During the talk with Madame Bustier I incorporated an idea I've read in a different story (how to properly combine Marinette's schoolwork and hero duty), however I forgot what it was called – if anyone knows, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due. (It's the part where Madame Bustier points out any tardies that can be traced back to Akuma attacks will be forgiven).
oOoOo
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Forget me not (because I will)
(A friend in need is a friend indeed and an enemy in need is, well – at least they're consistent.)
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oOoOo
Yesterday had been plain awful. Horrendously awful. Marinette had gone to school, barely taken five steps into the building and then collapsed – so her parents had decided to keep her home for another day still, leaving Marinette to stare up at her ceiling, brewing in disappointment.
Five steps. Five steps! She had barely made it down the hallway!
At least spending some time with Alya had been nice. And she could finally enter the bakery, too, seeing how a lot of the initial storm had subsided by now! And Chat Noir had visited – he did that everyday, of course, but it never failed to put a smile on her face.
Anyway.
Tomorrow would be better. So much better. Marinette was convinced it was going to be better, it had to be, after all – she couldn't stay holed up in her room forever and anyway – she didn't want to.
She missed her friends.
Her class.
Her school even, maybe, a little bit – was this what Adrien had felt like?
Probably.
She just really wanted to go already. And really, if she lived in fear all her life, wouldn't that mean Hawkmoth would have won – to some extent? So Marinette sat up and did the one thing she was best at – planning.
More than last time, anyway.
.O.
Step One of Marinette's ingenious plan of going to school without getting seen was – well, a simple oversight that she should have eliminated right from the start. Three days ago already Marinette had asked Tikki just what exactly constituted as "selfish use of a Miraculous" – and Tikki had responded by pointing out that using the Horse Miraculous in a situation like this – like avoiding nosy paparazzi – was more than reasonable.
Which was exactly what Marinette had done, three days ago, creating a portal to a hidden corner in the school yard – she knew these pretty well, after all – de-transforming and then casually strolling towards her classroom.
It had gone according to plan perfectly up to the "casually strolling towards her classroom part".
Perhaps using the Mriaculous to get her directly into her classroom would have been the more reasonable thing to do, but back then, Marinette hadn't thought of it – too excited she might escape the house at last and to finally be able to talk to her friends.
Alas, it hadn't worked, but it was an easy problem to solve.
Everything would go perfectly fine this time.
It would.
Had to.
And it was going fine! Going fine already! Right now, Marinette was sitting in her chair, a box with Macarons in front of her – Marinette didn't know why she had brought them today, but when she had left the house this morning, it just felt right to grab a few – patiently waiting for anyone else to join her.
It was 23 minutes past seven o'clock.
Nervously, Marinette was bouncing her legs.
First period was just normal homeroom.
Marinette opened the box of Macarons, inspected them and then closed the box.
Should she have told Madame Bustier? She had texted Alya, but only this morning, so she couldn't possibly have told their teacher, but maybe her parents had? Called Madame Bustier, that was.
Well, it shouldn't matter.`She was a student in this class. It was only naturally she attended it, too. Just because she was Ladybug, it didn't mean she had to notify everyone she was going to show up.
She didn't. Being Ladybug shouldn't change anything. Didn't change anything, that was.
Marinette opened the box with Macarons once more and snatched one, breaking it in half and handing on of said halves to Tikki. The Kwami smiled thankfully and took it, gnawing away at the treat, her eyes never once leaving Marinette's frame.
The clock ticked in the background. Marinette considered inspecting the Macarons again. Tikki swallowed.
"You're shaking."
Marinette startled at the sudden noise, then sat more upright, before eyeing her legs.
They were still bouncing.
She stopped.
"Not just your legs, Marinette. Your entire body. Don't you notice?"
Wordlessly, Marinette lowered her gaze to the table, her hands neatly laying on top of it, next to the box. They were trembling, come to think of. And, perhaps, she was shivering, too.
"It'll be alright, Tikki. It's just the excitement! I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather stay home another day? I'm sure your teacher's would be ok with it."
They probably would.
"I've stayed away long enough already. And after what happened two days ago, I should probably come back to show everyone I'm alright."
