I run out of the bathroom, tripping over the floorboards. "Eee!" I scream as Adrien walks by me and I quickly dodge back into the girls room to save my pride.

"I gotta find another way!" I scold myself. I look up and smile at the air vent.

Adrien opens the door to get out of the locker room, and he smiles when he sees Lila. "Hey- Whoa!" He says when Lila pushes him back in the locker room.

"Adrien! I wanted to apologize for what just happened! I thought about it, and you were right, I want us to be friends so I'll never tell another lie again. Will you make peace with me?"

Lila leans in and kisses Adrien on the lips. When she pulls away, she's in the form of Adrien, staring down at the real Adrien on the floor, asleep.

She smirks. "Oops. I lied."

She pushes Adrien into a locker and shuts it, walking out.

Plagg hurriedly flies out of Adrien's jacket. "Adrien? ADRIEN!" He yells, frantically trying to wake him up.

I jump out of the air vent, eyes scanning the school, searching for the akuma. My eyes narrow as I see Adrien walking out of the locker room.

"Nino! I have something to tell ya! You don't deserve my friendship, or your girlfriend," he taunts. He grabs Nino's hat off the top of his head. "Or your cap!"

"Hey!" Alya shouts, as everyone herds around Adrien to see what's happening.

"Ha! You should see your faces! Don't miss my performance at the Eiffel Tower!" He jumps off the rail, landing on the basketball court below. "You're gonna love it." And he jumps out of the school.

"What?! That's not Adrien!" I say out loud, following the imposter. The imposter jumps from rooftop to rooftop, looking back as he goes. What could have caused his or her anger?

He jumps in front of a bus, forcing it to turn. The driver freaks out as he sees a woman pushing a stroller in front. "Oh no!" He screams.

I quickly grab the woman and push her out of the way of the bus, and stopping the bus with my yoyo in a net.

"THank you Ladybug!" The driver says, but I don't have time for that.

The imposter hops around, and pops a little kid's balloon with my face on it. Rude!

He pops all the balloons with my face on it. That's weird. Whoever he is, he must have some kind of thing against me. But what did I do?

He grabs two Cat Noir balloons and jumps to a gap in the Eiffel Tower as he walks around, almost falling a few times.

I hop onto where he is. "Adrien, stop!"

"Ahhh! I'm losing my balance! I'm gonna fall!" Right on cue, he jumps off the Eiffel tower, and I quickly catch him, landing on ground.

"My Princess Charming!" He coos. "You saved my life! Mua!" he says, trying to kiss me. I push him away in disgust, doing a backflip. "YOU ARE NOT ADRIEN!"

The imposter looks up. "You're right! I'm Chameleon! You get better at this Ladybug. Which is a good thing. It'll only make this fight all the more interesting!" Chameleon throws a punch at me, but I dodge, kicking him in turn.

It's a quick battle, me kicking him and trying to find where his akuma is, while he tries to kiss me in turn. I would love that, if it were the real Adrien. But I would hate it if it were not the real Adrien.

Finally, I manage to grab him and throw him on the ground. "I know where your akuma is, Chameleon!" I grab Nino's cap. "Time to de-evilize- Wait, what, but, the akuma?" I say in confusion as no purple evil butterfly flies out. I silently curse myself. Of course the akuma wasn't in here! It's Nino's cap! I watched Chameleon take it from Nino! Ugh, I'm so lame!

I look back down at Chameleon, but he was nowhere to be found. Ugh!

"If this is an enchanted sleep, what could possibly wake him up?" Plagg wonders aloud, desperately flying around Adrien, while Adrien snored softly.

Then Plagg's eyes widen. "Oh no. Not an enchanted kiss! Please!"

More snoring.

Plagg sighs. "Nobody'll ever know. Muaaaa-" Plagg slowly leans in, ready to kiss Adrien.

Suddenly, Adrien's eyes open just before Plagg gets there. "Plagg? What happened? And What are you doing?"

