Chapter Text
“I’m really sorry about the competition, Aurore,” Marinette told her the day after the final vote, after Stormy Weather had made her public debut. Both she and Alya were now on the front steps of the school, offering friendly comfort to the rejected aspiring weather-girl.
“It’s okay, you guys,” the blonde sighed sweetly. “I shouldn’t have gotten so resentful. If I had been more professional and accepted the loss gracefully…”
“Don’t say that!”, Alya cut her off, the suddenness and sharpness of her tone making both Aurore and Marinette jump. “Aurore, you shouldn’t blame yourself for having feelings! Hawkmoth’s the one at fault, and anyone with hakf a brain can see that!
“Alya’s right,” said Marinette, as sweetly as could be. “It’s not like you trashed Mirelle live after the results came in, or threw a big fit in front of the cameras. You waited until you were alone and then vented to yourself — which is what ninety-nine point nine percent of people would have naturally done in that situation. Hawkmoth is the one who took advantage of you for having normal human emotions.”
“Besides, I was kinda upset by the results, too,” added Alya.
“You were?”, asked Aurore, surprised.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Mirelle’s a great person and all, but she’s so painfully shy, watching her on the camera feels awkward and pitiful, like you can’t help but feel sorry for how she’s always looking at her feet or trying to tuck herself into a ball. Any journalist should radiate confidence, assertiveness, be bold and brave!”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!”, Aurore cried, happy to have found someone who shared her point of view. “For the record, I have nothing against Mirelle personally, but being a weather girl requires a certain attitude! Even if I wasn’t competing against her, she just doesn’t seem cut out for the job!”
“But if she did such a bad job, how did she win the vote?”, Marinette asked her two friends. “I mean, she must have done something right to impress people, or else they wouldn’t have voted for her.”
Aurore’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I was thinking that, too. She must have had something about her that people preferred, that certain it factor that can’t be learned or created on it’s own.”
“Hi, guys!”
All three girls turned around to see Lila arriving at the school, stepping out of her limo with as much flair and attitude as if she were stepping out onto the red carpet. She struck the briefest and sassiest of poses before sashaying over to the other three.
“Hi, Lila! How was your weekend?”, asked Marinette warmly.
“Absolutely fab as always, Nettie!”, chirped the teen model, before giving Marinette air kisses on both cheeks.
“What didja do this time?”, asked Alya, as she and the other two leaned in ever so slightly to hear another chronicle in her glamorous life.
“Well, I was working on a guest appearance on Love Overboard. As myself, of course.”
“Love Overboard? That’s like the hottest soap there is!”
“Yeah, I know! You know they actually wanted me for the female lead when they were first casting?”
“No way! Really?”
“Yeah, but I already have so much on my plate, I had to turn the role down. But it was a nice compensation to make an appearance on their show.”
Aurore’s lips thinned. “Well, it sounds like your big break on TV was better than mine.”
“Oh, yeah! The competition! I heard!” Lila gave her a pitiful look. “So sorry things didn’t work out. But there’ll always be new opportunities, right?” She flipped one of her ponytails over her shoulder. “I gotta go, don’t wanna mess up my flawless attendance record!” She blew each gal a kiss before strutting into the school.
Aurore frowned. “New opportunities? Cheah, easy for you to say, Miss Teen Superstar, born with a silver spoon in your mouth and a golden star on your forehead.”
“Ro, she’s just trying to cheer you up,” Marinette reminded her gently. “She’s been really holed up in a bubble her whole life, I don’t think she understands how hard it can be to make it in showbiz.”
“Of course she doesn’t. She’s probably gotten every gig just handed to her because she’s Gabriel Agreste’s daughter,” sulked Aurore bitterly, folding her arms over her chest and pouting.
“Come on, we’re all gonna be late to class,” said Alya, changing the subject.
~~~
Later, during recess, Marinette and Alya were by the lockers, chatting amongst themselves and the some of the other kids in their class. Just then, Rose spotted Mirelle standing in the corner of the courtyard by herself.
“Mirelle! Over here!” she called, waving over towards her to approach the group. The shy girl obeyed happily and jogged over to greet her friends.
“Congratulations on winning the weathergirl competition, Mirelle!”, Marinette said cheerfully. Even if she did feel sorry for Aurore, Mirelle was a friend, too, and she had a right to be happy for her.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll be great at the job!”, said Nathaneal. “And the majority must agree, seeing as you got the most votes!”
“I still can’t believe this is real!”, squealed the girl, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “Seriously, half of me worries this whole thing is a dream that I’ll wake up from any second now!”
Just then, Lila strolled by, strutting past them with a friendly yet flamboyant wave of her manicured hand. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Oh, we were just congratulating Mirelle on her new job!”, said Max.
Lila flashed a smile at Mirelle. “I know! Kid TV’s newest weathergirl!”
Mirelle clapped her hands in utter delight. “Even now, I still can’t believe I won!”
“Well, of course, you won!”, Lila gushed, grinning from ear to ear. “I knew all along you were going to win! I knew it from the very start!”
“Really?”, Mirelle gasped. “Gosh, even I never thought I’d actually win. You really had that much confidence in me?”
Lila batted her eyelashes. “Well, how could you lose after what I told Alec?”
In a moment, the air around the group became thick and tense, a shift that everyone noticed right away, as soon as those words fell from the glossed lips of Lila Agreste.
“Wait, what?”, Mirelle squeaked, her face white as a bedsheet.
Lila flashed one of her sweetest grins, seemingly oblivious to the change in the atmosphere. “Well, I know how badly you wanted to win, so I put in a good word for you with Alec before the finals. Gave you the Lila Agreste Golden Star of Approval! Glad to see he took my advice!”
