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Marinette was so frustrated; she pulled her own pigtails while planting her face in her pillow in order to muffle her screams.
After a few minutes, she felt a bit better and looked up. "Are they that dumb?!" She told no one in particular. "How come they still believe this narcissistic liar? Her lies get worse every day now." She let her head fall back to the pillow in frustration.
"I won't argue with you about that." The voice spooked her, until she recognized it as Tikki's. "The last lie she told today," Tikki's voice trailed off to be replaced with a giggle. "I gave Alya better credit than believing that." Then she laughed again.
"It isn't funny!" Marinette could not believe Tikki found that amusing. "It turns out all my friends are sharing one brain cell, which is dedicated to help them breathe…"
Tikki laughed again, but Marinette ignored her.
"And if this isn't bad enough," Marinette stated while sitting up on her bed. "They don't believe me when I try to warn them about this hyena." Marinette pulled her pigtails again in frustration.
"Hi!" Tikki said with a warning in her tone "Don't bad mouth hyenas. They are actually honorable and respectful creatures. And besides," she continued immediately. "This is your fault."
"Sorry, Tikki," Marinette answered awkwardly. "I didn't want to hurt Trixx's or Suss's feeling, by comparing her to a fox or a snake and couldn't think of anything else." Then the rest of Tikki's words sank in completely. "What do you mean it is my fault?" Asked a hurt Marinette.
Tikki was not the type to intervene with her chosen life. She was not above a good scolding when needed; after all, it was her job to guide her chosen in her fate. However, as long as her chosen's choices were made with good intentions, she kept quiet, even if she knew they were the wrong ones.
Her chosens needed to learn to make their own choices and learn from their own mistakes. Especially this chosen. Marinette. The guardian must make some of the choices without the Kwamis' knowledge, so Marinette must be given the chance to make choices, good and bad, and learn from them on her own.
However, Tikki was tired of this situation. She tried to give Marinette space to make her decisions; she tried not to meddle. Yet, she has reached her limit. Her chosen, picked the wrong way to deal with this problem and continued with this road for too long. It was time for an intervention.
"You are not dealing with this problem correctly." Tikki explained while looking into Marinette's horror look. Tikki was usually patient; she can be patient right now as well. Even if what she really wanted was to shake her chosen until she finally wakes up from her delusions.
"What are you talking about Tikki?!" Marinette was buffaloed. "Don't you think I should expose her? Don't tell me I should just let her lie!" There was anger in her voice now.
"First lower your voice, we don't need your parents coming to find out why you are screaming all of a sudden," started Tikki. Marinette took a big breath, and it was obvious she was listening to Tikki and trying to relax.
"Secondly, it doesn't matter what I think. The important thing is what you think you should do and for you to actually do it," she glared at her chosen, challenging her to respond.
"Well, this is exactly what I am doing all alone," Marinette spat in frustration while pulling her hair again.
"Are you?" Challenged Tikki
"Of course!" Marinette stood up, went down the stairs and started to wander around her room while talking with big hand gestures. "I tried very hard to expose her in front of my classmates –"
"Yep, for a full half day," Tikki cut her out sarcastically.
"Well Adrien offered to try another tactic," Marinette started only to be cut out again.
"And you immediately followed his idea." Tikki started to loss her patience and sighed. "Look Marinette this isn't about you follow Adrien's idea," she stated in response to Marinette sitting on her work chair holding her knees to her stomach and looking miserable. "This is about you not following any idea." She continued.
Marinette gave her a skeptical look.
"Just hear me out, ok?" Tikki waited for Marinette to nod. "Let's start from the beginning – Lila returned to class and continued to lie, so what did you do? Did you come up with a plan? No, you spoke with Alya that demanded a proof. So, immediately you adopted her idea and just started following Lila around looking for proofs. This isn't your M.O. this is Alya's M.O."
Marinette's look sharpened. It was clear she is paying close attention to Tikki's speech.