Ever since Mayura had tried to get the Miracle Box, Hawkmoth had been awfully quiet – there had only been a single Akuma and Chat Noir and Marinette were convinced it had served as a distraction – so they could search her room a second time.
Not, that that would have been of any use, but Hawkmoth had never been the brightest.
(Marinette had had trouble falling asleep that night nonetheless. Maybe she could switch to a different room? She liked decorating, after all! S-Surely it'd be fun to decorate their guestroom?)
But other than that? Nothing. The Akuma hadn't even been terribly hard to defeat and Marinette had to expect the worst. She had been worried sick wondering whether Hawkmoth would try to akumatize someone close to her – but until now, her fears had been unfounded.
But now she was in school. Close to people. Available. With a – more or less – publically available schedule for most of the day, in a place fairly small and easy to overlook.
It'd be alright. She'd get through her first day of school again, she'd go home, finish homework and maybe slip away at night to go on patrol.
She hadn't been on patrol at all, these past, what, two weeks?
A bit less.
Chat Noir deserved a better partner.
"If you think that's best, Marinette, I'll support you! – just keep in mind there's nothing wrong if you start feeling to overwhelmed!", Tikki chimed, ripping Marinette from her thoughts – she hummed in agreement, her legs picking up the bouncing again.
It was okay to be nervous. Perfectly normal, in fact.
So really, she shouldn't feel bad for letting out a loud shriek when the classroom door opened for the first time that day.
.O.
The first to enter the classroom had been Nathaniel – and really, Marinette should have known.
It was good news, too, because Nathaniel was shy and quiet and not as in-your-face as other classmates of hers tended to be. When he had entered he had startled, too, before staring at her for a good few seconds.
It had been rather uncomfortable, but soon enough he had ripped his gaze away from her and shuffled to the last row, refusing to look at her.
Which had been uncomfortable, too – it had almost felt as if he didn't want her to be here.
It took him five minutes to speak up.
"G-Good morning, Marinette", he had stammered, startling her once more. But Tikki had patted her knee encouragingly and she had turned around, facing him.
She cursed when her leg hit the other table, before greeting him.
"Good-Good morning! Long time no see, I guess?"
Marinette forced herself to smile.
Nathaniel did the same.
The silence that ensued was awkward, to say the least.
Luckily, it didn't last forever.
"I-I wanted to thank you", Nathaniel stammeredeventually:"For – well for being Ladybug. Being an inspiration to all of us and – uh..."
He was turning away now, blushing ever so slightly and Marinette cocked her head in confusion, until he let out a sigh.
"And also to apologize. I-I don't remember much of when I was akumatized, but, uh, well – sorry. For getting akumatized, that is. For – asking you-forcing you onto a date? I don't-I – I am sorry. For causing trouble."
Nathaniel's last words where whispered and barely spoken into existence. He wasn't meeting her gaze either and Marinette's eyes softened at the gesture.
"It's alright", she said:"No one should feel bad for their feelings – if anything, Hawkmoth should apologize for taking advantage of you!"
She smiled brightly now, but it had yet to catch on with Nathaniel, and eventually, her own smile faltered, too.
It wasn't long until he whispered:"But I-I got someone else akumatized. Marc, remember? I-I should have been more considerate of his feelings – I could have prevented his akumatization, if I had."
The memory seemed to haunt him and Marinette was overwhelmed by pity, almost – Nathaniel wasn't wrong, of course, he had gotten Marc akumatized, after all, but – no one should have to feel so much responsibility about something as petty as high school squabbles.
Hawkmoth sucked.
Maybe there was more to being Ladybug, too.
"You apologized, didn't you? You admitted your mistake and made up with Marc-"
They had been dating for two months now, so they most certainly had made up.
"-and they forgave you. It happens. I got people akumatized plenty of times, too – the most important thing will always be that you learn from your mistakes."
Marinette smiled again, forced and not nearly as convincing as she made herself believe, but for a few seconds, Nathaniel smiled back.
.O.
The next people to enter were, surprisingly, Sabrina and Chloé. That would never have happened earlier this year, but Chloé was making a valiant effort to get better – and maybe, getting to school early was her way of doing it.
