Chapter Text
Lila Rossi was supposed to be the popular girl.
It was going to be so easy – tell a few stories to hype herself up to the masses, then use them to quickly build herself a throne of praise and deceit. It had worked so many times at so many different schools, and Francois Dupont should have been more of the same. It was supposed to be the quickest and most surefire way to launch herself up the ladder of the middle school hierarchy and become the queen she was meant to be.
But instead of any of that…
“Trust me Nathaniel,” Lila insists as the redhead leaned away from her. “If you leave it to me and my friend at TokyoPOP, you and Marc’s comic will be the number one printed graphic novel in an instant!”then pressed close until they were nearly nose to nose as his back met the wall.
“Don’t you believe me?”
The poor boy looked so uncomfortable, but he clearly couldn’t muster the courage to tell her to back off, nor the class the willingness to sacrifice themselves so he could flee.
Eventually though, salvation came in the form of beloved class president Marinette.
“Oh, Nathaniel!” she chirped with a bright smile as she made her way over, pointedly ignoring the glare Lila was leveling at her as she stopped partway “M.Monlataing’s outside the classroom looking for you. He said it was super important. You should hurry and talk to him before class starts.”
Before Lila could tell her that Nathaniel didn’t have time for that, he immediately leapt over the desk with the kind of finesse and grace even a born olympic athlete would envy and practically sprinted down the stairs.
“Thanks Marinette,” he muttered as he stopped to thank her, then leaned over with a rather loud stage whisper “Also, tell Lila the next time she wants to lie about having connections in the comic industry, TokyoPOP’s the last company she should name drop – The horror stories from there...Uogh.”
She smiles sympathetically as she watched him shudder and patted his shoulder “I’ll let her know.” Marinette says as he nodded and left, and then turned and walked towards Lila, still beaming like a lighthouse
It made Lila sick.
“And how are you doing today Lila?” she says in an almost mockingly kind voice, and Lila couldn’t help but glare even harder at her for it. Ever since she made her threat in the bathroom, Marinette has been going out of her way to being as sickeningly sweet towards her as she possibly could. She’d ask how her day was, check on her to see if her “tinnitus” had flared up again, and all and all be an annoyingly chipper thorn in Lila’s side, claiming her role as class representative being the reason for hovering so often – It was like she was competing against Rose to see who could be the more eye-searingly brightest person on the planet! And since she and her had “cleared the air between them” after the class apologized for getting her akumatized, she couldn’t use the excuse of the girl “unreasonably” disliking her to get away.
Taking her silence as an answer, Marinette hummed calmly “You know, if you just stopped lying every chance you got, the class would be more friendly with you.”
The Italian girl bristled. Like she had any right to say something like that to her when this entire mess is her fault to begin with! Because she (and this dumb class) just had to know so many famous people, and she just had to tell that snoop Alya about her lying about being Ladybug’s friend (and Ladybug had to have the nerve to confirm it), all her carefully laid plans had gone up in smoke! If they had just bought into her made up stories about saving celebrities's pets and doing fake charities, she’d be living high on the class popularity hog instead of being stared at so doubtingly!
“Like I want to hear that from you of all people.”
Marinette just shrugged, incensing her further. The only saving grace was Alya showing up and getting her attention before leading her away from Lila.
“Come on girl, don’t waste your breath.” she says, patting the brunette’s back “Chameleons can change their colors, but Lila’s likely not gonna stop her lying anytime soon.”
As the two headed to their desks, Lila turned and leaned forward, hands steepled in front of her as she stared ahead
It didn’t matter what she said, because after today, Lila was going to look like the most honest person in the world.
But before we cover that – let’s go back a few weeks, shall we…
.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・🦊
As said, thanks to her attempts at faking an amazing and fantastic life and becoming Chameleon when it failed, Lila had effectively been put on the class’s “Do no trust” list. Even with her using being Akumatized to cover up some of the nastiness she engaged in (and lying about how exactly she got "attacked" by the butterfly), the loss of trust between her and the rest made it quiet difficult for her to restart her “instant popularity, insert lie” plan, especially when Marinette was keeping such a close eye on her and their classmates 24/7 to ensure she doesn’t “end up akumatized again” because she got caught telling tall-tales by the class once more. With the way things were going, it looked like Lila’s goose was cooked.
