Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Removing the Weed
Lila peeked through the blinds of her bedroom window. She could see all of her classmates gathered for that girl's birthday party. Of course. It had to be in the park across from her home. She had to see everyone celebrate and praise that goodie-two-shoes. When she noticed the pig-tailed girl interacting with Adrien, she glared through her blinds and finally looked away with a huff.
"Who does she think she is?" Lila grumbled to herself, jealous of the attention Marinette received. "I need to do something about her… I can't ever forgive her for trying to ruin my image." She vented as she rummaged through her desk.
It didn't take long to find what she was looking for. A notebook filled with ways to handle insubordinate people who got in her way in the past.
She browsed through the notes she had taken in previous schools.
Over the years she had transferred from one city to another due to her mother's career as an ambassador. Lila learned it was easier to get people to like you by telling them what they wanted to hear. If that meant she had to lie, so be it.
At first, there were only embellishments and omissions. She would use a little truth to pump it up a bit. Then people would make assumptions about her that improved her image and she let them run with it.
Truthfully, it started off as a need to receive positive attention: when she was younger, she was awkward and struggled to make friends when she realized she would be leaving them eventually. Moving from place to place and having an overworked mother who was barely home left Lila feeling lonely at times.
However, over time she learned to accept her life and decided she would embrace the ability to make people believe whatever she wanted them to believe. After all, she usually wasn't there long enough for anyone to prove her wrong.
Soon her lies became bigger and bigger with each move because she found out it got more people interested in her faster. The sooner she could start being fawned over by her peers, the better she felt.
Of course, every once in a while a weed would have to be removed in order to maintain her perfect garden of loyal followers. Marinette wasn't the first weed to spring up. However, it didn't take long for her to remove the disturbance from her garden. Marinette's weed would soon die like those before her.
This notebook, which accounted for the types of successful lies and manipulations she had ever done, held her successes in handling these nuisances. Flipping through the pages she found the best way to handle Marinette.
Get their friends to turn on them.
Lila smirked, "Perfect."
She thought about how Marinette valued all of her "precious" friends, not to mention her obvious crush on the oblivious blonde haired boy. If she could get Adrien to turn on her as well, then she would have followed through with her threat of making her life miserable.
Good thing she had an ace up her sleeve when it came to Adrien: she had just become friends with his affluent father. Convincing Mr. Agreste that Marinette wasn't safe for Adrien to be around already hurt the pig-tailed girl's chances of being with her crush. Now, with this new plan in effect, there was no chance Marinette could ever change Mr. Agreste's mind.
She recalled the conversation she had had with Mr. Agreste the other day: he was disappointed his son was still hanging out with Marinette and Lila had promised she would eliminate the threat soon. She had asked for some more time while she had made sure he would follow up on his end of the deal and allow Lila to get close to Adrien. Mr. Agreste had agreed so she knew she had to make this plan work.
As the party music rang outside, she concocted the perfect plan to get back against Marinette.
The next week after class, Lila saw her opportunity to put her plan into motion as she was the last one to walk out of the classroom. Ms. Bustier was cleaning up the chalk board when Lila noticed the mock exam answers on the desk.
While the teacher's back was turned, she quickly swiped the answers off the table and hid them in her bag. She couldn't help but smirk as she watched Marinette walking further ahead outside of the classroom, oblivious to the brilliant plan Lila had forged.
She brought the exam sheet home with her, knowing they would be taking the test the next day. She studied the paper so she knew what not to answer. Knowing Miss Goodie-Two-Shoes, she'd do well on the exam, which would make this plan even more believable.
Next, Lila went to the jewelry box in her room. She pulled out the fox-tail necklace she had purchased when she wanted to win over Adrien. "Looks like I can use this to my advantage again as well." Her smirk could be seen in the reflection of the pendant as she held it up to admire it.
The last part of her plan all depended on being alone with Marinette, but she would adapt as needed if it didn't work out. Either way, she was ready.
The following morning, after they had taken the exam, Lila waited for Marinette to be alone at her locker. She had already delivered the anonymous message about someone stealing the test answers to Ms. Bustier's mailbox, so she knew she had to act swiftly for her plan to work.
Marinette always seemed to run late to school, even though she literally lived across the street. This flaw of hers worked perfectly for Lila's scheme.
Hiding behind a locker, she watched as Marinette opened her bag to put her books inside. It was then that Lila striked.
She called Marinette on the burner phone Mr. Agreste had given her for when he wanted updates on his son. Marinette's ringtone going off distracted her and Goody-Two-Shoes put her open backpack down on the ground while she took the loud device out of her pocket. Lila swiftly walked past her and slipped the answers into her bag. She then hid herself again until Marinette left.
When the room was clear, she walked over and opened the other girl's locker. In order for her second plan to work, Lila had learned the code to Marinette's locker. Right, left, right, push it in and the door was open! She took out the jewelry box holding the foxtail pendant and placed it on the top shelf of her locker. She made sure it would fall down once the door was opened again.
