That Night

Chapter 2 (updated)

Updated 8-17-21

Moaning, Marinette tossed and turned in her sleep.

"Honey? Marinette?"

The girl shot up in her bed, blinking her eyes a couple times to chase the sleep away. "What is it?" She rubbed her knuckles against eyes, still trying to focus them on her mom, who was standing next to her, leaning against the bed.

"Oh! I'm so sorry sweetheart!" Sabine Cheng spoke in her typical gentle voice, leaning over to push the hair out of her daughter's face with a light touch. "I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. You came in really fast and didn't seem like yourself." Marinette could see the worry in her mom's eyes as she spoke. "Are you ok?"

Taking a deep breath, the teen tried to channel the old Marinette, the one from before the mistakes of last night. "Oh, I'm fine mom. I was just really tired and wanted to get up here as fast as I could so that I could take a nap." She finished her explanation in a single breath and smiled a wide, toothy smile, pushing away her covers and turning so that her legs were now hanging over the edge of the bed. "I feel so much better already."

But that was a lie, Marinette didn't feel any better. Despite the extra sleep she had just gotten, she still felt as if she might collapse at any moment, though it was equally possible that she would throw up or start sobbing. But she didn't let any of these feelings show on her face, instead she maintained the false sweetness of before.

"Okay, darling." The petite woman gently touched her daughter's hand. "Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"I'm fine mom." Marinette hoped that if she reassured her mom enough she would leave. "I think I'm just gonna get up and do some homework now."

"Ok, sweetie. I'll just be down in the bakery with your dad if you need anything."

Marinette nodded, then slowly stood up from her bed and climbed down the ladder to get to her desk. She really did have homework she needed to do, so, reluctantly, she pulled out a textbook and turned her music loud enough to hopefully keep her awake and focused.

- - -

The next week followed the same pattern. Marinette woke up, remembered that night, dragged herself to school, sat in the second row with Adrien, whom she ignored, avoided eye contact with anyone, and went home to either do her homework or sleep.

One morning, a couple weeks after that night, Marinette woke up oddly determined to fix things between her and her friends. She felt as if she had just been freed from a prison of anger and she had to make things right. She had made a mistake, and she knew that without the help and support of her friends she was just wallowing in self pity and making herself suffer. If she wanted to move past the funk that she was currently in she needed her friends. She had to get those wonderful girls back in her life.

She got ready for the day and headed to the school early so that she could wait outside the school - she knew she'd be able to catch her friends there.

The first of her friends that Marinette saw was Alya, walking up the steps, holding hands with her boyfriend Nino. "Hey!" The bluenette called out to the girl who had been her best friend for years and who she hoped would be her best friend for the rest of their lives, despite the conflict that Marinette knew she had created to disrupt the relationship between the two of them.

When Alya looked up, Marinette gave her an apologetic look and jogged to her. "Can we talk?" She pleaded with her eyes, hoping more than anything that her friend would take this chance to talk and be open to forgiving her. "I have something that I really need to say to you and the girls."