Marinette didn't judge her intentions. Maybe the effectiveness of her methods, but never her intentions.
The pair stopped in the doorway for a few seconds once they spotted her sitting at the table. Marinette tensed up immediately – but just like Nathaniel, they didn't say anything. Chloé harrumphed and Sabrina lowered her gaze and both of them stalked to their own seats, making a great show of ignoring her existence.
The silence continued once they had settled into their seats – although, much more tense than it had been before.
Marinette's legs started bouncing again. Chloé eventually noticed and huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.
Sabrina nudged her with an elbow.
Chloé huffed again.
"I apologized already", she said.
"I know", Marinette responded., though she was positive Chloé's words were meant for Sabrina, not for her.
She opened the box with Macarons, wondering, whether she should offer any now.
She decided against it.
"Thank you for letting Pollen speak to me", Chloé eventually added, her voice sounding, soft, almost, devoid of it's usual scratchiness – and that was that. Chloé leaned closer to Sabrina who lit up at the attention and it was clear the conversation – if one could call it that – was finished.
And Marinette smiled. Not necessarily because of the apology – but because Chloé and Sabrina were talking to each other. Silently, of course – but it took the edge off of the silence.
For that, Marinette was grateful.
.O.
Juleka, Rose, Myléne and Ivan were the next to enter – and the first to say something upon arrival.
"Marinette! You made it!", Rose cheered, not a second after having thrown the door open – had she known she'd be here? Had Alya texted her? – and bounded up to her desk, Juleka following her loyally – though she looked similarly uncomfortable to the way Marinette felt.
"I'm so glad you made it, I was so worried after I heard about what happened in the hallway! Oh, you can't believe how relieved I am and – and thank you! Thank you, of course, thank you so, so much! For-For everything. For being Ladybug and being or class representatives and for making the outfits for Kitty Section and just – for being amazing! You're great! The best!"
Rose was beaming and leaning over Marinette's table – ans just didn't stop talking and Marinette had trouble being mad at her for it, because, well – that was Rose and really, she was just trying to be nice!
Luckily, Mylène admonished her eventually and pulled the blonde away a bit, who was all bright and wide-eye, though Mylène herself seemed to be equally excited. Thanks were said, questions asked and eventually, Ivan ushered all of them away, his girlfriend calming Rose down in the process.
He smiled at her, once he had sat down at his place.
"Thanks for believing in me, even when everything was still new to you", he said – and that was that once again.
.O.
Max was the next to arrive, closely followed by Madame Bustier and Marinette wished she would have had more time, because upon entering the room, Madame Bustier held a short speech on how thankful everyone in school, and in Paris was for all that she had done and how important it was, she didn't forget to take care of herself.
Then she had put the pre-written speech aside, smiled at Marinette and thanked her in earnest.
"We're still working out a way to incorporate your hero-responsibilities into everyday class, but be assured, any tardies you may have earned during your duty as Ladybug – that can be traced back to being related to an Akuma attack – will be forgiven and won't be mentioned on your report card. And if you have any input on anything yourself – our offices will always be open to you."
Then she asked her for a Macaron which Marinette gratefully handed over – and then one to Max, who had come to thank her as well.
And then to everyone else – with the exception of Chloé – too, because really, who would say "no" to a Dupain-Cheng-Macaron?
.O.
Alya was the next one to arrive, throwing open the door and storming into the room, followed by a "You made it!" shouted through class.
Hurriedly, Alya rushed to her seat, falling down next to Marinette, a wide grin showing all her teeth.
"Girl, I'm so glad to see you!", she exclaimed, pulling Marinette into a tight hug.
"I was worried you might not come in today!", she added, letting go of Marinette again, falling back into her chair, grinning widely.
Marinette frowned.
"You thought I wouldn't come?"
"Oh, no, no! You're way too stubborn for your own good, girl, of course I knew you'd do anything to come! I was afraid your parents might decide to keep you at home a bit longer – I'm glad they didn't though!"
And Alya patted Marinette's hand, before pulling back once more, her smile tightening and her eyes glancing downwards nervously.
"But-but if you ever feel like you're getting overwhelmed – tell me, alright? We'll find you a nice, abandoned hiding spot and I'll keep watch to make sure no one starts bothering you, okay? Just – be careful, Mari. That – when you were in the hallway like that, that was really, really scary."
