Revelations Ch 4

Chapter 4 – Someone Else

Marinette groaned as she heard her alarm, more than anything she wanted to hit the snooze button because she was beyond the state of going to bed and falling asleep. She got up and looked in the mirror to see bags under her eyes, she sighed as she looked over at Tikki.

"This is definitely going to be a long day..."

Meanwhile Adrien was still asleep as he forgot to set his alarm, Plagg was asleep also. The two of them were like this until there was the sound of a knock at the door. Adrien jumped awake out of his bed while Plagg panicked as he looked at the time briefly.

"You're going to be late!" He stated in a whisper tone due to someone being at the door.

Adrien clenched his teeth together in worry as he rushed around to get his clothes on, while asking who was at the door.

"Who is it?" He called out as he put his socks on.

"Nathalie." His father's assistant responded in her usual monotone voice. "Your car is waiting; you mustn't fall behind schedule Adrien."

Adrien felt his stomach growl, he missed breakfast. He must have slept in real late because of the akuma attack at 4am that night. So he quickly tied his shoelaces and brushed his hair before grabbing Plagg and his bag and then running out the door to his ride, forgetting to say goodbye to his father and Nathalie.

Luckily, Adrien made it just before the bell rang for class to proceed, most people were already inside the building but there were a few people slowly making their way in, as well as Nino waiting patiently for his best pal to arrive.

"Hey Nino, sorry I'm late." Adrien said, scratching the back of his neck apologetically with a sheepish smile.

Nino smirked at the blonde teen and wrapped his arm around his best bud. "Don't sweat it dude, I don't mind waiting." He assured him.

Adrien smiled, before yawning as the tiredness began to catch up him quickly. He was sincerely hoping that he wouldn't fall asleep during class, but to his surprise when he got to class, he saw Marinette struggling to keep her eyes open and Alya doing all that she could subtly so that the teacher wouldn't see to keep her focused and awake.

It didn't bother him much to see Marinette tired, he assumed she was up late the night before working on another design or possibly just getting up early and arriving on time which was an uncommon thing for her to do since he would almost always see her arrive sometime after class had started.

Class went on as normal, Adrien tried all he can to keep his heavy eyes from dragging his face down onto the desk to sleep, but it seemed that Marinette was struggling more as he could hear Alya whispering things to her and nudging her to keep her awake.

"Come on girl, wake up!" Alya whispered harshly, shaking Marinette slightly as to ensure the teacher would not notice.

Marinette mumbled as she continued to rest her head on the desk, it wasn't until Alya said Adrien's name to her in a whisper that she shot awake, looking around herself in awareness. She looked down at Adrien because Alya whispered his name to her, she thought she meant that he was doing something or trying to say something to her. However, she only saw Adrien looking a little bored of the lesson as his head rested in one of his hands. She gave the immediate assumption that he was still down about that situation he was in, it made her worry whether he was going to be alright, he had been like this almost all week at school, for some reason she wanted to make it her business by asking him what was wrong, yet her shyness prevented her from doing so.

During lunch, in order for Marinette to continue listening to Alya's conversation, she mentioned Adrien's name several times.

"How about I tell Adrien how much you like him?" She suggested with a smirk and a raised eye brow.

This made Marinette jump in shock and almost fall off the bench, she felt unbalanced for a short moment before she turned to Alya and returned from her shocked state.

"Please don't! I want to confess to him, you should know that!" She pleaded, clenching her hands together and biting her lower lip in anxiety.

Alya simply looked at how she made her best friend feel before cackling with laughter. "You know I was joking girl. I'd never do that, even if you asked me to because you're just so dam shy." She joked with a wide smirk at her traumatised friend.

Marinette sighed as she caught her breath before looking up to see Nino approaching the two.

"Hey ladies, I could really use your guys help with something." He asked, sitting in between the girls.

Alya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, while Marinette was still recovering slightly from Alya's words.

"What is it Nino? You need more music suggestions or something to film?" Alya asked, smirking the entire way through.

Nino turned to Alya, not surprised at all with Alya's attitude towards him; he gave her a smirk before his expression turned serious. "No, I need both of you to help me with Adrien." He stated before pushing his glasses in a little.

Marinette felt her heart skip a beat the moment he said Adrien's name, her thoughts went wild with excitement. She was going to be helping Adrien, but she didn't know what, or how to help him for that matter, and she was relieved that she wasn't alone, but worried that Alya might push things.

