A Ladybug's Wrath

Four

With the class focused on Lila, Marinette left the Presidential duties folder on Ms Bustier's desk and easily escaped the room; what she hadn't counted on was Adrien following her. She was already down the stairs and on her way out when she heard him call out to her.

"Marinette!" She stopped and sighed, realizing she was going to have a really tough conversation that she was dreading. She turned towards him, waiting for him to catch up. Luckily, most people had already left and her classmates were still fawning over Lila, so it was likely no one would listen to their conversation.

"Marinette, what just happened in there? I know I said not to expose her, but I didn't mean for you to go along with her lies. And letting her be Class President? Why would you do that? We both know you're a great Class President and giving her that role would only give her more power over our class-" Adrien rambled on until Marinette cut in.

"I don't mean to interrupt Adrien, but out of the two of us, I think I should be the one questioning you." Marinette paused, looking Adrien directly in the eyes. "What were you thinking? Of all choices you could have made, you made the most cowardly one there was." Adrien flinched back, acting as if she had slapped him.

" We both know Lila has an in with your father, and then you go and make a deal with her while using yourself as collateral, effectively trapping yourself between the two of them. All of that, for what Adrien? To spare everyone's feelings? To avoid confrontation?" Marinette narrowed her eyes at Adrien during her last sentence. He squirmed under her gaze.

"Not only was it cowardly, it was also disloyal. You're allowing your friends to believe Lila is going to help them with their careers. Alya's already posted her lies all over her blog, which will eventually destroy her credibility. Have you even thought about what will happen when it all comes out?"

Seeing his furrowed brow, he clearly hasn't.

"By allowing her to keep lying, she's only going to build her web of lies bigger and bigger, involving more people and when it finally all comes out, even more people will be involved in the fallout. People that could all become Hawkmoth's akuma victims. By delaying the inevitable, you've only made things worse."

Comprehension finally seemed to dawn, and then horror.

"I wanted Lila to have the Class President role because then she would focus on her power over the class, instead of outside of it." Well, that was part of the reason, but Adrien didn't need to know the whole plan.

"... Marinette, I'm so sorry."

"I understand you don't like confrontation, Adrien, but I really think you need to start thinking ahead. Sometimes, confrontation is needed."

Marinette went to turn, but stopped, pulling something out of her bag. She held her hand out and Adrien looked down to see a folded black umbrella.

"I found it in my room the other day, I'm sorry that I kept it for so long." Adrien took it, almost gasping at the familiar inscription on the handle: Emilie Agreste. When he looked up to thank her, he saw her already walking away from him.

—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_—

"Is that another list, Marinette?" Tikki looked over Marinette's shoulder as her holder stared down at her notebook. There were only a few words written on it though.

"I already have my designing station set up, but I'm going to need a website for the next part of my plan to work. Problem is, I have no idea how to create a website." She continued to stare at it hopelessly. She would usually go to Max for this type of problem, but she didn't want anyone in the class to be aware of her extracurriculars.