Marinette was actually surprised that Lila had turned around to talk with her. Because after Lila tried avoiding her twice now, why wouldn't she do that now?

But that was less surprising than the fact that Lila had begun to stutter. In all the times she's ever seen Lila, the girl had been confident, purposeful and a persuasive speaker. She wondered why now, of all times, she was acting strangely. Maybe because this conversation should be held in a more private area.

"We can talk somewhere else?" She asked, and Lila barely nodded. The two went down the stairs and stood behind the banister, Lila following Marinette without speaking a word. Somehow Lila did not dash away. Marinette turned to face Lila again, but she waited for Lila to finish her sentence.

"No." Lila finally said, after several seconds, but she didn't meet Marinette's eyes. "You didn't do anything." A relief swept through Marinette; she hadn't done anything wrong. But the relief was short lived, because she remembered that Lila lied (not once, but twice) and there was nothing stopping her from lying now. Plus there was no explanation given towards her earlier behavior.

"That's good to hear." Marinette said, and she stepped a bit closer, closing the gap between them until there was only a foot of space, so she could speak more softly. She looked away, as well. "But, um, if you don't want to hang out with me or something, you can just tell me." Without lying about it and running away with Chloe Bourgeois.

Suddenly Lila's eyes flew open, seemingly in shock.

"And we don't have to be friends if you don't want to be." Marinette added truthfully. But she felt sad about that, especially since it had been her goal from the very beginning. She moved her gaze back to Lila's face, and was suddenly worried by the expression she saw. Lila's head was still tilted down, her eyes cast to the side still and her mouth in a small frown. Marinette sensed something was very wrong, or she had said the wrong thing and-

"No." Lila suddenly said, breaking the silence.

No? Marinette's face fell.

"I mean, no, it's not that I don't want to be friends." Lila waved her hands, attempting to clear up what she meant. Then her hands dropped back down to her sides. "I do, it's just-" Then she cut herself off, and Marinette's face brightened for a little, and then fell somehow even deeper than before. It's just… what? The seconds that passed were too many, and Marinette rushed to fill them.

"You don't have to tell me if you can't." She said quietly. Lila blinked, and then she looked embarrassed. Marinette was shocked by the disparity between the flirtatious Lila that had made Adrien believe she was the descendant of a superheroine, and the Lila that seemed at a loss for words here. She wasn't sure what to think about it. What could have changed? But no more words seemed to come from Lila, so Marinette moved to walk away and say goodbye.

Lila was mortified. She was a skilled liar and she was good at deception. The fact that no credible lies made their way to her mind was extremely worrisome; why couldn't she just bluff her way out of this conversation? She was even more embarrassed by the the silence that kept dragging on, which was entirely her fault. But she was also a bit shocked by the way Marinette handled it. She wasn't pressing her for more information, or forcing the conversation to go along. She was accepting Lila's brief moment of awkwardness, and she was allowing Lila not to tell her.

Lila, for some reason, didn't want to lie about the reason. But she couldn't very well say Oh Marinette, I think you're a really sweet and beautiful girl but I also think you're Ladybug, who I despise! So she was trying to figure out what to say about that. But her mind was empty and nothing was coming.

Then she saw as Marinette's face took on a resigned expression, and she began to move away. Oh, no. Lila's eyes widened and she watched as the girl slowly withdrew. Because the truth was that Lila really, really liked Marinette for some reason, and she really wanted to be friends with her.

If Marinette left now, that would be the end of it. She'd never be able to face the girl ever again, especially not after this disappointment of a talk. The shame would be too much. And if Marinette wasn't Ladybug, this whole thing would be wasted.

Lila willed herself to act. She had to make up for whatever awkward, stuttery Lila had been trying to talk to Marinette; she needed her strong and perceptive Lila for this job. This was the first girl that had wanted to be friends with Lila just for Lila, and not for anything else (at least she thought so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). And she had tried multiple times to befriend Lila.

Lila couldn't afford to lose this.

"Look." She began, and Marinette halted in her steps. Marinette's face literally glowed with hope. Why was she such an open book? The sincerity in every emotion Marinette showed was killing Lila. But she pressed on. "I've been going through a rough patch in life and I'm dealing with a lot. None of it is your fault, I promise. " She said in a stronger voice, which wasn't as much of a lie. She still prayed that Marinette was just a normal girl who just happened to want to be Lila's friend. And not a superheroine that had humiliated her.

Then she looked down again. She felt like Marinette knew about the Chloe thing, and she wanted to explain herself before Marinette was the one who brought it up. Because she felt like she should try and be honest back (sort of) so they could have a friendship. She also partly feared that if Marinette was indeed Ladybug, she would somehow see through any other significant lies that Lila told.

"I'm sorry about lunch." She said, and then she didn't know exactly how to explain the whole thing, so she just left it at that. "I do want to be friends." Lila added, making sure that fact was known. And Lila knew that at least that part was one hundred percent genuine. There was just the whole Ladybug nonsense that would sway it. Lila decided then and there that she would befriend Marinette. But this wasn't just a bad life decision, because she would also try to confirm whether the girl was Ladybug or not. And when she discovered the truth, she make the ultimate choice there.

