Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.

Ce seum

The nostalgia you feel when you realize you missed out on a common experience.

French slang.

A month had passed. Fresh in the morning, Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie went on with its business as usual, despite the absent presence of a teenage girl running around for school right around the corner, a croissant stuffed in her mouth. Without her, the place was quiet. More efficient for the bakers but quiet anyway.

A hulking figure entered the bakery.

"Bonjour, Mr. Damocles." Sabine greeted.

"Bonjour, Mrs. Cheng." The principal greeted back. "You said on the phone you have a parcel for me?"

"Oh yes, from Marinette. She asked me to give it to you when she was here last night before she left for school. The only time I see her now is on weekends. Here you go."

Sabine pulled out a clear box from under the counter. Through the plastic cover, one can easily recognized Marinette's handiwork. She designed a cake in the fashion of an owl, made in a round chocolate-covered shape with pointed ears, an orange belly and big round blue eyes. A tag was attached, written in Marinette's hand.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Damocles.

xoxo, Marinette.

Mr. Damocles beamed, even crying slightly from the corners of his eyes. "Thank you, madam. How is Marinette doing at Olympe?"

"She loves it! Thank you for referring her here. She's blossoming into a true artist. And Vanessa is adorable!"

"Cather- uh, Ms. Auberon is an excellent headmistress. She focuses on girls like Marinette to inspire them. Though it is a shame to lose your daughter. She made quite an impact on my school."

Marinette's former class felt the impact. They waddled into class, half-dead, half-asleep, all hungry. A class of zombies walking. Alya sat in her usual seat, feeling the worse she even been. Her mind elsewhere, she gnawed on one of her books until she realized what she was doing and hugged her stomach gurgling, bringing pains along.

"Oh, I'm so hungry!" She moaned.

The others in her class felt the similar pains of hunger.

Kim whined. "Man, me two."

"By my calculations, I suspect that 92% is starving from 8.00 to noon for lunch." Max theorized. "The remaining 8% has the sensibility to have breakfast at home, though I doubt by 96% that their meals are as good as the Dupain-Chengs."

"Oh, we know, dude!" Kim snapped, the hungriest. "I run, like, 10 miles with my folks every morning and usually I skip breakfast at home to eat here."

"10 miles are the length between the Eiffel Tower and Versailles. That's far too long."

"It sounds like a good idea at 5 o'clock in the morning!"

"The bakery cut off my discount." Ivan confessed.

"Mine too." Mylene admitted.

Soon all hands were raised. All weren't welcome there.

"Why eat at home when there's a Patisserie right across the street?" Alix suggested.

"That's what we do, until the owners banned us." Nathaniel remarked.

"They didn't ban us. They just scare us off!"

It was true. Though Marinette never said what she went through, her parents just knew her class was solely responsible. Tom and Sabine would just glare at any student from their daughter's old class and scare them off. They didn't have to said anything, a glare and a wooden tray was their style of intimidation.

"Tom is huge, but Sabine wields a mean wooden tray!" Kim cried, more frightened of the petite woman than her massive husband.

"Wait. You don't have breakfast at your home?" Rose asked Alya.

"No! My house is crazy 24/7, worse in the morning. The bakery is always open. I usually grab something there to eat."

"You never wait for Marinette?"

"She takes ages to wake up, it's like waking up a rock. Marinette always brings in croissants from the bakery."

"Well that's what you for taking advantage of your best friend!" Nino exclaimed as he sat beside Alya, slamming his hand on the desk for impact. "Best friends are here for each other, high and low, Hell and high water!"

"Why are you so snarky?" Alya questioned.

Nino made a face and weakly admitted. "I haven't had my Danish in weeks."

"Sometimes Marinette brings in leftovers from the bakery for everyone." Rose swooned over the memory.

Adrien, Chloe and Sabrina were among of the only ones who had ate at home and spared the stomach pains. Although Adrien felt their emotional pain. Mr. Damocles was right. Marinette made such an impact on her school.

Chloe hmphed, checking her nails. "Serves them right."

"Ha!"

A sudden laugh brought everyone to her attention.

Lila Rossi stood at the door, posing against the doorframe in a what she hoped to be a provocative style.

"I tasted the finest food by the top chefs in the world. Gourmet pies, steaks, pizza, pasta, Casu Marzu-"

"Stop it, Lila! You're making me drool!" Kim exclaimed, practically drooling himself.

Alya glared hard at Lila. The root of the problem at hand. The blogger knew what the Italian girl said was false, only bragging to add salt to the wound.

After Ladybug's violent outburst a month ago, Alya cried halfway throughout the night. The other half, she picked herself up and done what she should've done. Research.

The internet came up with barely nothing for Lila Rossi. The name only came up attached to the interview on the LadyBlog. Alya's blog.