Then a wonderful opportunity came.
As a result of her “studying abroad”, Lila had a lot of homework to sort through. While Mrs.Bustier was being (surprisingly) lenient about when she could turn it in, she made it clear that if Lila dragged her feet too much, she’d have to call her mother to try and arrange some sort of tutoring, and the girl couldn’t afford to let her parent start becoming wise to the mess her school life had become. It was suggested that she ask the class for help, but with her current status, that seemed almost impossible to do without exposing herself further.
Then along comes Adrien – Sweet, naive, trusting Adrien. After hearing about her situation (while she (purposely) (loudly) lamented on it on the way to class to no one), he offered to join her for a nice “private” study session together. Though the usual suspects had been suspicious, Adrien was willing to give her the benefit of a doubt – after all, she hadn’t spouted any lies for a good while, so she clearly learned her lesson after last time, and so of course he was perfectly fine with being alone with her for an indeterminate (and intimate) amount of time. It was absolutely perfect! And the best part of it was that nosy little Marinette couldn’t interfere since it was her “beloved” Adrien making the offer here.
The only real snag was location – Adrien’s father apparently didn’t approve of “visitors”, so he didn’t feel confident in taking her to his house.
Of course, Lila was nothing if not adaptable.
“I’m sure I can change his mind.” Lila cooed as she wrapped herself around Adrien’s arm, snuggling close as he tried to squirm away. “You’d be shocked at how persuasive I can be.”
And so, before anyone could interfere, Lila had dragged Adrien outside and headed straight for his limo, guided inside by his chauffeur (who was also his bodyguard, she later learned). After a small little fib about being Adrien’s tutor, she walked right in and quickly made herself at home the manor.
It had been a dream come true, spending so much time with her future armcandy (the only sour note being those stupid Ladybug candids she found. Ugh – of course he had to be a fan of hers). She even managed to steal a cheek kiss from the boy and endear herself to papa-dearest right before she left. She had been in such a good mood that she even ignore the open and free opportunity to humiliate Marinette when she caught sight of the other girl buried under the Agreste’s garbage.
She did however make sure to “accidentally” send the photo of her smooching Adrien to the entire class and everyone in Adrien’s contacts. Might as well take a victory lap after all the trouble she went through (and make a certain annoying brunette seethe with jealousy) – plus it’d help scare off the competition, particularly that Kagami girl in his other photos that he seemed to be getting much too close to if those looks she was secretly giving to him in them meant anything. Adrien was a model after all, and Lila was already fully aware she likely wasn’t the only girl aiming for him at school (or outside it). If she marked her territory now, it’d keep the buzzing bugs at bay while she worked her magic.
Besides, it was just a photo. Not like it was going to kill her if a few girls in class came to the conclusion she and Adrien might be going steady…
“WHERE’S THAT WITCH LILA ROSSI!” Oni-Chan screeched, forcing Lila to cover her ears as the horn on her head throbbed. “I’ll cut her to ribbons! How dare that wench go after my perfect prince!”
The taxi driver stares at her, as if to ask what the hell she did to get an Akuma that riled up, and she could only shrug in genuine helplessness as the Akuma continued to cry out for her blood.
…Except it almost did, because apparently she was right about Kagami also having a big crush on Adrien, and seeing Lila put the moves on him upset her enough to trigger an Akumatization. Honestly, if she hadn’t had the sense of mind to trick and send her after Ladybug, she would have definitely been mincemeat.
(Oh well, at least it helped get her an in with Paris’s infamous purple eyesore. Incompetent as he seemed, the man had kept his campaign of terror going for a good year and a half without getting caught, so it wouldn’t hurt to be on his good side at the moment...)
But there was a bright light at the end of that sharp and pointy tunnel – because afterwards, Adrien’s father, Gabriel Agreste himself, invited her back to the manor for a chat. Apparently, her little stunt of sneaking in with Adrien – upsetting as it had been, impressed him a whole lot more than she expected…
.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・.・゜゜・💍
“Tell me, Mlle Rossi,” Gabriel asks as he stares out into the streets of Paris below his office with his back still turned to her, the absolute picture of dignity and control “What would you have done in my place? How would you go about protecting your only child from those determined to use him for their own ends and force him off the path to greatness he is so destined for?”
