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Marinette had been sitting next to Alya, burying her head into the taller girl’s shoulder. Tikki was grateful that Marintte finally had someone supportive like Alya to speak to. While confiding in a partner was nice, nothing was better than being truthful to your best friend. Everything would be ok. At least, that was what Tikki had hoped. The quiet support that Marinette had received was exactly what Marinette had needed, but then slowly, as Marinette had begun to open up more, the conversation had directed towards Lila. And Adrien.
Alya was indignant on Marinette’s behalf, which was good, but Alya could get slightly intense with her reactions.
‘Marinette, I have to talk to Agreste about this. If he thinks he can get away with guilt-tripping you to take the stupid high road-’ Alya had made a violent gesture in the air. ‘No girl of mine is going to go through an absolute bitch like Lila, nearly get expelled, and have to deal with an enabling bastard on top of that-’
Marinette pulled away. ‘Alya, Adrien isn’t like that, you know he isn’t-’
Alya pushed her glasses up and looked seriously at Marinette. ‘He still let Lila do that to you, Marinette. He knew that Lila had done that to you, yet he’s still talking to her, getting close to her, being friends with her- tell me, if you saw me getting bullied by Lila, would you let it continue? Would you tell me to take the high road?’
Marinette shook her head. ‘He told me all that before the whole fiasco with the necklace Alya…’
‘So what if he didn’t know. He still decided to enable it, Marinette, he practically told you not to expose Lila’s lying and manipulation, purely because being mean to bad guys never turned them into good guys. Do you realise he didn’t even bat an eye at anything until she went as far as to get you expelled?’ Alya gritted her teeth. ‘Don’t forget, he’s still the person who was sad that Chloe Bitchgeois, someone who continuously bullies all of us, was leaving! I get it, having awful parents explain her behaviour, but it never excuses it!’
Marinette had remained silent as Alya continued her passionate rant.
‘On top of that, he totally ditched Kagami, brutally. She was so right to dump him. I don’t think it’s right at all that he did that. I get it he doesn’t like Kagami, but why lead her on? Why do that? It doesn’t make any sense! I don't think it’s right to be near him, especially not if he treats girls like that! Just drop ‘em when you don’t like them?’ Alya scoffed. ‘Honestly, I find it pathetic.’
Marinette sighed and put her head into her hands. ‘Alya, I was a literal stalker, I mistook him for Felix, I stole his phone, I tried to kiss him as a statue, I broke into his house as Ladybug… I think that’s worse,’ Marinette watery chuckled. ‘Adrien’s done some… questionable things, but so have I, I’m barely better. I may not like him the way I used to, but he’s still…’
‘Nuh-uh-uh, girl,’ Alya said, shaking a finger in front of Marinette’s face. ‘No self negativity in chat!’ She grinned, before she looked at Marinette fiercely. ‘You were awful Marinette, I agree-’
‘Wow, thanks Alya-,’ Marinette replied, rolling her eyes.
‘And me and the girls should never have decided it was a good thing to do. I’m honestly glad that we both agree. But you have to understand, you’re different from Adrien. For example, when you thought he was Felix, you took time to understand what he does and acts like, that means you care about him because you pay attention to things when they seem off. Second of all… actually, stealing the phone was a messed up thing to do… moving on from that…’
Marinette groaned.
Alya found her trail of thought. ‘Ok, so kissing him as a statue. Not a right thing to do, but why would he pretend to be a statue in the first place, huh?’ Alya hummed, crossing her arms. ‘None of you would have been put into that awkward position if he had never decided to do that, you have to admit. Am I right, or am I right?’
Marinette slowly nodded her head. Alya seemed rather pleased with herself before laying a finger on her chin. Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered the next point. Incredulously, she stared at Marinette. ‘And you broke into Adrien’s house. Girl, um, what?’ Alya chuckled nervously and glanced at Marinette.
Marinette shuddered, and a distant look came into her eyes as she avoided Alya’s gaze. ‘I am not telling you about that right now Alya, not in the mood.’ Her voice had become soft again. Chat Blanc.
Alya seemed concerned at the sudden mood change in Marinette, but decided to skip past it, Marinette could explain later. And anyway, it seemed as though Alya had come up another thing in her list of all the things wrong with Adrien.
‘Not to mention he skipped out on Nino the other night, that was so not cool, Nino was so upset-’
Marinette tilted her head. ‘What do you mean, he skipped out on Nino? I’m sure one time doesn’t mean a whole lot Alya-’
Alya clenched her fists in her lap. ‘It wasn’t just one time, Marinette, he’s begun to sit away from Nino, ignore him during class, run to the bathroom whenever Nino tries to talk to him, and guess what?’
‘What?’
‘He’s even unfriended Nino on Discord!’
Marinette gaped at that. ‘But isn’t that like, the only way they can communicate in secret when Gabriel takes Adrien’s phone privileges away?’
Alya hummed in confirmation. ‘Exactly! He’s been ignoring everyone and everything. Even Nino, his best friend.
‘You have to let him go.’