Chapter Text
Marinette cowered underneath the class’ judgmental looks, but those weren’t nearly as bad as the looks Alya and Nino were giving her. They were conflicted, wavering, proving to her dismay that they actually believed Lila.
“I’m telling you, I didn’t do it!” Marinette insisted with pleading eyes.
Alya frowned. “Why would Lila lie?”
Anger bubbled up in Marinette’s chest at the question.
“Because she lies all the time!” She snapped back, making her friends jump. “She lied about her wrist and her ear, she lied about being friends with Ladybug and traveling abroad, and now she’s been lying about me!”
Lila dramatically at the accusation.
“Marinette, please, I know you’ve never liked me, but you’re not even making sense anymore.” The brunette said with feigned concern.
This only made the class turn on Marinette even more.
“Why do you hate Lila so much?” Mylene frowned.
“What did she ever do to you?” Kim added defiantly.
‘What hasn’t she done to me?’ Marinette thought in response, though she didn’t say it out loud. She was already in a bad enough situation as it is.
“It’s really not a big deal that you broke my phone, honest. Can we please just be friends?” Lila then requested.
Marinette groaned in frustration.
“I already told you I didn’t break the phone.” She repeated, massaging her temples to help the headache that was coming on.
Alya sighed, placing a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “Come on, girl, Lila already said it was okay, just fess up and move on.”
The ravenette flinched away from her touch, wearing the most heart broken expression. “You too, Alya?”
It was at that point, Marinette looked to the only other person that might be able to help her. Adrien. He was the sensible one. He knew that Lila’s been lying this whole time just as she did.
Unfortunately, he only looked more conflicted than the others, but it wasn’t because he didn’t believe Marinette. He was trying to decide if he should expose Lila or not. They had agreed to just let her do whatever as long as they knew about it. Since then, however, it seemed as if Lila was targeting Marinette specifically, and rumors about her flooded the school within the first few weeks of Lila’s arrival. They started out small. Marinette said this, Marinette said that. Then they got worse. Marinette did this, Marinette did that. None of it was true, of course, but the lies were so small and believable that soon, everyone was believing the bigger lies too. Such as the broken phone.
Marinette let out a small gasp of disbelief when the blonde looked away from her. Even Adrien wasn’t going to stand up for her now.
Tears well up in Mari’s eyes. No one else believed her, not even her best friend. When did everything go so wrong?
Before anyone could say anything else, Marinette hurried out of the room, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
~~~~~~
Marinette flung open the bathroom door, quick to hide in one of the stalls.
“It’s going to be okay, Marinette.” Tikki, her adorable red kwami, attempted to soothe.
“I just don’t see how, Tikki. No one believes me.” Marinette sobbed, curling into herself.
“They’re your friends, I’m sure they’ll come around. We just-” A light knock echoed through the bathroom, and Tikki stopped.
Marinette sucked in a breath as the kwami hid in her purse, both waiting for the intruder to reveal themselves in some way.
“Marinette?” A soft voice called from the other side of the door.
Her whole body sagged in relief towards the call. She’d recognize Luka’s gentle tone anywhere. Drying her tears the best she could, Marinette got up and cracked open the bathroom door.
“Yes?”
“Hey, I saw you run in here. Are you okay?” He asked with concern, gently pushing on the door to get a better look at her.
Marinette hesitated, but let it open, standing dejectedly in the doorway.
“Marinette, your eyes are all puffy. What happened?” Luka cupped her cheeks as he looked her up and down. He was being so gentle and kind that Marinette couldn’t help bursting into tears once again.
This only distressed Luka further, and he pulled her into a hug.
“Hey, hey, everything’s gonna be okay. Don’t worry.” He cooed, holding her close and slowly rocking back and forth.
“I-I don’t know wh-what to do.” Marinette choked, burying her face in his chest.
Luka frowned, not understanding what she meant.
“Is there anything I can do? Do you- do you wanna go for a walk or something? It’s lunch period for you, too, right?” He suggested, leaning back from her to wipe away some of her tears.
Mari paused to think about it. She didn’t feel like going to the cafeteria since her classmates would be there. If she stayed at the school, though, Adrien might try to find her. So, she nodded her head, not really having the energy to talk.
Luka nodded as well, carefully grabbing her arm and giving a small tug to lead her toward the school exit.
