Fragile as a flower (MariChat)

Confrontation Part 2

Chat's POV:

I took a deep breath, allowing myself to calm down. I lowered my voice, reminding myself I was surrounded by friends. They just need to know the truth. 

"I apologize for speaking so loudly, I'm not used to these kinds of situations as you can imagine. I am fully aware of what Lila says her side of the story is like, just how I'm aware more of the class has been informed on it."

I cleared my throat and turned on the projector that sat behind me. Awkwardly, I opened a google slides I formerly made to take notes on the situation. I guess I scared them- showing Chat's mean side. It was so quiet, you could hear a crumb drop. 

"If you'll look at this list of bullet points, I've written down what Lila claims to be true. Please skim over the list as a refresher. I'm open to adding more if I've missed anything, so please do tell me if any important details are missing."

I said, trying to ignore the hint of anger in my voice. I looked over the notes along with the class. 

-Marinette has threatened her on multiple occasions 

-Marinette has pulled Lila aside to emotionally abuse her after school 

-Multiple bulying attempts have been brought to the tanle. 

I read the first three, glad my mask covered the embarrassed blush on my face. Tanle. Bulying.

I couldn't help but chuckle, pulling up my phone to fix the error. "Obviously, Chat Noir did not ace his spelling tests." 

The sound of the class softly laughing almost called me down- except for the fact that I couldn't hear Marinette's beautiful laugh. 

"Alright. Any objections to this list?" I said, waiting for Lila's hand to shoot up, but it didn't. Rose's did. 

"Um- I heard that Marinette only tried to physically hurt her once.."

Half of the class nodded, but more hands shot up. 

"I remember hearing it was 3 times." Sabrina said. Half the class nodded. 

"Alright, there's a simple way to do this." I said, turning to my phone. I edited the slide, rewriting the third bullet point as:

Marinette has tried to physically bully her ? (1-3) times.

The looks of satisfaction on almost everyone's faces told me I could move on. 

Mari's POV:

It's hard for me to remember that Chat knows what's really been going on. Even reading the bullet points makes my blood boil. It's everything I can do to stay quiet. I continued to focus on the gentle wave of his delightfully golden hair. I kept my eyes on his- green as an emerald. Shining with such grace, like a pool of forest shimmer. He didn't look at me, yet I could feel his attention on my face as he clicked to the next slide- my side of the story. 

-Lila has threatened to make everyone in her life hate her 

-Lila has lied to everyone about the situation 

-Lila has physically hurt Mari

I read the first three bullet points, which pretty much made her side of the story clear, despite there being 4 other points on the list. Relief rushed through my veins as I sighed, glad he understood. Lila stood up immediately.

"Sir, you have no proof that these are even real!! She's lying, not me!!" She whined, her bottom lip quivering excessively. I watched as her hands on the table formed fist shapes. Chat Noir cleared his throat. 

"Please sit down, Lila. You may not have noticed but Marinette was kind enough to sit down respectfully after seeing your claim. Also- none of you have any real evidence that Lila's statement is true. However..."

I watched as his lean body turned towards the board, his fingers carefully tapping his phone. Next thing I knew, the text conversation between Lila and I was displayed for the whole class to see. I felt embarrassed-like everyone now saw me as a weak little victim as their eyes looked to my now teared ones, guilt on their face. Chat clicked his phone again, playing a video. It was me, sat down in despair. It was me- right before he hugged me for the first time. You couldn't see my face, but you could clearly hear my voice and see my shoes, and the hem of my hand sewn pants. It was hard to hear me clearly through my crying but I was definitely telling him about how tough school had gotten and how nobody believed me. He continued, showing a picture of my face all beaten up on that one rainy day when he first discovered my dilemma. How did he even take that picture? Does his metal rod have a camera built into it? Chat finally finished by showing us the hate note Lila had first written to me, all those days ago, before Lila hit me until I bled.

I turned my head towards Lila, who's face turned extremely red. She fumed with embarrassment and anger- and it looked like the was holding onto her breath, looking for a window to retaliate. My voice through the speaker continued to echo in the classroom ,after he changed slides, as the past me explained everything in detail, connecting dots that had formerly been forgotten. I watched as my classmates' brains clicked, understanding as my recording explained things they all once saw as confusing. Then it all went silent, the video ending. 

I never agreed to Chat showing these to the class, but I can't say I wasn't extremely relieved. It was obvious who was in the wrong. I hesitantly watched as Mr. Damocles cleared his throat and asked for Lila. Surprisingly, she stayed silent as she walked out the door with him,  but her deathly glare at me and Chat Noir was unmistakable. 

For the next half hour, Chat explained how he decided the class should have a small lesson on how to properly solve conflicts. We all listened in on how crucial it is to fully see both sides of the story, and how to gather as much proof as possible. Lila's downfall was that she had no proof whatsoever. He then explained that it's best to try and solve the problem as soon as conflict arises- which can be done by sitting together as a group to discuss, or using what he called "I statements" such as:

"I feel really upset when I'm accused of doing something without being allowed to explain myself. Can I please get some time to tell my side of the story?"

We then came up with scenarios in which we drilled solving conflicts in class, listening to the serious scenarios and laughing at the occasional comical one.

"I feel angry when I don't get enough time to eat my tacos at lunch!!!" Rose giggled, pointing a finger at Chloe who was pretending to be the principal. 

Eventually, he thanked us for his time and the school day ended. I tried to slip out the classroom door, not ready to face my classmates. Would they hold a grudge against me- thinking I was just trying to ask for attention? Would they pity me and never see me the same? 

I was ready to quietly celebrate my quick escape when I felt a hand carefully tug on my sleeve. I turned to face Alya, who stood in front of the rest of the class- their faces stern. 

"...Mari- I-" She began.

Author's note:

To be continued! Keep reading to see how this story will end!

I only plan on one or two more episodes, sorry that this story is a little short! I hope you've enjoyed it so far. There's a very slim chance that I'll extend it- mainly because I have no idea how to continue the story! If you have anything you want to see in this story or any ideas, please message me! 

Thanks for your support so far, have a wonderful day!

Spots off! 🐞