Summary: A simple 'hi' started it. Lila quickly became friends with Marinette. She knew that she annoyed the blue haired girl's friends, but didn't care. Then...something else. A blooming of a feeling in her chest. It hurt, until she could say those little words. Lila was so ecstatic when the other felt the same way. Now Marinette tip-toes, not knowing how the other would react if she knew she was actually the person who ruined her in the first place.

Karma, as an abstract concept, was not foreign to Lila, having seen the universe dole out ironic justice in various television shows. The idea that it might happen to her one day however, never crossed her mind.

Until now.

Sure, she lied. A lot. But her lies and rumors only help spread her popularity among her peers. She wasn't the type to spread nasty gossip about others because that would take attention away from her. She wanted the spotlight, she craved it, but not like this.

She broke her own rule, to keep her little white lies focused on her and her alone, but when she found out Adrien was interested in Ladybug, she just had too. He was too dreamy, too...perfect for her to pass up. It was just one more little white lie. It couldn't hurt, could it? She couldn't have been more wrong. Now, even the teachers gave her suspicious glances when she gave an excuse, no matter how true it was or her project partners double checking her work for plagiarism despite spending all night working on it. It was... exhausting, infuriating even, but most of all it was downright disrespectful! Not that she can blame them…her reputation was tarnished and that was that. She didn't do anything pestilent though, people need to stop acting like she did. Odd that someone as young as her age would say that, but that's how highschool is. People build a dumb 'social archery' and you break a big rule, you get the treatments. A shitty system firing for such a shitty concept.

She broke a big rule when she started to talk, or more fittingly, fibbed about Ladybug. To say people didn't know the heroes that are all over the world is utterly ludicrous. Everyone knew they were there, everyone knew their local ones the best. Lila was no exception to this ubiquitous, but trite rule. She knew of the heroes of France, the old ones that her parents and grandparents would talk about and the ones who she was alive to witness. Ladybug and Chat Noir. They were the duo of luck and destruction. It was odd, but they got rid of the weird anomalies and hey, Ladybug never failed to fix all the destruction they or the..."villain" per se, did. So that helped them be a good eye to the public, that and the fact the local (or otherwise) government didn't have a mess to clean up or a large bill to pay for property damage. Honestly the amount of times people have said they've seen the Eiffel Tower get destroyed or fall over was…well, to be frank; concerning. Could people just not destroy a relic of art? Seriously though it's not that hard or anything.

Going back to the latter; Lila had to admit, she always did love the fact that the heroes in the books she read and shows she watched never tended to clean up property damage. But the real life ones did. Irony strikes once again. You'd think it'll be the opposite with common sense and whatnot. But it isn't. It just plain wasn't.

Point being. Lila did feel a bit isolated from her peers. The others who did nothing to reach out really helped a lot in the situation. Obvious sarcasm. However...

"Hi! I don't think we've met before. My name is Marinette. You're Lila, right?"

Lila looked up to see a girl from her grade smiling at her. She has seen her around, but never ended up talking to her. She's Ayla's friend, right? "Uh..." For someone as quick thinking as her, she sure did have her tongue tied at the moment. The other girl stared right back at her, patiently waiting for her response. Lila took these precious seconds to observe her. She was obviously mixed, definitely had Eastern Asian in her. Her hair was this shiny blue as well her eyes. Which honest to God looked weird to Lila. Her hair looked simple and she wondered what it would look like down, instead of those tiny pigtails. The observation that got to her the most was the fact this girl had freckles. They weren't that prominent, in fact they were quite faded. But oh boy, that's so cute! "Y-yeah! My name is Lila!" She speaks out an octave higher than what she would've liked. This 'Marinette' girl just looks surprised at the moment, like she didn't anticipate that Lila would get flustered all the sudden. The next thing the brunette hears is giggling. While she finds the very sound of it genuinely adorable; Marinette's laughing at her. Her mood suddenly dampens again and she gets ready to tell this girl off and tell her friends daring someone to talk to a person is incredibly rude. She doesn't get the chance though, as Marinette's breathing evens out she apologizes for her laughing and tells her she wasn't expecting her to be so nervous.

"You remind me of myself. I was a complete pushover and nervous wreak." She paused as if pondering on her own comment of information. "Well, I still turn into a nervous wreak time to time, but I try not to let people walk all over me and I stick up for myself now." She flashes her a smile.

Lila swallowed the lump in her throat. This might be a chance to have a friend. No one really seemed to want to hang out with her since Ladybug called her out on it. "Oh." What a pathetic response. "That's great I guess…" She looked off to the side to think of something else to say. She can't just go off on some tangle about something. She told herself she would stop the constant fibbing and well, lying. But damn it was strenuous and she was finding herself biting her tongue more often than not.

Marinette shifted her body weight from foot to foot as if she could feel the atmosphere. Damn it! Lila was making this awkward! Fortunately right as the other girl opened her mouth to speak, the bell rang. Signifying to get your butt to class before you're late. "Oh shoot!" The other girl looked mildly peeved, not a good look on her. "I'll see you later than?" She stuck out her hand for a shake.

"Uh, sure." Lila words ! Use your words ! Regardless, she took her outstretched hand and shook it. The girl took note how the lighter skinned girl's hands felt rough and callus. Lila was taken aback, her skin looked so soft too! And not to be rude, but the mixed girl's looks just screamed dainty. Before she could inquiry or do anything quite frankly, the other girl left as quickly as she came much like a ghost in the night. With that Lila shuffled over to her own class. All the way there she wondered why the girl had even bothered to talk to her. Hasn't she hear all the stuff going around about her? Doesn't she know she's untrustworthy? Was this just a gest? Was she dared? Lila pushed opened the door and calmly walked over to her desk. Less people were staring now that she's been here longer. The novelty of her being a compulsive liar has apparently somewhat faded. As she took her seat she knew she'll find out her answer later. But first, class.