~~~~~~
Once the two got outside and started walking, Marinette started to feel better, especially since Luka graciously lent her an ear for her recent problems with Lila.
“I was wondering how all of those rumors started..” Luka mumbled with furrowed eyebrows. “She seemed nice when Juleka talked about her.”
“She has the whole class wrapped around her finger.” Marinette sighed, brushing her bangs to the side.
“Except you.” Luka pointed out with a smirk.
“And Adrien.” She corrected.
“Adrien knows?” Luka asked with raised eyebrows. He would’ve thought Adrien would stand up for Marinette.
The girl only nodded, heaving another sigh. Adrien was.. another.. problem to deal with. So, instead of dwelling on that, she pulled a smile.
“Anyway, where are we going?” She suddenly asked, glancing around the street. They had been walking for a while now, and Marinette noticed they hadn’t circled around yet.
Luka gave a sheepish smile.
“I meant to mention it earlier, but you were really down.” He started apologetically. “I’m actually meeting my friends for lunch- i-if you wanna go back to the school that’s fine. I’ll even walk you back.” Luka quickly added, but Marinette scoffed.
“No thanks. I could use the break. Who are your friends?”
Luka smiled brightly, gesturing towards a restaurant they had just walked up to. “You’ll see. They’re waiting for us in the back.”
~~~~~~
When Luka and Marinette entered the back of the restaurant, they were greeted by a table of four, three of them cheerfully waving them down.
“Oh that’s..!” Marinette trailed off as they approached the table.
It was Kagami, Aurore, Wayhem, and someone she didn’t recognize.
“You’re late, Luka.” Kagami spoke up as the two sat down.
“And you brought Marinette with you!” Aurore added excitedly, pulling Mari into a hug.
“I didn’t know you guys hung out together?” Marinette smiled, hugging Aurore back.
“We take the same classes together.” Luka said vaguely, handing her a menu.
“Why are you here?” Kagami questioned, coming off a little rude. Marinette brushed her tone to the side, though, knowing she was just curious.
She explained the story once again to the others, though not as detailed for the sake of time. They listened intently, each frowning by the end.
“I had heard a few rumors, but I didn’t know Lila was the one starting them.” Aurore admitted thoughtfully.
“I haven’t heard anything, but I’ve overheard Lila talking sometimes.” Wayhem spoke up.
“I just have a hard time believing Adrien would condone such behavior.” Kagami frowned, crossing her arms with a troubled expression.
“Well.. I wouldn’t say condone it, he just.. doesn’t want Lila to be akumatized.” Marinette attempted to defend. After all, Adrien was just trying to do the right thing, wasn’t he?
“Sounds like you need new friends.” Someone suddenly suggested.
The group glanced up at the boy sitting across from Marinette.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” Marinette inquired with furrowed eyebrows.
Kagami was quick to jump in. “Apologies, I was supposed to introduce him earlier. Marinette, this is Felix. Felix, this is Marinette.”
Marinette hummed, giving him a curious look, while Felix simply took another sip of his tea.
“I don’t know if she needs new friends..” Aurore said, returning to Felix’s comment. The action felt a bit harsh in her opinion.
“From what Dupain-Cheng says, Rossi’s been spreading lies about her, and instead of helping or defending her, her friends have taken Rossi’s side. Sounds like she needs new friends to me.” Felix stated flatly.
Marinette’s chest ached at those words. Most likely because she knew deep down, that he just might be right.
“Lila blinded them with her lies, it’s not their fault. Besides, Adrien knows she is a liar, so he always has my back.” Nevertheless, Marinette continued to defend her friends.
“If he knows, and isn’t helping you, that makes him a horrible person.” Felix countered, taking another sip of his tea.
The friends each gave some mutters of agreement. What Felix was saying made sense.
Neither Marinette nor Kagami seemed to like the direction their conversation was headed in, though.
“Adrien’s too nice to..”
“Ahh, too nice. People that are too nice are the ones that let Nazi’s take over France.” Felix’s comment was cutting.
The exchange fell silent after that, since no one could argue against Felix’s words. After a while, someone changed the subject, but Marinette couldn’t erase it from her mind.
Even as they all walked back to class, Marinette pondered on the subject. Felix was right. She knew that much.
What should she do about it? Marinette had no idea.