And she fell silent. Marinette turned away too, staring at her notebook in which she had doodled into
Alya smiled at her understandingly – and then she just – chatted. About all and nothing, not a single word hinting at her being Ladybug, at what had happened three days ago or – anything, really.
Marinette couldn't have been more thankful.
.O.
Marinette had been plenty distracted when the next pair entered the class – Adrien and Nino who were chatting animatedly.
Both their features lit up once they spotted her.
"Dudette!", Nino exclaimed, speeding up his steps until he came to a halt just in front of her table.
And then stepped back, when Alya glared at her boyfriend once.
"How are you? Feeling better today?"
"I really hope you do!", Adrien chimed in, coming closer now, too, green eyes shining with warmth and kindness and for a moment Marinette forget her woes.
She could get lost in these eyes, lost and lost and forever-
"...arinette, are you okay? Marinette?"
Marinette snapped free from the spell she was put under, her gaze switching from Alya – who was grinning knowingly – to Nino – who seemed to be worried at first but caught on quickly – to Adrien, who seemed to be rather spooked.
"Are you sure you've fully recovered already, Mari? I-I'd hate for something like that to happen again you looked awfully pale-"
And then – then Adrien grinned ever so slyly, in a way she would have never expected him to.
Hadn't even imagined was possible for Mr. Blue Sky himself.
"I didn't mind carrying you home, yesterday, but – I'd really rather you stay safe", he added, smiling at her softly and immediately, Marinette blushed furiously, barely being able to keep herself from giggling.
Was-Was he flirting with her?
She peered at Alya for confirmation, who has simply smiling amusedly and Marinette blushed even harder.
Adrien was flirting with her!
But – why was he flirting with her?
.O.
Alix and Kim were the last to join class, barreling through the door, bantering and boldly proclaiming their presence to anyone within earshot.
They paused for a few seconds when they spotted her – and wide smiles broke out on their faces – but they were remarkable laid back. Kim gave her a highfive – and she knew he had held back when slaping her hand, because she knew how much his higfives hurt – and, as he walked to his own seat, exclaimed:"You're amazing, Mari! Absolutely amazing! Care to join the track team later today – bet you'd be one of the best – safe for me, of course!"
And after rolling her eyes, Alix chimed in:"If you start daring her to do dumb stuff, Kim, I'll kick your butt later today."
Then she looked at Marinette and gave her thumbs up and a toothy grin:"Great work, Marinette! It's high time for you to get some more appreciation – Keep it up!"
Marinette didn't miss the conspiratorial nod and the way Alix sent her.
And once again, she smiled.
.O.
It was half an hour after class had started that Lila burst into the room, all breathless and wide-eyed.
"I-I'm so sorry!", she exclaimed, loudly, interrupting the class as she threw the door open:"I was talking to-to Penny Rolling about-well I can't say, NDA and all, but-but I-I'm so, so sorry for being late! But I just couldn't leave any earlier and I didn't want to offend Mr. Rolling!"
Lila made a great show of letting her bag hang off of her shoulder, as if she were exhausted, as she stood in the hallway, her breath too regular to be caused by anything but acting. Of course, if she were exhausted, they would have heard her footsteps earlier and they hadn't, but her classmates didn't seem to care, instead choosing to "oh" and "ah" at the Italians fancy tale.
Marinette groaned at the Italian's entrance, earning her a jab in the rib by Alya and a sympathetic smile from Adrien.
She remembered the "conversation" she had had with Mr. Damocles and Madame Bustier after her reinstatement into the school all too well.
"I know my mental illness is – is dangerous, but please don't tell anyone? I – I don't want everyone to pity me and-and-and doubt everything I say! And anyway, if the teacher's know, shouldn't that be enough?"
Lila had looked at her teachers all teary-eyed and, of course, they had believed her. Though, perhaps Lila might have had a point. If she really suffered from a "lying disease", telling everyone would run her social life and a mental illness shouldn't bare one from having friends.
But Lila didn't have any disease. Which they could have checked easily. Lila was taking the suffering of millions and twisted it for her own gain and if anything, Marinette was even more appalled by her.