"Now, you are in the process of gathering proofs, and suddenly Adrien came and asked you to take the high road. So you changed the M.O. from Alya's to Adrien's. There are three obvious problems here." Tikki had given Marinette a second to process her speech before she continued. "The first one is that you jumped from one plan to the other without even informing Alya about it."
"I couldn't just come to Alya and tell her 'Adrien asked me to keep it between the two of us', now, could I?" snapped Marinette.
"Maybe so," answered Tikki, in her patient voice. She needed Marinette to listen to her, not get defensive. "Still, look at it from Alya's perception – she asked for evidences; it seemed like you will try to gather some, yet you never came through with any. Of course she will believe you have no good reason so still doubt Lila."
Marinette stared at her. "Oh." It was clear she never thought about it this way.
"The second problem is that you aren't following Adrien's plan either." Finished Tikki.
"Of course I am," Marinette, responded, but there was no bite in her voice. "I kept quiet, I didn't provoke her, and I didn't –"
"You didn't ignore her either." Tikki cut her again. She was starting to loss her patience. "You still let her get under your skin and frustrate you. Taking the high road isn't just not exposing her; it's also not letting her get to you."
"I can't do it!" said Marinette almost crying. "Sorry, but I just can't."
"I know," Tikki's voice was soft. "Which lead us to the third and biggest problem – you never used your on M.O. or plan. Why did you use other's plans? You are Ladybug. Planning is your forte. Sure, listening to others is always a good idea, but then you should consider their ideas in light of your own knowledge and abilities, not just jump on them without even thinking about pros and cons."
"I…" Marinette was hesitating. "You are right. However, I am honestly not sure how to deal with her anymore." She looked down a bit ashamed of herself.
"OK. We can work on that," said Tikki. "What you need in a 'Lucky Charm' that will make you think of a plan. So let us create it. Sit straight, open your notebook and think." She waited until Marinette opened her notebook before she continued. "Let's pretend you weren't Ladybug, how would you respond to Lila in this case?"
"Hmm, probably the same way." Marinette deadpanned. "I hated liars and bullies even before I became Ladybug."
"Wrong." Tikki deadpanned right back at her. "If you weren't Ladybug, you would have no idea she is a liar."
"What are you talking about?!" Marinette almost screamed with fury. "Her lies are horrible and I am not and idiot or that oblivious," she continued with a lower voice.
"I prefer not to comment on the oblivious part," Tikki started and immediately raised her hands, asking Marinette to let her finish her sentence. "I agree you aren't an idiot, but you are way too naïve. So you would have believed her, at least in the beginning. Just like your friends. Since you prefer to see the good in people."
Marinette mumbled incomprehensible something that was probably supposed to be an angry reply.
"So," Tikki ignored Marinette and continued talking. "What you are going to do now is write each and every one of Lila claims in this notebook. Then next to each claim you will write what you would have done if you believed that claim when you heard it."
"Oh My Kwamis!" Marinette seemed a bit lost. "Tikki, I just came back from school. I still have homework to do. This is Lila we are talking about, do you have any idea how many lies she said? I can't believe you will make me spend all my afternoon on this."
"You need to work faster than that," chuckled Tikki. "You must finish the list before the afternoon is over, since you also need time to implement all your ideas before doing your homework." She made sure to plaster her 'don't even try to argue with me' face.
Marinette just stared at her with a shocked look, before she gave up and started to write the list. She knew better than to argue with her Kwami when she was in that mood.
Tikki's look softened as she silently watched Marinette working on her list. Her chosen will thanks her later. They both had enough of this Lila situation. She could already see the gears turning in Marinette's mind. Tikki smiled a devilish smile. This will end tomorrow.
Lila's POV
Lila entered the classroom with a sicknessly false sweet smile. The sweetness in the smile was false, but she was quite happy with herself. After all, it seemed like everything was working her way.
The class was completely wrapped around her finger. They believed all the little tales she told them, and she told them many tales. It was quite funny actually, how naïve they were. Lately, she was running out of ideas and her tales were not that great. However, yesterday she was inspired, and she was ready to wow her classmates with a new story that will make them awed.
