To those who don't believe in love, I say trust life a little."

How did I get to here?

The brunette run her hand through her hair. "This is crazy."

Nathanaël turned to her, the moonlight glinting in his blue eyes. "Lila, it'll be fine. Trust me."

Lila bit her lip, but tried to smile. "I do trust you."

The boy reached out and squeezed her hand. Lila was thankful for the contact, but she couldn't help thinking what they were doing was twenty kinds of crazy.

As Nathanaël pushed the door open, the first thing Lila noticed was lots of little white lights floating everywhere. The second thing she noticed was the tall dark figure standing in the middle of the room.

But the last thing she noticed was the black butterfly flying out the window and Nathanaël screaming.


One Month Before

Days since incident: 7

Today's going to be good. I can feel it. Lila sat up and switched off the TV. There hadn't been a single mention of Ladybug all morning. She watched the morning report as preparation for her day. If Nadja or Alec mentioned Ladybug she could hear what they had to say and try not to burn up in anger.

On the way to school, she would open up Alya's Ladyblog on her phone and read any of the newest posts. It was strange, yes, but Lila had found that trying to avoid Volpina had only made things worse. So she decided the best way to deal with her and Ladybug was by exposure.

As her mamma pulled up out in front of the school, Lila quickly closed the Ladyblog and blew a kiss to her mother.

She shut the car door behind her. As she slid her phone into her bag, a blur of pink and blue suddenly attacked her.

"Lila, how was your weekend?" Marinette pulled Lila out of the hug and pulled her towards the school stairs. Alya nudged her shoulder and winked.

"Not a single fox attack all week, huh? Nice." The blogger waved her phone screen at Lila.

Lila blushed. "I guess I've had a good run. Thanks to you guys, of course."

Marinette smiled. "Don't be silly. This is all on you, Lila. Congrats. Everyone's already forgotten about Volpina it's been so long."

The three girls were greeted by the rest of their little band of pals. Nino high-fived Lila and gave Alya a swift hug. Adrien stood back, a shy grin on his face.

Lila glanced at Marinette, who was giving Adrien the same mysterious expression.

Something seems a little different between those two...

"Oh yeah, Lila, I forgot." Alya hissed out of earshot of the boys. "Marinette finally confessed!"

"I didn't, Alya! D-don't be silly." Marinette glowed a deep crimson.

"Oh my gosh, you totally did." Lila elbowed her stammering friend. "What did he say?"

Marinette glanced over to Adrien, and when she caught his eye squeaked and turned back around. "H-h-he... Uh... Sort of..."

Alya grabbed the blunette's shoulders. "Girl, you can tell us! C'mon!"

"O-okay. Well... Actually, uh, he... Feels sort of the same way..."

"OH MY GOSH!" Alya nearly threw Marinette in the air and started dancing around her.

Lila smiled in pride, but couldn't help feeling a pinch in her chest. She was happy for her friend, of course, but everyone knew she had had a crush on Adrien as well.

But if he's with Mari, I'm happy. They deserve each other.

"We need to get to class." Lila gently pushed her friends forward. "You don't want to miss out seeing your boyfriend, do you?"

Marinette waved her hands, flustered. "Nonono, we're not dating!"

Alya stared sceptically. "Oh?"

Marinette began to stumble over her words, trying to find a way to explain how that could be true. It was hard, because as we all know, Marinette was in fact also Parisian superhero Ladybug. Adrien wasn't in love with Marinette, per se, but he did love Ladybug. That was enough for Mari.

"When are you two going to get married?" Alya adjusted her glasses and unlocked her phone. "I need to make sure I'm free."

"Alya! I-I just t-told you th-that-" Marinette begun to shrink. Lila leaped in front of her friend and Alya's phone pushed out of her face. "Come on, Al, calm down. We don't need to talk about this. What I want to know is when you're getting married to Nino."

Alya made a sour face and blushed a little. "C'mon, why is that important? I, uh..."

Lila stood back and laughed. "Come on, you two. We should really get going. If we wait any longer Mme Bustier will have our heads. Besides, both of you have sweet boys who await your presence!"

"LILA!" Marinette and Alya hissed in unison.

The Italian brunette simply waved and walked on ahead. She didn't have anyone to look forward to seeing, but the façade she had been holding was starting to crumble. Lila was happy for her friend, honestly, but that didn't change the fact that Adrien was also the boy she had admired from Italy for so long, it still hurt her a little.

Her seat wasn't anything special. She sat all the way up the back beside a boy with long red hair whose fringe covered most of his face. She could barely even remember his name; they talked so little. Alya told her that he had once become the Evillustrator, a villain whose drawing came to life and was hell-bent on getting revenge on Chloé.

Uh, Chloé. Besides her, Ms Bourgeois was the most hated girl in the class. She also happened to be a Ladybug fan, and for a week tried to find a lawyer to sue Lila for harassment and indecency towards the heroine. It didn't work, even though Chloé does have experience in politics, she had no clue about the legal system.

Lila slid into her usual spot, and glanced over at her desk partner. He was sketching something in his binder book, per usual. Bored, Lila closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms. Her ears pricked and she caught snippets of conversation from around her. She could hear the light scratching of the boy's pencil on the paper, and tried to imagine what he could possibly be drawing.

There was a sudden pause, followed the sound of pages turning, and then he seemed to be back at it again. Lila replayed the slight whisper of the paper moving in her head. It was soothing, like reminiscing with an old friend and finding that nothing about their wonderful personality had changed.

The more Lila listened to the noise in her head, the more her faint smile grew on her face. The boy glanced at her from behind his fringe and couldn't help but smile as well. She looked so graceful and at ease.

Mme. Bustier began roll call and Lila sat up so she could hear her name being called. She listened extra closely to the students who responded to names she was unfamiliar with. The goth girl opposite her on the right side of the room was called Juleka. The bug-eyed pink-clad girl beside Juleka was Rose, and Lila already knew the boys sitting in front them were Max and Kim (they were both called on a lot- for differed reasons.) The girls in the second row from the front were Mylene and Alix on the right, and of course Marinette and Alya on the left. The tall boy who took up most of his own seat was Ivan. Lila found it frustrating to sit behind him, as she often couldn't read the board properly, but she could see why Mr. Illustrator had chosen this spot. He could easily hide behind Ivan and sketch without the teachers suspecting anything. It also meant he could sleep in class if he wanted to.

About halfway down the roll, Mme. Bustier called "Nathaniel Kurtzberg" and the boy beside her raised his hand.

Nathaniel. That's his name. Lila glanced over at him. Weird.

He looked up and caught her staring. His sapphire eyes grew wide in surprise. Lila turned away, embarrassed. She waited for twenty full seconds before she heard the sound of Nathaniel's pencil moving on the cream paper.

Turning back to the board, Lila spent the rest of the class secretly listening to the pencil, envisioning the world her desk partner was creating while the rest of the class worked to make sense of Shakespeare's perplexing language.

Maybe tomorrow I'll ask if I can see his book. Lila mused as the bell signaled the end of the lesson. But first I need to be a little less rude to him. I don't think we spoke once in that hour.

"Lila!" Alya grabbed her friend's hand and practically pulled her out of the classroom. "Come on!"

Lila smiled. "Okay, but can you let me go?"

"Oh right. Marinette, are you coming?"

"Yes, yes, give me a moment."

Nathaniel's face slipped from Lila's memory, and she laughed along with the other two. I should just be grateful for the friends I have right now.

(I apologise for the Western influence, I tried to research the curriculum for Yr 10s in France but my searching came to nothing. So English Shakespeare it is.)