Once her set-up was complete, she nonchalantly headed off to the courtyard to chat with her peers and kill time.
She quickly spotted Nathaniel drawing in his sketchbook as usual. He was a naive person that blindly followed anyone who was nice to him. She put on her friendly face and walked over to him. "Good morning, Nathaniel! I see you're working on one of your comics again."
The red-headed boy shyly looked up and smiled. "Hey, Lila. Yeah, I've been practicing a more eastern approach. I'm comparing the western comic style to the manga techniques."
She nodded and listened to him ramble on about his art as the bell rang, and they walked to class together. 'Manga… Japan… Project… Time to respond…' she thought as she waited for her opening.
She let out a giggle to make Nathaniel feel good about his talk. "I'm best friends with the greatest manga publisher in Japan, y'know. I can talk to him about your comic book project, if you'd like."
Nathaniel's eyes lit up for a moment but then he looked away shyly. "Only if you want to. I don't want to impose…" He sat down at his desk as Lila smiled warmly at him.
"I'll reach out to him to see what he says!" She replied as she took her seat. 'Shy guys are the easiest to control… They never want to push but it’s no sweat to get their hopes up…' She thought to herself as she looked ahead, ready for class to start.
Ms. Bustier addressed the students about the results of the mock exam.
"I've graded your papers. Most of you did quite well! Some of you did better than others," her voice faltered a bit on that last part, implying some students didn't do well at all. After a slight pause, Ms. Bustier continued, "But before that, Marinette, can you bring your school bag to me? I need to check something."
Lila perked up when she heard Marinette's name being called. The class representative's confused face as she brought her backpack to the front of the room delighted Lila. 'Time for the fun to begin…' she thought to herself. She gleefully listened as Ms. Bustier continued to speak and search Marinette's bag.
"Today someone placed an anonymous note in my mailbox claiming you had stolen the exam answers," she reached inside the girl’s rucksack to pull out the stolen answer sheets. "And it looks like they were right." Their teacher's disappointed voice was apparent as she held the papers up for the students to see.
The whole class gasped at this revelation. Marinette looked around shocked and concerned as she quickly defended herself. "But… that's not true! Someone must have planted that in my bag!"
"You answered all of the questions correctly, though," Ms. Bustier countered sternly.
"I did?!" Marinette sounded surprised at her accomplishment, excited, even. However, she soon realized how that made her look. "Yes, but that’s because I studied!"
Of course, Marinette's best friend had to stand up to defend her: "Ms. Bustier, Marinette always scores high on your tests!" Alya protested.
Lila knew she had to step in to push Marinette's buttons. The pig-tailed girl's need to always be right would end up making her look bad in the end. Lila put on a face of concern and spoke up once Alya finished her defense, "This is so terribly unlike you, Marinette! You're usually so well-behaved."
Just as she hoped, Marinette's face twisted with rage as she realized what Lila had done to her. However, there was no way she could prove that Lila was the culprit, so Lila knew she was safe. She waited for Marinette to put her own foot in her mouth.
"Of course… You put the answers into my bag! You're the anonymous informer!" Marinette accused while pointing a finger at Lila.
Lila gasped in fabricated horror as she tactfully replied, "I'm coming to your defense and you're accusing ME?" She made sure to sound as upset as possible to keep everyone else on her side.
Just as she hoped, Ms. Bustier came to Lila's defense. "You can't accuse someone without proof, Marinette."
The class representative turned back towards the teacher and continued her accusation, "But I'm sure it's her. She stole the test answers!"
Ms. Bustier merely looked disappointed in the girl in front of her as she explained why she thought that statement was wrong, "That's impossible, Marinette. Lila got the worst grade in the class."
Marinette hesitated a bit as she tried to think of a rebuttal, "The-Then… she flunked the exam on purpose!"
Lila feigned a look of embarrassment as she muttered under her breath, "Stop bringing up that I'm a failure…" Her surrounding classmates gave her a reassuring look and pity smiles. Internally, Lila was maniacally laughing at Marinette's misfortune. The harder the pig-tailed girl tried to defend herself, the harder she fell into Lila's trap. And this was only the first one.
Just as Marinette was faltering, Adrien stood up to defend her. "Excuse me, Ms. Bustier, but everyone here knows it's not like Marinette to cheat."
Alya immediately straightened up, agreeing with the golden haired boy, "Mhmm! He's right"
After that, everyone else in the room began to speak up, defending the class representative and her honor as a person. Lila had to hold back the urge to make a gagging face. Ugh, it was disgusting how loyal everyone was to her even with the teacher pulling the test answers right out of her bag. No worries, that's why Lila had back up plans to make Marinette look worse.
Ms. Bustier knew she had to quiet down the classroom before it got out of control, so she clapped her hands and made a decision, "Marinette, Lila, please go to the principal's office until we get to the bottom of this."
Lila got out of her seat, still showing a concerned face towards Marinette. She walked over to the door and held it open for her to look amicable in front of their classmates. Marinette just glared and stomped out of the classroom with Lila following closely behind.