Of course, not everyone will we amazed. Adrien knew the truth thanks to that awful Ladybug, and Marinette figured her out somehow. Yet, Adrien was also very naïve. He won't expose her, so she won't 'get hurt', and he somehow made Marinette stay quiet as well.
Thinking about it again, Lila found it strange that that goody-two-shoes figured her out. She was such a 'look at the positive side' person. She was even worse than Adrien. Why did she suspect Lila instead of assuming she was just that awesome? Why did she never give Lila a chance? Well, she wouldn't put it pass Ladybug to be involve it that as well.
Actually, Marinette and Ladybug were both so much alike it was disgusting. They were probably good friends. Oh, that was a thought. She should totally bring that up next time she would meet Hawk Moth.
Never mind now. She needed to focus on telling everyone her new story. And maybe she will get Marinette angry enough to burst out angrily in front of everyone this time.
She got into the classroom and wished everyone good morning with a sweet voice. Adrien was unfortunately sitting and talking with Nino so she couldn't latch onto him like she preferred.
Looking at the clock, she noticed she had a few minutes to spare before the bell ring. Perfect! It gave her time to start telling everyone her new story, and maybe Marinette will walk in, in the middle of it and try to claim she is lying again. It will be hilarious to watch her frustrated face when no one will believe her.
Lila turned toward Alya and sat next to her. Alya was her best option. She will listen eagerly plus Lila now sat in Marinette's spot. With some luck, she might be able to stay there for the rest of the lesson, next to Marinette's friends and Adrien, while Marinette will be stuck in the back.
She was just about to start talking to Alya when the goody two shoes had to come into the classroom, not late for once. She was carrying a big pile of papers and on top of it was a box of baked good with the logo of her parents' bakery.
"Girl," Alya immediately turned to Marinette, which was like rude! Didn’t she notice Lila was trying to talk to her? "Where were you yesterday? I wanted to hang out, but your phone was consistently busy, and your parents said you were out."
Marinette was MIA yesterday and Lila didn't know? Such a missed opportunity. She needs to keep better track on when Alya can't find Marinette. She can use those times to claim Marinette did bad things to her. After all, she promised Marinette she would separate her from her friends.
Today is a lost cause since she had a too good smile and mood when she walked in this morning. Well, not all was lost. Maybe she can do something during lunch. Lila smirked at the idea.
"Oh, I am so sorry Als," Lila hated her voice. "I just really needed to finish this project." Marinette said while lifting the pile in her hands a bit.
"Is it for students' council?" Alya asked with a confused face. "I don't remember we had a project there."
"Oh, no. This is a personal project." She said with happiness in her eyes, but Lila didn't like the look she gave her. "Actually, it is for Lila." Marinette said while turning toward her with a sweet smile.
A direct approach in front of witnesses that didn't believe her in the past? Lila knew the goody-two-shoes wasn't very sophisticated, but she gave her a bit more credit than that. Never mind, she will crash her one way or the other.
Lila turned fully toward Marinette. She batted her eyelashes innocently and talked with a soft voice. "For me? Oh, you really shouldn't have wasted a full afternoon just for me." She smirked internally. Two can play that game.
"Actually, I really should have," Marinette sighed and gave Lila an apologetic look?! What game was she playing? "I did some self-examination yesterday and reached the conclusion that I was not a good class representative."
Lila stared at her. Was Marinette trying to force the class representative position on her? Did she think Lila was stupid enough to let her do it? It was just hard work and no gain, but sympathy from her classmate, and she had a better way to get that.
"Oh, Marinette, I must disagree, I think you are doing a great job." As painful as it was to compliment that goody-goody, she won't get a free pass from the class representative position.
"Here you were a new classmate, and I didn't even welcome you to class properly. Moreover, you have disabilities, and I did nothing to assist you." Marinette actually looked disturbed. Lila had to give her some credit. She was a better actor than Lila originally believed.
