As everyone got settled down and began passing along the box of snacks, Mylene began to settle into her default state.

Wary.

Despite wanting to share the evidence she'd just gathered, she'd held off, deciding that it would be best if they were in a more secure location rather than stand in front of the empty school. At that point, Mylene realized that while she'd wanted them to gather for a meeting, they hadn't actually discussed or even agreed on the place to do it. Thankfully, Alya, who was more than experienced with half-baked plans and ideas thanks to being Marinette's best friend, easily found the solution.

She suggested her own place in exchange for helping watch over her rowdy younger sisters. It'd just so happened that her mother had an overnight shift at the Grand Paris Hotel, and thanks to a new animal display at the zoo, so would Alya's father. At first, it'd been decided that Alya's older sister Nora would be watching the twins, but after some Cesaire finesse, a deal was struck where Nora would have the night off and they would watch the twins while having an impromptu sleepover. A brief period of getting parental consent and gathering their own necessities, and they were all gathered in Alya's living room. The twins had already been put to bed after a while of playing around, and thankfully went down without much of a fuss. With Ella and Etta out of the way, they were now waiting for Mylene to speak, since she was the one to call the meeting.

Oh joy, she thought. All eyes are on me.

Yay.

Thankfully, it was Alix who gave Mylene the opening she was struggling to come up with due to their scrutiny.

"Alright Mylene, you wanted a meeting, you got a meeting. Now what's all this crap about Marinette and Lila that's so bad that we had to keep everything hush hush? And what about that video you didn't let us see? Not to mention following Lila."

The others nodded in agreement, and Mylene took a deep breath in, and let it out. She had to remember that this was bigger than her. This was not just for her friend, but their friend, Marinette, and Mylene felt that she owed it to Marinette for everything she'd done for everyone in this room to fight on her behalf. Especially since...well, they didn't exactly take her seriously and brushed aside her feelings and concerns as nothing but petty jealousy.

This was her chance to make things right.

"I called this meeting, because after seeing some things today, I believe that what Marinette was telling us about Lila is the truth, that she really is a liar and has been lying to us from the very beginning." Mylene said, making sure to look each of them in the eye as she spoke to convey how serious she was being.

A few moments passed, before a snort was heard and raucous laughter filled the room as the other girls began to laugh. None were laughing harder than Alya, who was leaning against Alix to support her weight as she held her stomach with both arms, a tear making it's way down her face.

Alix recovered first, her voice still bubbly with laughter as she pointed to Mylene. "Has Marinette been filling your head with nonsense again? Seriously what'd she say this time, that Lila lied about Jagged stone having a cat? Or her Tinnitus? Come on, Mylene get real."

Mylene watched, saddened and horrified as the other girls agreed with Alix's statement, still somewhat laughing. Is this how Marinette felt, she wondered. Is this how Marinette felt when she came to them, herself included, to tell them about Lila? Betrayed, sad, and horrified that the people she trusted didn't take her seriously? That no matter what she said, no matter how much longer she'd known them, that it was her word against Lila's?

Blinking back tears, Mylene clenched her teeth and her fists. Oh no, she thought. Not this time. This time was going to be different, because she was going to make sure it was different. To see what Lila truly was, and then not be believed because of pretty words and even mocked...

To know that Marinette had gone through this, and that she herself had once participated in it, made her feel deeply ashamed.

And angry.

"This isn't a joke! I'm telling the truth!"

Silence followed Mylene's outburst. Of course it did, when was she ever one to yell and be angry? When was she ever the one to command attention and respect?

Never, and that's why, as she watched all of the girls straighten up and lose their humor and mirth, Mylene herself began to straigthen up herself. She would not be meek under their stares and their jeers. She would not be dismissed. And most importantly, she wouldn't let them treat her the way they treated Marinette.

"Alright Mylene, lets not give Hawk Moth any extra ammo tonight..." Alix said, her eyes glancing around for any sign of butterflies. The others nodded their agreement, their expressions now apprehensive after Mylene's outburst.

Mylene clicked her tongue and glared. "This isn't a game Alix. I'm being serious. Marinette was right. Lila is a liar and things haven't been right ever since she came here."

Alix glared right back, crossing her arms and legs. "And how do you figure that? What did Marinette say to convince you that Lila is a liar? Lila has been nothing but nice since she got here. It ain't fair that she has to be victim to Marinette's stupid jealousy."

"She didn't say anything." Mylene said crossing her arms right back. She wasn't gonna let Alix intimidate her. "Everything that I'm about to tell you, happened today, while Marinette was either alseep or elsewhere. Marinette is completely innocent in all of this."

