Alya was walking in the school courtyard, trying to find Lila. She spotted her standing under the stairs talking to Aurore. Alya got closer and could hear what they were talking about. “Aurore, I heard you started up a Ladybug themed blog too! That is so cool. Since you’re just starting out and don’t have many followers, I would be happy to give you an interview. I am Ladybug’s best friend after all. If you posted an interview with me, you would gain a lot of followers. I could tell you all about Ladybug.” Alya couldn’t believe how sweet Lila was to try and help Aurore. But how Aurore responded, made Alya enraged.
————-
Aurore knew that Lila was a liar. It was obvious to anybody who paid any attention. Ladybug wouldn’t have a civilian best friend, she never stays around long enough after akuma battles to talk and she is only ever seen at akuma battles. But Aurore knew from what Marinette had told her that she needed to be careful turning down Lila, or Lila would target her and make her life hard. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, and politely said, “Thank you for the offer Lila, but I’ll pass. I want to focus more on the akuma battles and public safety information, instead of personal information about Ladybug.”
—————-
Lila was furious. How dare this pathetic amateur reporter turn her down. Lila wanted more attention, and Aurore’s blog would be the way to get it. Before Lila could get a word in, Alya jumped in, ready to defend her friend. “Aurore that is so rude. Lila is offering to help you get your blog off the ground and you say no? What? Are you too good for Lila?” This time, Aurore couldn’t hold back the eye roll. Aurore said what she could to try and diffuse the situation. “No, I don’t think I am too good for her. I simply want to focus on the akuma battles instead of Ladybug herself. Also, I am a bit worried for Lila’s safety. After all, broadcasting that you are Ladybug’s best friend can bring some bad attention. What if Hawkmoth targets her because of the interviews on your blog. I don’t want to risk her safety further for some extra views on my blog. I have to go now, I am late for class.” Aurore pushes her way between the two girls and retreats to her classroom, glad to be out of that situation for now.
————–
Later in the day, Alya is still fuming. How dare Aurore say that. My blog isn’t putting Lila in danger. And besides Ladybug would save her best friend if she were in danger. She has saved Lila before. Aurore just thinks she is too good for Lila. That must be it. I’ll show her. Alya jumped onto her blog and wrote a new post. This post was all about Aurore and her blog. Alya ranted against Aurore, calling her ungrateful and saying she is a poor journalist. Alya felt pretty proud when she posted the story. She had stood up for her friend. She went to bed, happy to have stood up for Lila.
—————
When Alya woke up, she saw that her blog had hundreds of notifications from her latest post. Alya was excited to read the feedback, sure that her fans would take her side. But she was shocked to see the opposite. All of her readers took Aurore’s side, claiming that she fact checked and that her blog was more accurate. They also tore apart what Alya had said about Lila and all of Lila’s stories on her blog. Alya looked at the comments in horror, sure that there had to be some mistake. She scoured the internet, looking for any proof that she could use to defend her friend, but she couldn’t find anything. By that night, Alya came to the realization that Lila had lied to her. Alya went to school on Monday, ready to confront Lila and apologize to Aurore, but Lila was gone.
—————–
Lila had seen Alya’s post too and felt dread grow in her stomach as she watched the comments flood in, calling out all her lies. She knew once Alya saw those, she would be revealed as a liar. Lila couldn’t take that, so she convinced her mom that she was scared of all the akumas and took the first plane back to Italy, planning to start over with a new class of suckers. But when her mother went to get the necessary papers to transfer her daughter, Mrs. Rossi discovered all the lies that Lila had told the school. Mrs. Rossi decided to enroll Lila at a strict boarding school, and warned the school about Lila’s lying. Lila was never able to get control of her class and was miserable at her new school.
—————–
Alya apologized to Aurore and Marinette after she realized about Lila. She also took down all of her interviews with Lila and apologized to her readers. She vowed to be more thorough with her fact checking and to not publish information unless she was sure that it was true and had multiple sources to back it up. Aurore had even volunteered to help Alya with her fact checking and show Alya the resources that she used to fact check for her blog. The Ladyblog and The Ladybug Out Blog both grew in popularity and Alya and Aurore became close friends now that the liar was gone.