"It is OK, Marinette," Lila wanted to vomit, seriously, but she won't let Marinette beat her in her own game. "You were busy, with all your other stuff and commitments." Ha take that reminder to your friends that you tend to ditch them.
Only Marinette didn't seem irritated by that. If at all, she seemed determined. "Well, that change now. I have decided it was time for me, as class representative, to step forward and give you the treatment you deserve."
Lila remained silence and waited. She will let Marinette expose her cards before she strikes back.
Marinette took two more steps forward and deposited the papers' pile and pastries' box on her desk next to Lila. She then grabbed the box and handed it to Lila.
"Here. Welcome to class! I made sure to bake those pastries, especially for you, according to all the allergies you have." Lila worked hard to hide her smirk. Marinette just gave her the perfect weapon; she will eat the pastries and fake food poisoning during lunch break. She will blame Marinette, so either people will think she did it on purpose or that her parents' bakery is polluted.
"This is so sweet of you. Thank you very much!" Lila said, not without pain. She took one pastry out of the box and started to munch it. It had some fruity taste in it. It was surprisingly good, considering Lila named sugar, flour and eggs in her list of allergies.
"So what is it about this documents' pile?" Asked Lila. She gave Marinette a winning smile. She already won, but she would like to see her opponent's cards, just to make sure.
"Oh, right. I did some research about disabled students," Marinette started. Research? Lila didn't like that line of action. "And well, there are several adjustments I believe you deserve to get."
What was Marinette playing with?
Marinette took the first stack of papers from the pile and handed it to Lila. "I remembered you complained about your ankle, wrist and of course your hearing. I hope I didn’t forget anything." She added sheepishly.
Oh, Lila got it. Marinette was trying to catch her in a lie. However, Lila was smarter than that. She will not confirm nor deny anything. As if she bothered remembering all the disabilities, she claimed to have.
"So," Marinette continued without a stop. "I checked it out. For your ankle, you might qualify to get a discount on public transportation, but that depends on your ankle's level of dysfunction, so I couldn’t progress with that avenue, you will need to figure that up with your doctor."
Lila gave Marinette a skeptical look. It hasn’t sounded that bad so far. She can always claim her mother was too busy.
"However," Marinette irritated sweet voice continued. "I was able to progress with other adjustments. Like the fact that you deserve a pass from gym class." Marinette took hold of another stack of papers and handed it to Lila. "I already filled out the paperwork for it."
Lila looked at the paperwork. It seemed legit.
"For your wrist," Marinette continued. "You deserve 1500 free uses of the school's photocopier a year, so you can get copies of other people notes, since obviously you will have a problem writing them yourself." She handed Lila more papers.
Marinette took a breather and continued. "In addition, you deserve to have someone help you write your answers during your exams." That was nice. She can make sure to get Adrien or Max and pressure them to give her the answers. "Of course," Marinette continued as she handed Lila another stack of papers. "According to procedures this someone had to be an adult or student that didn't learn the test's materials." Yet, Marinette had to shatter that hope.
"Now about your hearing," Marinette's voice trailed off for a few seconds while she glanced at the papers in the top of her pile. "You deserve another 1500 free uses of the photocopier. Since you might have difficulties summarizing a lesson and listening to the teacher in the same time."
Marinette looked at her papers again before handing the stack to Lila. "You also deserve the right to turn every oral test into a written one if you prefer. And I am sorry, but I couldn't find any adjustment due to your lying syndrome." She added with an apologist smile.
And the second shoe just made an appearance. Lila knew it. She knew this was coming. Now Marinette will claim she was a liar. She will hand it to her, such a long introduction to look sympathetic before attacking Lila. However, Lila will still win. She looked at Marinette, waiting for her to make that claim.
Only for Marinette to hand her another stack of papers. "I looked into all your absences," Marinette added to Lila's dismay. "Apparently, since they were all for charity purposes, you can ask them to be qualified as extra credit points…"
"No way!" That was an excited Alya. She was sitting there with her mouth half open the entire time. Shocked and happy. Lila wanted to throw up.