When Lila looked back at Marinette, she had never seen a more radiant smile in her life.

She had caused that happiness. And then Lila, too, smiled, realizing she couldn't remember the last time she smiled with such heartfelt joy.

It was here that Marinette made the connection that Lila was acting so differently because she was trying to be honest. Lila was trying to be honest with her.

Marinette could have fainted. But she was very happy. When she had decided to befriend Lila from the very beginning, she had expected a much more painful process full of a lot of bragging, gloating and deception. She really only meant to become well acquainted or friendly with each other. Clearly she had misjudged the whole endeavor, and she was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. And she realized that this could become a much deeper friendship, where she could see Lila underneath all of her popularity and pride.

It was in this glorious moment of mutual happiness that there was suddenly a chorus of screams ripping through the air, followed by a ridiculously loud voice that was probably damaging the hair cells in people's basilar membranes (some fun knowledge about the human ear).

"I AM THE SCREAMER! NO ONE EVER LISTENED TO ME. AND NOW YOU WILL ONLY EVER HEAR ME!" The screeching voice continued. Both Marinette and Lila clapped their hands to their ears and watched from behind the stairs as a short figure that could not have been capable of producing a sound of that volume exited the school. They seemed to be a student (well they came out of the school, so…), but their akumatized form included bright blue hair all swept into spikes in one direction underneath a headset and narrow long sleeves that widened at the bottom, like a bell or a horn.

(image here: post/141972655697/quick-doodle-of-a-made-up-akuma-in-the-newest)

The person raised an arm and pointed it at some poor soul, who was assaulted with a torrent of bright blue rings. When the attack was over, the victim had a single ring of blue around their throat. They tried to scream again, but no sound came out. They were unable to speak until the akuma began to laugh, and then they laughed too, only to realize that the akuma's voice now controlled their voice.

Oh boy.

"Stay down!" Marinette whisper-shouted in the brief moment of calm, and both Lila and Marinette shuffled behind the bushes that were next to them. It was then Marinette realized she was in a bad situation; she was stuck with Lila and she had no idea how she would get alone to transform into Ladybug. The akuma then suddenly laughed again, only it was a volume that began to shake the ground. Marinette squeezed her hands tighter over her ears when the trembling in the floor knocked her crouching form backwards, right onto Lila. The two fell over and found themselves on the floor, Marinette sprawled out face-up and perpendicularly over Lila's body.

Oops oops oops.

Marinette moved to get up, but the sound forced her to clamp her hands back over her ears and she could not move for the life of her.

Mercifully the akuma stopped laughing and began to move away. Only the laser-like sounds of their attacks remained in the silence. That, and some terrified yells. Marinette finally sat up next to Lila, taking care not to hurt her.

"You okay?" She asked, rubbing one of her ringing ears. Lila had taken her own hands off of her head and she groaned.

"Definitely." Lila answered sarcastically. "I only had my eardrums blown out. No big deal."

Marinette snorted; she hadn't been expecting humor. She got up and pulled Lila up.

"You've got stuff in your hair." Marinette commented, and pulled out a twig.

"Just what I needed in my life." Lila said in monotone voice.

"I think we should hide in the school." Marinette decided, thinking. She could probably drop Lila off somewhere and then transform discretely. Good plan, she thought. Marinette took Lila's unoccupied hand (the one that wasn't picking out unidentified items out of her hair) and pulled her back up the stairs and into the school.

When they re-entered the building, they found a bunch of students hiding in multiple areas. A good chunk of them had the blue necklaces wrapped around their necks. IT was only a matter of time until the Screamer started speaking again, and all of the victims would be echoing their words, no matter how far away they were.

"I'm going to find Alya. She was waiting outside for me." Marinette said to Lila went they got to a classroom. Suddenly Lila's eyes narrowed the slightest bit.

"I'll come with you." She said, and there was slight suspicion in her voice. "It's not safe alone." Lila added.

"You don't have to if you're scared." Marinette returned, pleading on the inside that Lila would just stay with the others.

"I'm not scared." Lila crossed her arms. "But friends shouldn't let friends go alone."

This was great news. But it was also terrible news. She supposed she couldn't shake Lila off just yet.

"Okay. But stay close, got it?" Marinette gave in, and the girls left yet again. She glanced down at her slightly open purse. Tikki looked at her from inside, sort of questioning. I know, Tikki. "Maybe she went to my house?" Marinette suggested. That was a safe bet. It was fairly close and it provided some safety. And perhaps she could say she need to use the bathroom and escape then. Lila shrugged, not really knowing. Marinette nodded and they sprinted away, Marinette's hand closed around Lila's.

If Marinette had glanced behind her, she would have seen a faint blush on Lila's face. But she had bigger things to worry about.