Lila was seething.

She had wound herself up during the morning lessons at school, and although she had a new target and a new found determination to take down Marinette, the brunette came up with no methods in which to do so. The skip was no longer present in her step.

She had not been able to strike up any conversation with her classmates, and this had started to irk her. She did not think their silence would bother her, but with no requests for lunch to turn down, she made her way to the locker room to get her bag and head home. Obviously she had a lot of damage control to do.

Lila was making her way out of school, and spotted a lone Marinette waiting at the bottom of the stairs. 'Huh, I'm sure she wasn't wearing that this morning.' The Italian looked at the people around, and noticed that neither Adrien nor Felix were anywhere near. She also noticed that none of their other classmates in the immediate vicinity either. Walking with her head down, the Italian made her way over to Marinette, with one specific goal in mind.

"Boys," Alya pulled gently on Marinette's arm, "I'm just taking our girl for a quick freshen up." Alya smirked at Felix's glare. "Wait for us here and we can go and meet Bridgette in a sec." she winked at Nino as she dragged Marinette into the bathroom.

The door closed behind the girls, and Nino looked pointedly at the cousins in front of him. He had been assigned to work out what the hell was going on between them, but the scowl Adrien was shooting Felix told Nino he would not have to pry too much.

"What was that?" Adrien demanded of his cousin. He popped his bag on the bench of the locker room and faced his cousin square on.

Felix looked indifferently at Adrien, "what was what?"

"First you were rude to Bridgette, then you pulled Mari away-"

Felix chuckled as Nino watched on in silence, his mouth hanging open slightly. "Bothered you, didn't it," he raised his eyebrows knowingly.

"Yes-I mean no," Adrien flushed slightly, "I just want you to get on with everyone-"

"I am, and I would like to get to know Marinette better." Felix paused with a menacing gleam in his eyes as he assessed his cousin, "you don't have a problem with that, do you?"

Adrien's lips thinned as he let out a breath through his nose slowly, "no."

Nino looked to the floor in frustration. His friend was clearly lying, and by the smug look on Felix's stupid face, he knew Adrien was too. The DJ would have to talk to his friend later, away from any onlookers, so the model could at least be honest with himself.

"Good," Felix pumped his brow in success, as the door to the ladies toilet opened. "Ready to go ladies?"

"Yes we-" Marinette's eyes were flitting between the three males before her and Alya with concern. Felix looked smug, Nino looked worried and Adrien looked deflated. "Adrien are you ok?"

"He's fine." Felix grabbed her hand and placed it in the crook of his elbow, "now, about those treats you promised me!" He playfully leant into her space and dragged her along, not quite preventing her from catching Adrien's disappointment as he walked behind them.

Alya and Nino walked slightly behind Adrien, having a silent exchange. Alya wanted to know what Nino had found out, and the fact they could not speak openly was frustrating the impatient reporter. She took her phone out of her pocket and pointed to where Nino's resided in his jeans. The cap wearing young man realised what she was gesturing at and quickly took his phone out too. As they walked, the couple conversed secretly.

Alya: What did you find out?

Nino: Felix said he wanted to get closer to our dudette.

Alya: And...

Nino: My man lied and said he didn't have a problem with it.

Alya: How do you know?

Nino: It was all over his face babe. Felix saw it too he was too smug. That dude is giving this dude bad vibes.

Alya: I think he's up to something, he told Marinette to trust him, and he apparently still loves Bridgette.

Nino: Don't seem that way to me, he told Adrien he wanted to get to no Mari better.

Alya: Its *know* not *no*

Nino: *look at me*

Alya looked over to Nino pulling his tongue at her childishly. Rolling her eyes playfully, she looked back down to her phone.

Alya: I think he's coming across mean because he's trying to wind Bridgette up. And I think he's getting closer to Mari to show Adrien that he likes her.

Nino: Not gonna work though is it.

Alya: It will if we help!

Nino looked over to his girlfriend, who sent him finger guns and a wink after she put her phone away. The DJ caught up to his blonde friend, and he could understand the annoyance that was present on Adrien's face. If there had been a guy, his own cousin no less, hitting on his Alya when it was obvious he liked her, there would have been some serious 'dudes' exchanged. The way Adrien was watching Felix leaning into Marinette's space, the way he was paying close attention to the arm as it snaked around her waist, told the DJ everything he needed to know.