"Yes," answered a delighted Marinette. "She just needs to write a short essay on each of her charity trips. Here," she handed Lila 4 stacks of papers. "I already filled out all the paperwork."
Lila was on high alert. To anyone else it sounded like Marinette was actually trying to help. What was she planing?!
"However, here it got a little bit complex," Marinette smiled apologetic. Ha-ha here it was Lila looked at her knowing now the real game will start. "All the paperwork I handed to you," Marinette gestured toward all the stacks in Lila's hand. And Lila couldn't ignore the fact that Marinette still had a rather big pile she hadn't addressed yet. "They all demand documented proofs of those claims."
Oh, that game again? Lila thought she would learn by now.
"Are you trying to suggest I don't have such documents?" Lila started her water work. She placed her right hand on her chest and looked down disapprovingly. "I really thought you wanted to help me, and now you are claiming I am lying?" She snuffled.
"Oh no." Marinette cut her off with a horrified look on her face. "That wasn't my intention at all." Yea, right. Lila wasn't buying it. However, she looked at Marinette with hopeful eyes, not breaking character.
"I really wanted to surprise you with this already entire ready, but I couldn't do it without the documents. Therefore, I called Mr. Damocles." Marinette gave her a sheepish smile. As if, Lila believed that.
"Unfortunately," Marinette continued. "He also didn't have the documents. Which can be a problem if the board of education will get wind of it." She said with an obvious fake concern.
Lila rolled her eyes. As if the board of education would start checking the school without being told to do that. However, she knew that idiotic principal of them probably got a heart attack just from thinking about it. Which was probably exactly what Marinette wanted, now he will be much pushier about her documents.
"Oh, really?" Lila's faked innocent look was very convincing, even if she said so herself. "My mother probably forgot again, I will send her a reminder." She paused for a second with a grateful look on her face. "Thank you Marinette for trying so hard to help me." She felt sick to her stomach.
However, before Lila could give herself a mental high-five for a well done show Marinette's joyful face alert her that it wasn't over yet.
"Oh, you didn't think I would let such a small detail prevent me from helping you, did you?" Marinette asked with a playful glint in her eyes.
"You didn't?" Lila was starting to get worried.
"Of course I didn't. I wouldn't want to neglect my duties as class representative." Marinette responded with gleeful voice. That annoying little... No, Lila won't let her get to her. Marinette obviously has nothing on her.
"Mr. Damocles was kind enough to give me your mother's contact information, so I could help him contact her," Marinette continued.
Lila wanted to laugh. Good luck with that.
"Unfortunately, I couldn’t reach her." Marinette said while Lila faked a shocked expression.
"She is probably busy working on her meeting with Macron," Lila supplied.
"Still the phone was busy all the time." Said Marinette with a raised eyebrow. "I wanted to make sure it wasn't malfunction, so I contacted the phone company and asked them to check it." She added with a smile.
"You asked them to check the phone line?" Lila was almost choking.
"Yes, and it was a good thing I did. It turned out the line's number was invalid." Marinette placed her hand on her chest in show of fake shock. "Lila, you must have mistyped a digit," she finished. Not even letting Lila try to make it seem like she doubted her again.
"Oh, really?" Said Lila feigning innocent. "I will have to go and check the records with Mr. Damocles and fix it." She said through gritted teeth. Now it will be harder to play this old fool. She might have to fake a phone call from 'her mother'.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Marinette answered happily. Lila didn't like that at all. What? There was no chance Marinette got a hold on her mother real number, right?
"You… You got my mom's number?" Lila asked dreading the answer.
"Oh, not exactly," answered Marinette to Lila's relief.
"When I figured out the phone number was wrong, I looked up the Italian's embassy contact info online," explained Marinette. "I caught a very nice lady that refused to give me any personal information, but that was reasonable." Lila smiled. It was good to know the embassy workers were professional.
"However," Marinette continued, and Lila was getting worried again. "When I explained to her that the problem was some missing documents, she kindly connected me with the legal department of the embassy." Marinette smiled kindly.