Marinette was right all along. Lila was wrong. Because of her, the class was starving. Because of her, Marinette was gone. Because of her, everyone was suffering.

The next day at school, Alya cornered Lila.

"Alya, what's wrong?" Lila asked as she fluttered her eyelashes.

Alya stared hard at her, phone in hand, camera on.

"I met Ladybug last night."

The single line made Lila pale.

"The interview you promised me didn't happen. Ladybug didn't tell me her secret identity. She only told me off for repeating asking for her secret identity and for believing in you. You're not Ladybug's best friend. You don't know her, only after you got akumatized. Your interview was fake. I only saw the hits, not the comments. When I finally looked at the comments, they were negative."

"That's a lie. I do know Ladybug." Lila attempted to get away from the truth on a twisted way.

"Cut the act, I know the truth. It slapped it hard on my face."

"Marinette hates me! She's been picking on me since I got here!" Lila wailed, leaking a river of crocodile tears.

"Because she knew you lied about everything! Not just Ladybug. Jagged Stone, Prince Ali, Crystal, Steven Spielberg, everything!"

Lila suddenly wore a sneer. "You didn't record the talk last night. How would you know I lied?"

"You have no proof of knowing Ladybug."

"No proof I lied either."

"Save it. Now I know the truth, you only look pathetic to me. You lied to me. You risked my reputation as a reporter. You turned me and everyone against my best single-handily destroyed everything I loved! I can't believe I fell for a liar!"

Lila didn't back down. Instead of cowering, the sneering girl folded her arms. "Look who's talking."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the one who abandoned your best friend. You're the one who believed my word over hers. Didn't you accuse her of lying out of jealousy and demanded proof when I didn't have no proof at all?"

"Marinette is a great person! She's forgiven me when I expose you!"

"Will she? When is the last time you talked with Marinette? Did she say she forgives you? Do you know where she even is?"

Alya went silent much to her shame.

"Just keep the video up or else face the consequences. If you do expose me, no one will believe you. You'll be casted out. Like Marinette. If I fall, I'm taking you for the landing. Now, if you're done, my friends are wondering where I am."

She brushed past Alya, leaving her alone and shocked.

Alya found that Lila was evil. Pure evil. To be able to twist done words around to her advantage. To make her opponent suffer the worse if the truth came out.

She kept the recorded kinda-confrontation, as she might need it in the future.

Lila sat next to Adrien, a seductive grin stretched across her face.

"Hello, mi amore." She purred, laying a hand on his chest.

Her flirting, however, caused Adrien to squirm back, teeth clenched in an uneasy smile. Her flirting only made him more uncomfortable than anything. She wanted him to herself and was determined to achieve that goal. The fangirl even persuaded Nino to switch seats with her. The musician just thought she was mean like Chloe.

Wrong.

She was much worse.

Turning away, Lila waved to Rose and Juleka. "Good morning, girls."

"Morning, Lila!" Rose said brightly. She had nothing short of blind admiration of Lila for 'helping Prince Ali rule his country', unaware of the bad truth.

Lila shot a cruel smile to the goth girl, eyes narrowed at her, eyebrows arched for extra significance. Juleka bit her lips shut while raising her arm halfway.

Juleka knew the truth that Lila was a liar. Thanks to Luka, her music-obsessed Jagged Stone worshipping older brother, she learnt that the artist doesn't own a kitten due a severe allergy to animal fur, besides he owned a crocodile named Fang. Luka had the Jagged Stone website to prove it, along with WikiPedia, magazines, FaceBook and Twitter posts. He even cancelled a massive tour due to being hospitalized from an allergy attack.

Juleka quickly figured that if Lila lied about that, she lied about everything else.

And she did.

Much like Alya, she confronted Lila with the facts printed. But like Alya's, Lila turned it around. The Italian tore up the papers, cornered Juleka in the girl's bathroom and threatened to make her the new school pariah. Now, Juleka was Lila's new bullying target. She treated her as Marinette. As a result of the bullying, Juleka went quieter and shyer than usual. She doesn't talk much, coming off as mute and the only time she talked was when a teacher talks to her.

Lila passed her stare across the room, to the others. Mylene squeaked. She followed Lila on her every word, yet she felt a shrill of fear around her. Ivan huffed as he was suspicious of Lila and protective of Mylene. Kim hated to admit but a girl as mysterious as Lila scared him when she turned on him for pointing out the weird dates of her 'traveling.' Max quickly looked away, hurriedly doing his own homework at the last minute. Finding him smart, Lila 'talked' him to do her homework account of her 'disabilities.' He tried to point out the unlikely probability of her many 'disabilities', although she brushed him off as if his word was nothing of any worth. Alix pouted, not really sure of the girl who claimed to 'organized the Louvre's Egyptian Exhibition on her own', when her father and brother spent years preparing for it and the new girl got away with the truth. Nathaniel just kept his head down, drawing. The poor boy was 'persuaded' by Lila to make her the writer of his Ladybug comic which put him on strain with Marc. Sabrina looked away in disgust of very sight of her. An excited talk with her father of the 'amazing new girl' only brought her to the real-life lesson of that running in front of a moving plane is a criminal offence. Besides, it doesn't sound right, according to her police officer father. Lila made a fool out of her. Chloe was the only one brave enough to glare at Lila. She always suspected Lila, knowing something wrong with her, and didn't like the way she hanged around Adrien.