Alya on the other hand, raised her eyebrows and glanced a playful smile towards Marinette who was now covering her face in shyness. "Really? Well I think Marinette and I could certainly give a helping hand, what's the issue?"

After taking in a deep breath, Nino's expression turned sadder as his lips curved more into an upside down smile. "Well, he just told me why he's been down in the dumps these past few days and he says that he could really use some advice from you guys." He explained, looking up at Marinette and Alya.

The two girls looked at each other in both shock and confusion. The wondered why Adrien would want help from two girls? They both knew very well that the four of them were good friends but they didn't expect Adrien to ask girls exclusively to help with a problem of some sort. And then, the thoughts of what his problem might be made Alay and Marinette's minds bubble with curiosity.

"What's the problem?" Alya asked.

"Advice on what?" Marinette added.

Nino looked around briefly before hovering his hands over the girls' shoulders to bring them in closer so he could whisper to them.

"He likes a girl, and I'm not sure who but I have a huge hunch she's from this school. He's been trying to ask her out but she keeps turning him down because of someone else. He couldn't tell me who she was so I was actually wondering if you two would have a clue as to who she might be?"

During and after that long explanation, thousands of thoughts and emotions ran through Marinette's head, causing her to collapse onto the floor in shock. Alya and Nino rushed to her side, Alya too was shocked about this and she would definitely be if Marinette's crush liked someone else. She glared at Nino and told him to go away, she should've seen that coming but she didn't.

Pressing her lips together firmly, she lifted Marinette up and gently shook her to try and wake her up; luckily Marinette hadn't caused a scene. But then, before Alya asked Nino again to leave, Adrien rushed over.

"Hey what happened here?" He asked in a panic as he saw Marinette's closed eyes and emotionless expression.

Hatred began to fill Alya's mind as she stared at the two boys, she felt so sorry for Marinette in that moment. She wished Nino never said that to them, Marinette especially. But at the same time, she felt regretful at herself because she never told anyone else about Marinette's huge crush on Adrien.

"Nothing to concern you boys, now leave us alone." She demanded in a harsh tone, lowering her eyebrows and giving a glare to both the boys.

Nino shrugged in confusion and frustration. "But, what's wrong with her? All I did was ask for your guys help with Adrien." He stated, frowning a little.

"Help with what?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nino turned to his buddy, and gasped when he realised that Adrien didn't know what Nino was asking the girls for. "Oh, I was asking them if they would know who that girl was that you liked."

Adrien's immediate reaction was frustration and confusion. "Nino! I know who she is!"

"Then tell me man!" He demanded, narrowing his eyebrows.

The blonde teen sighed and looked down. "I can't...I don't know who she is...but I do and...ugh this is so confusing!" Adrien cried, tightly grabbing his hair in intense stress and frustration.

This made Alya feel worse; she clenched her teeth and screamed at the two, which then made a scene. "Go away!"

Nino and Adrien jumped in surprise of Alya's sudden change in mood and her sudden strong negativity towards them. It made Adrien feel more concerned about Marinette in her state; Nino was more confused than ever as to why Marinette and Alya took such a strong reaction to his need of help for Adrien.

"We'll leave you two alone if you just tell us why Marinette is passed out?" Adrien asked in a serious tone.

"None of your business now that we both know you like someone else!" She cried, holding onto Marinette tightly, who was moaning and mumbling.

Adrien felt his body drop, but was still standing in front of the two girls next to Nino in shock, worry and confusion. The first thought that made him curious as to ask more was that he liked someone else? He wasn't sure what to make of that, he wanted to ask more but then Alya stood up and screamed at them again to leave them alone.

And so they did, not long later Marinette recovered and assumed that it was all a bad dream, but Alya reluctantly told her that it wasn't and it made Marinette bawl her eyes out in betrayal and the feeling of her heart being ripped out. It was the worse feeling she could feel on top of the less sleep she had.

"I can't believe this! How will I ever live now?!" Marinette cried, covering her face in her palms as her face began to turn red and wet from the upsetting tears.

"Don't you worry; I'll help you with this. I will do all I can to ensure that you get over Adrien as quickly and as smoothly as possible. Right after we find out who this other girl is." Alya assured her, resting her shoulder's on Marinette's.