Plagg flies backwards. "Oh, I, uh, nothing, I uh, your friend Lila put you to sleep with an evil kiss. You should be more careful picking your friends!"

"Lila must have been re-akumatized!" Adrien concludes. "Quick! Plagg, claws out!"

THere's a flash of green light, and Cat Noir jumps out of the locker that Adrien was in, and quickly runs out to find Ladybug.

I look from building to building, trying to find any suspicious activity going around.

"Quinton!" A lady shouts, searching for her son. "Quinton!"

I jump onto a lamppost, looking around the park. Time for some Ladybug parkour.

"Ladybug!" A little boy says to me. He points at the carousel. "I saw the supervillain running away!"

"Thanks, don't stay here, okay? It's dangerous!" I jump off the lampost, in front of the carousel. "Come out of there, Chameleon!"

Little did I know at that time that the real little boy was asleep inside the carousel in reality.

"My Quinton! You found him, Ladybug!" The lady shouts in joy.

"Found him?" I look backwards, just in time to see Chameleon pounce. My eyes widen as he gets nearer, and my brain forgets to run.

"Ladybug, look out!"

Cat Noir jumps in front of Ladybug just in time, and Chameleon lands a kiss on his cheek. Immediately Chameleon transforms into Cat Noir, and they both tumble downhill.

Chameleon gets up, and tries to grab Cat Noir's miraculous, but I quickly regain my senses and shoots my yoyo at him. Chameleon glares at me. "It's down to the two of us, Ladybug! Cataclysm!"

No! He has Cat Noir's powers too. I'm going to have to fight my partner in heroism. Well, a replica of my partner in heroism.

"I'm going to find out who you really are, Chameleon!" I yell.

"I'll find out who you are first, don't you worry!" Chameleon lunges at me, and I jump out of the way of his destructive hand.

"Too bad Cat Noir's powers are going to destroy you!" Chameleon desperately tries to land a kiss on me, while his hand keeps punching. He has the advantage.

He knocks me on the ground, but I kick him off.

"If you manage to touch me!" I yell as I swing from my yoyo to the Eiffel Tower.

Looking behind me, I see Chameleon following close behind.

When we reach the top of the Eiffel Tower, Chameleon smirks down at me. "Nowhere to run now, Ladybug."

"I don't intend to!" I say back, returning his smirk. "Lucky Charm!" I throw my yoyo into the air, and red swirls around it. I receive a T-shirt.

Chameleon laughs out loud. "That's your plan to defeat me, Ladybug? Make me dress like you? On second thought, such horrible fashion might actually do me in!" Chameleon lunges at me, and I tie the shirt around my arm for later use.

I wrap my yoyo around his stick, and break it apart, but still no purple evil butterfly flies out. "Failed again!" Chameleon mocks.

We launch into a deadly dance, throwing punches and kicks here and there. Eventually, he kicks me backwards as he pounces on me.

"Cataclysm!" He shouts as he lands. His lips try to touch mine as his hand leans forward to destroy me. I hold back both, but I won't be able to do it for long.

A purple sign of a butterfly flashes on Chameleon's head. "Good job, Chameleon!" I hear Hawkmoth's distinct voice praise. "Become Ladybug! Then once you put her to sleep, you can simply give me her miraculous!"

I will not let that happen.

I look down as I struggle to keep Chameleon at bay. I see the waitress. A clam thing. And an oyster. Bingo.

I grab Chameleon's wrist and force his hand onto the Eiffel tower top. The metal turns to rust as we fall, and the waitress ducks down to secure her safety.

When we land, my eyes desperately scan around for an oyster. I grin as I grab it and close my eyes, pretending to still be overcoming the impact of the fall.

Chameleon rises, and seeing me so vulnerable, swoops down to give me a kiss, but I press the oyster to his lips first.

Chameleon steps back, as the oyster falls into his hands, and his eyes widen with dread when he realizes that he's shrinking into the size of the oyster. Muffled cries and sobs were heard as I hold the oyster to my ear.

