The Salt Files: Additional Cases (MLB)

Cheating

One test. One test was all it took for everything to fall down.

Marinette didn't even know what was happening. One second they were taking a test, the next Alya was accusing her of cheating on it. Ms. Bustier took her seriously of course, making Marinette go to the principal's office until things were sorted out.

But little did anyone know that was the last mistake Marinette would let her get away with.

You see, Lila came back a few weeks ago and has done nothing but spread seeds of doubt with her lies. So when Marinette spotted the Lila and Alya whispering a few minutes before the test, she knew something was up.

But she also knew that her evidence that she had been gathering secretly would come in handy. Because not only were Alya and Lila  the actual test cheaters, but Alya was also actually cheating on Nino.

And before you say 'well that doesn't mean anything', Marinette has proof.

Nino kept bringing up how Alya seemed distant lately and kept asking if he did anything wrong. Now Marinette didn't know why Nino of all people was coming to her since his girlfriend literally hated her. But Nino didn't care, stating that he's been friends with the bluenette long enough to know that all of what was said about her were lies and he trusted her the most. So she agreed to keep a look out and observe to see if she was just stressed or anything.

What Marinette ended up discovering was heartbreaking.

Apparently, Lila said that one of her friends from another country had connections and could hook up Alya with him to get some information out of him and to get possible interviews. Alya, being the fool that she was, ate the lie up and agreed to meet the friend. They started meeting up late at night and discussing the information they had over food. And if that didn't look bad enough, it was the fact that sometimes Alya would sneak him into her room for more private interviews that had protected information. Too sacred to discuss in public apparently.

Marinette couldn't believe her luck with this discovery. She decided to take pictures and videos any time she saw them together. She will admit, this gave her flashbacks to her stalkerish behavior of Adrien, but she has been working on that and is past that now. She even told Adrien about it and begged for forgiveness.

Adrien, the sheltered boy that he is, thought this entire time she was just a big fan of his and was supporting him from the side since they were also friends. He laughed at how wrong he was and said he forgave her, even though there wasn't really anything to forgive about it in his eyes. He understood where she was coming from, and he would rather been stalked by a friend than a stranger.

Speaking of Adrien, he wanted in on the fun. He caught Marinette watching Alya one day and asked what she was doing. Knowing she couldn't lie to him, seh told him everything. Ever since then, she's had him in on it and showed him the photos. His face changed to an expression that she's never seen before.

"Nino told me how he's having doubts in the relationship, how he doesn't think that he's making her happy anymore. Now we know that he was never the problem all along." Adrien looked at her, determination in his eyes. "What should we do about this?"

And so here they were, evidence together and just waiting to be brought up at the perfect moment. And the perfect moment just so happened to be when Marinette got accused of cheating on a test that she studied hard for. The girl didn't even know why Bustier thought she was cheating, she always strived to have high marks on her tests and even has pulled all nighters to ensure she at least passes the exams.

Marinette went to the principal for the fun of it and waited until he noticed her to speak up. "I'd like to bring up evidence that Lila is lying about everything."