Lila takes a moment to pretend to think, faux hemming and hawing as she kept her eyes trained on his reflected in the glass. The man was just as refined and handsome as the magazines made him out to be, but his eyes were so unbelievably unnerving – a frightening and inhuman shade of ice blue, like a dead winter sky. It honestly sent chills down her spine when they fell on her after she entered the room. Adrien was frankly lucky to have taken more after his mother in that regard (Even with his natural boyish good looks, she doubted that he could pull that color off more humanly).
But the man’s looks weren’t the issue here. Though the initial “talk” with him hadn’t lasted for all that long, it was long enough for her to realize something very important – Gabriel Agreste was a control freak. Anything and everything that went against his “Grand Design” was pure anathema, and he was rather particularly unforgiving towards the ones that incited any kind of rebellion against him by “his people” – more specifically, his son.
And Lila was already toeing the line thanks to her little stunt the other day, meaning she would need to play it smart if she wanted to have any hope of endearing herself into “papa dearest’s” good graces.
So she does her best to relax her stance into something respectable and polite as she began her performance –
“I’d give Adrien a friend,” she answers smoothly, giving a gentle smile at his reflection as she tucked her arms behind her back, mirroring his own pose “Preferably someone close to his age whom I felt was trustworthy, who I know can be there for him when I can’t and keep him safe. I’d have them protect him from dangerous and bad influences.”
He doesn’t turn around, not yet, but she sees his arms move slightly as he adjusted the ring on his finger
“And who would you deem ‘bad influences’ for him?”
She makes a show of taking a bit more time to prepare over her answer despite having already had it ready since she first got his call – after all, it’d be the one that would not only guarantee her place in the Agreste family hierarchy and by Adrien’s side for all time, but also ensure that she’d be the only one there.
(Two’s company, but six is frankly a bit of an annoyance – especially considering what she had planned for her and Adrien’s future together)
Once she’s ready, Lila just smiles brighter in response “People who made him disobey and lower his worth,” and quickly lists off her targets as she moves her hands around to the front “Like that Nino Lahiffe, Alya Cersire, Chloe Bourgeois –”
The memory of those sickening cornflower blue eyes staring at her in defiance has Lila digging her nails into her palm as she spat out “And Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Honestly, she’s the worst of the four!”
A beat of silence follows, and she hissed at herself for letting so much emotion slip through in that last part.
Did it work though?
High-priced leather clacks harshly against the smooth linoleum as Gabriel finally turns around, and Lila quickly straightens her back as he makes his way over.
“My apologies, Mlle Rossi, but it seems our discussion has to be cut short.” he says coldly, and she couldn’t help but click her tongue in frustration at that. And here she thought she might have unintentionally hooked a big fish for herself. Looks like this particular pan would need more greasing.
Just as she prepared to try and make a case for him to not bar her from the premise though, the Agreste head stopped and hand reaches out to her, and she looks up to see him smiling down very warmly in a way that didn’t quite reach his eyes, but was at least aimed at her none the less.
“Don’t worry though, we’ll be seeing each other again very soon, I promise.”
Lila barely contained the grin threatening to split her face in two as she grabbed his hand and shook.
💍・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．
And true to his word, Gabriel would contact Lila whenever he wanted an update on Adrien and his school life, asking her to keep close to him while “discouraging” any interactions with those aforementioned bad influences around his son when she could – especially Marinette, which she was more than glad to do. In return, she would receive “gifts” in the form of exclusive Agreste products and being allowed to sit in on Adrien’s shoots, which allowed her to bolster her claims of having an inside track to the company and justify hanging around the blonde so often.
Meanwhile, Hawkmoth would come in contact with her whenever he needed her help seeking out a potential Akuma victim (or at least help nudge one along…), and report on her classmates if she noticed anything “strange” going on with them or got useful info for him to use. He also seemed particularly interested in a certain pigtailed hindrance, excusing it as simply curiosity as she’s the only person in class he’s failed to Akumatize.
{“My butterflies have been attracted to her once or twice, but she always manages to scare them off last second,"} he mused bitterly as she hummed in faux interest, painting her nails with her new Agreste brand “Foxglove Lovers” nail polish. {"If I could just figure out a way around her defenses, I’m sure I could make a powerful Akuma out of her – one strong enough to take down that retched Ladybug and mangy Chat Noir once and for all!"}
But all in all, her life hadn’t changed much. She went to class, she did her homework, she told tales about her new (and fake) fabulous hobbies (when she could get away with it), and she avoided letting her mom know anything “inconvenient” about her school life. Just the usual.
