Look What You Made Me Do

I May Have Gone Away But I Never Really Said Goodbye

Marinette honestly had no idea what had just happened. Nino stepping in to stand up for her was one of the last things she would have expected to happen. She knew Nino really loved Alya and had never wanted to get in the way of that. Unfortunately she wasn't surprised at all when Alya turned to blame her for this. Though it seemed like Nino was having none of it.

What had he meant when he said he hoped she changed her mind? That seemed a little on the nose. Suddenly her eyes widened a little, she remembered glancing up while playing her song and saw that Chloe had her phone out. Had Chloe been recording her and sent it to Nino?! She looked at Chloe but the blonde wasn't looking at her, so she turned her attention back to the raging red headed bull that was her ex-best friend.

"Alya I haven't said anything to Nino." she began. "I haven't spoken with him outside of school in forever. I don't even like or comment on his new music because I knew you'd be.....like this." She waved a hand at Alya.

"Like what?!" Alya demanded with a fierce glare.

"Like how you're being now." Chloe pointed out. "Your boyfriend spoke out of turn and you are losing your mind over it.."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alya couldn't believe this was happening. She knew Marinette had done something to make Nino say these things.

"Why is Marinette visiting Nino's music website in secret?" Lila asked her softly. "It would be one thing if she was openly visiting. But it sounds like she wanted to keep it a secret."

Alya's eyes widened. Lila was right! She glared even harder at Marinette and Chloe. Why couldn't Chloe mind her own damn business. "What are you doing on Nino's page Marinette?! You sound like such a creep!"

"Just because we're not close right now doesn't mean I don't support Nino's goal to become a DJ." Marinette sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, like the conversation was giving her a headache. "Alya you don't have to freak out. I haven't said or done anything to Nino. I know he's your boyfriend and I didn't comment on his site because I didn't want you to get mad at me or him. I'm sure you expected him to block my name or something."

Alya honestly had assumed that. He knew she didn't like Marinette and what she thought about it.

"Marinette you shouldn't have to worry about things like that." Nino said.

Alya's eyes widened when her boyfriend once again defended that lying witch. "Nino you don't understand." she started to protest.

"Alya drop it!" Nino snapped.

Alya felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over her head. She couldn't remember the last time Nino had called her anything else but Babe. "Nino....." she said, voice trailing off.

"Alya it's over." he said looking tired before walking off.

"Nino wait!" she cried as she ran after him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lila had honestly not expected things to go that way. When she had quietly egged Alya on it had only meant to be a distraction, she had been a little too real too out in the open earlier. So she needed something to cover that up. However she had not meant for Alya and Nino to get into a fight. To be honest it sounded like they were on the verge of breaking up if they hadn't just done that.

What the hell had gotten into Nino anyways? On the outside her expression was worried but inwardly she was frowning. What was going on that she was losing control of some of the others?! It started with just a few moments of questions and doubts but she had quickly been able to set things to right. Then there was her first big slip up, Juleka had seen her throw Marinette's pen in the pond at the botanical gardens. But thankfully Juleka was easy to scare into silence. Now there was damage control to do with this Nino fiasco.

Well it wasn't like Alya needed another reason to hate Marinette but it certainly didn't hurt. Yeah, she could work with this whether or not Nino and Alya broke up or stayed together. "Alya wait!" she exclaimed as she hurried after his supposed best friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow....that was just....yikes." Stephanie said with a whistle as she walked up to Marinette and Chloe. She had been tasked with collecting the stragglers since Babs was already inside with the others. She had been watching the little group from afar and it was quite the show. "What just happened?" she asked the girls.

"I....I think Alya and her boyfriend Nino just broke up." Marinette answered looking worried.

Stephanie nodded even though that answer told her nothing. But that didn't stop her from shooting Chloe a sly smile. "Not really much for details. Care to spoil the end of this story?"

"Glasses used to be Marinette's best friend." Chloe said, disgust obvious in her tone. "But after that lying harpy came into the picture she threw Mari away like she was trash on the promise of getting leads on stories that would get her sad little tabloid website views. DJ Loser used to be Marinette's childhood friend and followed his girlfriend's lead. He never outright turned his back on her....but he never stood up for her either. However it seems like he might be coming around. Maybe someone sent him something interesting."

That seemed to snap Marinette out of her daze. "Chloe did you record my playing Change Your Mind and send it to Nino?!"

"Maybe...maybe not." Chloe answered smugly. "I guess if you ever decide to forgive him you can ask."

Oh yes, Stephanie liked her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barbara looked up as Stephanie joined her. "Everything okay?" she asked.

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, there was a little bit of drama with those girls we were warned about, but it wasn't anything too bad. Just stupid teenage drama."

"Careful." Babs warned. "Apparently it's because people fall for that Lila girl's innocent act that she gets away with so much."

"Eh, the Ladyblog girl got in a fight with her boyfriend because he was nice to Marinette." Steph reported.

Barbara blinked. "Oh....well yeah that is stupid teenage shit." From what she had heard about this Lila girl and what she had seen so far she was not fooled for a second, and she knew Stephanie was right there with her.

"That girl certainly has a calculating edge to her." the blonde warned. "But I think Chloe and Marinette can handle her in the end."

"You sure you're not just saying that because Marinette made a Spoiler outfit?" Babs teased.

"That is just a bonus." Steph smiled.