Chapter Text
Marinette had regrets.
She stared down at the drink in her hand and tried to ignore the way that Lila was flirting with Adrien. It couldn’t have been more blatant: Lila was practically shoving her boobs into Adrien’s face. Adrien was visibly uncomfortable, but he wasn’t doing anything to move away from those boobs either.
“Okay, stop emoting bad vibes. You’re killing the party,,” Alya said, dropping down onto the couch beside Marinette. “What’s your problem?”
“Nothing,” Marinette said with a heavy sigh. Alya would just get mad if Marinette brought up Lila and Adrien.
“It must be something. I had to twist your arm to get you to come tonight,” Alya said.
“I’m just tired,” Marinette replied, which wasn’t exactly a lie. She took a gulp of her drink. It was sticky sweet, which hid the alcohol nicely. Alya had asked her sister to pick them up some liquor; she refused to admit what she’d done to get Nora to do it, but Marinette wasn’t complaining. Anything that helped take the edge off watching Lila playfully flick her hair in Adrien’s direction.
“It has been a long week, but that’s why we’re here. It’s Halloween, baby!” Alya thrust her drink into the air. “Time to party!”
Marinette smiled. “And yet some of us aren’t wearing Halloween colors,” she said lightly. Almost everyone was wearing clothing in shades of black and orange, except for Alya. She was wearing a brown and purple dress. It was funny, because Alya had tons of orange clothing.
Alya stared down at herself like she’d forgotten what she was wearing. “Oh yeah. I had the perfect thing all lined up and then Ella and Etta spilled juice on me at supper,” she said with a low growl. “My mom washed it for me before they went out, but I had to let it dry. I should go see if it’s done.”
“Or you could put on something else,” Marinette pointed out.
“But I had the perfect thing,” Alya whined. “I swear, it’s like those two have a second sense for when I’m wearing something really important.”
“Yeah, they really do,” Marinette said. This wasn’t the first time that had happened. It made her really glad that she didn’t have to put up with younger siblings. Based on what she heard from Alya and Nino, it sure didn’t sound like they were worth it – and she put with quite a lot from Manon as it was.
“Do you think everyone is having fun?” Alya asked. The sudden change of topic made Marinette blink, but then she followed Alya’s gaze.
Not everyone in the class had shown up tonight. Some people had had other plans by the time Alya decided to have her party. They had ended up with Alya, Marinette, Nino, Adrien, Lila, Alix, Mylène, Rose and Juleka. It was a good-sized group… if you ignored Lila, which Marinette was trying really hard to do. She would have preferred Chloé over Lila at this point, which was saying a lot.
“I think they are,” Marinette said, omitting that Adrien did not seem to be having fun. She narrowed her eyes at Lila, wishing that she was brave enough to tell Lila to get away from him.
Then again, maybe that wasn’t really Marinette’s place. Lila sure wasn’t going to listen to her when it came to Adrien. Nino, maybe, or Alya, for sure. But the best person to really tell her off would be Adrien himself. He wouldn’t though. He was just too polite for that.
“Good. I would hate to have this be a crappy party,” Alya said. She grabbed Marinette’s cup and tossed back the rest of Marinette’s drink.
“Hey!” Marinette said, loudly enough to catch Rose’s attention.
“I’ll get you a new drink, Marinette,” Rose said sweetly. “And you too, Alya. Juleka, will you help me?”
“Sure,” Juleka said, getting up off the floor. Rose beamed and looped her arm through Juleka’s as they walked into the kitchen.
That seemed to be some sort of sign. Alix left, muttering something about calling her parents. Nino walked out too. Adrien managed to squirm free of Lila and slipped out onto the balcony. Marinette half-expected Lila to follow him, but she didn’t.
“I’m gonna go check on my dress,” Alya said, standing. She walked out too.
That left Mylène, Lila, and Marinette. Marinette wished she still had her drink, if only to have something to do with her hands.
“Ah, shoot,” Mylène said, peeking down the hall. “I really gotta pee and someone is in the bathroom.” She wiggled a little.
“I think Alya’s parents have a bathroom in their bedroom,” Marinette told her.
Mylène frowned. “Alya probably wouldn’t want us going in there.” She squirmed again.
“Alya won’t care. It’s fine. Go ahead,” Marinette said, and she must have sounded convincing – or maybe Mylène just couldn’t hold it – because Mylène nodded and dashed down the hallway.
And that’s when Marinette realized she was now alone with Lila.
She briefly contemplated getting up to join Adrien. That awkwardness would be way better than Lila smirking at her in an annoyingly knowing fashion.
But then Lila cleared her throat and said, “Alya plans for us to watch scary movies later. I can’t wait to get scared and grab Adrien’s arm.”
“They’re just movies,” Marinette said coldly.
“Duh. That doesn’t mean I can’t pretend.” Lila’s smirk deepened and she pitched her voice a little higher. “Oh Adrien! I’m so scared of that killer! Please protect me!” She mimed grabbing Adrien’s arm and hugging it to her chest.
Marinette could feel a muscle twitching in her jaw as she ground her teeth.
“It’s just too much for me! I need a big, strong guy to protect me,” Lila continued, batting her eyelashes.
“Shut up!” Marinette snapped, maybe a little too loudly.
The lights went out.
Marinette froze in surprise at the sudden silence: the television had switched off, and Lila had gone quiet. She couldn’t even hear Juleka and Rose in the kitchen.
A power outage?
With the curtains drawn, it was so dark in the room that she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face.
There was a sound in front of her.
Choked. Bitten off, maybe. Surprised?
“Lila?” Marinette said out loud, staring hard in the direction where Lila had been. She thought she could make out some shapes moving around as her eyes struggled to adjust to the dark.
“Marinette!” Alya called out. “Lila? You guys okay?”
“What’s going on? The whole block went out,” Adrien said. A moment later, a light flashed on. Marinette winced and looked away, blinking rapidly.
“Must be a power outage,” Marinette said, fighting the urge to rub her eyes. She’d ruin an hour’s worth of work if she smudged her make-up now. The last thing she needed was Adrien seeing her as a raccoon.
“Oh my god!” Rose screamed.
Marinette’s head snapped around to see what was wrong.
There, illuminated by the bright flashlight from Adrien’s phone, was Lila’s body with a big knife sticking out of her chest.
“Oh my god!” Alya exclaimed, covering her mouth. “Marinette, what happened?” She, Alix, Nino, and Mylène crowded in behind Rose and Juleka. All of their phone flashlights did a good job of lighting up the room. Marinette wished they wouldn’t. Her stomach flipped when she saw a spreading pool of blood on the floor.
“I… I don’t know,” she stammered. “The lights went out and –”
“You were alone with Lila,” Alix said, almost accusingly.
“Marinette?” Nino whispered.
They were all looking at her, even Adrien, and Marinette sank back against the couch. She opened her mouth.
What should Marinette do next?
If you think Marinette should leave the party, go to Chapter 2.
If you think Marinette should stay and try to figure out what happened, go to Chapter 3.
If you think Marinette should lock herself in the bathroom to figure things out, go to Chapter 4.