Now that we're getting into stuff that does not occur as it does in canon, some sections will be on the longer side. Chapters will stay roughly the same size.


Marinette disliked Lila on sight. The way she was looking at Adrien, the way she had her finger on his chest, the way he stood there looking like he was extremely uncomfortable and wanted to run for his life. Marinette's hackles went up at the sight of him looking so distressed. Why didn't he stop her? Back off? He clearly did not like what was happening.

Chloe had a remarkable talent for knowing when Marinette was spending time with Adrien and appearing just to get between them or give her the stink eye. And Marinette hadn't even held his hand, let alone try to put the moves on him, or anything like what Lila was doing up there! So where the hell was she now and why wasn't she all over the new girl for this offense?

Oh, there she was. Fuming in the corner with Sabrina, probably about the song Jagged Stone had apparently written about the girl. Great. It was up to Marinette to rescue him from the hands of the new girl.

She snuck into the library behind them, ready to rescue her friend at the first sign of distress and not at all because she wanted to hear what they were talking about or to stop Lila from running off with her crush. Nope. She was doing this completely out of concern for her friend.

When she got to the table where Adrien was, Lila was nowhere to be found. She wasn't going to get a better opportunity. "Hey, Adrien," she greeted as she stepped around the bookcase she had hidden behind.

Adrien jumped but perked up almost immediately when he saw her. "Marinette!" He grinned in delight and, she was fairly certain, relief. "Hey yourself."

She gave a little wave, rocking back on her heels. "What's up? Can I sit?"

"Sure." Adrien pushed his bag closer to his own chair motioned to the one next to him. "I'm just, uh, going to help the new student with homework."

"New student?" Marinette asked innocently, head cocked to the side, as she sat down "Oh! You mean this 'Lila' I've been hearing so much about?"

Adrien nodded. "Yeah. That's her. She, um, she'll be back in a moment."

"I'd like to meet her. Unless, I mean, I could go if you want to just hang out with her."

"No, no, stay," he insisted and upon seeing the flash of panic in his eyes, Marinette nodded. Her tummy tingled at the realization that Adrien considered her enough of a friend that he would ask her to stay. Whatever she did next would not involve making her move. That wasn't fair to him.

Lila chose to make her return then. "I thought we could tackle the history homework—oh. Hello."

"Hi!" Marinette chirped. "I'm Marinette, Adrien's friend." And hero right now.

Lila's eyes narrowed slightly and Marinette wondered if Adrien was in-tune enough with female body language to catch the meaning behind the motion. She was being sized up and assessed. In the next few moments, Lila would determine whether or not she was a threat to whatever she was trying to start with Adrien or if she needed to reserve judgment. Marinette kept her expression as friendly as possible and willed all of her cuteness to the surface.

The new girl smiled and it seemed genuine. "I'm Lila. Are you in our class?" She walked over to the chair where her own bag was and sat down.

Marinette nodded. "Class president, actually. I sit behind Adrien."

"That's why you couldn't sit there this morning," Adrien explained. Marinette had missed homeroom so her seat would've been wide open.

"I see." Lila was assessing again. Better head her off quick.

"My friend Alya sits next to me. She says you gave her an interview for the Ladyblog or something?"

"Oh!" the new girl nodded. "Yeah, I did."

Marinette bounced in her seat. "Ooh, do you know Ladybug?" Adrien sat up straighter.

Lila hesitated only a moment, glancing between them, and then nodded eagerly. Marinette's hands curled into fists under the table and felt Tikki wriggle in her purse. Oh, it was on now. She was not going to allow some liar use her like that. Fortunately, Lila, whose eyes were only for Adrien, missed any anger that might have shown on her face.

Adrien, who seemed to be in awe of the lying little—

"You do?" he blurted out.

"Really?" Marinette gasped.

"Whoa."

"How did you meet her? Do you know Chat Noir, too?!"

Lila lifted her hand to slow the torrent of questions. "Whoa, whoa, slow down! One at a time. French isn't my native language, remember?"

"Sorry," they both apologized at once and Marinette did genuinely feel bad. But only for a moment.

"Okay, let me think. Yes: I do. She rescued me once, like I told your friend. And we've been good friends since. Like this." She held up her right hand crossed her fingers.

"Wow," Adrien said and she thought he might have sounded a bit envious. Interesting. "That's so cool."

Marinette moved in for the kill. "Could you possibly get us their autographs?"

