Chapter Text
Marinette was absolutely furious. Who did Lila think she was? Bossing around everyone in the class as though she owns the place, all because of some obviously-fake injury that she’d somehow gained while on what another one of her also-obviously-fake vacations to god knows where. The worst part was Marinette knew that if she spoke up about it, the entire class would just turn against her. Her friends had been completely wrapped around Lila’s finger.
At first, Marinette had turned to Adrien for help - as he was the only boy in the whole class- the whole school who knew Lila was a liar, but soon enough he too was manipulated into giving in to the wicked girl’s demands. Marinette knew he didn’t believe a word the girl said, but he was so used to giving up to people that he just assumed that it was the right course of action.
She had been left completely alone in her fury - just as Lila had planned.
She absolutely detested that Lila had gotten her way once again, but she was determined not to let it get her down. Following in her best friend Alya’s footsteps, Marinette was quickly becoming an avid journalist: jotting down every lie Lila let fall out of her mouth, making sure to note in detail the ones that didn’t make sense. She was pretty used to following others around due to her intense - but suddenly fleeting - crush on Adrien.
What she hadn’t realised was that not everyone in the world was as oblivious as the boy who’d spent his entire life sheltered in a huge mansion.
Lila had spotted Marinette when she’d followed her to the local park, and had cornered her behind a tree that no-one could see unless they specifically looked.
“Any reason in particular you’re following me around Dupain-Cheng?” Lila asked in an accusatory tone.
“I’m going to prove to everyone what a liar you are, Lila! You fooled everyone else but I swear that once they see the evidence I collected they won’t be on your side anymore!”
“Oh, that’s your game? Fair enough.” Lila smirked. “If you even try to expose me I’ll be forced to dig up a little dirt on you too.”
“There’s nothing you can 'dig up' on me Lila, I’m not a liar.”
Lila chuckled, before meeting Marinette’s eyes and saying, “Is that so, Dupain-Cheng? We’ll see about that.”
Lila laughed to herself once more, then pushed Marinette aside.
As soon as she left from behind the tree, she immediately began ‘limping’ again, once more faking her non-existent injury.
Wrong leg. Marinette thought to herself happily, trying not to let Lila’s threat stick in her mind.
*
The next few weeks passed uneventfully, with Marinette keeping a close eye on Lila, and with Lila clearly watching Marinette for any kind of slip-up that she could use as blackmail. The two of them had created a sort of uneasy truce, where one wouldn’t ruin the other unless the other acted first.
Of course, all good things come to an end, and Marinette, being as clumsy as she was, was bound to make a slip-up.
That slip-up came in the form of Kagami Tsurugi.
Marinette and Kagami had a special kind of friendship. One where the two of them could not talk for weeks at a time yet still be as close as the last time they met.
The two girls went to two different schools and lived two entirely separate lives, yet still managed to bond against the odds due to their mutual crush on Adrien Agreste.
However, due to Adrien’s decision to follow Lila rather than ‘seek justice’ as Marinette had described it, both girls had slowly been losing interest in him. Naturally, this had only brought them closer together.
Marinette had caught wind of an André sighting near the Louvre, and since she hadn’t spoken to Kagami in some time she decided they could catch up over ice cream, as friends often did. That was the idea, anyway.
What had started as a normal hangout between friends quickly went south when Lila Rossi herself managed to find the two and snap a pic as they shared an ice cream that seemed incredibly similar to the hair and eye colour of both girls.
It was known amongst all students in Paris that when a couple became official, they would find André and share one of his famous ice creams together as a mark of love. Lila, being a student, knew this of course, and when she somehow accidentally took a selfie with the two of them sharing an ice cream in the background to ‘show off her new bangs’ and accidentally shared it to the entire class, she accidentally sent rumours flying through the school about Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her new girlfriend.
By accident, of course.