"We should be friends, not enemies!" I tease to the oyster.

The real Cat Noir appears behind me, his stick hanging on his shoulders. "Wow, you certainly got that supervillain to clam up, milady. But we're still not out of the woods yet. Where's the akumatized object?"

"I think I may have an idea," I respond. "Waiter?"

The waitress hops back up, clearing her throat.

"If you wouldn't mind?" I hold up the clam thing, the t-shirt, and the oyster to her.

"Yes Ladybug. At your service." She starts to de-clam the thing. I don't actually know what it's called, but I've only seen it one other time when a waiter was doing that for us at a restaurant.

When she was done, she handed us the akumatized object; an earing. "Mademoiselle?"

"Thank you!" I respond, taking it. "We're about to find out what you really look like, Chameleon!"

"You'll see," Cat Noir smirks. "It's an old acquaintance."

I break the earing, and the akuma flies out.

"No more evil-doing for you, little akuma," I say as I slide open my yoyo. "Time to de-evilize!" My yoyo catches the akuma before it flies away, and I swing it back to me. "Gotcha!"

I let the akuma go, now once again a harmless butterfly. "Bye bye little butterfly! Miraculous Ladybug!" I yell as I throw the t-shirt into the air.

It disappears, as magical tiny ladybugs fly around Paris, returning everything to as it was before Chameleon was akumatized.

"Don't worry, you look fine without your cap!" Alya comforted Nino as he sat with his head down. When the ladybugs swept around them, Nino laughed with joy when he saw that his cap was back on his head.

The Ladybugs fix the ceiling as well, and take away the damage that we made. There's a bright pink light, and where the oyster was, there sat…

"Lila?" I gasp.

"Ladybug?" Lila asks, leaning backwards in surprise.

I laugh. "At least now you can say that I saved your life for real. Truce?"

Lila looks me up and down, as if I were kidding. Then she sighs, and her surprised face drops. "Thanks, Ladybug." She shakes my hand. "I'd be honored to call you my friend."

I laugh nervously. "Yeah, I'm happy to hear that. Just some advice? You don't have to lie and pretend to be something you're not. People will like you just for being yourself."

"You have my word, Ladybug!" Lila responds, smiling sweetly. I almost forgive her.

"Bug out!" I say as Cat Noir and I run away.

"Bye!" Lila responds, waving. When Ladybug's out of sight, her smile drops back into a scowl and a look of revenge.

"I sense a talent like no other in this young Lila. I'm sure her feelings about Ladybug will serve my purpose well in the end. One way or another." Hawkmoth laughs evilly as the window to Paris closes.

"Of course Ladybug saved my life! She never misses an opportunity to save her best friend!" I grind my teeth as I hear Lila spread more of her lies. She promised me that she wasn't going to lie anymore. What happened?

"Didn't your tinnitus give you vertigo when you went up the Eiffel Tower?" Max asked. I grin mischievously. Exposed, Lila!

"Oh, no! Ladybug knows me so well, she brought me an earplug to stick in my right ear!" I growl as I hear her say that. "Right ear? Did she say, right ear? This morning she said that the ringing was in her left ear! I've got her this time!" I stand up and walk slowly and angrily towards the bench where Lila was sitting at.

"Are you going to tell everyone?"

I'm surprised to see Adrien watching as well from the side of the staircase.

"Of course I am! Lila's a-"

"Liar. Yes I know. But do you really think exposing her will make things better?" Adrien turns to me, sincerity in his beautiful green eyes. Green cat eyes…

He continues before I get the chance to finish my thoughts. "If you humiliate her, she'll just be hurt more! Making a bad guy suffer has never turned them into a good guy." I sigh as we both look back to where Lila was sitting on the bench with everyone else crowding around her like fans adoring a celebrity.

"Ladybug and I are like two peas in a pod," she said, smiling sweetly.

"So we just stand by and let her lie?" I ask in disbelief.

