The Fox and the Ladybug

Part Seventeen: Pegasus Party

Lila's POV

3:47 pm

The bell rang for all the students to pack up and leave the campus. It was Friday, which meant it was technically the weekend. I walked out of the building and saw Kagami and Luka talking on the staircase. They saw me and waved me over.

"Hey, Rose is having a birthday party and she invited me, but I can bring..." Kagami looked at the bright rainbow invitation. "Plus five?" Kagami asked. I looked at the letter and Kagami was not mistaken; it said plus five.

"Anyways," Kagami continued, "Want to come with us?"

"Sure, why not? I assume it'll be unicorn themed?" I guessed. Kagami shook her head, surprising me.

"Nope, pegasus themed," Kagami explained. Oh, that makes more sense. Rose was always the cheerful, unicorn-loving one of Marinette's group. She didn't believe the negative rumors about me due to her naive instincts. Not that that's bad, of course. It would be kind of nice to be that positive all the time, wouldn't it? She was someone that I think would still root for me if she knew the truth.

Not that she's going to anytime soon, though. I don't even know what I'm gonna do about that. Marinette probably wants me to tell the truth, but-

"Guys, I have an idea!" I said excitedly and ran back into the school making a beeline for the art club. After running up flights of stairs, I saw Marinette working on a piece inside the room, accompanied by Ivan, Mylene, and Max who were working on a poster of some sort.

Every time I walked into the art club, I was reminded that I needed to come back here more often. Compared to the other classrooms in the school, the art club was so colorful and pretty. Not too overwhelming like 10,000 different flavors of ice cream on your tongue, but just a collection of unique art pieces rolled into one perfectly neat wall that somehow all worked well together despite how different the were.

While walking up to Marinette who was so invested in her painting that she didn't notice my presence, I caught a glimpse of the poster the others were hunched over.

"Hey, what's the poster for?" I asked Mylene.

"It's a poster for the Valentines' Day dance, of course! Mr. Damocles asked us if we could make some posters," Mylene replied without looking up from the markers she was inspecting carefully.

"Oh, shit! I totally forgot about Valentines' Day!" I cursed out loud. Usually the holiday didn't really matter to me much, but I kind of wanted to ask Marinette out. I'll explain later, since I know this is...sudden.

Mylene smiled. "It's okay, at least you know now. Is there anyone you're thinking of asking out?" she asked me bluntly.

"Uhh, no, I don't think so!" I lied, trying not to glance at Marinette behind me. I quickly walked towards her to end my conversation with Mylene.

Marinette looked behind her and a bright smile formed on her face, making a smile on my face form as well. Her midnight silk hair that was usually in twin pigtails was in neat space buns accompanied by red ribbons.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked nervously. I looked over to her painting. It was a silhouette of a person on a blackened grassy plain, holding the hand of a similar silhouette looking at them. The sky was the only thing in the painting that consisted of color. It was a fiery red sky dappled with freckles of orange and yellow.

"Rose is having a birthday party, want to come?" I asked. I assumed Rose and Marinette were close since they spent so much time together, but then again I should know that just because two people spend a lot of time together, it doesn't mean they like each other's company. But hey, that's just me, I suppose.

"Of course, I couldn't miss Rose's birthday! Rose actually gave me an invitation of my own, so you don't have to waste your plus one's," she reasoned. I chuckled slightly.

"It's kind of hard to waste your plus one's when you get five," I mumbled loud enough for her to hear. She giggled.

"Fair enough," she said. "Also, I was actually wondering if you..um..." Her face looked like she got into a very unfortunate accident with pink acrylic but then heard on Instagram that paint is good for your skin, so she spread it around. That's a weird comparison, I know. I should work on that.

"Hmm?" I said. Her diamond blue eyes looked from my own to her thighs, then her shoes, then the clock...anywhere but me, that's for sure.

"Would you go with me to, um, uhhhh-" Her face just looked like she put more paint on her skin. She was, however, interrupted by an announcement coming from the school speakers.

"Students, evacuate the campus now. We have someone coming to fix the pipes. I repeat, evacuate the campus now," Mr. Damocles spoke through the intercom.

"What were you going to tell me?" I asked, feeling bad that she got interrupted.

"Oh, nothing!" she said quickly.

"Marinette, we both know it's not "nothing". Tell me what's wrong!" I insisted. I thought we were good enough friends that she wouldn't keep stuff from me. But I guess I forgot who I was. Lila. Marinette's enemy. My thoughts turned more bitter and negative by the second.

"No, it's seriously nothing!" Marinette smiled nervously. Her smile ceased as she noticed the hopeless expression on my face.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "Are you okay?" She put a big emphasis on the word 'you'.

"No, I'm not okay! In fact, I'm annoyed at you, Marinette! I know our friendship is really sudden, but I really felt like you could tell me anything! Please, tell me what's bothering you!" My voice started to break with my last couple sentences. She gave me a guilty and nervous look.

"Lila, it's not you, I promise! It's just I..." her voice ceased to a halt, but it didn't make a difference. I knew what she was going to say. That she didn't trust me with her feelings. That she didn't trust...me.

"Save it," I snapped bitterly, anger taking over my brain, leaving no ration behind. "You'll never trust me, you still hate me!" I took my backpack from her hands and ran down the stairs in blinding fury, not looking back at her face, now in tears.