Marinette

As the storm raged on outside, Marinette brought a pair of mugs filled with hot chocolate. Alya sat on her chaise, her coat hanging in the warm bakery below. Marinette handed her one of the mugs, then settled down in her desk chair. For a moment, neither of the two girls spoke. Then Marinette took a deep breath, "So I guess you know I see your dad for therapy?" Alya nodded silently, her eyes still red from crying. "To be honest, I never made the connection between you two until after the first week of school."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Alya choked out, "All the horrible things that you have been through." Her eyes narrowed, "I'm going to skin Adrien alive for what he did on the first day of school," she snarled, clenching her fists.

Marinette held up her hands to stop her, "He knows. I told him on the first day of school when I gave him my umbrella."

Alya's head jerked up, "You gave him your umbrella and a personal secret? And then a hoodie for his birthday, I feel so left out," Alya joked, still not quite okay. No wonder Adrien fell so hard, Alya thought to herself. Marinette had exposed her greatest flaws to him and no one else.

Marinette laughed as well, "Don't worry, I'll have something for your birthday too."

They fell silent again, sipping at their hot chocolate as they waited for the other to make the first move. Finally, Alya broke the silence again, "We never made you feel uncomfortable, did we? Or say the wrong thing?"

Marinette shook her head smiling, "It has been a dream ever since that first day. Everyone has been so kind and I never want to leave."

Alya nodded, then her brow creased again. "The other day, when we were listening to the band, you took off without telling anyone why. Where did you go? We didn't upset you, did we?"

Marinette shook her head again, "No, Adrien texted me that he was stuck in a shoot with a girl." She paused, biting her lip before continuing, "The girl he was shooting with was Lila, the girl who turned everyone against me at my old school."

Alya perked up, "Lila Rossi?"

"Ye-yeah, how did you know," Marinette asked in surprise.

"She has been trending on twitter since this afternoon." Alya pulled out her phone and showed Marinette her twitter feed. Every message had the tags 'LilaRossiDead' and 'JusticeForAdrien' in it following a very expressive message. "It's worse on the Adrien Agreste Fan page, they are actually organizing patrols to find this girl. There are a few defenders in Lila's name trying to make her look like the victim, but they are severely outnumbered and don't stand a chance against the mind of crazy fangirls. And they certainly don't like it when someone makes a move like that on their crush without his consent."

Marinette's jaw dropped, she had never seen anyone ever go after Lila like this. "How did it get out? He said I was the only one who believed him."

He went on the KIDS+ show when he was supposed to do a reshoot with her. Nino helped him get into the studio and set up the interview at the last minute." Alya shook her head, "His parents are definitely going to go at it after this." She set the phone down and looked at Marinette, "So this Lila is the same Lila who bullied you?" Marinette nodded silently. "Did Adrien know?"

"Yes, after I helped him escape yesterday, I told him everything that had happened at my old school and why I transferred." Marinette winced, adding, "Though what I told him probably wasn't as graphic as the files you read."

Alya nodded, staying silent for a moment again. Then she asked, "When are you going to tell the others?"

Marinette bit her lip again, "I'm not sure. Your dad and Adrien keep telling me to open up to others, but I am not sure how to do that yet." She looked Alya in the eyes again, "Maybe you can help me with that?"

Alya grinned, pulling her phone out again, "Just say the word and we will have an emergency girl's night. But we will have to end it early because it's a school night," she pouted as Marinette giggled. "This way you don't have to worry about eavesdroppers looking for a fresh piece of gossip." Alya looked up at Marinette, "We don't have to if you don't want to though."

"I'll go start making snacks. Put out the call, then you can come to help me in the bakery." Alya whooped at the word of treats, causing Marinette to break down laughing.

Lila

She hid in her room, her curtains closed and the phone turned off so she didn't have to see all the threats people had made. She had rushed home, trying to keep a low profile to avoid being recognized as the girl who groped Adrien Agreste. She growled as she remembered his words and that he was associated with Marinette. Marinette had almost exposed her lies before and she clearly had Adrien on her side. Lila's hands clenched into fists, maybe she had to pay the girl a visit and threaten her. Looking at the bakery visible out her window, Lila made plans to confront Marinette and make her submit once again.

She hesitantly opened the fan page, noting a new post was being shared besides the call for her blood. Adrien had posted: to show your support, please feel free to make a purchase off of the Gabriel website. It had gone viral like everything else he posted, fans reposting it to show their dedication to him. Lila growled, now they were going to profit off of her suffering? Adrien needed to be taught a lesson too it seemed.

Gabriel

The tablet slammed into the wall, the screen shattering to pieces. He stared into the hole in the drywall, dark thoughts swirling around in his brain. Adrien was an idiot, possibly doing more damage to the Gabriel brand than Gabriel could calculate. He couldn't even take away Duapin-Cheng's prize as a punishment for Adrien due to his live announcement. His desk phone rang, no doubt his lawyers wanting to hear his plans for the potential lawsuit against Lila Rossi. Gabriel groaned, Adrien may have thought he was clever, but he could not see the whole picture.

What Gabriel failed to see was Adrien's follow up post to his fan page, calling them to show support for him and his rights by buying Gabriel brand clothing off of the web store.

The following Monday

Marinette walked to school, still exhausted from the girl's night Alya had called. Everyone was sympathetic to her story, Rose and Mylene refusing to stop hugging her tightly. Marinette was overwhelmed by the support they showed her, breaking down and crying. As they moved closer to comfort her, she reassured them that they were tears of joy and thanked them for their support.