Lila's gaze swept the classroom once, apologetically smiling at everyone and taking up more class time, Marinette noticed), until her got stuck on her.
And for the tiniest of seconds, her carefully crafted smile gave way to a hateful snarl.
"Marinette! You're here!", she exclaimed, bounding forwards and leaning into her space, too close, way too close, way too…
Carefully, Alya pushed her away a bit and Lila gave in – for now.
"I-I was worried sick! Worried something might happen! After what happened two days ago no less, I was so worried you might get akumatized and I-I can't imagine, a teenager like you, having to bear this burden all by herself, it seems impossible almost, does it not?"
Doe-eyes blinked innocently, as Lila leaned back in again – but the concern sounded hollow in Marinette's ears. This wasn't concern at all. This was Lila trying to portray her as a teenager to irresponsible and emotional to handle a Miraculous.
Luckily, Marinette wasn't the only one to notice the hidden jab at her – Alya was reassuringly patting her back and Madame Bustier – Madame Bustier frowned.
"Well, that is very nice of you Lila – but perhaps that can way until the end of class?", she admonished her and Lila swirled around, Marinette a forgotten prop now that the scene was over.
"Of course, Madame Bustier!"
And she shuffled off to her seat.
Marinette could feel a pair of eyes burn into the back of her skull for the rest of the lesson. She knew Lila was going to be mad, was probably planning something already – she had had enough time ever since the reveal and Marinette wasn't naive enough not to think that Lila would stop her petty vendetta just because she had been revealed to Ladybug. In fact, it would be yet another reason for her to bully her – however, Marinette hadn't expected Lila to take actions this swiftly.
"Oh, Marinette, by the way, did you hand in your doctor's note already?", she asked, just after Madame Bustier had ended class. Somehow, she had wormed her way next to Marinette already, but she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear – and to stop in their tracks, to eavesdrop.
"I would hate for you to get an unexcused absence if you forgot to hand it in on time!", Lila added once she was sure she had grabbed everyone's attention, a dangerous twinkling in her eyes – a threat, no doubt.
But for once, Madame Bustier had had her back.
"I don't think that's necessary, Lila – she'll be fine, even without a note", she said, worried eyes following the exchange going on as she ordered her papers, evidently wanting to leave already, to get to her next class.
Yet Lila had other plans.
"But...doesn't she need some kind of letter? A doctor's note?"
3...2...1… A concerned frown was appeared on Lila's face, though to Marinette, it was a sinister smile.
"She has been absent the entire last week! Shouldn't those absences be marked?"
Now, of course one might point out that in all her time that Lila had attended this class, she had never once brought in a single doctor's note, but that didn't keep Lila from twisting the rules in her favor – or trying to, it seemed, as not just Madame Bustier, but most of their classmates were frowning now.
Alya had furrowed her brows, Adrien had crossed his arms in front of his chest and Nino was leaning back suspiciously – quite the opposite to the reactions Marinette had come to expect.
Though Marinette doubted that this would be the Italians downfall.
"Now, Lila, in a situation like this it is...", Madame Bustier began, just to be interrupted. A well-practices spin and there wasn't much their teacher could do.
"I mean, we all know what happened", Lila said.
Marinette closed her eyes exhaustedly, missing Adrien's worried gaze sweeping her expression for any signs of discomfort and shuffling uncomfortably in his seat.
"Of course it won't be an issue for any of us – but I wouldn't want someone to look at her report card one day and get Marinette into trouble for having missed some days without explanation! We all know how much tardies she already gets anyway!"
And that actually earned some nods! And quite some worried glances at Marinette, and Marinette would have been thankful, too, if she hadn't been too busy shuddering at the sway the Italian held over the class.
"Lila, I assure..."
A sway Marinette was entirely sick of.
"I assure you, that I will provide a doctor's note by tomorrow", she interrupted her teacher. Her head was held high as she braced herself for all the staring – for every single eye to be directed at her. Adrien was smiling at her encouragingly, but Alya – Alya was looking at her in concern and Marinette could hear her admonishing words "Lila was just trying to help, girl, no need to get so snappy!" clear as the day.