"And they gave you my documents?" Lila asked warily.
"No." Marinette admitted sheepishly. "They can't expose personal documents to unknown parties." Lila regained her normal breathing.
"However," Marinette said. "I used that time to talk to them about a lawsuit against that airport where you got your tinnitus," Marinette was determinate now. "It is extremely dangerous to be near a working plane's engine." She lectured. "I checked it out. You could have lost your hearing completely, or worse – even died."
Lila knew Marinette would have probably liked that. But why discussing a lawsuit with the embassy's staff?!
"So those areas are off limits." Marinette finished. "The fact you were able to get in there was a malpractice by the airport's staff and you should be able to sue them and get compensation for that." With those words, she took a big number of paper stacks from her pile and gave Lila. "This is the lawsuit itself and the documents asking to call yourself, your mother and Jagged stone for testifying."
"Unfortunately, I didn't know the airport name," Marinette smiled sheepishly. "However, the nice lawyer said he knows your mother and will get the rest of the needed details from her today and help you submit the claim to the court."
Lila took a big breath to calm herself. This was nothing. It was just Marinette's words. She can always spin it in front of her mother to look like Marinette was a psycho that wanted to harass the embassy's staff.
"Wow girl!" Alya again. Lila gritted her teeth. She wanted to yell at her to stay quiet. Marinette was still holding one last stack of papers, and Lila needed to know how much worse it was going to get. "I can't believe he just wrote a complete lawsuit with you on the phone without even knowing you!" Actually, Lila was an expert in manipulation, and she almost couldn't believe it either.
"Oh, he didn't do it just based on my words, I sent him a link to that interview you had with Lila on your Ladyblog," Marinette answered Alya joyfully. "He immediately, recognized the ambassador's daughter," Marinette gestured toward Lila. "And she did talk about the incident in this video. He was shocked he never heard about it before, said he will look into it immediately."
Lila started to sweat. That wasn't good, She needed to think of a way to get out of this one.
"Actually," Marinette went on and Lila's heart rate skyrockets. "When he watched the entire interview, he started to talk about more lawsuits, some stuff about copyrights, and the fact that Jagged Stone should pay royalties to Lila." Lila swallowed, that was getting worse every second.
"However," Marinette continued. "I convinced him not to go alone that road." Lila raised an eyebrow. Marinette helped her maintain a lie? "I just gave him Penny's phone number, so they can sort things out. I know Jagged will want to do the right thing." Marinette said with confidence.
"Penny?" Lila was nervous to hear her answer.
"Yes. You know, Jagged's personal manager," said Marinette.
Now Lila was sure she wanted to throw up. Yet, Marinette only had evidence about one time she lied. Maybe she can claim she was akumatized while giving that interview? She looked at the last stack of papers in Marinette's hands with worry.
"What happened then?" She needed to know everything, so she can work her way out of it.
"Oh, nothing much." Said Marinette and looked at the watch to check the time. However, her smile was too close to a smirk for Lila to believe it.
"He couldn't give me your mother's phone number," Marinette added, but Lila waited, there was more. She knew it. "However, he moved me to the department of security at my request."
"Department of security?" Lila felt her head spinning.
"Well, you did publish in a very popular blog that you are Ladybug's bestie" Marinette winked toward Alya with the mention of the popular blog. "I wouldn't do my job as class representative if I won't make sure you are safe!" she finished with a solemn expression.
"It really wasn't necessary," said Lila through gritted teeth, this Marinette was so annoying. Lila will need a dentist appointment by the end of this day. "Ladybug is protecting me." She tried some cheerful voice. It wasn't working.
"Well, Lorenzo, from the department of security, agreed with me," said Marinette. "Of course he wanted more reassurance, so I gave him Sabrina's dad's phone number. Lieutenant Raincomprix was very helpful in explaining everything." She added with a smile toward Sabrina that set next to Chloe with a proud smile on her face.