Then Gabriel called her suddenly the previous early morning, all worked up in a cold rage over how Marinette had caused his son to miss his piano lesson to go to the roller-rink with her and some classmates without his permission. Even after threatening punishment, Adrien had apparently remained defiant in his choice...
[“Why didn’t you stop him! You should have reminded him of his obligations and made him decline!”]
“I tried!” she hissed, pacing through her room as she occasionally made anxious glances at the door. Her mother was a heavy sleeper, but with how loud Gabriel was being on the other end, she wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up waking her and the whole neighborhood. “That stupid Alix blocked me from him and then claimed they didn’t have enough tickets to share with everyone when I tried to go with.” (though it probably didn’t help that Lila had lied about having a photoshoot for promoting a charity about endangered plant species at the time of the outing) “What was I supposed to do!?”
[“You’re supposed to be keeping Dupain-Cheng away from my son.”] he counters, chilly tone causing her to flinch as she grit her teeth [“What is the point in our deal if you can’t keep bad influences away from my son as promised and prevent him from defying me like this. If you can’t do your job, then-”]
“I can.”
Silence rung between them as she stopped her pacing and plopped down on her bad. It was quiet enough to let Lila hear her own stinging, panicked heartbeat. She understood fully well this wasn't a partnership or anything friendly. Gabriel expected things and she had to deliver, and in return, she got rewarded with little gifts and boons – simple as that. If he decided that their deal wasn’t profitable anymore, then there was nothing stopping him from simply cutting her loose and causing all her fancy new privileges as Adrien's "ally" to immediately go out the window.
And once that happened, all her ambitions would be finished. That would be it. She’d go from being a potential rising starlet and girlfriend of Paris’s most popular celebrity to a complete nobody with nothing-
(Lila sits alone in the lunchroom, food cold and her new clothes itching as she held back tears and listened to the kids she had planned on calling “friends” laughing amongst themselves -)
“I can,” she repeats, clenching her hand into a fist on the bed as she sucked in a breath. She could do this. Everything was fine. Gabriel wouldn't get rid of her – she'd make sure he wouldn't.
(She would not end up like that again)
“and I will. It’s just…taking a bit longer than I expected" she admits, wincing when she hears whatever he's holding on the other end crinkle "B-but I have a plan going, and if I just time it right, it should get rid of the problem completely.”
Gabriel hums quietly at that, and she thinks she hears the sounds of an office chair squeaking [“Is this the ‘grand plan’ you informed me of two weeks ago?”]
“Yes!” She continued, relaxing herself and she beamed for his phantom image on the otherside “I promise, you won’t be disappointed! By the end of the day, no one will want anything to do with that little baker girl – your son included. All that matters is that you keep your end of the deal once I’m done.”
Gabriel doesn’t answer immediately, causing her to worry, but she eventually hears him move in his chair again.
[“Of course,”] he scoffs dismissively, but she hears enough of a tinge of certainty within that has her feeling proud and bubbly [“An Agreste always honors his agreements. Just make sure you hold up your end of the bargin, and you’ll get exactly what you deserve.”]
Lila grinned giddily as she thanked him and he hung up, flopping onto her back as she began to imagine the wonderful future set before her after she finished ruining Marinette’s life.
🦊・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．・゜゜・．
Which brings us back to the present; where Lila had everything ready and set up for her ultimate lie – the one that would guarantee her to the road of easy living and endless praise and get rid of the biggest obstacle in becoming the most popular and beloved girl in all of Francoise Dupont. The stage was set, the players in place, the props all where they need to be. It was going to be perfect!
Now all that’s left is our other lead and the catalyst, she preened wickedly as her gaze move towards the door.
As if on cue, the classroom door opens and Adrien walks in with Nino and Chloe (a strange combination that had begun to become rather common after the commotion she caused last time), smiling brightly as he chatted with the two.
Lila manages to catch Adrien’s attention and gives a friendly wave, only for his expression to darken as he gives a stiff greeting before he turns back to continue to talk with his friends.