She'd have to talk to Alya about Lila's true nature at some point.
Perhaps she already suspected something.
But that was a thought for another day.
"I'm sure they will all agree that taking a week of to heal the injuries I sustained while fighting the latest Akuma's to save everyone in this classroom is reasonable. If you want to convince yourself – I can show you the bruise that I got from being thrown across the street right now. It still hasn't healed."
Silence followed her words. One could hear a pin drop in it.
Most of her classmates had averted their gazes, looking at the paper in front of them. Her friends still smiled at her and Lila – Lila held her gaze with the sort of stubborn determination Marinette had never expected to meet in the Italian's eyes.
"Very well, Marinette. I don't think a doctor's note will be necessary – we all believe you."
Madame Bustier didn't dare to look Marinette in the eyes either.
Bruises Injuries. Everyone had already sustained them at least once during Akuma attacks and all of them had carried around a remainder of them for a while. If you broke your leg, you had some phantom pain for a day or two.
No one had ever thought what it must have been like for the heroes.
And for the rest of the class, no one dared to ask either.
.O.
Marinette was hiding out in an empty classroom, shaking and trembling and trying her hardest to actually listen to Tikki, when Lila found her.
Really, she should have expected that much. There was no way the Italian would let her get away with showing her up in front of the entire class.
She shouldn't be surprised Lila told Alya, waiting in front of said bathroom, to let her in "because Penny Rolling had asked her to talk to Marinette for top-secret reasons", either, but to her surprise, Alya was unwilling to budge, still.
"Does she? Why not just sent an email?", she asked and Marinette could vividly imagine the inquisitive frown she'd be wearing right now.
But no matter what Alya said, Lila just brushed it off.
"Oh, you see, they were worried someone might try to hack Marinette's email – because she's Ladybug and what not – and want to make sure it stays super secret! Conversations don't leave evidence, do they?"
"I don't think Marinette really wants to hear any of that right now, Lila –" Marinette made a mental reminder to treat Alya to ice cream later. "– No offense of course! But – I think right now Marinette just needs some time to calm down and..."
"But Jagged Stone is her favorite artist, isn't he?", Lila interrupted and a chorus of other voices joined in – her other classmates, mostly.
Reluctantly, Alya accepted to let her in. The door handle was pressed down and the door swung open, showing Lila's back at first, as she waved at her entourage.
"And no eavesdropping! This is top secret – and you don't want me to get into legal trouble, do you?"
Then, the door fell closed, Lila turned around – and her fake smile was gone, replaced by a nasty frown and judging eyes.
Marinette braised herself, remembering all these times Lila had looked at her just like that, had sized her up to say something vile, to-to-to…
To threaten her.
Marinette could feel herself starting to shake.
"Well, if it isn't our local bug infestation – Marinette. What a pleasure to see you again – tell me, that time you told Adrien all about my stories – did you follow us that day? Were you jealous? Because it looked awfully jealous, if you were to ask me."
Triumphantly, Lila stared her down – but-but Marinette found herself frowning. Adrien? That-that was what Lila wanted to talk about? Not-Not anything-anything...
"I do wonder what Adrien would think of it – just imagine! Stalked by his very good friend Marinette, the hero he admires so much – I wonder whether he'd need a shoulder to cry on after that disappointment..."
Marinette was squinting now.
Adrien was what Lila wanted to talk about. Not her failings, not the way she could ruin her life as a hero, no nefarious plots to hand her over to Hawkmoth, no, Adrien.
Her cursh. Her-Her high school crush (which she was fairly certain she was in love with, but he-he was her high school crush and-and just so-so…)!
Which she had barely talked to these past few days!
And suddenly, Marinette felt oddly...calm
This was Lila, she realized. Just – Just Lila.
"I can ruin you, Marinette. I can ruin your Ladybug image, in, in all of your precious, little Paris. With a few rumors here and a few tweets there. Heck! In can ruin your reputation in the entire world! I – I can make your life a-a living. Hell. And trust me, I will if that is what it takes to keep you silent, if that is what I need to..."
Tikki had slipped away into Marinette's bag once they had heard Lila approach – no reason to disclose any more secrets to the public than absolutely necessary – but now, she was peaking out of the bag, her eyes clouded by worry.