Once the two girls were far enough away from the classroom and alone in the hallway, Lila decided to drop the mask and fess up to her plan. "I swore I'd make your life unbearable, Marinette. Let's see how you get out of this one." She couldn't help but smirk at the fuming dark haired girl in front of her.
"I'm not falling in your trap, Lila," Marinette declared confidently as she walked ahead of her.
Lila's smirk only grew more as she spoke to herself. "Too late. You already have." She skipped past Marinette, who was waiting for her in front of the door that led to the principal's office.
As Lila walked down the stairs to an empty courtyard, Marinette questioned her actions. "Where are you going?"
Lila laid down on the ground and simply replied, "You're about to find out." She then got herself ready to put on a major performance.
"Ready?" She mocked. Then she began to cry out in pain, sprawled out on the floor. "Ow! Ouch! My leg! Ow!" She feigned crying in pain as the janitor from one of the downstairs rooms ran over to her.
Her outburst naturally grabbed the attention of their principal, Mr. Damocles, who ran out of his office. "What's going on out here?" he boomed.
Lila shouted in fake pain, "Marinette pushed me down the stairs!" She mentally enjoyed the look of confusion and shock on Marinette's face as the principal demanded they both head into his office.
Marinette begrudgingly followed Mr. Damocles into the room while Lila got her knee patched up. While her "injuries" were being taken care of, Marinette's parents were called into the school to deal with Marinette's behavior towards Lila.
Lila was helped into the office, continuing to play the victim even with the new witnesses there. She wiped away a fake tear as she sat down next to Marinette; Lila noticed the concerned looks on the other girl's parents’ faces. If Lila could get the Dupain-Chengs to distrust their daughter, then this scheme would be better than she hoped for.
Mr. Damocles began the meeting. "It has come to my attention that your daughter pushed her fellow classmate down the stairs, right outside of my office," Mr. Damocles informed Marinette's parents.
Marinette couldn't help but interject. "But sir, it wasn't me, I didn't do anything-"
Lila didn't let her finish as she held her knee and cried about Marinette's grievances against her. "I don't know why Marinette doesn't like me! I've tried to be her friend, but she keeps calling me a liar, getting the others to gang up against me, and now, she's pushing me down the stairs?" She winced in pain as she continued to hold her "injured" leg.
"Those are total lies!" Marinette yelled, feeling aggrieved.
Mr. Damocles dismissed Marinette's outburst. "Go on, Lila."
Lila knew it was now time to enact the next part of her plan: make Marinette permanently lose her good reputation. She looked downcast and pretended to be extremely upset. "She even took a necklace I got from my grandmother - a fox pendant!"
Hearing this new accusation the principal was alarmed. "Took, as in stole?"
Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in confusion towards the new false accusation. "Huh? That's not true! I never stole anything!"
At this point, Marinette's parents couldn't stand to stay silent and watch their daughter be accused of such bad behavior.
"My daughter is not a thief!" Tom proclaimed loudly.
"Why should we believe any of this?" Sabine declared frustrated by these allegations against her daughter. "You're accusing her without any proof!
Lila looked to the side, doing her best to hide the fact she wanted to smirk. "Oh, I have proof." She simply said, ready to guide them to Marinette's locker where she had planted the necklace.
During the time of the meeting, classes had been let out and Ms. Bustier joined them in seeing if Lila's accusations about Marinette were true or not. As they walked into the locker room, some of their classmates were already getting ready to head to their next period. Lila was thankful for this timing: the more witnesses the better.
Mr. Damocles instructed Marinette, "Open your locker, please."
Marinette did as she was told, and the box holding the fox necklace fell down onto the floor.
Lila let out a loud gasp. "My grandmother's pendant!"
Sabine and Marinette gasped while Tom stared in shock. The dark haired girl panicked, scrambling to find a way to properly defend herself. "She's making up this whole thing! It wasn't me! I didn't do anything, I swear!"
The truth she was shouting fell on deaf ears as she heard her mother cry. Marinette's frantic face searched for someone to believe her. She locked eyes with Adrien, who she knew was also wary of Lila. In one desperate plea she asked him with a quivering voice, "You know Lila's lying, don't you Adrien?"
The blonde boy tried to voice his opinion, "Mr. Damocles, I don't think-" but he was cut off by their irate principal.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I will not tolerate such behavior from one of my students! First you cheat, then you push your classmate down the stairs, and now you stole her family heirloom? Unless you can provide definitive proof that you are innocent, I have no choice. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are expelled from this school!" Mr. Damocles declared.
Everyone in the locker room gasped.
Meanwhile, Lila internally celebrated. Another win for Lila Rossi! Marinette could never interfere with her plans again.
However, in none of her previous schools was there a supervillain that could transform the people she betrayed into monsters.
Her internal triumph was cut short when she had to run for her safety from the three akumas that formed in front of her. It's not like it was her first time causing one, but three in one go was a new record. Lila bolted out of the school pursued by the new threats.