The other girl to Marinette in that moment was what made her rage in jealously but then made her devastated that Adrien was interested in this other girl instead of her. She always thought that after all this time he liked her and was only being nice to her because he secretly had a crush on her, but now with the information confirmed right in front of her, she couldn't bear to accept it.

Later on after school, Alya walked Marinette home while avoiding Adrien and Nino for the rest of the day until they were both at Marinette's home. Luckily Marinette's parents were too busy helping customers and baking pastries in the kitchen to see Marinette looking down more than usual.

Alya was the first to go up the stairs and the first thing she did was angrily take down the pictures of Adrien without even asking Marinette if she wanted them taken down, but only assumed so after what happened.

She couldn't believe it either, Adrien liked someone else, and was okay admitting it in front of Marinette, it made her hatred for him rise to a boil. It was nothing like Adrien at all, she was beginning to think that Adrien may have been possessed or something. But with the serious look on his face when he talked about her, it all seemed to be true.

Marinette would never be able to look at Adrien the same way again.

The heartbroken navy haired teen slumped up the stairs and fell silently into her bed, mumbling things into her pillow as she sobbed, not wanting to look up at her room anymore. She heard the sound of posters coming off walls and then being scrunched up. Deep inside she didn't want Alya to do all of this for her, because she didn't hate Adrien but she was devastated by the fact that he had a crush on some other girl that wasn't her. The good news in all of this that was buried under much doubt and hatred was for the fact that Adrien still liked Marinette as a friend.

After all the posters had been removed, Alya gave the walls a good clean with a few wet wipes as those posters had been hanging there a long time. She turned to Marinette to ask about her desktop screen too, but she saw that Marinette just wanted to be alone.

"Do you need some time to yourself?" She asked, sitting next to Marinette on the bed.

A soft mumble of agreement was heard from beneath the Marinette's breath, Alya nodded then slowly left the room while looking at Marinette in deep concern, extremely worried that her friend may not act the same way after all of this.

Shortly after Alya left, Marinette sat up and wiped her tears as she looked at the bare walls in her room. She didn't realise how much space she had on the wall that she had occupied for Adrien's posters. With a deep sigh, she got up and found all the posters scrunched up in her bin. She unfolded one and sat it next to her on her bed.

"Why did you do this to me? You make me feel pain..." Marinette cried softly.

She grabbed another tissue before looking again at the poster. His shiny golden hair reflected off the poster and his glistening emerald eyes made her heart sink a little. He was just too precious to her for her to give up on over another girl.

Marinette wouldn't stand in his way or force Adrien to like her instead of someone else. She would respect him and slowly move on. She knew that it was going to take a very long time for that to happen but it seemed like the only fair option at this moment.

It was going to be a very painful journey for her to take on, especially as she was finishing up her 9th grade studies.

What Marinette didn't know was at that very moment, Adrien was on his way to Marinette's place as Chat Noir to apologise but then suddenly realised what he was doing. He couldn't apologise to her without her being confused about why Chat Noir was apologising to her. He felt heavy inside, he didn't want to tell anyone about his infatuation with Ladybug but dropping small hints was all his friend wanted, and the first thing he should've seen coming was for the fact that Nino asked the girls for help.

He wanted to check on her, and if she was suffering emotionally he would apologise, but he didn't know how to apologise to her without it sounding weird. So he decided to try and help her instead of apologising, even if an apology was all he wanted to say to her.

There was a knock on Marinette's window, this startled Marinette and made her throw the poster off the bed abruptly, and she turned to see Chat Noir at her window, waving to her.

Rolling her eyes, she opened her window slightly to talk to Chat Noir. "What do you want?" She asked bluntly.

Chat Noir analysed her for a quick moment, he could see suffering, pain, and frustration in her eyes, and judging by the redness in her eyes as well as the bags underneath them she needed to sleep and she had been crying. He didn't realise how much him liking another girl affected Marinette.

"Mind if I come in?" He asked politely.

Her blue eyes narrowed at the cat, he wasn't the person she wanted to see right now, but she was relieved that it wasn't Adrien or Alya for that matter, she felt more content with Chat but felt like he had no idea what pain she was going through.

"Why?" She questioned him.

Chat shrugged and looked down. "Can't I talk to you, Princess?" He said, smiling almost gleefully.

With a sigh and feeling like she didn't have much and felt like she needed someone around her just to hear her words, even if that other person had no clue what was really going on.

"Fine, come in."