She can’t help but frown a little at that, especially when Chloe notices and tries ushering the two out of her line of sight. It seemed to be happening a lot lately - Right after that day at the manor, Adrien suddenly turned frosty with her. It was subtle, and he never ignored outright completely, but it was clear whatever goodwill she had mustered up with him at that time had suddenly vanished.
What she can’t understand is why though? Kagami didn’t realize it was her who sent the photo, and he didn’t seem to know about her deal with Gabriel. She briefly considered that he found out about her tricking Chat Noir into leaving Ladybug alone with the killer Akuma after having it change targets to her, but she doubts he’s good enough friends with either hero to learn that little tidbit. It could just very well be that he’s playing hard to get at the moment...
She blew a piece of hair off of her face in frustration as she watched his expression warm up again after some sort of inside joke from Nino. Whatever the reason, his new attitude towards her was becoming quite the problem – While she doesn’t mind the slight pushback, it did put a huge hamper in her plans on cozying up to him when he was making it clear to everyone and their mother that he wasn't happy to have her around, causing the class to start reacting appropriately by running interference when she tried tagging along on outing with him involved. Not to mention it was making keeping her promise to his father harder to act on. Honestly, everyone just had to make things difficult for her didn't they?
But that didn’t matter – he’d have to talk to her eventually.
(Especially once her plan came into action and she'd be the only one left to talk to)
Eventually, Bustier finally entered the room, looking extremely severe as she harshly swung the door open. It was enough to cause the idle cheerful chatter of the class to come to a shuddering halt as she practically stomped to her desk, all watching the scene in muted shock.
Understandable really – it was quite something to see the always jovial and peachy Mrs.Bustier looking so irate out of nowhere. None of them could understand what was going on with her.
Well – none except for one.
At last, we can begin…
Lila takes the opportunity to make her eyes wide and curious to come off as seemingly worried as possible as she leaned forward on her desk and asked –
“Mrs.Bustier? Is something wrong? You seem awfully upset about something…?”
A few eye her cautiously while Bustier doesn’t respond, instead launching her gaze at the second rightmost row and causing its occupants to flinch bodily.
“Marinette,” she says, her normally soft dulcet hardened “Can I speak with you outside for a moment?”
The brunette blinked in clear confusion while Alya touched her shoulder worriedly, but did as asked, nearly stumbling on the last step as she followed their teacher out of the classroom.
The moment the door had shut on the both of them, the class was alive with noise once again – this time out of curiosity over what their teacher could possibly want with their beloved class representative, and how serious it could be if their normally chipper teacher was wearing such a grim expression on her face.
Lila, of course, was fully aware of what was going on outside the classroom, and was practically over the moon as she preened to herself. The fact that Bustier pick out Marinette out of everyone means her plan is going off swimmingly. Oh, she could just leap out of her chair and dance on the desks with glee, but that would end up exposing her – so she opted to aping the same concerned expressions her classmates were making.
Eventually, the both of them reentered the room, Bustier still looking sourfaced while Marinette seemed a bit unnerved, face pale while hiding behind her. It took everything not to just burst out into joyful laughter right then and there.
Showtime.
“Over the weekend, the answer sheet for the mock exam we did last Friday was discovered missing.” their teacher announced, and everyone was already shouting with surprise, stunned at the news. Lila manages to create a mask of shock as she leaned forward.
“Do you know who did it?” she asks, letting her gaze flicker briefly to the brunette hiding behind her.
The action isn’t missed, but before Marinette can take the bait, their teacher continues “No. We don’t know when it was stolen, but it’s being assumed it was done before the test.” she says “And we doubt it was someone from the other classes because the answer sheets for their classes were still in the drawer and weren't the same as the one we did.”
Lila nods, suppressing the urge to giggle as she covered her mouth in faux horror while the chatters in the galley grew more worried. She already knew what would happen next, had planned for it – Bustier would demand Marinette empty her desk, revealing the missing answer sheet that Lila had stuffed in it this morning, before explaining to them about the “anonymous note” she received (also thanks to Lila) pointing to their dear class rep as the culprit. Of course, Marinette would go ahead and accused poor sweet Lila of being the thief, only for Bustier to defend her and making her out to be a petty liar who hadn’t actually gotten over her grudge. Adrien, naturally, would be completely disillusioned with the fact that his friend had done something so immoral while the rest of the class-
Suddenly, a loud slamming sound broke apart her fantasy, and Lila couldn’t help but stare in genuinely incredulous horror at the answer sheet that should have been in Marinette’s desk in their teacher’s hand and laying flat face up on her own
“Alright,” Bustier says, staring hard “I’ll only ask once – who stole the answer sheet?”
