Chapter Twenty One – You're Too Good
Lila frowns. "Yes, I am!" Her eyes flick from Chloé to Marinette. "Did she tell you to say this? Is she blackmailing you, too? I know it's scary, but if we just band together–"
Chloé shakes off the hand Lila tries to put on her shoulder and moves one step up so she's blocking Marinette from Lie–la's view. "Ladybug wouldn't be friends with a liar like you. She also wouldn't be friends with a civilian because that would put them in danger." She plants her hands on her hips, shifting her weight to one leg.
"We keep our friendship a secret." Lila says, glaring daggers at the blonde.
"Is that why you've allowed Alya to post multiple interviews of you saying you're friends on the Ladyblog?" Adrien pipes up, standing on his knees on his seat so he can face them. Alya glances between Adrien, Lila and Chloé, her cheeks flushing slightly. Adrien's not sure if it's from embarrassment or anger. "To 'protect' yourself and her?" He mimes quotation marks to drive the point home.
"Actually," Lila says, her tone haughty and self–entitled. "Ladybug said I can–"
"Did you know that Jagged Stone is allergic to animal fur?" Chloé interrupts, inspecting her nails for chips in the polish.
"No, he isn't." Lila says, which is a mistake on her part.
"Yes, he is." Max says, tilting his head at Lila. "He's said so in multiple interviews. That's why he has Fang instead of a dog or . . ."
"A cat." Chloé finishes, smirking at Lila. "Because Jagged Stone has never had a cat, so how did you save his?"
"He did have a cat! He just didn't advertise–"
"What about the time you visited Prince Ali's palace and he wasn't even there because he was in the USA?" Chloé continues as if she hasn't even spoken. She raises an eyebrow. "That's kind of a weird thing to do if you're friends with that person, unless you're not friends and he was either avoiding you or you made it up?"
"He had to go to a sudden charity ev–"
"And what about the whole napkin can take someone's eyes out thing?" She makes her voice more high–pitched, mocking Lila's. "You do know that the napkin was made of paper, right? And even if one did manage to hit someone in the eye, the fact that it was scrunched up when Dupain–Cheng threw it means that there shouldn't have been any sharp corners on it to hurt." She smirks and crosses her arms, leaning towards Lila so their faces are inches apart. "Plus," She says, her voice rising so even Ms Bustier can't ignore what's going on. "Max wears glasses, so it wouldn't have been able to do anything to his eye."
"I–I had only just met Max and I didn't remember that he wears–"
"What about your tinnitus? Is it in your left ear or your right? Or your arthritis? Is that in your left wrist or your right wrist or both? Have you brought a doctor's note in for these diseases?"
"That's none of your–"
"How about that lying disease of yours?" She smirks, raising a manicured eyebrow challengingly. Murmurs drift through the class, and the students for Ms Bustier's next class who have arrived from Ms Mendeleiev's class pause in the doorway, tuning into the drama going on in front of them.
"I don't have a lying disease." Lila starts blubbering, dropping her head into her hands.
Chloé rolls her eyes and steps to the side so Marinette's in view again. "Then why did you tell Mr Damocles that to get Dupain–Cheng unexpelled?"
At this, Lila lifts her head, only to smirk and look down at Adrien. "Because Adrien told me to." The class looks at Adrien in horror that he would suggest someone should fake a disease, but he just glares at Lila in a way that is eerily similar to Gabriel's.
"And why did I do that?" He demands, his voice laced in so much anger that it makes their class shrink back slightly.
Lila laughs. "You tell me. All I did was reveal Marinette's true colours." She crosses her arms and sniffs, glancing back at Marinette. Her expression may be etched in fear, but her eyes tell a very different story. A story of triumph. "I–I mean, if I knew she was going to push me down the stairs, I–"
"Ah, yes, that's another lie isn't it?" Chloé rolls her eyes.
"How can you say that!"
