AN: Wow, I've gotten a fairly good response for this story so far, I'm keen on it being better though. I have the story plotted and we're looking at about twenty to thirty chapters, depending on how I pace it. Updates will probably be consistent, but not necessarily fast because I want to finish the following chapter before I post the current one (ie finish chapter four before posting chapter three and so on).

An Ally Gained is a Friend Lost

Marinette sputtered. "Revenge? I don't want revenge I want justice."

Chloe laughed, Sabrina joined in. "What's the difference, Dupain-Cheng?"

Marinette planted her hands on her hips. "The difference, Chloe, is that revenge is selfish and wrong and cruel. Justice is independent and fair. It's not something you dish out yourself." Chloe scoffed and rolled her eyes. She frowned at her reflection and snapped her fingers at Sabrina.

"Sabrina, mascara." Chloe snatched the proffered tube from Sabrina and began applying. "They both sound the same to me." Marinette shook her head. Chloe scowled and slapped the mascara tube down on the bench. "Don't look at me like that, Dupain-Cheng."

"Why don't you like Lila, Chloe?" Marinette asked slowly, watching Chloe's reflection cautiously. "Why do you want revenge?"

Chloe sighed as if she were dealing with a particularly draining child. "Isn't it obvious? Honestly, I thought you were smarter than that, Dupain-Cheng." Marinette gave Chloe a hard stare. "I want her to leave my Adrikins alone."

"That we can agree on." Marinette said. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "This isn't going to be like that time with Kagami is it?"

Chloe scoffed, tilting her head to examine her makeup from a different angle. "The only reason that didn't work is because you screwed up, Dupain-Cheng. But no. This is going to be much harder." Sabrina glanced wide-eyed between the girls, picking at a loose thread on her sweater all the while.

Marinette drummed her fingers against her arm. "We need allies." Chloe raised a sceptical eyebrow. "If we try to go against Lila directly without any she's just going to turn the tears up to eleven and alienate us even further."

"In case you haven't noticed, Dupain-Cheng," Chloe sneered, "I'm not exactly swimming in friends, and neither are you anymore." Marinette drew back, hackles raised. She opened her mouth to retort but stopped short. Chloe spoke the truth. Marinette nearly laughed. That was one thing setting Chloe above Lila at least. Marinette was isolated from her friends, not totally, not yet, but Lila had already wormed her way inside their thoughts. Marinette's near refusal to bend over backwards for the 'poor disabled girl' time and time again, had firmly labelled her as the bad guy.

Chloe continued, "I'm sure I can convince Adrien to-" Marinette shook her head and cut her off.

"Adrien knows she's lying." Marinette glowered at a crack in the counter. "He said that we should wait for her to get caught up by herself."

"Lying?" Chloe turned away from the mirror, both her eyebrows drawn low. "Is that what this is about? I thought you were just being a jealous bi-"

"I'm not jealous!" Marinette snapped, she balled her hands by her sides. She almost wanted there to be an akuma so she could get a few hits in as Ladybug. "Lila's using everyone to boost her own ego, and promising them the impossible for their loyalty. When she can't come through with her promises they're going to get their hearts broken."

"Sap," Chloe said with a flick of her ponytail. Sabrina stepped back to avoid getting hit in the face. "Lila's ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Her lies aren't even very good."

Marinette nodded in agreement. "Adrien doesn't want to do anything about it, he doesn't want her to get akumatised." She folded her arms and frowned hard. It was hard to reconcile both her love for Adrien and his actions regarding Lila in her mind.

Chloe sighed. "He always has been such a pushover. Never mind, he'll come around. Who else do you know that would help us? I know I can get my Daddy to pull a few strings and get her parents banned from Paris." Sabrina made a noise like a squished hamster, eyes bugging out comically. Chloe glared at her in the mirror and Sabrina shrank.

"If you did that, Lila would just leave and everyone would still love her and hate you even more for it." Marinette began to pace, increasingly conscious of how long she'd been in the bathroom. "We can't record her making her threats and telling her lies because her parents are powerful enough to file a lawsuit." Marinette whirled about and pointed to Chloe. "This is going to be hard and take time. We can discuss it more tonight, after school."

Chloe frowned and batted Marinette's finger away. "You don't get to boss me around, Dupain-Cheng." A thought seemed to occur to Chloe. "And this doesn't make us friends, either. I'm calling a truce until Lila is taken out." The corner of Marinette's mouth quirked up and she turned away.

"Whatever you say, Chloe. We'll talk more tonight." Marinette returned to class, and quietly took her seat. Alya and Nathaniel had swapped seats so that Alya could help Lila with her arthritis.

Ms Bustier looked up from her notes to pin Marinette with her stare. "Are you alright, Marinette? That was quite a long time."

"Sorry Ms Bustier," Marinette apologised. "I got caught up talking to Chloe."

"Very well, Marinette." Ms Bustier nodded and continued the lesson. Throughout the rest of the morning Marinette was keenly aware of the way the skin on the back of her neck felt scorched. Of the growing headache in the back of her head. Of the frosty air that passed between her and her classmates when they were pressed to interact.

By the time lunch started Marinette had resigned herself to being on the receiving end of a class-wide cold shoulder. Nino stood next to Marinette in the lunch line, keeping his chin to his chest even as Alya glared at Marinette over the top of his head. The rest of her classmates avoided her gaze and scattered when she neared. Stamping down the hurt, Marinette collected her lunch and sat with Alya and Nino, even as Alya burned a hole in Marinette's forehead with her eyes.

Alya took a long, loud drink from her juice box, her eyes practically aflame as she stared unblinking at Marinette. Nino nibbled at his sandwich, glancing wide-eyed between the girls as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

Alya slapped her empty juice box down on the table hard enough to make it shake. She leaned across the table, ready to strike.

"What the hell, Marinette?" Alya hissed. Marinette imagined Alya's tongue had turned into a viper. "Why are you being such a bitch to Lila? And what's with the whole hanging out with Chloe deal? This isn't like you."

"I told you before," Marinette ground out. Her fruit salad tasted like sand. "Lila's a fake and a phony and she's taking advantage of everyone's kindness and naivety-"

"Are you calling us naïve?" Alya reared back. Nino's eyes went wide and he shrank under their shared table.

"That's not what I meant!" Marinette panicked, she tried to reach out to soothe Alya but her wrist caught on her bowl and sent fruit salad flying everywhere. The juice dribbled dangerously close to Alya's phone.

"My phone!" Alya shrieked, snatching it up. She turned it over, drying it off. "You nearly ruined my phone!" Marinette shrank back, throat closing up. The entire cafeteria had turned their attention on the scene, muted whispers filtered their way into Marinette's brain, hissing like a den of snakes.

"I -I didn't mean to! Alya, it was an accident," Marinette pled. "I'm sorry!"

"No." Alya stood from the table, her seat scraped against the floor. "No. You know what, Marinette? Until you fix your attitude and pull that stick out of your ass, we're not friends anymore. You can either grow up and be nice to Lila, who has never been anything but sweet to-"

"I'm not listening to this," Marinette interrupted. She picked up her scattered lunch things and stood. "I have tried, so hard, to protect you all from Lila." Marinette blinked back tears. "She's just going to get you hurt." Marinette turned away, resolutely holding her chin up.

Lila's fake sobs filtered through the noise of the cafeteria to reach Marinette's ears. It took everything in her power not to cry for real.