Lila only response was to blink while the class each turned to their desk partner, as if the other had held the answer the teacher was seeking.
“I’m not mad,” she began, a crease forming between her brows as she slowly exhaled and frowned sadly, “But I am disappointed. I’ve tried so hard to get you all to learn the importance of academic integrity, and I made my rules on cheating very clear. Whoever did this not only broke those rules, but also my trust. I don’t know what possessed you to do this, but I want to believe you at least must have had your reasons,”
She placed a hand on her chest, expression turning sorrowful before resuming “So I’m giving you the chance now to turn yourself in. If you do, I’ll try to get the principal to be lenient with your punishment and allow a retake, and work out something that can help avoid this kind of situation in the future.”
The Italian girl finds herself squirming in place. It was clear what she was doing – after all, the class and Bustier had known each other for a long time, so she probably believed whoever did this likely had a conscious enough to feel guilt over disappointing both their teacher and classmates, and would immediately confess in front of the crowd. It seemed she had hoped that their desire to avoid hurting their friends would win out.
However, Lila held no such sympathies unfortunately – thus allowing the confused silence to reigned supreme as Bustier let out a saddened sigh.
“Alright then. It’s understandable that you don’t want to do a public confession.” she says unhappily, before returning to that stern look she had at the start “Whoever stole the answer sheet has until tomorrow morning to come see me or one of the other teachers and confess. As said, if you properly explain yourself, we will try to arrange something a bit more lenient in terms of punishment.”
She then took a breath, gaze and tone turning hard “If they don’t, I will have no choice but to give everyone here an automatic fail for the exam.”
Cries of outrage and distress ran rampant at that announcement, but Bustier surprisingly remained unflinching in the wake of them “I’m sorry, but that was the decision come to by myself and the principal. If we can’t figure out who stole the sheet, then the only solution is to avoid rewarding the thief for their academic dishonesty.” then gave a small smile “Don’t be too upset though – I’ll arrange a retest for the class in two weeks. You won’t get full points, and the automatic fail will still remain – but at the very least, it won’t effect your GPAs too badly.”
The class grumbled a bit, but ultimately seemed to be understanding of their teacher’s position. Bustier then informs them that if they have any other questions or information, they can come see her any time today.
Lila began to chew violently on the tip of her thumb. This...wasn’t supposed to happen. Bustier was supposed to find the answer sheet and accuse Marinette of cheating in front of the class (it’s how all her old teachers handled things)! Then she’d lose the trust of her classmates and Adrien while despairing over being considered a liar while Lila took the opportunity to lament over how awful it is that Marinette would stoop so low! How was this happening-
“Lila, is something wrong?”
She jolts up in her chair and looks to Ivan, who’s staring up at her suspiciously from his seat in the next row “N-no, what makes you say that?”
“Well, you just seem awfully upset about that automatic fail Bustier threatened everyone with.” he asks, frowning as he leaned forward “Not that it doesn’t suck. My dad’s definitely going to blow a gasket about this.”
“Yeah,” Nathaniel grumbled next to her “My parents already get on me about my grades. If they hear about this, I probably won’t be let out of the house for a month. I can’t delay my projects that long.”
“Oh – oh yeah, it’s terrifying!” she replied, quickly trying to make herself look more like a student concerned with academics than a girl panicking over her plan blowing up in her face “A lot of my charities require me to have a perfect grade point average. I can’t afford the trouble! Let’s hope the culprit confesses very soon.”
The two of them eye her for that, but shrug if off to continue worrying while she returned to her nail biting, trying to go unnoticed as she glared holes in the back of Marinette’s head as the brunette returned to her desk and began whispering to Alya.
Lucky girl.
Once their first freestudy break comes and Bustier leaves the room, the class immediately surrounds Marinette on all sides with questions galore, only backing away when Alya had all but demanded them to give the girl some space.
“Marinette, just what’s going on here?” Lila questions, covering her face to hide her furious grimace “Mrs.Bustier seemed super angry after talking to you before telling us all about that stolen answer sheet – Do you know something?”