Mylene then turned to Alya, who, despite Mylene's outburst, seemed to still have a bit of humor in her eyes. "Alya, you were sitting next to Marinette before you switched with Adrien, right? You even boarded the train with her if I'm not mistaken."

Alya nodded. "Well yeah, she is my best friend. Poor girl was so tired, and she said that she'd been up late trying to figure out a way to confess to Adrien. She was so happy when I showed her the picture of her and Adrien asleep together." Alya then proceeded to pull out her phone and show said picture, which of course was adorable.

All the girls, even Mylene cooed over the picture before Mylene shook herself and began to get serious again. It wouldn't do to get distracted, no matter how cute the picture was. "Okay, do you at any time remember Marinette and Lila interacting during that first train ride to London before Max's mom was akumatized?"

Alya's expression changed as she began to think, her brows furrowing and her lips downturned just a bit before she shook her head in denial. "No, Marinette was pretty much just staring at Adrien before she fell asleep. I walked to our seats with her. Before long she was out like a light."

Rose raised her hand, and Mylene nodded at her to answer. "Mylene, what's the point of all these questions? We all know that Marinette and Adrien fell asleep together. Where does Lila fit in with that?"

Mylene nodded and turned to address them all equally. "This is to establish that Lila and Marinette had no contact during that first train ride, mostly due to Marinette being asleep."

"Yeah, and what's the point of that?" Alix said before grabbing a croissant and taking a large bite, which she then used to point at Mylene. "What does anything about that have to do with Lila?"

Mylene frowned. "It has everything to do with Lila, since while Marinette and Adrien were napping together, Lila glared at Marinette then got up to interrupt them before Alya thankfully stopped her."

Mylene could see the skepticism in their gazes, but it was Juleka who chose to challenge Mylene's words.

"Mylene, we all heard what Lila said. She was just gonna ask Marinette to help her with her motion sickness. That's not really proof that Lila is a liar."

"Oh really? Then why wouldn't she go to the bathroom first if she was feeling nauseous? She was walking pretty fast towards Marinette. If she was actually sick from motion sickness, it would be pretty bad if she had gone to Marinette and accidentally puked on her wouldn't it? And if Lila already knew that she gets motion sickness, why didn't she prepare, or even go to Mme. Bustier about her problem? This was the first time we'd ever heard her say she gets motion sickness, and it seems pretty convenient that this illness excuse comes up right when Alya catches her trying to wake Marinette up. But I watched Lila when we went to the last car of the train to safety. Despite floating in space she didn't look nauseous at all. I would think that if she really was motion sick, that her stomach wouldn't have agreed so well with zero gravity. But she looked perfectly fine."

Alya rolls her eyes. "So what are you trying to say? That Lila was trying to break up Marinette and Adrien sleeping together?"

Mylene nods. "That's exactly what I'm saying. While we were all thrilled at them being together, Lila was the only one who wasn't. I was sitting up in my seat to watch Marinette and Adrien's nap just like the rest of you, but I was the only one who was able to see Lila's reaction clearly. She glared at Marinette the moment she saw her together with Adrien, and then immediately got up to try and wake Marinette up. She even glared at you and Sabrina when your backs were turned, right after she said that Sabrina was being sweet for helping her with her motion sickness."

"But that's impossible," Alya said. "Nino told me, that Lila told him, that she didn't like Adrien like that. Why would she try to break Marinette and Adrien up on the train if she didn't like him romantically? I'm telling you, Marinette's just jealous. She always gets like this when it looks like someone is after Adrien, you all know this. We've seen it."

The others nodded and Mylene glared at Alya, who frowned back uneasily. "Mylene, you're starting to creep me out. What's really going on here?"

"What's going on here, is that you're all treating me like we treated Marinette whenever she told us that Lila was lying. How is it that when Marinette and I, two friends who you've all known longer than Lila say that she's lying, suddenly it's like we're the liars? You're dismissing both Marinette and I's feelings and the evidence that I have-"

"What evidence?" Alya said, crossing her arms. "Because all I'm hearing is everything Marinette was telling us, and even then she couldn't prove anything. I'm telling you, I know that girl. This is just jealousy. She'll get over it and see that Lila is cool."

As the others began to agree with Alya, Mylene realized the truth in what Alya said. Marinette had been prone to jealousy in the past. It was just a fact, but that fact made all the difference as Mylene put on her most serious face and addressed all of them.

"If everything you're saying about Marinette is true, then what's my motive?"

Alya turned back towards Mylene, a confused frown on her face. "What do you mean what's your motive?"

