Of Glitter and Gold

Chapter 14

"Are you happy now? Just leave me alone."

"No. And I asked you a question, I thought you were good at answering those. Always seemed to like correcting me. Damian sat next to her.

"You didn't leave Paris for a change of scenery, but I don't know why. With you and your perfect little life, I'd think the world revolved around you."

"Damian Wayne admitting he doesn't know something?" Marinette mumbled, Damian didn't get defensive, he just sat there and waited for her to speak.

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does, if I'm going to beat you I need to know what to avoid so I don't get painted as anything but the victor." Marinette snorted.

"Yeah right, I think you mean loser." Damian just waited again, it was like he knew what he was doing.

"You don't care."

"You're finally wrong, just spit it out so we can go back to class."

"A girl at my old school used to lie a lot. I called her out and she didn't like that."

"Let me guess, ex-best friend? Knew all your deep, dark secrets. I'll even wager a boy was involved." Her whole life is a cliche movie.

"Close. I guess. An exchange student, though she did get my best friend to tell her all those things."

"She manipulated everyone else to think you were at fault."

"They all believed her, even if it was obviously a lie. She said I bullied her."

"You're too self-righteous for that." Damian added, Marinette rolled her eyes. They were still teary and red-rimmed but at least she wasn't crying anymore.

"They believed her and she convinced them to do the same to me so I could learn a lesson. She'd do that every morning, they'd throw things or yell insults. It didn't matter, I had a friend outside of class but then he took a turn for the worse." She looked forlorn, so lonely and small. Like an innocent animal left for dead.

"What happened to them?" Marinette was clearly more comfortable sharing as time went on. Like she needed to get it out before she lost her only outlet.

"He was convinced we were soulmates, tried to convince me at the worst possible times where I couldn't get away, like at work. We used to volunteer together. He was my best friend and then he just stopped and started yelling at me all the time to just give him a chance."

"How long ago did this all start?"

"A year or so before I came here. It wasn't always that bad but by the time I came here I couldn't go a day without another part of my life falling apart. No one really believed me anymore, except my family."

"I was expelled once because Lila said I pushed her down a flight of stairs, another classmate convinced her to lie again saying I didn't but it was still awful."

"Your old school sounds like it's made up of imbeciles." Marinette's lips twitched upwards slightly.

"I guess."

"You said it was like everyday another part of your life fell apart. What else happened?"

"One of my grandfathers passed away. We were really close, he taught me how to make tea and then later on hot chocolate."

"You'd think it would go the other way around."

"I wasn't a fan, and I guess you know how good it is." Damian just nodded, he didn't have the heart to say he thought it was too sweet.