Lila took the last stack of papers from Marinette and looked at it. It seemed like a schedule.
"This is the schedule for your bodyguards," explained Marinette. "They built a full protection squad to follow you everywhere and always be with you. Even in school! Lieutenant Raincomprix promised to call out to Ladybug so the bodyguard will be able to contact her in case of Akuma's attacks. It will start tomorrow; right after Lorenzo will finalize everything with your mother and lieutenant Raincomprix with Ladybug." Marinette gave Lila a knowing smile.
People following her every move and reporting to her mother and Ladybug? This was a nightmare. She won't be able to do anything like that. Lila looked up searching. She was raging, there is no way Hawk Moth wasn't aware of it. She needed an Akuma now, so she can try to fix the situation.
There was no Akuma. Stupid Hawk Moth and his horrible timing. Never mind. All of this is built on one interview she did. She will tell her mother it was a joke or an akumatization or something. It will look bad for a while, but she can go through with it. The worst part will be pretending Marinette actually helped her. She will probably have to postpone her plan to destroy Marinette for a while, but she will recover and then she will revenge.
She held out from smiling, since she didn't want to give Marinette a warning, but she knew she won this round as well. Marinette worked hard, and she placed Lila in a tight place with the principal and her mother, she will give her that. However, Marinette wasn't able to destroy Lila. And she will regret it.
"Oh, as I said I couldn't get your mother's personal number," said Marinette, drawing Lila from her inner thought. "However," that smirk. Lila stopped breathing. No, she couldn't have. "Since lieutenant Raincomprix vouched for me, Lorenzo was more than happy to let me talk with your mother's secretary, Greta."
Lila forced herself to breathe through her nose. "Greta would have never given my mother's number." She said with confidence she didn't feel.
"Of course," answered Marinette with another smirk. "However…" NO! This cursed 'however'; Lila felt that rage was almost taken over her. She needed to relax. She needed a plan of action.
Yet, Marinette continued talking. "However, she was very efficient in scheduling a phone meeting between your mother and the principal." Marinette gave her an anticipating look. Waiting for the full meaning of her words to sink in.
"You set a phone meeting between my mother and Mr. Damocles?" Lila asked dreading the answer. If they will talk about the stories, she told them, she is dead. This won't be just one incident that she can manipulate. She won't be able to recover from that. She must stop it. "When is the meeting?"
"Oh, of course," Marinette voice irritated her again. She was gloating. "I gave Greta the principal's phone number, with his permission, of course, and they set the phone meeting for today at 8:40 this morning."
8:40? That was 20 minutes ago! She must have said that aloud since Marinette's smile was evident.
"I actually got to school early this morning," the annoying stick in the mud, continued to speak. "I wanted to make sure to bring Mr. Damocles a copy of all the paperwork I gave you. So he will make sure to inform your mother about all of it and get the needed documents."
Well of course, Lila expected nothing more than for Marinette to abuse that opportunity to expose all her lies.
"Although, it seemed they found other mutual interesting subjects to discuss" Marinette seemed thoughtful. "When I knocked on Mr. Damocles's door to drop the papers they were talking about the unlikely scenario of a school being shuttled down for months, I didn't really understand, and I needed to hurry up not to be late for school." Marinette finished with a triumphant smile.
Lila was so dead.
Alya's POV
Alya almost couldn't contain her happiness. She knew it! She knew Marinette would come around about Lila. Yet, even she couldn't predict how amazingly awesome she will do it
Sure, she thought that Marinette would apologize and give Lila some baked goods she made especially for her. However, going to such length to assist Lila was just wow. On the other hand, it was such a Marinette's thing to do; maybe she should have known that would happen. Her bestie was an actual angel.
Marinette was smiling so happily, it warmed Alya's heart. However, Lila seemed off. She was probably in shock, Alya rationalized. Alya got up and opened her mouth. She was about to congratulate Marinette and shake Lila from her shock, so she can properly thank Marinette.
Suddenly, the classroom door opened. It was a very disturbed looking Ms. Bustier. It was odd since their next lesson was chemistry.