"I mean, Alya," Mylene said. "What's my motive for siding with Marinette? It can't be that I like Adrien. We all know that I love Ivan and have never even thought of Adrien that way. So I can't be jealous of Lila like you claim Marinette is. In fact, I was right there with you all dismissing Marinette's claims whenever she told us Lila was a liar. And we've all established that Marinette was sleeping and had no prior contact with Lila before Lila attempted to wake Marinette up. I certainly didn't speak to Lila, and she didn't say anything to me. What reason do I have to turn against Lila and side with Marinette Alya? And you also talk about proof, but what proof do you have that Lila isn't a liar? Did you ever check out any of what she was telling you for your blog?"

Alya looked smug and was opened her mouth to speak before pausing and closing it, a contemplative look on her face. She looked up at Mylene, who just crossed her arms and smiled a bit, smug and confident. "Don't worry, I'll wait. Take all the time you need."

Alya frowned but went back to thinking. Everyone watched Alya's face morph into different emotions. Contemplation, annoyance, frustration, the last, and something Mylene had been hoping to see.

Doubt.

Alya looked around at the others, finally appearing to be done thinking, and all former traces from her earlier humor were now completely gone. "Girls, Mylene has a point."

Alix, Juleka and Rose looked at each other before Alix turned back to Alya. "What do you mean? Don't tell me you buy this."

"I mean," Alya said, frowning a bit. "that Mylene doesn't have a motive. She was right, she doesn't like Adrien and loves Ivan. I certainly don't remember her talking to Lila during that first train ride, nor the second one either. In fact, I remember her sticking close to Ivan during the entire trip..."

"And I stuck with Ivan the entire trip, before and after what I saw go down. I kept my eye on Lila after that. After what I saw, just being around her gives me the creeps."

"Oh come on!" Alix said, throwing her hands up in frustration. "That's going too far Mylene. Lila gives you the creeps now? I'm not buying it. You know what, I'll give one major motive as to why you're saying this, you're Marinette's friend. Look, I understand you want to stick up for Marinette, but I'm telling you this is just more of her shenanigans. We've never seen any evidence of what Marinette was accusing Lila of, and she's never been able to prove any of her accusations. Lets also not forget how she treated Kagami either when she came along. Face it Mylene, Marinette's nonsense is getting to you."

Mylene was about to was about to speak but before she could, a quiet voice interrupted her.

"Are you saying that you aren't Marinette's friend, Alix?"

Everyone's heads turned to Juleka, who was staring Alix down with a deep frown on her face. Alix, who was looking as shocked as everyone else was by Juleka's question, glared at her. "That's crazy! Of course Marinette is my friend!"

"Well based on what you're saying and how you're saying it, it certainly doesn't sound like Marinette is your friend." Mylene said, crossing her arms.

"Oh come on, you know what I meant! I love Marinette just like everyone else here does. I just don't believe what she's been saying about Lila. I don't know what you saw on the train Mylene, but I'm sure you're mistaken."

Rose, who was grasping Juleka's hand, spoke next. "But, if we're Marinette's friends, shouldn't we at least give her the benefit of the doubt? She's never even been like this with Chloe, and Chloe is mean! Marinette has always been there for us when we needed help, or at least tries to. We owe it to her to at least hear her out, and we haven't been doing that. And speaking of Kagami, didn't Marinette help Adrien on his date with Kagami, and make up with her on Friendship Day?"

"That's...actually true." Alya said as she tapped quickly on her phone and showed Marinette's Instagram, where there was a picture of her and Kagami together getting juice after the city wide game had ended. "Even when we were plotting to get her and Adrien together when he went to London with Kagami, she didn't go through with it and tried to confess by herself. I mean, it didn't end like she wanted but as far as we know, she didn't even speak to Kagami then..."

"Well...I guess that's true.." Alix said. "But if she could make up with Kagami, why can't she do the same with Lila?"

"Well..." Alya said, frowning a bit. "When Lila came back, Marinette was telling me and Nino that on Lila's first day, she followed Adrien and Lila. She was pretty adamant about Lila being a liar, and that's never changed..."

"Really?" Rose said. "Did she tell you anything else about why she followed them?"

Alya shook her head, her gaze on her hands in her lap. "Well, no...She didn't get a chance to finish because me and Nino interrupted her, and that's when that whole napkin thing happened..."

"I remember that." Mylene said as she looked down in shame. "I thought Marinette was being mean and chewed her out with Kim...She looked so hurt and frustrated that we didn't believe her and then just walked off..."

"You know," Alya said as her face became contemplative. "Now that I'm thinking it about it, that whole napkin thing was kind of weird."

