Chapter Text
“But mamma- “Lila whines from under her quilt, unwilling to face the day.
“Tesoro, you can’t run and hide from your problems,” Cosima Rossi told her gently, soft hands folding back the heavy fabric to see her daughters’ anxious face. “They will always catch up. The only way to get rid of them is to face them head-on.”
Lila groans in response.
“I’ve made no secret how I feel about what you did yesterday,” her mother continues. “But you don’t need a lecture. I know you’re hurting, and scared. The divorce has hit the both of us hard, and it’s difficult to stay strong every day, but Paris is a new beginning for us. New city, new memories, new relationships to experience, but you won’t get that by hiding in your room. Talk to the Ladyblogger, talk to Adrien. It’s not too late to apologize and try again.”
“But what if they don’t forgive me? What if I’m alone?” Again, goes unsaid, but both women hear it.
“There’s more than two people at Collège Francois-Dupont,” Cosima says smilingly, her hand resting gently on Lila’s head. “But, if at the end of the week you don’t have even one friend, we can try a different school if that’s what you want. But you’re smart, pretty, and charismatic, and you never go down without a fight. I’m sure you’ll make plenty of friends.”
With a great heaving sigh, the teenager finally sits up in bed and looks at her mother, and two pairs of olive-green eyes meet. “Fine. Okay.”
“That’s my girl,” the older Rossi smiles and presses a kiss to her forehead. “You’ve got this.”
“I’ve got this.” Lila repeats, getting out of bed to get ready for school. “Today will be a good day.”
“Today will be a good day!” the chestnut-haired woman chirps back, now exiting the room with the jingle of keys. “I’ve got to get going, but I picked up some croissants from the bakery nearby for breakfast. I’ll try to be home for dinner!”
“Bye, I love you!” Lila calls as she enters her bathroom.
“Love you too!” the sound of the door closing and being locked signifies that the teen is alone in the apartment, and she sighs again before she brushes her teeth. Thirty minutes later, the Italian has her makeup and hair done and is now deliberating over what to wear to school. After much thought, and several looks through the fall edition of Style Queen, she decides on her gray tights, a pleated brown skirt that stopped above her knees, and an orange blazer that had a plunging neckline to show off a black and white chevron camisole. She wiggles her feet into a pair of brown lace-up boots (no heels today, her feet had yet to forgive her), and chances a look in her full-length mirror. For just a second, it’s Volpina staring back at her, and Lila almost loses her nerve in going to school that day.
“Suck it up, Lila,” she snaps to herself. After another critical look at herself, she removes the bands from her hair, and pulls her hair up into a high ponytail, clipping in a large bow she had left over from cheerleading in America at the top on a whim. The less she looks like her akumatized self, the better.
Backpack on, the girl grabs a buttery croissant, but still feels like something was missing.
Oh, right.
With a deep breath, Lila applies her mask, and exits the apartment.
“Are you sure about this, Marinette?” Tikki asks anxiously as she watches her holder get ready for the day.
“Of course I am,” the raven-haired teen replies, swiping on her soft pink lipstick and effectively finishing her makeup. As she ties her hair into its usual pigtails, she meets he kwamis eyes in the mirror nervously. “Is it a bad idea?”
The little god thinks over her words for a second before responding. “A friendship built out of guilt isn’t healthy.”
“I’m not trying to build a friendship,” Marinette responds as she gets dressed. “I’m taking this as my second chance, where we start out… civilly. I won’t force Lila into a friendship, but if we both want one, then I’ll pursue it.”
“That’s very mature of you, Marinette!” Tikki swoops down onto her holder’s head to give her a mini hug.
“Hey, my hair!” Marinette giggles and playfully swats at her friend, fixing imaginary tangles. After a moment’s thought, she removed her hair bands and quickly put her hair into twin French braids. She then grabbed a beret off her mannequin and placed it on top, using some skillfully hidden bobby pins to keep it in place, and switched her lipstick to a more berry tone. Blue eyes look over herself critically in the mirror before she nods. “I’m ready.”
Her mother was pleasantly surprised when she clambers down the stairs to the breakfast table, and though Marinette didn’t need a last-minute wakeup call today, that didn’t mean she had the time to sit down and eat if she wanted to talk to Lila before class (and run the book to that vet from a few weeks prior. Why did they need to give it to the vet?). “Bonjour, mon ange! You look amazing, what’s the occasion?” Sabine asks, handing her daughter a croissant.
“There’s a new student in my class, and I didn’t get to introduce myself yesterday. I wanted to make a good impression on her,” Marinette looked down at her outfit, suddenly uncertain. “Do you think- “
“It’s perfect, honey.” Her mother assures, sweetly snipping off the impending meltdown. It was a bit of a different look for the girl, having morphed the usual blossom t-shirt traded in for a more eye-catching, retro geometric patterned button up under a new gray blazer. The well-tailored (because everything Marinette made was well tailored) shirt was tucked into an equally well-tailored deep pink mini-skirt, and the outfit was finished off with gray leggings and pale pink combat boots (a highly coveted pair to the young designer) and some chunky jewelry. “Very striking.”
“Thank you, maman.” Marinette kisses her on the cheek, having to stoop a little to reach, before running down the stairs to the bakery, where her papa handed her a small, wrapped box and a bag of croissants.
“Authentic Italian cornetto filled with jam!” he smiles and stoops to press a whiskery kiss to Marinette’s cheek. “And some croissants that got a bit deformed to share with your friends!”
“Thank you, Papa!” Marinette kisses his cheek before running out the door.
Lila steps into the courtyard far too early for her liking, guts knotting themselves with nerves. It was fine, she reasoned. She just needed to cross the courtyard, climb the stairs, and hide in the back of her new classroom until homeroom started.
Easy.
“Hey, Lila!”
