The Salt Files (MLB)

Wrong Number, Alya

Lila lies, Alya accuses Marinette of sending her death threats, and was determined to prove it.

Ever since Lila took away all her friends, Marinette has been getting bullied by them relentlessly. But she had to admit, it felt like there was a weight lifted off her shoulders after it happened.  She even had more free time, so she started making commissions for extra money. But that's not what this story is about.

No, this story is about how her "friends" realized the truth and tried to get back into her good graces.

It happened on a Wednesday, and Marinette was having a decent day so far. Her bullies weren't speaking to her, just glaring at a distance. She wasn't really concerned, just glad that they weren't beating her up today. But of course, things had to take a turn at lunch.

While Marinette was texting her boyfriend Luka, Lila was telling her latest lie to her devoted followers. Alya was eating it up like candy, anxious for a scoop for her blog. Before the bluenette knew it, Alya was stomping over towards her and grabbed everyone's attention.

"Marinette, what is wrong with you?!" Alya yelled. Marinette just stared.

"What did 'I' do now?" Alya fumed.

"You know what you did! You've been sending Lila death threats, that's what! And you are just treating it like it's nothing!" Alya was about to go in and hit the girl, but she dodges it and sent Alya face first into her food.

"I didn't do that, I don't even have her number." Marinette deadpanned. Alya wiped the food off her face, held up her phone scrolled through her contacts until she found Marinette's name. She put the screen in the girl's face.

"This is your number!" Marinette looked at her and smirked.

"No it's not. I changed numbers a while ago, thanks for noticing. And if that was my number, I would have blocked it. If you are so sure that's mine though, then call it." Alya didn't like how confident Marinette was being and decided to call it to prove her wrong. 

Marinette held up her phone as Alya's rang. Nothing appeared on her phone, but instead Lila's rang, making everyone face her. How did everything go wrong in a matter of seconds?

"Lila, why is your phone ringing?" Rose asked. Lila paled.

"O-Oh...that's just my mom!" A random classmate grabbed her phone and held it up, showing everyone that it read Alya. Everyone gasped and sent glares towards her and the blogger.

"My work here is done." Marinette left, not wanting to deal with the drama right now. She walked out of the school and met up with Luka at her parents' bakery.

"Is everything ok, Melody?" Luka asked, sensing her annoyance.

"Lila was probably about to get exposed." Luka grinned.

"Then why did you leave? You would have had a good show, or at least a good movie for later." Now it was Marinette's turn to grin.

"Because if she was exposed for lying, they would pester me about forgiveness almost immediately after. I'd rather spend time with you and Juleka." Luka nodded in understanding and they walked hand-in-hand to Andre's Ice Cream Cart (that's his name right?)

The Next Day

Luka was right, Marinette did miss a show. The entire school found out Lila was lying, and she got into some major trouble with incomplete schoolwork, unexcused absences for long periods of time, and for even giving fake contact information to her parents. Apparently she's moving out of the city as soon as the week was done.

And as she predicted, the class was trying to get into her good graces again. "Marinette, they didn't mean it, you should forigve them. Besides, the lies weren't hurting anyone." Adrien said. The room practically froze as they processed what they just heard.

"You knew?" Alix yelled.

"You knew and didn't think to tell us?!" Alya screamed. As the class continued to scream over each other, Marinette couldn't help but smirk at the new teacher. Bustier and Damocles lost their jobs because of the incident, and were replaced almost immediately. The new teacher was another copy of Miss Mendeliev, but she didn't put pressure on Marinette and others like Bustier did.

Marinette never forgave them. Adrien continued to try to convince them that the lies didn't hurt but everyone ignored him. Marinette became successful while the others were stuck in harsh realities instead of doing their dream jobs.

That's what happens when you believe a liar.

732 words