Alix even offered to beat up Lila, with or without Marinette's blessing. It took the girls half an hour to talk the rollerblader out of it. Mylene told her it wasn't worth it, to which Alix retorted Lila deserved it even after she agreed not to go after Lila. She settled for reading the death threats posted on the Adrien Agreste fan page, reading out loud the ones she found particularly interesting. These tended to be the most violent and gruesome ones, causing Mylene and Rose to cover their ears while Juleka listened eagerly.

The girls had stayed over until dark when they had to go home, making her feel safe and secure in their group. The girls all promised her that this would stay just between them girls and the boys won't hear a breath of it. Marinette never had a group of friends like them before and hugged each of them as they left. The girls vowed once they were all out of Marinette's earshot to never let a living soul hurt Marinette ever again.

Now she was walking to school, alone for the first time in since the first week of school. Adrien had been locked up for his little stunt. He had texted her that much but had refused to give her more details. Perhaps Alya or Nino will know more. As she strode confidently down the street, she failed to see Lila walk out behind her, ready to strike at her.

Marinette felt a sense of danger she hadn't felt in a long time, the feeling that told her someone was behind her and ready to attack. Whirling around she barely had time to dodge Lila's attempt to grab her hair. The Italian girl hissed in frustration, "You lied to Adrien about me! You made him say those things about me!"

Marinette backed away from the girl, suddenly very aware of how alone she was. "He said nothing but the truth. Your lies are doomed to fall and what do you think will happen after that? Your followers will stay loyal?"

Lila snarled, "They will never find out because you are gonna do a little request for me. First, tell everyone that you lied and that you were jealous of me. Then you will tell Adrien to give me another chance and take back what he said. Then you never interfere with my plans again."

"Uh, that's three requests." The two girls turn their heads to see Chloe walking up to them.

Lila hissed at her, "Mind your own bus…" She was caught off by Chloe when she suddenly b*tch slapped her across the face, the sheer force causing Lila to lose her balance. Lila glared up at Chloe, "How dare you? You know who I am?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't care but you are this city's next addition to the banned list." Chloe smirked, "If it makes you feel better, you are right below BTS on that list. In a way, you can say you are on the same level as them, that level being Utterly Ridiculous." She turned to Marinette, "Shall we get to school?" Marinette nodded, not sure what to think of what she just witnessed, wondering if she was still in bed dreaming.

They took a few steps away from Lila, who got up and screamed at them, "Don't walk away from me, I am Lila Rossi and I will get what I want!"

Neither girl glanced back at her, focused on their walk to school as Lila fumed behind them, throwing a fit that neither of them cared enough to look at. Chloe just flicked her hair and proclaimed loudly so that Lila could hear her, "Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"

Marinette smiled at her, still not certain what just happened, "Truly ridiculous indeed."

Adrien

Adrien hissed in frustration as he paced around his room, feeling like a lion trapped in a cage. After his stunt the other day, his father locked him down, forbidding him to step outside. His mother didn't say anything at the time, wanting to hear the facts before she argued. It was around ten in the morning that the arguing began, the noise barely making its way to his room as muffled noises.

He has been on edge since it had started and hadn't been able to settle down since. A quick text conversation with Marinette revealed all the girls knew her secret. That made him feel a little bit better that Marinette had a support group that didn't start stuttering the minute she looked at them. Adrien banged his head against his desk, he gotta figure out a way around that.

In Gabriel's office, the not so happy couple argued. "For the best of the brand, Adrien must become accustomed to more intimate shoots with female models. Ms. Rossi was intended to be an experiment to test his ability to cope with such scenarios."

"Clearly it was a bad idea," Emilie growled, "She groped my son and you won't even press charges."

"Adrien did enough harm to her by announcing to the world her actions, no doubt expecting his fanbase to take action." Gabriel glared at Emilie, "If he is going to be the face of the company, he needs to learn to be professional and put the brand first. His personal feelings are to be set aside for the sake of his image.

"Adrien doesn't even want to be a model," Emile stated frustratedly. "The minute he turns eighteen, Adrien will take his trust fund and leave the company for college or even university."

Gabriel glowered at the mention of that, something he had always dreaded to have to deal with. "Not if he realizes there is no greater responsibility then being the face of the company."

"He literally just used that fact against you!" Emilie exasperated, her arms flung out in frustration.

Gabriel was about to lash back when Natalie buzzed him. "What?"

"Sir, the website just crashed."

"What do you mean the website just crashed?" Gabriel asked, not happy with the interruption.

"Orders have been coming in since last night and eventually the whole site just crashed. We still have the orders listed from before the crash, but no one can access the site until it is recovered."

Gabriel frowned, "What caused the sudden increase in customers?"

"After the interview yesterday, Adrien went on his social media account and made a post requesting for his fans to show their support for him and his rights by going to the website and ordering something. It trended almost as fast as the call for Ms. Rossi's head."

Gabriel growled at the mention of the threats against Ms. Rossi made by his son's fanbase. He wanted to beat Adrien but his son needed to be flawless for the photoshoots. But he also has been receiving offers from companies wanting to pair his son with their female models, but half of them had backed out after seeing Adrien's interview. Gabriel received word that they considered Adrien to be unprofessional and not flexible enough to work with their models, worried he would drag their name through the mud.

Emilie simply gave him a victorious smile, "See? Some good came out of it." With that, she stepped out of the office, taking one moment to look back, "I am taking my son to school, where he wants to be. Maybe you should pull your head of your sketchbook sometime and think of his needs, not yours.

Gabriel only glared at her leaving form, remembering not for the first time that a divorce would rip his fashion empire apart and lose him his top model. He looked at the tablet Natalie had set up for him, focused on what to do next for the brand.