Damn.
The Ladyblogger quickly catches up to her and starts chattering excitedly. “-So, how about it? Do you think you could do an interview about your akumatization yesterday? I’m sure everyone wants to know how Ladybug saved her bestie!”
Lila shrinks into herself and looks away, wondering exactly how many people saw one of her lowest moments, but before she can verbally respond, a new voice pops up.
“Alya, maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it?” this comes from a dark-haired girl dressed in pink, lightly panting and smelling of baked goods. “She’s not as used to them as we are.”
“Right,” Alya laughs apologetically. “Sorry, Lila.”
“It’s nothing, but I did want to talk to you.” The Italian charges forward, knowing if she didn’t say it now then she never would.
“Go for it! I’m all ears.” The excitable girl looks at her eagerly, but her phone is put away, showing that this wasn’t being recorded. The mystery girl looks on, something strange swimming in her gray-blue eyes.
“I, uh… I’m not actually friends with Ladybug.” Lila is looking anywhere but at the others. “I was just lying to look cooler. I’d never even met her until yesterday.”
The thunderous rage that crossed the reporters face was terrifying enough to make Lila back away and fear for her safety. Thankfully, the mystery girl comes to the rescue.
“Alya, she’s apologizing. You don’t have to forgive her, but she is coming clean.”
“Girl, I know! But if I post a retraction, the Ladyblog will lose credibility!” Alya huffs, crossing her arms.
“It’ll lose more credibility if you don’t and it gets out,” her friend counters. “Plus, it’ll show your viewers that the truth is more important to you than your pride, and that you are open to critiques, which will only make them trust you more overall. You can also play the age card, saying that you were just too excited and that you’ll be more careful about stories in the future.”
With that, the girl deflates, her anger leaving with the wind. “I… yeah. You’re right.”
“Aren’t I always?” The stranger gives Alya a playful shove before turning to Lila. “Sorry. I’m Marinette, class president. Let me know if you need any help and I’ll try the best I can!” Lila is briefly dazzled by the warm smile directed her way, lightly shaking her head to regain her senses before grasping the hand offered to her.
“Oh, thank you,” the Italian says, slightly bewildered by this incredibly cute girl in front of her.
Like, incredibly cute.
“By the way!” Marinette holds out the wrapped box. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to greet you yesterday, so here!” She continues to talk while Lila slowly opens the package. “My parents run the bakery nearby, and I heard you’re from Italy, so I present to you my dads cornetto!”
Lila takes a bite and is immediately taken back to her childhood in Rome, when life was… simpler. “This is amazing!”
“Family recipe,” the raven-haired girl gives a wink before presenting her heavy paper bag. “And some of our famous croissants, fresh baked every morning!”
“So, in other news,” Alya starts, cocking a hip and placing a hand on Marinette’s shoulder after grabbing a pastry for herself. “Girl, you look good today! What inspired the change?”
“Was it the latest issue from Style Queen Magazine?” Lila asks before the other girl can respond, taking in the general color scheme and silhouette of Marinette’s outfit. She realizes she interrupted, but before she can become too mortified, Lila herself is interrupted by Marinette.
“Yes!” the dark-haired girls face lit up in excitement. Alya was an amazing best friend, supportive of her dreams, but she didn’t really get fashion. To finally be able to talk about it with someone was a dream come true! “I was especially inspired by her use of bold and retro patterns- “And the two were off, leaving Alya woefully behind to talk about colors and patterns and cuts. Thankfully, she wasn’t left alone for long, Nino coming up from behind and wrapping an arm around his girlfriends’ waist.
“I see they’re getting along,” Nino smiles. He’d been worried when Alya told him that Marinette was acting jealous.
“I’m glad they are,” Alya huffs, still annoyed with the Italian, though it would pass. Probably. “Anyway, check this headline-“Before she can continue, Alya (and anyone having a conversation in the courtyard) was interrupted by a piercing shriek.
“NOOOOOOO! This is a tragedy!”
Then a blonde girl stormed out of an upstairs classroom and down the steps. “I’m going to get Adrien back, even if I have to fight Gabriel Agreste!” She stops short when she sees Lila and Marinette, and Chloe’s anger transferred to her favorite target. “It was you, wasn’t it, Dupain-Cheng?”
“What? What’s going on?”
“Oh, don’t try acting cute! You can’t pull it off nearly as well as I can,” Chloe snarls. “You took his book, didn’t you?”
“What book?” both Marinette and Lila ask in unison, panic crawling up each of their spines (for different, but similar, reasons).
“It’s his father’s very important book, and now its lost, and now my Adrikins won’t be able to come back to school!” The heiress dissolves further into hysterics while Sabrina continued to try and console her.
Marinette had a tight smile. This was going to be a long day.
Lila had wanted to talk to Marinette more during lunch, but she’d disappeared, and Mdm Mendeleiev didn’t allow talking in her class. It was now the end of the day, and everyone was getting ready to go home, and the brunette was determined to find the other girl. She didn’t have anything she wanted to talk about specifically, but she also didn’t want to go home just yet. When she finally spotted the (correct) girl in pink, she hurried down the stairs towards her and Alya. “Marinette!” When she’d turned and given Lila another one of those smiles, a blush began to creep onto her tanned cheeks.
‘Oh, stop. You just like her because she’s being nice to you.’
“What’s up, Lila?” Marinette stopped, and so did Alya.
“Oh, um…” now that she was here, she couldn’t find anything to say (the fact the Alya was giving her the evil eye certainly didn’t help). “I was wondering if we could… hang out?”
“Sure!” Marinette linked arms with the two girls on either side of her. “We were going to get started on that physics essay at my house and then watch some bad movies.”
Lila smiled wide, and it was weird. She hadn’t genuinely smiled like this in a long time. “Sounds fun!”