"Bonjour, class!"

Ms. Bustier entered the room, a sight of poise and grace.

"Bonjour, Ms. Bustier."

Ms. Bustier's gaze fell upon Lila, her smile falling. "Miss Rossi. I need to speak to you about the school dance."

"Oh yes, I'm looking forward to it." Lila answered.

"I'm sure you are, although it seems it won't be happening at all."

Her students burst into protests.

"What?"

"Oh, come on!"

"But Ms. Bustier, it's the biggest event of the school year!"

"I just got this Saturday night free!"

"I have a dress picked out and everything!"

"But why, Ms?"

"Because our class representative neglected to do it."

All eyes drew to the class representative.

Lila.

"…What?"

"You fail to do the school dance, miss Rossi. The dance on Saturday night. The dance the class rep is supposed to be organizing."

Lila went still. All she cared about was having Adrien as her date, never thought of doing the dance.

"N-N-N-N-No one said I have to!"

"A list of responsibilities was given to you when you took the position."

She got the list but never read it, thinking all she had to do is smile to new students.

"But Marinette was rep before me! She set me up!"

"Marinette transferred before the new list was given. She'd completed her duties. You were chosen to do the dance after she left."

"I have to go to the doctor after school for my sprained wrist!"

"And yet, you fail to bring in a doctor's note."

"He forgot to write me one. My injury is so serious!"

Chloe and Sabrina tilted their heads, looking at Lila's arms.

"Looks fine to me." Chloe commented, making Lila glare at her.

Ms. Bustier shook her head. "This has gone far enough, Lila. You had two weeks to do something. The dance is this weekend and you haven't done any organizing, there's no decorating, no catering and no entertainment. You don't even have a theme! Marinette would've had the whole event nearly done by now, regardless of her tardiness. So diligent, that girl…"

Lila gritted her teeth, setting with jealousy. As soon as Marinette left, Ms. Bustier held another election for class representative. Lila won by a landslide. Everyone put their faith in Lila as they did with Marinette, expecting Lila to finish their tasks. But she left them down. She didn't work at all. Marinette actually pulls through with everything thrown at her. Lila isn't half as diligent.

"She's not even here. I am."

"I'm fully aware of that. Lila, it's your responsibility as class representative to organise your class's major events, including this year's dance. It's the only one we hold."

"I forget! I spent that weekend dancing with DanceMad, last year's winners of Juste Debout!"

"No more excuses! It's clear you do not have the necessary requirements for such a responsibility, or anything responsibility at all. You're lazy, leaving important matters to the very last minute! I'm making Alya the new class rep and head of the dance. Clearly you can't be trusted."

Ms. Bustier turned her back on Lila, the girl in question froze to the seat.

"Lila, you know hundreds of musicians! Just ask one of them to come." Nino suggested.

"Jagged Stone would come for you! You saved his kitten!" Rose called.

Despite the obvious encouraging, Lila sweated nervously.

Lunchtime came. The school bustled with students carefree and talking.

"Lila, hold up!"

Nathaniel stopped Lila on the way to the cafeteria.

"Lila, we need to talk about the comic."

"Have you got the drawings done?" She asked.

"No and that's the problem!"

"Why haven't you done it yet?"

"Because my writer neglected to work!"

Lila gawked, playing appalled. "It's not my fault!"

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes, it is. We promise the magazine that we'll have the Ladybug comic issue for them by Sunday. We have a deadline. If we miss it, we won't get a second chance."

"Reporters and artists are late all the time. They'll publish anything."

"You're Ladybug's best friend but you haven't written anything for the comic."

"Just make the illustrations and I'll write to it."

"The comic is two-person job! It's not a questionnaire! There's more to writing than you think. There's scenes, character expressions, personalities-"

"Just draw the comic and I'll get to back to you. Ciao!"

And she walked away from him. Just a second later, Marc walked past him, blankly ignoring him while wearing an angry scowl. Nathaniel sighed. It was his fault to replace his best writer for 'Ladybug's best friend', though he began to doubt it. Lila just wanted to put her name on something.

What an attention seeking hog.

Lila yelped as she was pulled into a closet. "Serious, what is with people grabbing me?"

"It happens when you lie, missy."