"Quite easily actually, because usually when someone gets pushed down the stairs their parents are called, maybe even an ambulance, or they'd go to sick bay, or, at the very least, they'd have some kind of injury to show for it!" She throws her hands into the air for emphasis, before putting them back on her hips. "You, however, didn't have any signs of injuries." She raises an eyebrow, the murmuring of their classmates (and Ms Mendeleiev's class, which is very convenient because that means their whole year is here and witnessing this encounter) becomes louder, and more disgruntled. "It was almost as if you had simply walked yourself down the stairs and laid on the ground in order to cry wolf."
Lila's eyes flash dangerously, and then she turns her gaze on Marinette, pointing a finger at her accusingly. "Why do you hate me! All I ever wanted was to be your friend! You didn't have to get your friends to gang up on me like this!" She bursts into tears and falls to her knees, hiding her face in her hands as her shoulders shake with sobs.
There's a beat of silence, and Lila grins behind her hands, knowing that it's game over. This is it; she'll finally have destroyed goody–two–shoes over there. The class is going to fall at her feet to please her, and everyone will love her.
"You're lying."
She freezes.
"What is wrong with you?"
"Why would you do that?"
"I thought we were friends!"
"Oh my God, you are a horrible person!"
Everyone starts shouting over the top of each other, hurling insults and questions that she's not going to answer at her, and she curls in on herself, cowering beside Kim and Max's desk. Why aren't they defending her! They should be hurling insults at Marinette, not her!
"Everyone, cool it!" Everyone quiets immediately, staring at their everyday Ladybug in shock.
Nino stands up beside her and puts a hand on her shoulder, trying to get her to calm down. "Mar–Bear, she deserves this." He says, and the class confirm their agreement. Some in ruder ways than others, and Ms Bustier shakes her head in disappointment at Alix to reprimand her. "She hurt you, she's been lying to us, she–"
"Doesn't deserve this." Marinette interrupts. She shakes her head slightly, before moving past Nino. Lila glares at her as she approaches, but Marinette's expression remains blank. She crouches in front of her and frowns, concerned. "Nobody deserves to be treated any less than humane."
"Fuck off, Dupain–Cheng!" Lila spits at her. Marinette merely blinks. "I don't need your help!"
"I'm sorry you feel that way, but you do need help. And I want to help you."
Lila scoffs. "You're either not as weak as I originally thought, or just even more stupid."
"More stupid." Marinette says automatically, smiling unhumorously. "Being a pathological liar can't be easy, I'm sure. It must be so difficult not knowing when the truth is going to come out or not. Not ever being truly yourself around those closest to you."
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"I don't know what it's like to be a stranger to my own friends? To be isolated for something out of my control?" She eyes Lila warily, unsure whether her next statement will be too much or not. "To not know if the people who are say they love me actually do?"
Lila flinches, and then she springs forward and shoves Marinette so she falls backwards. She would've hit her head on the step behind her, but Chloé, who had remained in place, steps forward to block Marinette with her legs.
"You bitch!" Lila cries. She holds a hand up as if to slap her, but Alya grabs it and pulls her to her feet, pushing her back against Kim and Max's desk so she's trapped.
"You're the bitch! I have half a mind to–"
"Stop!" Marinette cries, shoving herself off the ground to put a hand on Alya's shoulder, hoping to calm her. "Just stop! If you do this, you're no better then she is, only instead of lies it'll be fists."
Alya regards Marinette, before letting go of Lila's wrist and stepping back from her, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. "You're lucky Marinette's an angel." She tells Lila, her voice dripping with venom.
Marinette rolls her eyes. "I'm not an angel, Alya. I'm just tired." She looks back at Lila and her expression softens. "Does your mum know?" Lila continues to glare at her. "I'm just trying to help you."
"Why?" Lila demands, pushing off the desk. She doesn't move any further, though, because the glares on everyone's face would be intimidating enough to scare Hawk Moth.
Marinette shrugs and wraps her arms around herself in a hug. "Because I can."
. . .