Before Lila could respond, Adrien's phone alarm went off. He scrambled to his feet and stammered out apologies and excuses about fencing and saying they'd have to try again some other time. Lila looked downcast but Marinette nodded in understanding. Adrien put his hand on Marinette's shoulder, his back to Lila, and gave her a small smile. Then he hurried away, leaving the two girls alone at the table.

Marinette turned back to Lila and both girls regarded each other cautiously.

"So, are you close friends?" Lila didn't even try to conceal the fact that she was fishing now.

Marinette ignored her question. "Adrien doesn't make friends easily and I think the only one he's really close to is Nino. But he is my friend and as his friend, I don't want to see him hurt."

"I'm…sorry?"

Marinette narrowed her eyes. "If Adrien finds out you lied to get close to him, he'll be devastated."

"I didn't lie!" Lila protested.

"Oh, yeah?" Marinette leaned back in her chair. "Did you know this school has the highest rate of akumatization in the city?"

Her eyes widened in surprise. "It does?"

"Yep. Courtesy of our very own Chloe Bourgeois." Marinette rolled her eyes in annoyance. "So Ladybug comes around pretty often. What do you think she's going to say when she finds out you've been telling everyone you're her good friend?"

Lila's mouth opened but nothing came out and she closed it so fast that her teeth clicked together. "Listen, you little—"

"Yes?"

"What do you want?" she seethed. "I'm just trying to make friends."

Marinette sighed and pushed her chair away from the table. "If you two want to be friends, that's your business, but I won't let you build a relationship with him based on lies. I won't tell him you lied but if I see you touch him again when he's so clearly uncomfortable or if I hear you telling him any more ridiculous stories…I might have to start debunking some of your claims."

Lila jumped to her feet. "Are you threatening me?"

Marinette shook her head. "No, not at all. Just warning you. Good luck on your homework."

She walked away.


Adrien wasn't blind to the slightly hostile looks Lila would throw Marinette's way sometimes, nor was he blind to the way Marinette would respond a challenging smirk or quirk of her eyebrow. He could not for the life of him figure out what it meant, though. They had gotten along fine in the library!

Alya, too, seemed to throw a lot of frosty looks in Lila's direction. He wondered if it was a girl thing. Chloe didn't seem to like her, either, but that could've been because of how close Lila was to Ladybug.

He asked Marinette once if something had happened after he left, to which she shook her head. "No. We just came to an understanding." She wouldn't say anything further and Adrien didn't want to try and force her so he let it go. As curious as he was, he wasn't going to ask Lila. Marinette might think he was going behind her back and he didn't want to upset her.

But it made being friends with Lila difficult. Something clearly had happened between them or they had taken opposite sides on some argument—whatever the case, neither girl had any interesting in being friends or friendly, only civil. Ayla downright wasn't civil. She, Marinette, and Chloe had been his friends for a while and he couldn't just pick Lila over them. He didn't want to, either.

He really wished he could ask Ladybug about Lila, too. He wanted to know how much this outsider knew about her, him…them. But doing so could reveal a lot about his civilian identity and she didn't want to know. He respected that. She never brought Lila up, though, and when he'd asked Lila about Ladybug she had been pretty tight lipped. After a while he began to assume that perhaps Lila had been over exaggerating a bit about her relationship with Ladybug. After all, Chloe did exactly the same thing.


Marinette was devastated to learn that she would not be attending the same lycée as Adrien. His father insisted that if he was to remain in public school for the remainder of his education that he would attend somewhere that would provide him with the knowledge and credentials he would need to succeed. Adrien told her that he had tried to argue against it because he didn't want to leave his friends but his father had not budged.

So while Marinette and most of her classmates would be attending a lycée just a few miles from their collège, Adrien would be attending the prestigious School Lois Le Grande. Those who did not know Adrien personally were surprised that he had the brains to make it in but all of his friends were proud and ecstatic for him. Well, as ecstatic as they could be since it meant he'd be leaving them.

Apparently, Chloe had tried to get in as well, but not even being the mayor's daughter had been enough to secure her a place with her precious Adrichou. Instead she would be attending a private school with a decent curriculum that Marinette suspected had been bribed to let her in. She was sour about it for days and she took it out on anyone who crossed her path, including Marinette. Adrien was having none of it, though, and the one time Chloe tried to go off on her, he stepped in almost immediately.

It made her smile each time.


...What do you mean Adrien's supposed to have the book?