew it could. The teacher looked grateful to see someone of authority, a small smile creeping onto her stressed face.
Sets of eyes turned towards me, but I only kept mine on Marinette's who were looking at her shoes.
"Everyone sit down in your seat. No talking unless I ask or your hand is raised. Now." I sounded angry. I felt angry. My skin boiled and burned, my fingers twitched. Yes, the principal of the school was there, but Chat Noir also held authority, which I took advantage of for once.
I watched as hushed students made their way to seats. Lila was too close to Marinette. I watched as Lila put on her best pout and stared at Marinette. Alya sat next to Lila and held her hand in comfort.
"I'm going to make some adjustments to this seating for a smoother conversation." I then proceeded to move Alya and Lila away from Mari, replacing them with Chloe, who hadn't given her any trouble.
I stood in the center of the front of the class, where we're usually taught by a teacher. The principal stayed silent, his eyes on me. I guess that was my queue.
Mari's POV
I watched Chat's stern eyes survey the class. A wave of relief rushed over me as his eyes landed on mine. He seemed mad. Very mad. I watched his blonde hair glisten as small rays of sunlight hit it.
He explained that part of his job was to assist people emotionally. He knew something had happened between me and Lila, and had planned on pulling us out one-on-one to solve the issue, but arrived when the fighting started.
"Would anyone like to tell me, from an unbiased point of view, what happened?" His voice was clear and loud, compared to the uneasy silence of the rest of the room.
I watched as Lila raised her hand, her face in a taunting pout. I looked away, and out of the window to distract myself.
"How about you, Alya?" Chat said.
Did he just..? I looked over to see a frustrated Lila, her hand setting down on her lap. Alya looked startled and confused.
"U-um, sure, sir... well..we all came to class as we normally do. We sat in our normal seats. Marinette walked through the door. She was acting strangely, Lila muttered something about Marinette threatening to hurt Lila. Then, I freaked out and questioned what Lila said too loudly, people overheard, and then we all started yelling at each other, trying to figure out what had been going on.." Alya said quietly. Her voice sounded tired.
Lila jumped out of her seat. "I'm sorry, I didn't raise my hand, sir, but I need my voice to be heard, because you've only listened to Marinette's side of the story!! One day, after school, Marinette came up to me and shou-"
"That'll be enough, Lila." Chat interrupted, staring at Lila with piercing eyes.
