Adrien was sure that Marinette was overreacting. Yeah, Lila’s lies were annoying, but she wasn’t hurting anybody. She was just trying to make friends. Adrien was sure things would go back to normal soon. Marinette kept coming to him, begging for help. “She is turning everyone against me! She is telling them I’m a bully. And besides that she is promising to get them their dream jobs! They are banking on those promises, and that will hurt them later when she fails to deliver. Please Adrien, we have to do something!” Adrien would just roll his eyes. “Her lies aren’t hurting anyone Marinette. If you would just leave her be, she would stop trying to turn everyone against you.”
Weeks went by and Marinette’s situation with the class got worse and worse. She ended up switching to a different class. Adrien thought that was a bit dramatic, but probably for the best. Now there was nothing that might upset Lila enough to get akumatized. Adrien felt secure that things would be smooth sailing now.
Then things changed. After a photoshoot, Lila asked Adrien out on a date. “Since we have gotten so close lately, I was thinking we could go get dinner sometime.” Adrien didn’t have any desire to go on a date with her. He let her down gently and left soon after, trying to avoid an awkward confrontation. He didn’t see the glare Lila leveled at his back.
Adrien comes into school the next day and the class is glaring at him. He finds out from Nino that Lila had accused him of harassing her at the last few photoshoots. He pulled Lila aside and asked her what was going on. “You shouldn’t have said no to me. Now you are going to pay the price.” Adrien realized in horror that Marinette was right and that Lila was a problem. He immediately went to Marinette to admit he was wrong and ask for her help. But when she heard him, she didn’t jump to help like he had expected. “What do you mean Adrien? Her lies don’t hurt anyone.” She turned and walked away, leaving Adrien standing in shock.
Adrien decided that he needed to expose Lila, even without Marinette’s help. He told the class everything. He proved to them that Lila was a liar and had the proof to back it up. When Lila saw everything crashing down around her, she made sure to take Adrien with her. “Well, Adrien knew about this all along. And he let me keep deceiving you. You should be mad at him too.” The class realized that Adrien had let them be tricked for months. He had let them turn on Marinette without saying a word. The class was furious and outcasted him in their anger.
Adrien was left alone by the class, who were still angry with him for not telling them about Lila. The only good thing that came of it, is that since Lila was no longer useful to Gabriel now that her lying was exposed, Adrien didn’t have to model with her anymore. But now he was completely alone, which is what he had been trying to avoid. He went to Marinette again, begging for her help to get his friends back, but she didn’t want anything to do with that drama anymore. “Sorry Adrien, but you should take the high road on this one. The class isn’t hurting anyone.” Marinette went back to her new friends, and Adrien was left in the shadows of the stairs.
Adrien ended up switching schools, not able to handle being the class outcast. He did learn that liars need to be stopped and seemingly simple lies could have major consequences. He did go back and personally apologize to everyone for his mishandling of the situation. They forgave him and while they weren’t as close as they once were, they were able to patch their relationship somewhat. He knew that everything that happened with Lila made him a better person and taught him more about toxic people. While he was sad to have lost his closeness with his friends in Mrs. Bustier’s class, he grew a lot as a person from the experience.