Perhaps Marinette was supposed to be furious. That Lila would threaten her, would dare to use whatever means necessary – at the prize of hurting others – to help herself. Perhaps she should be shaking with anger, but she wasn't, because, really – she had expected a purple butterfly to enter this room. Mayura even. Maybe Hawkmoth!
Not Lila.
And as Lila kept going, Marinette wondered just what exactly she had been so scared of. Time and time again Lila had wasted her time on trying to discredit Marinette, had tried to turn people against her, had come up with the most convoluted plans to take away her friends – and time and time again, she had failed.
It was a simple revelation, one that undoubtedly stemmed from yet another breakdown she had narrowly avoided and from her complete and utter lack of energy to deal with this – she was too exhausted to be mad, even.
Marinette wanted to laugh out loud when she realized she wasn't even mad. She just felt – pity.
And so she did just that. Laugh. Maybe a bit over the top and maybe she had let herself be more affected by Lila's words than she liked – but it didn't matter.
Lila's opinion didn't matter. And neither did her words.
And to top it all of, Marinette's laughter made Lila absolutely furious.
"What?", she hissed, leaning closer, her hands balled to fists and her eyes narrowed into tiny, tiny slits.
"What's so funny? Did you not listen to what I said? One word, one word to lets say – Gabriel – he lets me call him by his first name, can you imagine just how important I am to him? – one word and your career? That stupid, little dream you have? Ruined. I can get you blacklisted. From anywhere I want. I can tell the press how you've bullied me, the poor, new student who just tried to make friends! How horribly you treated me and-"
"Lila, don't you think this is silly?"
Marinette stepped back, taking a deep breath, before facing the bully face on.
The sheer indignation on Lila's face at being so rudely interrupted made it all the more comical.
"Don't you - Don't you think this is ridiculous? When I heard someone approaching, I – I thought it was Hawkmoth at first! Mayura! A purple bug! I was half-expecting having to hastily hand my Miraculous to Alya, because of my akumatization – but I didn't have to. Because it was you. Just. You."
For the first time since Lila had entered the classroom, her confidence started to slip.
"Go, knock yourself out and try to turn everyone against me, if that's what makes you happy. But do not, for a single second, believe that any of this will ever be my priority. That you will ever be my priority. I have so many more important things to deal with than this ridiculous, petty high school drama – and lets be honest. So do you."
Marinette stepped forward again, patted Lila's shoulder once – then she simply walked away, calm, collected, with a satisfied smile on her lift.
Perhaps she should be thankful for Lila, for having calmed her down so much.
"See you in class", she then added, right before leaving, leaving Lila to say behind, stunned.
Maybe Adrien had been right after all. Maybe it didn't matter what Lila was doing – she knew the truth. And at this point, really, what was Lila going to do?
Lila had discredited herself, after all.
.O.
School – school progressed quite normally after the encounter. The Italian stopped bothering her, though Marinette was sure the liar was still glaring at her – but things went...normal. They had a pop quiz. Got homework. Had lunch.
And then...
Akuma alert. That was an Akuma alert.
Immediately, Marinette got up, shooting in the air and practically shouted:"Madame Bustier! I don't feel so good, can I go to the nurse's office?"
Marinette had expected her classmates to scoff or roll their eyes at her question. Half of them were convinced that she was horribly scared of Akuma attacks – courtesy of a rumor she was fairly certain a certain Italian had spread – and everyone else just thought she had health problems.
Marinette had never done anything to dispel these rumors. If people believed them, they wouldn't suspect her of being Ladybug. So really, Marinette had expected eye rolls and scoffs and sympathetic glances.
She hadn't expected silence.
Oh.
Yeah.
Right.
They knew.
They knew.
And Made Bustier smiled at her gratefully before nodding at the door.
"Go, Marinette. Thank you and...stay safe?"
Her teacher shifted uncomfortably and Marinette hugged herself, smiling awkwardly before leaving the classroom in a hurry, ignoring every single "Thank you" and "Good luck!" that was thrown her way.
She knew her classmates meant well. Knew they were worried about her – but she didn't want them to be.
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