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It all started after school, on the front steps of Françoise Dupont High School, where at least nothing was too unusual. Marinette was sitting on the steps drawing a new design, Chloe was planning to go to the mall with Sabrina in tow, Adrien had left early for a shoot,... and the rest of their class was talking to Lila, once again pulled in by her grand (and false) stories. Again, nothing unusual, until a small statement came from the crowd.
"That's not true"
All heads turned to the source, Alya looking equal parts confused, and annoyed at the unheard comment.
"Alya," Lila started, "what do you mean it's not true?"
Alya's face turned more annoyed, eyes honed in on the Italian. "Chef Grey hates children. He even refused to work with my mother until he knew for certain my sisters and I wouldn't visit the hotel."
"Oh really?"
"Yes," Alya said in full certainty, "really."
The two stared for a few seconds, before Kim butted in with a small "maybe he made an exception."
The others immediately nodded in acceptance, before Lila spoke again.
"Of course he made an exception for me. I helped him find the key ingredient in his new ravioli recipe before I moved here!"
Everyone proceeded to ask more questions, wondering what was the ingredient was, how she crossed paths with him-
Everyone, that is, except a now enraged Alya, who stormed away towards her house, with Marinette looking on from the scene.
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"I can't BELIEVE this lying fox!"
Phone snapped away from her ear to save her eardrums, Marinette looked at the phone before turning it on speaker, setting it on the bed.
"Alya-"
"No," Alya cut her off quickly, "I should have known something was up when you still hated her after Adrien said he wasn’t interested! I knew she was lying about Chef Grey, but I double checked her other comments, and Ladybug was NEVER active in Italy before now! Jagged Stone not only never had a cat, he has a PHOBIA of them! Ali’s family never had a delegation meting with members of Italy’s government! I just- I can't- ARRRGH!"
The sounds of Alya collapsing onto the floor was heard, before the sound of heavy beating took its place.
"God, I should have never listened to her. Mari, I'm so sorry."
"Alya, Its okay."
Marinette brought her phone back to her ear, adjusting on the mattress to get comfortable again. "Really, it is. You thought someone was telling you important stuff about famous people, and you just got tunnel vision."
"But I accused you of being jealous!"
"... We can talk about that later,” the designer mumbled, not in the mood to tackle that discussion. “So, what now since you know Lila's a liar?"
There was a moment before the sounds of typing and clicking was heard, then a simple sigh.
"Well, her interviews I did with her about Ladybug just got deleted, so that's one thing done. I'm also making a post explaining the deletion so I don't get any questions about it tomorrow."
"What about the others?" Marinette heard another sigh from the other line.
"You saw how they defended her the moment Kim made an excuse,” Alya said, putting her hands back to the phone. There's no way to convince them, even with proof."
"So we'll just have to wait?"
"Yup. Just have to wait."
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Waiting, turned out to be a whole three weeks later. Three weeks of Marinette AND Alya being cut from the rest of the class, with Lila either insisting Marinette forced Alya to make an ultimatum, or saying Alya is overreacting about Chef Grey and refusing to accept she was wrong. It was infuriating, watching their class give them the stink eye and mumble to themselves. Three weeks of conveniently missing out on meetings and get-togethers. Even Nino, who made an effort to spend time with his girlfriend, would ghost on a normal hangout if Marinette was involved. The only bright side was Adrien spending time with them whenever he had a chance, but other than that, no one talked to them.
Until one morning, where Alya was brought to the bathroom by a very upset Juleka, and saw a teary Rose, red in the face.
“Alya,” the blonde started, wiping her tears away, “she was right. Marinette was right about her.”
“Oh Rose...” While Alya hated the lying girl, she hates seeing Rose of all people look like a kicked kitten. “What happened?”
“I-I was video chatting with Ali, since he had to skip last few months, and I was mentioning a recipe Lila told me to make for him. Do you know what he said?”
Alya shook her head and but made a guess. “That something in the recipe is his least favorite thing?”
“Worse,” Rose replied, “he has a allergy to one of the ingredients! When I told him Lila recommended it, he said he doesn’t know a Lila! His country hasn’t even made visits to Italy or talked to their relations for a meeting! I could’ve harmed a prince if I listed to her!”
Rose went back to sobbing into a napkin, the other two girls hugging her while she let her tears out. Juleka looked to Alya, clearly thinking her words carefully in her rage.
“If I could, I would give Rossi a piece of my mind. But right now, Rose needs me, and,” Juleka frowns, now looking away, “I saw how she got the class, got me and Rose, to turn on you and Marinette so easily. I don’t think I can do anything to change everyone else’s mind. But right now, I don’t even want to look at her.”
Alya nodded, and helped Juleka pull Rose back to her feet.
“Well if it helps, you two can talk and hang out with us instead of her.”
“That sounds nice.” Rose wiped the last tears from her face, trying to make herself presentable. “I honestly missed talking to Marinette.”
While a few minutes late, The trio finally entered class, and while Rose and Juleka went to their seats, Alya sat with a eager smile to her best friend, simply saying, “and that’s two less people on her side.”
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After that, the amount of people on Lila’s side slowly started to dwindle. First, there was Nino, who called his girlfriend late one night ranting that his idol’s recent stream revealed that he’s only done tours in the US, Canada, and parts of Asia, and has never visited Europe, let alone Italy. Then it was Alix, who looked ready to throttle the Italian when she insisted Rob Sparrow’s new skateboard line was inspired by her... even though a online interview revealed it was based on his newborn daughter. Then it was the comments that Kim’s Olympic idol started swimming after saving Lila as a toddler, when Kim knew she swam because it was a hobby she did with her late father. Then Max almost got his new AI program fried trying her coding method she said she made with a computing company, Myl è ne and Ivan almost spent weeks having their arms a solid purple when Lila told them a product is great for prop work, and Nathaniel had Marc tell him that his favorite web artist lived in the US and never left the country.
