Everyone in the school knew that Lila Rossi was a giant liar. After all, most everyone had common sense, and information spread fast. It wasn’t a surprise, as her lies were outlandish and hard to take seriously, even in a school full of minor celebrities like two news reporters, a comic book power duo, and Marinette fucking Dupain-Cheng. Lila didn’t have any ready made proof like the true celebrities of the school, who could quickly source their involvement or even call up celebrities to back them up. (And it was hard to forget the day that Jagged Stone himself dropped by the school out of nowhere to pay his ‘honorary niece’ a visit.)
But what they did find out was that apparently the rest of the akuma class believed the bullshit coming out of Liela’s mouth. Marinette has vented to Chase, who told Aurora and Mirielle, who got confirmation from Nathaniel and Juleka, and then it started to spread rapidly as a new reason to hate the akuma class. Marc had wanted to take a knife to Lila. Nathaniel stopped him. Chase had wanted to sucker punch her. Marinette stopped him. Juleka’s new band of goths wanted to terrorize the class. Juleka didn’t stop them.
Still, even though the whole school looked at Lila with disgust, she didn’t seem to understand it as that. In her mind, it was impossible for the majority of people to not love her. It was always a few outsiders that she could neatly sweep away. Lost in her superiority complex, she held her head high as people whispered about her as she walked the halls. In her head, they were whispering jealously about her latest fictional adventures, or whispering words of adoration.
In reality...
“What the hell is she wearing?!” Chase Liu whisper-shouted as he watched her from his locker. His many friends were there with him, Marinette tucked affectionately to his side, with a protective arm around her shoulders and her hand tucked into his jacket pocket. They all snickered as Lila walked by in a neon orange jumper with dark green accents, and Marinette gagged.
“God, this is the worst outfit yet. She looks like a moldy tangerine.” She sighed in frustration.
“Does anyone think her braids kinda looks like p—“ Jack Kennedy was interrupted by his girlfriend.
“Yes, we know what they look like, Jack, we can all see it.” His girlfriend, Joan, was looking up at him with a look of warning, daring him to say what he was going to say out loud.
Jack wisely changed the subject. “Why, uh, does she look so proud? Is she trying to blaze off our eyeballs on purpose?”
“Pretty sure she’s just stupid, haha.” Came the soft voice of the student leader of the art club, Leo. He was wearing his smock as usual, and it was already lightly splattered with paint as he walked over to join the conversation.
“That’s sad to think about.” Jacques, towering above the rest of his friends, was still watching Lila walk proud as a peacock down the hall. “Bitch doesn’t even know we hate her.” On his shoulder, Rat the AI nodded it’s little robotic head solemnly.
“Enough about her, though! Let’s talk after school plans.” Chase grinned, flashing his fangs. “Me and Nettie have art club, of course, but after that I think we’re both free if anyone wants to go do something stupid.”
“I’m always down for doing something stupid!” Jack cheered.
“If that was the case you wouldn’t be dating me.” Joan mumbled with a chuckle, sparking an squawk of indignation from her boyfriend.
“Could go street racing. My boyfriend’s been looking for an excuse to bring out his bike.” Jacques suggested.
“I’ve got a bike too, so that’s three.” Joan grinned dangerously.
“I’ll play referee, then!” Leo smiled sweetly.
“What do you think, Nettie? It’s not too dangerous for you, is it?” Chase asked, carefully watching her reactions.
Marinette smiled. It was nice to know that there really was no pressure. She didn’t have to come if she didn’t want to, and if she wanted Chase’s company elsewhere, all she had to was ask. It was nice to have a choice, instead of being dragged along for her former classmates’ schemes with no care for her level of comfort. But she wanted to do this, so she nodded. “I’m in.” She giggled, hugging herself tighter to Chase’s side.
It was so domestic, to have a guy hold her like this so casually, even if they weren’t officially in a relationship. But it was so nice. Everything she’d ever wanted to have with Adrien, and yet more. So many times Adrien had made her feel like she wasn’t good enough, like she wasn’t wanted. Like she wasn’t desirable.
It wasn’t even winter yet and Chase had made her feel like the most precious girl in the world. He looked at her like he could hardly believe she was really here with him, like he could hardly believe she was real, she was so wonderful. He made her feel wanted, and every time she caught a glimpse of his dopey grin and soft eyes as he stared at her, her heart soared.
—
Peace wouldn’t stay peace forever, of course. Throughout the year, people got more and more fed up with Lila. And while some people could keep their cool, others were not so kind.
Heather Chandler intended to destroy Lila, to bring her down to her absolute lowest. She was tired of seeing this wannabe Queen Bee prancing around, and wanted to knock her down a few hundred pegs. And while Chloé Bourgeois could pretend that she was the queen of this school, everyone knew that what Heather Chandler, captain of the drama team and head of the student council, wanted, she would get.