Adrien turns back to me. "As long as you and I both know the truth, does it really matter?" Me and Adrien, in this together. For the first time, we're the only ones alone in this world against a common evil. I smile at him. "You're right. Maybe it's not such a big deal." The bell rings, and we all head back to our classroom.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" Miss Bustier says as we all enter the classroom. "Good afternoon, miss bustier!" we respond, like normal school kids on a normal school day.

Lila sits down triumphantly in the front row as I walk in, and she sneers at me subtly so that I can see it but no one else can. I just make my face into a look of pity and walk past her, waving at Alya and Nino as I pass them as well.

Taking my seat in the back row, I look out the window. If Adrien also knows that Lila's a liar, then that means that he won't fall for her or her lies. That means that I actually have a chance with him, since Chloe's completely out of the picture now. Thinking about, where even is Chlo-

"Good for you for taking the high road, Marinette!" I'm surprised as Adrien pulls up into a seat next to me, smiling at me. But unlike Lila, Adrien's smile is pure and genuine. Just like everything about him. He laughs. "Hey, it's pretty cool back here." And I don't even bother to hide the look of admiration as I look up at him.

Lila glares at us with disbelief and envy as Miss Bustier takes attendance. "Lila?" "Here!"

"Adrien?" "Present!"

"Max?" "Present!"

Stay focused now, Marinette! I say to myself strictly. Don't get distracted. Otherwise you'll fail school, and how are you and Adrien gonna get that house, and have three kids, and a hamster called-

"Marinette!" I snap out of my daydreams as Adrien shouts my name urgently. "Miss Bustier's called your name three times already!"

"Oh. Hehe!" I smile awkwardly to Miss Bustier up front. She smiles back. "Looks like you have trouble hearing after all, Marinette! Why don't you come sit up here in the front row next to Lila?"

Lila and I gasp at the same time. I sigh miserably as I take my stuff and mentally wave goodbye to Adrien as I walk down to the first row.

Lila glares at me. Then her eyes lit up. "Miss Bustier! This is incredible! My tenitus! I don't feel it anymore! It's gone! It's a miracle. It must be Ladybug's doing. I can sit in the back now!" She takes her lunchbox and walks back to where Adrien was, scooting close to him as he sighs.

Alya raises her hand. "Uh excuse me Miss Bustier? Can I go and sit in the front with Marinette? Nino and I can't stop chatting it up."

Miss Bustier nodded her approval as Alya winked at Nino and moved up next to me. "You didn't think I'd let my BFF sit all by herself, did you?" I grin at her.

"Excuse me Miss Bustier?" Adrien raises his hand. "Can I go sit next to Nino please?"

When Miss Bustier nods, Adrien apologizes to Lila. "Sorry Lila, he's my best friend!"

"Can I have my old seat back too please?" Ivan asks, as a flurry of requests to get back to what it was before started. Miss Bustier, being the awesome teacher that she is, allowed all of them. It was like it was before, except with Lila sitting by herself in the back of the classroom, pouting and looking at me angrily.

"Catch you later, Marinette!" Nino and Alya wave at me as they go off on their date to the

Zoo. I turn around to walk home when I bump into Lila, already waiting for me.

"I see you've made your decision, Marinette!" Lila says sweetly, but her smile doesn't reach her eyes. She leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"From now on, you and I are at war. You will lose your friends and wind up all alone, and Adrien will soon be mine." She pulls away, smirking triumphantly, like she already one the war that she proclaimed.

I just smile in return, patting her shoulder. One thing I've learned about bullies for how long I've lived is that they're only powerful when their victims are afraid of them. At least, Chloe is. "We'll see, Lila," I say, smirking. "We'll see."

I walk past her to my home, smiling happily.

No matter how mean she wants to be, no matter how many lies she wants to spread, I know that I've already won the battle that she's proclaimed. And I know that because Adrien knows that she's a liar. Adrien and I are on the same side.

And for once, I return home and finish my work without stress.