Welp, the tan skinned girl was bestowed her answer alright. When school ended and she got her things ready to go back home, someone stopped her. Marinette was the culprit of course. I was partially expecting this, but not really. Lila realized she was hoping for this to happen as she saw the girl talk to her again. A small group seemed to linger in the background. Must be the girl's friends. Of course they elected to stay behind. "Hi Lila. I know it might be awkward, but do you have time to kill before heading home or…?" She left her question open ended to let the other answer. Lila rolled the question around in her head. She didn't have much homework, it was rather easy. Her parents were pretty lenient for the most part with her… Sure, why not?

"'kay, letmme just text my mom first." Lila pulled out her phone just to seemingly prove her point that she was doing exactly that. Marinette nodded and stationary waited for her. Her friends in the back left as soon as the Asian girl waved to them. Was she signaling them or something? "I told her I'll be back later." She explained. Her mother replied rather quickly.

"Great!" The other girl beams. Excitement mingled in her voice. "Do you like sweets?"

Despite herself, Lila finds herself smiling back. "Of course I do, who doesn't?"

"Oh, you know. Other people." She waves her hand up and down in a dismissive manner. The two strangers laugh at her terrible joke. "Follow me though. I know an excellent place with some delicious pastries." The comment seems harmless and is, but there is a moment where Lila hesitates to follow after her.

Lila is nervous and fiddles with the strap of her bag. She did just met this girl and while she does seem nice enough, she is having second thoughts about following her to random place. Hey idiot, you agreed to go with her. You also texted your mom so she knows you're out with somebody. Her thoughts oh-so helpfully relayed with information and a chastising tone of voice. She let her arms drop back down and follows her to the place that she's assuming is a bakery. Hopefully it is though, it would be awkward and weird if she lead her to her house. Even weirder if it's someone else's house who makes pastries for neighbors.

"Lila?"

"Huh?" She's overthinking this. Pay attention, she's talking to you!

"I said I want to know if you have any allergies. It would be really crappy if on my first day of trying to befriend you I accidentally poison you."

"Oh. Uh, no. I'm just allergic to bell peppers." She rubs her chin in pretend thought. "They make my mouth itchy." Which wasn't a lie. It was true. She legitimately can't eat bell peppers. They irritate her throat as well. Besides, she wouldn't lie about what she was allergic too. That would limit her food choices, depending on who she was around. And imagine having to remember what foods she said she was allergic to for each person. Ugh. That would not only be a hassle, but also a complete chore!

"Oh. That's great. We don't have anything will that in them." She seems to giggle to herself. Though Lila raised an eyebrow at the word 'we'.

Great, no she's suspicious again about this girl's motives. Sure, she had stated prior that she was attempting to befriend her, but that seemed like a weak reason. She already knew her name, so that much meant she had in fact hear of her. Which means she must have heard the rumors and gossips, only some of which were actually true. (Again, oh the irony.) In turn Lila deduced there must have been an alternative motive. Maybe she wanted something from her, but what?

"Okay, we're here! Dupain-Cheng bakery! Come inside!"

Standing before her was a tall building, one with many windows in fact. Oddly shaped windows in her option. It was in fact a bakery. Maybe Marinette went there a lot? Maybe that's why she's bring her there. Is she going to buy her food? Lila won't lie with herself here, free food sounded great. Although her mind didn't let go about the fact that letting a near complete stranger buy her edibles is just a teensy bit weird. Either way, she hoped she was generous enough to pay because Lila didn't bring any money with her.

Okay, so I was writing this with my brother. (We started this in 2017, neither of us touched it for a while,,,) He wrote the beginning part and I wrote the rest. I don't think he knew that this was going to be shippy until I told him a few months ago. His reaction was 'oh, of course' *rolls eyes in exasperation*. But he didn't really care otherwise. I don't think he'll be writing any more parts (he's 21, so he's busy), but he might. It depends. This story was supposed be a collaboration tho…

Anyway, here's a bonus scene! This was our original attempt at the first chapter. My brother wrote most of it and I slightly tweeted it and added a little at the end, but ultimately I got 'mad' at him and saying why did he make it so edgy. Like, I was the teenager, should I be writing depressed angst stuff, not him? You're 20? (Again, we started this in 2017.) But honestly I was just very surprised. He isn't the type of person to write this stuff. So I was really confused. His explanation was 'I don't know'.

Anyway, here you don't cringe, 'cuz I sure did. :D

10/28/2017 Started-

Liar.

Liar.

LIAR.

That's what the voices inside her head nagged her with on a daily basis.

That's what her insufferable parents screamed at her during their hour long shouting matches.

That's what the two-faced students at schools whispered to each other behind her back.

EVERYONE called her that.

Somehow, someway, word got out about Ladybug outing her. Now people were bitter towards her.

The hurtful messages she found both on and in her locker were enough to drive her to tears, but the worst part about it all was the looks she received.

Oh god, the looks.

Everywhere she went, people cast down eyes of judgment on her, inspecting her and seeing right through her. It was humiliating.

She couldn't go anywhere without a pair of eyes following her, judging her, tormenting her. Despite the jacket she wore every day, she felt exposed to the ones surrounding her with their smug looks and false pretenses.

No one would believe her anymore. Her impulsive lies had finally landed her in boiling water and she was unable to swim toward it. Truly, it was quite iconic.

At first she was mad, fuming really. In her attempt to get a boy to like her better she not only met her heroine, but also caused her to metaphorically spit on her face. This in turned led the school and people around her to ridicule her. She was only a high-school, to people of her age group; this meant the end of your life. This was it until she either moved or graduated and that was too far away. That would be a later part in her life that would