Ms Bustier takes Lila to Mr Damocles' office, who calls her mother, who arrives and is shocked to learn of all the lies her daughter has been sprouting. She confirms that Lila is 'the picture of health' and offers an apology on Lila's behalf, as Lila herself is refusing to say anything. She almost takes this apology back when she learns that neither paramedics nor herself were notified when Lila claimed to have been pushed down the stairs, and Ms Bustier's class (who have moved to the library, along with Ms Mendeleiv's class) can hear their argument so clearly it is as if they're in the same room. Lila and her mother leave shortly after the yelling stops, and Ms Bustier returns to take her next class so Ms Mendeleiv can take hers.
They didn't get much work done in the library because everyone was apologising to Marinette and asking her questions, and then apologising some more, and then confronting Adrien about enabling Lila, and then apologising to him when Marinette reminds them that they shouldn't jump to conclusions and, while Adrien's way of dealing with Lila was ineffective and seemingly insensitive to Marinette's feelings, it was coming from a good (but naïve) place. Marinette accepts everyone's apologies and assures them that, yes, they are still friends, and then they apologise some more until she tells them that if they say 'sorry' one more time she will take back her acceptance. They share a laugh when they realise she's joking, but thankfully cease their apologies. For now.
Right now, however, it's lunch time, and Marinette has something she needs to do.
She finds Chloé standing with Sabrina at the entrance to the school, where she was standing back when Adrien gave her his umbrella, waiting for her car to arrive so she can go home for lunch. Adrien, himself, left just minutes earlier, after ensuring she was okay, apologising for his horrible advice again, and giving her another tight hug that left her breathless.
"Chloé." She says, coming to a stop beside her. Sabrina smiles and waves at her politely, glancing nervously at Chloé, who is yet to look up from her phone. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Please?"
Chloé glances at Marinette and raises an eyebrow, before huffing out a breath and indicating to Sabrina to step away from them so they can have some privacy. She does as she's told and sits at the bottom of the steps.
"What is it, Dupain–Cheng?" Chloé asks, crossing her arms. "You better not be looking for any handouts."
Marinette rolls her eyes, before stepping a little closer to Chloé so she can drop her voice so they won't be overheard by any potential eavesdroppers. "I just wanted to say thank you. For what you did back there. It means a lot to me."
Chloé's cheeks flush the slightest bit, and she clears her throat, flicking her hair over her shoulder to regain her composure. "I didn't do that for you. I did it for me." She places her hands on her hips and lifts her nose haughtily. Marinette holds back a fond smile. She and Chloé may not get along, but Marinette knows when she's hiding behind a mask. "I wasn't about to let some lying nobody steal my spotlight." She glances back at Marinette and her expression softens just a bit. "Besides, her lies weren't even good. She needs to get better at keeping her facts straight if she wants to get to my level."
"Your level is pretty high." Marinette murmurs in agreement. Chloé glares at her. She shrugs. "Why did you call her out now though? Why not back when it all started?"
At this, Chloé falters again and for a moment, just a moment, Marinette sees her mask slip off completely to reveal the vulnerable little girl hidden behind, desperate for her mother's love and approval. Just as quickly, Chloé's lips lift with a smirk and any signs of vulnerability disappear.
"Do you remember that speech you gave me at the start of the year?" She doesn't wait for her answer. "You said something along the lines of 'all that is necessary for evil to' . . . succeed or something, 'is that good people do nothing'. Remember that?"
"I do."
"Well, it's a given that you're good people Dupain–Cheng, and I am not." Marinette opens her mouth to protest, but Chloé holds up her hand. "Just keep your dignity and don't protest." Marinette shuts her mouth. "Lila isn't good either. In fact, she's probably worse than I am. And while sometimes good can fight evil and win, sometimes you need evil to fight evil."
"Like fighting fire with fire." Marinette murmurs, and Chloé nods.
"Don't cry or anything," She says, waving her hand dismissively. Her car pulls up and she starts walking down the stairs. "But you never would've won this fight, Dupain–Cheng." She reaches the bottom of the stairs and glances back at Marinette. Sabrina scrambles to get up and open the car door for her. "You're too good."