Alya’s jaw fell open. “Lila… are you saying Mirelle won the competition because of your influence?”
In response, Lila winked at Mirelle. “You’re welcome!”
The air around the group was thick with tension. Mirelle looked like she had gone from walking on cloud nine to crawling on rock bottom. “Uh… thanks, Lila. That was really nice of you to try to help…”
“Oh, it was no big!”, chirped Lila. “That’s the perk of having me around!” She looked around at the other kids. “If any of you guys need favors, just ask me! Ut’s the least I can do after how you’ve all been so good to me as the new kid!”
And with a flip of her braids, she sauntered off, leaving a dark cloud over Mirelle and the others.
~~~
During study hall in class, Lila had left for a photoshoot, but she was due to be back in time for next period. Marinette, Alya, Rose and Nathaneal all took the opportunity to tell the rest of their classmates what Lila had said to Mirelle.
“You mean to tell me Lila rigged the competition?!” Alix spat in shock.
Rose shrugged. “I’m sure her heart was in the right place, but… still…”
“Honestly, I’m not as surprised as I should be,” huffed Alya. “I had a feeling something was off about the final vote. We were talking about it earlier with Aurore.”
“Yeah, I mean, Mirelle’s sweet and all,” Marinette explained to the others, “but she doesn’t have the dramatic flair and attitude Aurore had. Aurore was way more impressive, she should have gotten the most votes!”
“Poor Mirelle,” sighed Mylene. “She was so happy about winning the contest. She thought people had truly loved her. But now she finds out she only won because Lila told the people to let her.”
“I still can’t believe it! Why would Lila do something like that?”, cried Kim. “Didn’t she think Mirelle wanted to earn this on her own merit and not just because she’s friends with the Princess of Paris?”
“Well, to be fair, lots of people in the entertainment business tend to rely on their connections rather than their own skill,” Marinette pointed out. “Lila has spent her whole life in showbiz, add to that how she’s been so heavily sheltered by her father, she probably thought what she was doing for Mirelle was perfectly normal.”
“Still, Alec didn’t have to rig the competition for her, just because Lila Agreste asked,” Alya sharply reminded her BFF. “It’s his contest, he should have said no. And if he’s willing to accept favors for this, who knows how corrupt his whole career is!”
“Yeah, for all we know, he’s rigged all the other contests he’s hosted,” said Nino. “This calls his entire career into question!“
“Well, we can’t just let him get away with it!”, Alya shouted, pounding her fist against her desktop. “No matter who won or lost, it’s not right!” She pulled out her phone as she looked over at Marinette. “Do you think you could get Nadja to get us into the TV studio where she works with Alec?”
“Anything for justice!”
~~~
“…and in a shocking twist of events, Alec Cataldi’s entire career is now under scrutiny, all because of a little slip of the tongue from a teen girl. Two students from Francoise DuPont College came to question Alec after their classmate, teenage supermodel and national sweetheart Lila Agreste, claimed that she influenced him to rig the Weather Girl Competition in favor of Mirelle Capet, as opposed to Aurore Beauréal.”
“After hearing these rumors, and confirming the claim from Lila, the producers of KidzTV issued a recount of the votes for the competition, which had been saved on the special program created for the show. Sure enough, when the votes were reevaluated, they found that it was indeed Aurore, not Mirelle, who had gotten the majority vote. They also found a fake page created by Alec that he sent to convince the producers that Mirelle had won.”
“Alec was immediately fired from the TV studio for his corruption and fraud. Aurore Boureaol was soon after declared the rightful Weather Girl of KidzTV, with Mirelle’s graceful acceptance of the loss. When we reached out to Lila Agreste, she had this to say in her defense.”
Alec’s face twisted as the screen flicked to show the teen idol’s tear-streaked face, her glossed lips wobbling as she gave her comment to the media.
“I’m so so sorry! I had no idea what I was doing was wrong! Lots of people I know in the industry have used their connections and stuff to get an edge! I knew Mirelle might not have that good a chance because of her shyness, but she still has talent. I just thought I was evening the playing field for her, not tipping it the other way! I never thought Alec would take my suggestion that far!”
Alec threw his box of Chinese takeout at his TV with a ferocious roar of rage. There had never been any “suggestion” from Lila Agreste! He hadn’t even seen her in person for weeks! And then the little star-studded brat went and told everyone that he’d rigged the entire competition as a favor to her?!
It wasn’t true at all, but that had been enough to get people suspicious and spark an investigation intobthe voting process. And that was when the studio found solid evidence that Alec had indeed fixed the Weather Girl contest to ensure Mirelle won over Aurore.
But it hadn’t been because Lila Agreste had asked him to! He just wanted an underdog victory to boost his ratings and audience approval! Everybody loved to see the least likely contestant triumph over the seemingly assured win. As the shyer and more humble of the two finalists, Mirelle was the most relatable. And the hard truth is, people preferred relatability to skill and talent. That was just the way it was.
But even after he explained his real reasonings for fixing the results, the studio producers refuted that, regardless of exactly why he did what he did, he had still done it. He had compromised the integrity of the studio and everyone who worked there, and so he had been kicked out of the studio with his tail between his legs. It was likely that he would never find work in the entertainment business ever again.
And it was all because Lila Agreste had decided to drag his name through the mud for no actual reason.
As Alec watched Lila ruin her perfect makeup with her crocodile tears, he grumbled to himself, “Just you wait, pretty girl. You’re going to regret opening your big fat mouth. I’m gonna get you back if it’s the last thing I do.”