"AHHHHH MARINETTE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

the group of five ran out of the door to see Lila, and what looked like Marinette, rolling on the floor but they knew better. During their quick decent to the roadside, a young man with a guitar on his back managed to pull Lila off Bridgette. Quickly discarding the disheveled Italian to the side, he bent over and picked up a wide eyed flustered looking Bridgette with more care, just as the five reached them.

"Are you ok Marinette?" He looked her over with concern as he propped her up, placing both hands on her shoulders. Bridgette could not take her eyes off him. She nodded, not able to speak, but Lila soon filled the silence.

"She. Tripped. Me. Up!" The Italian exclaimed angrily, "and then continued to hold me down! I'm-"

"What Lila? What are you?"

"Lying." Adrien stated firmly, although Lila did not hear him. The Italian was too focused on seeing double.

She turned and purposely laid eyes on the actual Marinette. Olive eyes wide in horror as she shot her orbs between the two girls, completely ignoring everyone else. "There's two of you!"

Alya smirked, "great, isn't it Lila," she walked forward to introduce Marinette's cousin. "This is Bridgette, she has come to visit Marinette for the week, so I doubt she would have tripped you up Lila and held you down because Bridgette doesn't know who you are." The smug look on Alya's face caused Lila to almost snarl.

'What the hell is happening!' The Italian turned abruptly on her heel, choosing not to engage and further damage her outward persona. Silently seething, she now had another problem to contend with: Marinette's clone.

Bridgette had not taken her eyes off Luka. She was enthralled by the musician and his beautiful blue eyes, soft inviting lips, and strong posture. Felix thought he was doomed, until Luka turned his attention to Marinette taking his hands off Bridgette's shoulders. The musician paid close attention as he looked the actual Marinette over, his eyes alive with something Felix could not place. He did not like it.

"Marinette," he smiled warmly, "I thought you sounded different."

"Hey Luka," Marinette blushed as she looked away from him to Bridgette, "are you ok?"

"I-I'm fine," Bridgette exhaled breathlessly with a small shake of her head. Turning to face Marinette and the others, she saw that Felix still had his hand firmly on Marinette's waist, the hint of a smirk on his lips. She narrowed her eyes and muttered, "why am I not surprised?"

Marinette and Alya both walked over to her to ask the visitor what happened, as the young men spoke with Luka.

"Band's all set for Saturday," Luka smiled at the group. "Ivan said she doesn't know what's going on."

"Awesome dude-"

"What's going on?" Adrien asked, Nino then realised he had not informed his best friend of the class' plan to apologise to Marinette. "Ah, sorry my man it completely slipped my mind," the DJ awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "After everything that Mari's been through with Lila, the class is planning a picnic and the band is doing a set."

Adrien nodded and smiled fondly at Nino, "that's awesome," he turned to Luka, "I'm sure she will love it!"

Luka had been looking over to the girls listening to Bridgette telling them what had happened before he turned back to face his friends. "Yeah," he chuckled, "who gave you that by the way?" He pointed at Felix's eye.

Adrien looked guilty, Nino looked amused and Felix deadpanned, "Adrien hit me last night."

"With good reason!" Adrien defended his actions bitterly.

"He only asked who gave it to me, not why." Felix pointed out blankly. "I'm bored and hungry." Without saying another word Felix had made his way over to the ladies and dragged Marinette along to their destination.

"He seems nice," Luka commented neutrally as he looked over to where the blonde was now walking with Marinette, and caught a blushing Bridgette staring back at him. Nino noticed, giving him a playful elbow.

"I think you have an admirer dude."

Luka smiled back at his friends, "I'll text you later guys, I need to drop off Juleka's book for this afternoon."

"In a bit dude."

"Speak to you later."

The young men parted, with Adrien and Nino following in the other's wake. Stopping the blonde from catching up with them too quickly, Nino pulled Adrien back by the crook of his arm.

"Dude, we need to talk."

So Luka has appeared! Thoughts?

I'm sorry it's taken so long, I had it ready a few nights ago and then changed my mind on which path the story was going to take. I hope you have enjoyed the chapter!

Thank you for the reviews, follows and faves, they really mean a lot =)

Take it easy!

Lady Rhi