Ladybug, Chat Noir, and the Golden Tabby

Chapter 2: The Liar, the Loner, and Her

Alice scrolled through her sunset-colored phone. *Lady blog?* she thought. *Must be a fanbase page for the Miraculous team.* She absentmindedly touched her panjas bracelet. *I have to let Roarr out as soon as possible. He might get cranky.*

She tapped onto the link. A half dozen videos with a brunette with green eyes showed up. Alice furrowed her eyebrows. *That's not Ladybug.*

She pulled out earphones and listened to the first video. "Hi, guys!" A red-head with glasses said. "This is Lila, Ladybug's best friend!"

The brunette, Lila, smiled sweetly," Hi! Ladybug always talks about her fans! She's SO nice!"

Alice scoffed. Either this person didn't know the dangers villains could bring to her or she was lying. Probably the latter. She clicked off the blog. That red-head girl had to be pretty stupid to believe some outrageous lie like that. Besides, didn't she know that Hawkmoth could try to get both her and Lila?

"Alice?" Adrien tapped her shoulder. "We're here."

Alice looked up and saw a large building with kids walking around, a few trees adorning the tan walls. "Oh! Right. Lead the way, Adrien!" She said cheerfully as they both slipped out of the car with waves to Gorilla. 

"You're in Ms. Bustiers and Mendelievs classes, like me," Adrien said, guiding her by the elbow up the steps. "Ms. Bustier is nice, but Mendeliev's strict. So don't talk too much in her class and pay attention."

Alice laughed, and Adrien grinned at her. "I won't be the one not focusing. You'll probably be staring~."

Adrien furrowed his eyebrows. "At whom?" As the walked into the basketball court and headed up on one of the many green staircases. Kids were chatting with their groupies or sitting on the benches. The school looked decently friendly.

"Well, you were talking about how Marinette would get along well with me, and we all know I only hang with people that are as cool as me," she joked. "And the way you talked made it sound like you had a crush on her," They were walking down the hall, and a small black-haired boy with a red hoodie bumped into her and muttered a quick apology before dashing off.

Adrien's face was of shock. "I don't have a crush on Marinette. She's just a friend."

Adrien pulled her towards a door and held it open for her. "Whatever you say, bro," she teased as she walked in.

Half the seats were filled. A boy with a green shirt and glasses was talking to a red-head on the smallish-side and a tall Asian boy, while a little blonde girl with blue eyes was giggling with a goth-looking girl. Alice recognized the red-head and Lila whispering in the right second-row. A bluenette with pigtails was sitting in the back left row and seemed gloomy.

"That's Marinette, with the pigtails." Adrien's eyebrows knitted together. "Wonder why she's so upset."

Alice saw the Lila girl's head pop up the second Adrien started talking. "Adrien!" The brunette's eyes darted to Alice and she thought she saw Lila sneer. "Who's that girl next to you?"

Adrien opened his mouth, but Alice beat him to it. "I'm his twin sister," she said skeptically and raised her eyebrow. "Got a problem? And if I weren't his sister and just some random girl talking to him, would there be a problem? And besides, I look a lot like him. Blonde hair, green eyes, tan face, is there any difference besides me looking feminine?"

"Alice!" Adrien hissed quietly.

Lila's bottom lip quivered. "I-I was just a-asking!" She suddenly burst out crying.

 Alice noticed that the tears never fell out of her eyes entirely. The blonde blinked. Crocodile tears! A lot of female models had to practice them, and Alice was one of them. For the depressing shoots of course. Plus, Alice had acted in a few sad musicals, so she knew that she could play that game as well.