She (alongside Alya and Nino from the side of the crowd) glared at her briefly before answering “Mme.Bustier received a note this morning accusing me of being the one to steal the answer sheet.”
The class gasped in shock.
“Oh my…Is that why she asked you to come outside?” Lila began, taking some small pleasure in watching the other girl slightly flinch “Does that mean you-?”
“THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” Kim boomed, cutting her off (and causing her to briefly drop her mask to glare) “Whoever wrote that is a filthy liar!”
“Yeah,” Alix chimed in “I mean, I’d believe it if it was Chloe-” “Hey!” “But ‘Nette’s totally legit! She’d never do something like that!”
“Thank you,” Marinette smiled before her expression fell again “But it doesn’t change the fact the letter accused me, or that the answer sheet went missing around the same time the test happened.”
“Well that doesn’t matter.” Alya frowned, pulling the pigtailed brunette closer “Mari wouldn’t cheat in a million years! Bustier totally has the wrong idea!”
“Obviously!” Chloe snorted with a roll of her eyes “I mean, they chose to accuse Dupain-Cheng of all people? How could anyone think she’d cheat?! Ridiculous – utterly ridiculous!”
“But Marinette’s class representative though,” Lila bit out, trying hard to get her narrative back on track “I mean – she’s always in contact with the teachers and knows where they store stuff for tests. It’d wouldn’t be impossible to think she used her position to steal it.”
“Absolutely not!” Alya suddenly cried out, causing Lila to briefly gape before hiding it behind her hand again when she felt attention fall on her “Mari would never do something that low! This is clear set up.”
“Besides, she isn’t the only one.” Rose spoke up, Juleka nodding in agreement. “A lot of the student helpers and kids in tutoring club know that stuff too! And even then, there are other classreps to think about.”
“Didn’t she say it couldn’t be them because their class’ test sheets were still there though?” Mylene asked.
“Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have done it.” Sabrina says, wagging her finger “They could have meant to steal the sheet for their own class’s test and took ours by mistake, then sent the letter to cover their tracks.”
“But by that logic, they could have just as easily blamed one of us or another student from a different class.” Max points out, crossing his arms “Which just leaves the question of why they chose to name Marinette?” then sighed “It’s a shame Markov is at home for his software update – I could have had him scan this so-called ‘anonymous letter’ for fingerprints and track down the sender.”
The class began to rumble with theories and confusion, and Lila dug her manicured nails into her palm as none of them pointed to Marinette as a cheater.
“It doesn’t matter. Knowing who it was doesn’t answer the question of why Marinette.” Adrien says, causing Lila to tense up – especially when she feels his eyes (and another pair) on her “It’d be one thing if they claimed it was a student in our class, but they named her specifically. You wouldn’t do that if you just wanted to hide the fact that you stole a test sheet.”
“Yeeeeeaaaaah,” Alix drawls out, gaze turning to a certain blonde who was busy cleaning her sunglasses with the edge of her cardigan “It’s almost like they wanted her to get in trouble specifically.”
Chloe just continues her task until she finally noticed everyone’s gaze falling on her, and frown in offense.
“Hey!” Chloe cried, stamping her foot. “No way you’re putting this on me!”
“Why not? You’ve pulled stunts like this before, and we know you always had Sabrina do your homework for you or cheated anyways.” Nathaniel states as he jabbed a finger in her direction, a few classmates nodding along “Wouldn’t be weird if you tried to steal the answer sheet and then blamed Marinette to cover for yourself.”
“Which Bustier already gave me an earful about and a bunch of makeup work for before making me stop!” she argues huffily, crossing her arms “No way I’d risk more of that for a stupid test. Besides, even if I did steal it – which I didn’t, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to leave a note! That’s so lame and way too obvious! I’d just tell her I saw Dupain-Cheng do it myself and leave it at that.” then stuck her nose up in the air “And even then – why would I bother stealing a silly answer sheet when Daddy would just make another donation and have the school change my grade for me!”
She pauses for a moment, squirming when she felt everyone staring again “N-not that I’d let him, mind you! Just as a thing!”
Nathaniel lowered his hand while Alix scratched her chin thoughtfully, eyes slowly blowing wide in shock.