Eventually, the entire class had caught to the truth: Lila was lying through her teeth all the time, and still hadn’t stopped lying even when they all (individually) confronted her on the matter. She still had teachers wrapped around her finger, none of them would even dare try to cause an issue with a girl whose mom was a bigger deal than Chloe’s dad. Nonetheless, the class just nodded in indifference while Lila continued to gush about her (increasingly fake) life, insisting that she’ll talk to their idols to help them in their careers.
Until one day, an opportunity appeared at the class’s doorstep.
Lila had made a big claim of going out of town to, “do more charity work with Ali” for a few days (Ali was actually in Canada, Rose had already checked), leaving the class to finally start their plan. Marinette eyed the class chat- the old one before Lila transferred- as everyone finalized their notes.
Sk8rGur l: so, we got everything?
Digibro : Affirmative. I’ve acquired Lila’s medical information and can prove she has a clean bill of health.
LadyBlogger : I got the articles on Jagged Stone and the other celebrities she claimed to know
Rosebud : I got the copy of the video with Prince Ali from his bodyguard
QueenBee : And I got proof that she never left Paris from Daddy
QueenBee : In fact, her mom is having a meeting with him tomorrow
Gothika : I guess that’s it. Tomorrow we bust her.
DJUno : man i really hope she doesn’t become an akuma
ModelCitizen : honestly that’s what i’ve been scared of this whole time
LadyBlogger : Adrien, you’re an angel, but her becoming an akuma again is the least of the matter for once
LadyBlogger : God, someone becoming an akuma isn’t a main worry anymore
Sk8rGurl : Have we become numb??
WaterJock : I mean, almost everyone became an akuma in our class
DJUno : yea, everyone but Mari and Adrien if i’m right
24/7LB : ... is this a bad time to admit I almost became an akuma?
Marinette cringed at the text, knowing it will start a riot in the chat room, but it’s better than the class putting the pieces together. Sure enough, messages started rolling in, throwing the entire conversation into the back-burner for the new information.
LadyBlogger : SHE WHAT!?!?!?
Gothika : you gotta b kidding
SpookyBookie : Marinette, is this true?
ModelCitizen : You never told me this!
Sk8rGurl : Explain, NOW
WaterJock : Dude, how did you even avoid it!?
Digibro : I mean it was inevitable, but to not get affected...
24/7LB : okay okay, so remember when Lila first came back, and I went to the bathroom to calm down?
Ladyblogger : Yes, and again I’m sorry we moved your seat without asking
24/7LB : and again sorta forgiven
24/7LB : but anyways, Lila came in trying to act like she’s sorry, and when i called her out she threatened to turn all of you against me.
24/7LB : i was just so frustrated and wanted to call her out and before i knew it a butterfly was heading my way
24/7LB : i dont know how i calmed down enough for it to lose interest, but i did. After that it flew away...
LadyBLogger : And it went to Lila instead.
LadyBLogger :... Know what?
LadyBlogger : If this doesn’t work, I’ll PERSONALLY choke out Lila
Sk8rGurl : Me next!
QueenBee : That’s... that’s disgusting, I just go for embarrassment! Not ruining lives!
RoseBud : Thats just horrible!
Gothika : And to think she would’ve succeeded...
WaterJock : SHE’S GOING DOWN TOMORROW!
The rest of the chat for the night just went over their information, energy renewed with the new information, before finally wrapping it up in preparation for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is going to be a long, long day...
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When Miss Bustier entered her classroom in the morning, she didn’t expect Marinette and Alya at her desk, a small stack of papers in front of her.
“Girls, is something wrong?”
“Miss Bustier,” Alya said, “We have proof that Lila’s been making everything up. The illnesses, the credentials, everything.”
“Miss C é saire-”
“Please,” Marinette interrupted, “this is serious. She’s been using her lies to avoid schoolwork, have other people do her assignments, the works.”
Miss Bustier looked at the small stack, frowning at what she can already see.
“I’ll... I’ll take these to the Principal, to double be sure.”
With that, she left the room with the paper, the class quickly cheering. Now they just have to wait for what’s next.
What’s next was Mr. Damocles coming into the classroom with Bustier, looking both shocked and irritated with the papers in his hand.
“Is this information true?”
Marinette stood up and nodded. “Lila’s been playing us for months about her disabilities, absence and connections. We only just got all the proof needed to bring to you.”
“Unbelievable,” Damocles started, becoming visibly livid, “I’ve never had a student go this far in their actions! I’m getting Mrs. Rossi on the line this instant!”
“Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and with the evidence to prove it. We’ll be informing her mother of this, as well as how her daughter can catch up on all the missed work and classes.”
The door shut with a bit more force than expected, but the class was silent as Miss Bustier walked to her desk and started class, giving them no chance to comment further.
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Meanwhile, relaxing on the couch in her house, is one Lila Rossi, enjoying her days off from class. Telling her mom that the school was having a few off days to give recent students consoling from the akuma attacks, she can sit back and relax for the next couple of days, ready to plan her new stories about Ali and Achu-
When the front door abruptly opened, revealing a very pissed of Mrs. Rossi looking at her daughter.
“Lila Rossi,” her mother started, “would you like to explain why your Principal called me about how your trip to Achu was doing? Or your tinnitus, since it was acting up? Maybe tell me all about you knowing Jagged Stone or Ladybug, since I obviously didn’t know this.”
“Uh...”
“Wait I know, how about explaining that your school is very much open today, and has never been closed for multiple days due to akuma attacks!?”
A cold sweat formed on Lila’s face, realizing that things are about to go very, very bad for her.