AKA: The One With A Fashion Show
Summary:
Lila discovers exactly why she shouldn’t lie about knowing somebody. Especially when that somebody is her most hated classmate. MDC was all too amused. Lila lying about knowing MDC was like Lila lying about knowing Ladybug. Marinette couldn’t exactly stand up and proclaim: “Yeah, Lila isn’t actually friends with them, because I am them, and we hate each other.” So Marinette was forced to cringe and suffer in silence as Lila’s lies grated on her ears.
It hadn’t taken too long for MDC to become a household name. After a couple of Twitter shout-outs from Jagged Stone, Adrien Agreste, Audrey Bourgeois and Clara Nightingale had everybody curious about Marinette’s acronym. It wasn’t particularly hard to set up a website─she’d been helping Alya with the Ladyblog for years─and MDC was suddenly the hottest new sensation out there. Of course, that was before the partnership with Gabriel.
Of all her classmates, only Adrien and Chloé knew her second secret identity. Her Chaton had been the one to suggest her actually creating a brand and Chloé’s mother had been all too eager to be known as the mentor of the newest fashion mystery. Marinette had later been approached by Adrien, who’d been approached by Nathalie, about their brands working together on a new line. Marinette needed to focus on that─ not Lila’s yammering.
“Can’t believe Chloé has MDC clothes,” she heard Juleka murmur. Like most of their classmates, she still hadn’t gotten over her contempt for the Mayor’s daughter.
“She probably started whining to Mommy,” Kim laughed, rubbing his eyes in imitation of a crying baby. Marinette sighed. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. Audrey could barely remember Chloé’s name─she could never be bothered to buy her presents. No, Marinette had actually designed Chloé outfit personally, as a thank-you for trying to be a better person. It might’ve actually worked, too. She hadn’t heard Chloé demand Sabrina to do anything today.
“Actually,” Lila started off shyly. Marinette huffed, rolling her eyes. She wondered what bogus claim Lila would make this time. “I─I asked MDC to make it for her.”
“ What ?!” Alya demanded, her head snapping up. “Girl, why would you do that?”
Lila flinched. Marinette honestly wished Lila would just leave and become an actress. Her claims might actually turn out to be true if she tried. “I─I just wanted to get it for her birthday. I thought, maybe if I got her a gift she’d be nicer!” Marinette suppressed a snort. Chloé’s birthday wasn’t for another six months. Of course, none of their classmates knew that. It was just the kind of thing she learned as Class Rep.
Alya laughed, wrapping an arm around Lila’s shoulders. “Girl, you are far too nice.”
Rose, however, had fallen for the bait Lila had dropped. “Wait, you know MDC?!”
“I─I...” Lila looked at her hands. “I shouldn’t say…”
Alya shook her head fervently. “No way girl! You can’t drop a bomb like that and expect us not to ask! C’mon, who are they?!”
Lila sighed. “Oh, fine!” she lifted her hands dramatically. “Yes, I know MDC. But you can’t say anything! He would be so upset with me if I told anybody! And I won’t say who he is, either!”