“...Damn, she right.” she muttered and the two exchanged looks. “Wow, Chloe being right about something. It feels…wrong.”
The class stared at her again, and collectively shivered.
“Okay,” Nino says, clapping his hands together and pulling a pouting Chloe back “Chloe’s not the culprit, Dudenette didn’t do it, and we know none of us took it.” then looks to Marinette “And Mme.Bustier doesn’t think you did either – right?”
Lila couldn’t help but shake her head, “Oh Nino, that’s so optimistic of you, but-”
“Nope. She said she believed me when I told her it wasn’t me.”
“WHAT!?”
The class all stared at her, and Lila has to give a few forced coughs to cover for herself.
“W-what…a surprise.” she stammered, forehead feeling sweaty under the spring sun streaming in “I-I mean, um, she – ah, seemed so angry at you before, and you both took a while coming back inside, so-”
Marinette, surprisingly, looks away from her a bit “…She was angry because someone accused me of cheating on the test and she didn’t understand why.” she explained, digging her fingers to the folds of her jacket sleeves “She was even more mad when, after telling me, I got scared and upset that I was being blamed for something I didn’t do.” And her lower lip wobbled almost anxiously “The reason we ‘took a while’ is because she had to help me calm down so an akuma wouldn’t show up.
(The class took that brief pause to scour the area for any signs of purple butterfly wings)
“After that, I swore to her I couldn’t have done it, and she told me she believed me. She then asked me if I saw anything suspicious in the teachers’s lounge that day or had any idea who could have done it.”
“A-and?”
“I said no – to both.” she replied, finally turning to narrow her eyes at Lila briefly, still sparkling stubbornly like they had in the bathroom that day “I did have a suspect in mind, but since I didn’t have proof, Mme.Bustier made me drop the subject. That’s when she decided to make such a scene in class.”
She then paused to touch her chest before staring at the rest of the class, cornflower blue eyes blazing with the sort determination and faith you can only have towards people you’ve known for nearly a lifetime “But I definitely know none of you would do that to me. Whoever did this or for whatever reason, clearly just wanted to pull some sort of cruel prank on everyone.”
“Well duh,” Alya huffed with a roll of her eyes before squeezing her shoulder “You’re our girl, girl! We’d never do something that could hurt you, and we know you wouldn’t either.”
“And we’ll definitely track down that cheater,” Kim declared as he brought his fists together “We can’t let them get away with accusing someone innocent! ’Side’s, we all studied hard for that test! Not fair everyone has to take a fail just cause someone else cheated!”
Lila just nods in faux empathy, jaw straining to hide the harsh gritting of her teeth as their classmates closed in closer to Marinette and promised to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. “Well, I just hope whoever they are, they have enough of a sense of shame to feel bad for what they’re doing to the class.”
Marinette eyes her briefly before turning back to the rest, suggesting meeting up at lunch to share thoughts and narrow down suspects. If they were “lucky”, the real cheater likely left clues to help them track them down.
Oh trust me, Marinette. Lila thinks venomously as she glared holes into the brunette’s back. You’re about to get real “lucky” real soon. Just as soon as I figure out-
“What’cha glaring at Lila?”
Lila jumped as she turned to Adrien, who gives his signature front cover smile as she laughs nervously.
“N-nothing, just my astigmatism acting up!”
Soon, the break ended, and everyone returned to their seats. Lila, of course, took her time to slowly return to her desk so she could get a bit of the hushed conversation Alya and Marinette seemed engrossed in, hiding her eavesdropping with doodling.
“By the by, how come Bustier didn’t blame you?” Alya whispered, almost barely heard over the scritch-scratch of Lila’s pencil. “I mean, I know you said she believed you, but how exactly did she decide?”
“Oh – the letter claimed I had the test sheet, so Bustier went to check the classroom after she read it.” Marinette answers quietly “But when she did, mine was empty, so she moved over and found it in yours.”
Lila’s hand stopped.
“Wait – it was in my desk?”
“Yeah,” Marinette continued as Lila started pressing hard into the paper “I guess whoever tried to blame me thought your desk was mine and left it in there so I’d look guilty.”
“Woooow,” The redhead hummed “Good thing whoever the thief is is blind! That would have been bad.”
Lila’s pencil tore through her notebook paper as the lead snapped.