Marinette stared at her phone, Ayla gaping at it next to her.
"Girl, this has got to be a joke." Ayla said finally, "There's no way Chloe would invite us to one of her parties. And why a Halloween party of all things? This isn't America."
"I know, weird right? But I don't think it's a joke," Marinette said, rolling her chair away from Ayla back towards her computer. She pulled up Chloe's well kept blog. "See, she even posted about it online."
"Well what do you know," Alya said rising her eyebrows, "The princess is pretending she has a soul. You gunna go?"
"I don't know, I mean, a costume party sounds fun, but-"
"But it's being hosted by Chloe." Ayla finished squeezing her friends shoulder. "Trust me, I get it." Her phone buzzed. "Nino just texted. Looks like he and Adrien got the invite as well. Apparently Adrien's determined to go, Nino said he's tagging along to keep him out of trouble."
"You should definitely go then," Marinette said, "I'll even design a couple costume for you and Nino and we can't let those two out in the world unsupervised."
"Really? Thanks. In that case you should come too. The more the merrier you know. Just drag Luka there too."
"I don't know…"
Ayla leaned down and hugged her friend from behind. "Come on girl, forget Chloe. Just think of it as a chance to unwind, let loose. Heaven knows you need it."
Marinette sighed and looked gratefully up at her friend. "You're right, thanks. I'll text Luka now."
Much to Chloe's surprise, all her old classmates RSVP'd within a few days of her sending out the invites. It had taken very little conniving on her part to convince her father to host the party in his hotels main ballroom, he was s exited to have his daughter back under his roof he had not said no to anything since she moved in.
Now she sat in front of her desk, blank sheet of paper in front of her. Ever since she had left that note on top of the miraculous box Ladybug had been noticeably lying low, only appearing when akumatized victims popped up. Chat Noir had been dealing with all the patrols and minor heroics.
Chloe bit her lip. If Ladybug, and by extension Marinette, didn't see this note then this whole party would be for nothing. She had been thinking of slipping it into the Miracle Box's locker, but if Ladybug continued to be mostly inactive there was not guarantee that she would see the note. She could slip to into Marinette's mail box, but then there was a chance her parents would see it as well. How was she going to do this?
She took a deep breath and put her pen to the paper. She'd figure out the logistics later, for now she just had to write the note.
Lila twirled a stray hair, smiling down at her phone. She had confirmed Gabriel Agrest's schedule. He had decided to reject Choe's invitation to the Halloween party and was sending Natalie as his representative instead. She couldn't have asked for more.
Ever since she had found out Hawkmoth's identity she had been observing him even more closely, looking for an opportunity to exploit the information. This was her opportunity. As she watched him she became more and more sure of her plan. Gabriel Agreste was breaking. His movements were too eager, to awkward. Desperate. He was getting desperate, and it showed. He had akumatized three people that week alone, suddenly taking quantity over quality.
Lila laughed a little, putting her phone away. His desperation made him weak. Once she found out why she would be able to use him just as he had been using her all these years. The party was the perfect opportunity to find out. Natalie would be alone. The woman wasn't as conniving as her boss, she had too much heart. Finding her weakness out was easy, all you had to do was follower her eyes. They always drifted to her aloof employer. It would be easy to twist her arm, and where Natalie was Gabriel wasn't far behind.
"Sabrina dear," Lila said, turning to her friend who was working on her homework next to her, "why don't I design our costumes for the party."
"That's a great idea Lila!" Sabrina said, face brighting.
"I think so," Lila said, "You like cosplaying superhero's right? Why don't I make you a Ladybug costume, you'll look even better then the real thing."
"Really? Thanks Lila! What will you be?"
Lila smiled and pulled up a picture on her phone. "I thought I'd go as an animal, what do you think of this?" She showed the picture to Sabrina.
"Wow, that'll look so good if you can pull it off."
Lila shot her a venomous glare before pulling her expression back together. "You're right, it'll be a lot of work though. Think you can help me out?"
"Sure, what do you need?"
Lila slid a piece of paper over to her. "Everything on this list." She started shoving things into her bag. "Thanks for the help."
"Wait, Lila, what about the money?"
Lila tossed her bag on her shoulder and turned to leave. "I'm sure you can handle it. Thanks again!"
Adrien stared pointlessly out his window, looking blankly out at the clouds floating above the Parisian rooftops.
"Adrien. Adrien!" Plagg yelled in his ear, "I'm telling you, ask Marinette to make you a cheese costume. I'm sure you'll look great as a slice of finely aged camembert! The girls will be all over you!"
Adrien sighed and turned to his kwami. "Marinette's a professional, I'm not going to ask her to make me a cheese costume Plagg. Besides, I don't need girls falling all over me right now. I don't think I'm ready for another girl, I'm still not over Kagami."
Plagg sighed. "If only Ladybug were single again, I bet you'd be right back to trying to win her heart."
"Don't be silly, I got over her a long time ago. We're just friends."
Plagg few away from him mumbling, "There's a line I haven't heard in a while."