The bulb went on, brightening Chloe's yellowness.

Lila blinked in boredom. "What do you want? Adrien is waiting for me."

Chloe scrunched up her face, a dangerous frown forming. "Sabrina told me about your 'daring rescue of Jagged Stone's cat from a plane'. Apparently, you should be in juvie!"

Lila checked her nails in response. "Since I committed an act of heroism, the charges are dropped."

"Jagged Stone doesn't have a kitten, he has a freaking crocodile! The damn thing nearly bit me!"

"Could've blamed it."

"Get your facts right. I am the daughter of the Mayor of Paris. I lived in a 5-star hotel. I know every famous celebrity who comes to Paris."

"Two can play at that game. I'm the daughter of the ambassador of Italy. A whole country."

"If you're really well-connected, how could you haven't introduced us to any of your famous friends?"

"...They're busy."

"Not at the same time. I met them already and they never mention you. There's nothing. No photos, phone numbers, nothing! You have nothing! I'm beginning to think you made everything up!"

"No, I didn't! It's all true!"

"Then prove it!"

Both girls were pressing noses in a long stare.

"How about I prove my involvement with Hawkmoth?"

Chloe blanked first. It was a risky move to confess such a relationship, however it was enough to scare Chloe. The former Queen Bee meshed up on the basis of being a superhero, the least she could do was keep an eye on Hawkmoth. And Lila was a dangerous ally of Hawkmoth.

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

Lila pushed past Chloe and left the closet. Chloe, alone in the closet, moaned in defeat.

Rose sighed when Lila swanned by her to lunch. "Isn't Lila wonderful?"

Juleka made a whimper, catching Lila's wicked smirk.

Rose glanced at her, annoyed. She looked the other way with her arms folded. "Juleka, you hardly talk anymore. What's wrong with you?"

Juleka curled her hands around her head, feeling fear eating her alive. The bullying caused the near loss of her closest friend. She silently shed a tear.

"Oh, Adrien..."

Adrien choked on his specially-designed meal as, once again, Lila sat by his side, their bodies touching without his consent. Across from him, Kagami snapped her sharp glare at Lila, who spared no attention and just shamelessly flung herself on the poor boy.

"My sprain wrist hurts so much whenever I tried to feed myself. Can you please do it?"

"Uh…" Adrien didn't know how to say 'no', the gentleman reaching out to say 'yes'. Disbelief sparked at the notion of spoon-feeding her, it was unbelievable.

"I sprained my wrist plenty of times while fencing and I assure you, you can eat with it." Kagami inputted, saving Adrien the rejection.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Lila yelled, pointing a furious finger at the Japanese girl.

"Doesn't your wrist hurt now?"

Lila pulled back her hand. She frowned in hopes of scaring her away. Kagami stayed put and stared back without any emotion seen.

"Miss Rossi!"

All heads turned to Mr., Damocles at the cafeteria door. He doesn't seem happy.

"Can I speak to you for a moment?"

Still frowning, Lila stood up, walked over and left trailing after Mr. Damocles, disappearing into his office.

Adrien released a heavy sigh to be free of her, and then he himself stood up from his chair.

"I have to go. Photoshoot."

He waved goodbye to Kagami, the girl watching him go, her thin lips curled in a delicate smile.

Adrien ran to the outskirts of school, sighing deeply again. "What a day! I can't tell if people like her or hate her."

It was a fact that Lila was both popular and despised. Her popularity grew with each lie told and believed as well as she was slowly hated by anyone who doubted her. To make matters worse, she threatened whoever sees through her lies. She had something on everyone to keep her power, keep her secret hidden. The other students only play along with the facade of her being nice to not get outcasted, playing along with her because everyone else was. Anyone with a good memory was her enemy. Adrien slumped against a wall, groaning in frustration. This was an enemy he can't fight. An akuma sounded easier than this. The awful experience even double-guessed his desire to attend school.

"Plagg, I was wrong. Lies do hurt people. I told Marinette the wrong thing. I said Lila wasn't hurting anybody. I was wrong. I saw how much she hurt Ladybug. She let Alya take the blame for her lying. She's bullying Juleka to keep quiet."

"Words can hurt people, kid." Plagg flew out his shirt's pocket, sounding wise out of his typical lazy character. "Like your dad when he says 'no' to you. Just say you're sorry, that you're wrong."

"How can I apologize to her if I do know where she is! She might as well be in China! Far away from me and this place and home for all I know!" He jumped up, yelling at his kwami before falling into a sad state. "Let's just go for patrol. It's my turn. Plagg, claws out!"

In a green and black flash, he transformed to Chat Noir. He wasted no time leaping away to escape school.

Escape Lila.

Juste Debout is one of the world's biggest hip-hop dance competitions. The dance group, DanceMad, is made up for the purpose of this FanFic.