"What do you mean?" said Alix, who now seemed to be more open to accepting that things weren't adding up.

"Well, I mean, napkins weigh nothing. And when Marinette called out Lila about her wrist, Lila kinda just looked around at everyone for a few seconds, and then that's when she dropped the napkin and showed that she was in pain...Then there was that whole thing about the napkin gouging out eyes and..."

Alya's frown deepened, her face turning into one of skepticism..."Wait that doesn't even make sense...The napkin wasn't even aimed at Max, and he wears glasses..."

Rose looked at Juleka, as she too began to frown. "Come to think of it, that delayed reaction to catching the napkin doesn't seem right. I remember believing Marinette about Lila faking it before she told that story about that napkin."

Juleka nodded. "When Lila looked around at everyone, it was almost like she was scared that we believed Marinette..."

Mylene mentally cheered. This was what she wanted. They were thinking critically now about everything Lila had said and done. She needed them to see the inconsistencies for themselves so that they would have no doubt about what she was telling them.

"Look, some things are weird, I understand that. But there's still no proof that Lila is lying or that she has it out for Marinette." Alix said. Though, Mylene thought, it does look like what everyone was saying was getting through to Alix. She looked unsure, and even now Mylene could see that Alix was mentally going over things in her head. Her eyes were troubled and her fists were clenched.

It looked like it was finally time to bring out the video. But first...

"Speaking of proof," Mylene said. "Alya, what did Lila say to you before she took a croissant? I know you saw that look on her face before she took one."

All eyes turned to Alya. "What look?" Juleka said as she clutched Rose's hand even tighter.

"When I offered Lila and Mme. Bustier a croissant, Lila had this look on her face like she was grossed out. But then she apologized and said that her stomach still wasn't completely settled from the train ride, so she wasn't too keen on food. She took one anyway and said that she'll eat it at home when her stomach feels better, and that she was excited to finally try one of the Dupain-Cheng's famous pastries. Then she went home."

Alix nodded and looked a bit relieved. "See Mylene? Lila just wasn't feeling well. She was even excited to try out Marinette's family's pastries."

This...This was her chance Mylene realized, before pulling out her phone and going to the video. She then reached for the remote, turned on the T.V., and connected her phone to it.

"I'm sorry Alix," Mylene said as she pressed play, the video playing on the T.V. "but I highly doubt Lila was as excited as she said she was."

They all watched as Lila walked to the end of the street, took the croissant that she was given in kindness and said she was so excited to try when she felt better, and chuck it violently into the garbage can. They saw her face change into something they didn't recognize, a sneer that could curdle dairy, and eyes that could make anyone cower. They saw as she looked satisfied with what she'd done and continued on her way home, unaware that her true self had been caught on video.

Unaware that she had been unmasked as the villain instead of the victim she made herself out to be.

And as Mylene looked at each of the girl's faces, she could tell that they finally, finally, believed her.

"Hey, is that Lila on T.V.?"

Everyone's heads turned to the voices, and saw that it was Ella and Etta, who were sleepily rubbing their eyes.

Alya got up then and went to them, trying to coax them back into bed. "Come on girls, you know it's too late for you to be up."

"Awww," they said as they began following Alya's lead back to their bedroom. "we wanna watch Lila's movie too!"

Alya paused then and shook her head. "That's not a movie."

"But Lila said she knows movie stars!" Etta said as she crossed her arms. Ella adopted the same stance as well before speaking. "Yeah, and when is she coming over again? We want a rematch at her game!"

"What game?" Alix said as she and the others, including Mylene, came to stand next to Alya.

"Her rap game! The one Alya played with Marinette!" They said in unison.

Alya seemd to freeze then, before frowning and kneeling down in front of Ella and Etta. "You mean Freestyle Clash? Lila told you that she made that game?"

"Well," Etta said. "She didn't tell us."

"Yeah, she told Chris when he was here." Ella said.

Mylene saw Alya's hand begin to tremble before she curled it into a fist and relaxed it. She stood up, and then began leading the twins back to their bedroom again. "I'll ask Lila about coming over again. For now, back to bed." Alya said, as the twins entered their bedroom and she closed the door after them.

She stood in front of their door for a few moments, her head bowed and her hair shielding her expression from them, before suddenly turning around, her eyes full of righteous fury. She whipped out her phone tapped a few times and put it to her ear.

"Wait," Mylene said with horror. Was Alya actually gonna call Lila?! "Alya who are-"

Alya's hand went up, cutting off Mylene as whoever she was calling finally picked up.

"Marinette? Hey, the girls and I are at my house for a sleepover. Think you can come over? Cuz we need to talk."