"Lila," Ms. Bustier cleared her throat. "You are needed in the principal's office immediately. Please collect all your personal belongings and follow me." Her tone was oddly cold, and she left no room for disagreement.
Lila grabbed her bag and hopped it on her left shoulder as she got up. She walked toward Ms. Bustier. However, as she passed Marinette, she turned toward her. "This is all your doing," she spat angrily.
Alya was confused. What was going on here? Why was Lila angry with Marinette after everything she did for her?
"I am just happy to help," answered Marinette with a cheerful voice. Her poor innocent angel didn't even understand Lila wasn't thanking her.
"Don't think it is over. I will make sure to repay you what you deserve!" Lila was shouting now.
"Oh, you really don't need to repay me. Really! It was my pleasure." Marinette's smile was so bright. Alya just wanted to hug her oblivious sweet girl. She walked toward Marinette. She had no idea what was Lila's problem, but she needed to protect her bestie from it.
Yet, before she could reach their location, Ms. Bustier interfered. She grabbed Lila's hand and walked her out of the classroom and toward the principal's office.
Alya sank into her chair next to Marinette with a frown. She will get to the bottom to it. Her girl deserved praise, not threats. However, it will have to wait, since Ms. Mendeleiev just walked into the classroom.
Adrien's POV
Adrien sat in his seat quietly through it all. He was surprised and wary when Marinette approached Lila, and completely in shock when she started to list all the things she did yesterday.
However, as the list went on, he caught up with her plan and a smirk sneaked up his face. His purrincess was a genius. He could feel a warm and pleasant feeling in his chest. At that moment he understood that while Ladybug will always hold his heart, a piece of it will forever belong to his purrincess.
How could he not fall a bit in love with her?
With her black-blue hair organized in pigtails,
Her sky-blue eyes that suggest an Asian orientation,
Her sweet personality and sassy attribute,
Her sharp brain that comes up with a-meow-zingly complex, yet genius plans,
And her supposedly innocent smile that didn't fool him for a second.
Wait a minute…
Oh…
Oh…
Oh My Kwami!
Adrien couldn't deny it anymore.
He had a type!
Nooro's POV
Gabriel was furious. "Why couldn't I feel Lila's negative emotions when all this mess happened two hours ago?" He glared toward Nooroo. "She would have made a great Akuma."
"I am sorry master!" Squirmed Nooroo. "You said you didn't want to be bothered by her childish and idiotic tantrums while in important meetings, so I blocked her emotions away."
Gabriel just stared at him.
"Truthfully sir," said Nathalie. "You did use those exact words. And today was a very important meeting."
"I said that to you," Gabriel told Nathalie. "Not him." He pointed toward Nooroo. "I didn't want you to pass her calls to Gabriel me; I still wanted Hawk Moth to be able to use her."
"Well, next time, you might want to word yourself better, sir. It was an honest mistake." Said Nathalie. "Lila was a bad Akuma anyway; we will get them next time."
Both humans walked toward the door and missed Nooroo's silence snicker. His holder can think of him as a slave that will do whatever he was told, but Nooroo didn't spend two millennia working actively next to Tikki and Plagg for nothing. He will get his small victories wherever and whenever he can.
Marinette's POV
Later that day Marinette sat on her chair with a smile on her face as she watched the unstoppable stream of messages running in the class's chat group. Lila was kicked out of the group just two minutes ago; after Alya started to explain to everyone exactly how deep, her lies went.
Her class members were obviously in shock and started to compare and check Lila's claims. Each message added another lie Lila told, or another story about what happen to her after she was taken to the principal's office. Marinette knew it was bad to gloat, but it was hard not to.
Suddenly, Sabrina wrote that she heard from her father that Lila was expelled from school and her mother sent her back to Italy.
If at that moment Marinette jumped from her chair and did a cute little wobble, while high-fiving Tikki and screaming "Marinette style! Boo-YA" – no one was the wiser.
The End.