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The door of the school bathroom closed with a loud slam. Marinette looked up and immediately wished she hadn't. Leaning on the doorframe was Lila, and for some reason, she was smirking. This was going to be annoying.
"I know what you're doing", she said.
"Drying my hands? Yeah, it's not really a secret." Marinette rolled her eyes.
"Inviting Jagged Stone to your birthday party, just to undermine me?", continued Lila, as she slowly inched closer to Marinette. "That's almost flattering. And stupid. You keep acting so high and mighty, but you're really just the same as me… Except I'm better at it."
Marinette sighed and continued to stare straight ahead.
"Why do you care? You're not even invited."
Lila laughed.
"Oh, I know, I just think it's funny. You tell me off, but when you drop big names to seem more interesting, it's suddenly alright, isn't it? Do you already have an excuse for when he won't come?"
Marinette shook her wet hands and grabbed a paper towel, still doing her best not to look at Lila.
"What makes you think he won't come? He was very excited when he invited himself?"
Lila drew her face into a scowl. "Oh, drop the act. We both know you just made that up. Jagged Stone doesn't even know who you are."
Marinette turned around and looked at Lila.
"You know I designed his last two album covers, right? There was a news story. You can look it up."
Lila's smile briefly faltered, and she took a step back. "You don't expect me to believe…"
"Look it up right now," said Marinette, now angrily. Lila hesitated for a moment, then dragged out her phone and began typing. As she looked, her eyes suddenly opened wide in shock.
"See? I'm not a liar like you," said Marinette with immense satisfaction. She leaned over to her rival's phone. "You think you're so much smarter that you don't even pay attention to the people around you."
"I… what? How do you even know him?"
"You know he is Juleka's dad, right? The black-haired girl with the pink highlights? She's in our class. Also, I used to date his son."
Lila looked even more shocked. She started scrolling furiously.
"Wait, that guy?" She turned over her phone, with a picture of Luka on it. "Why?"
She mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "you could have anyone…"
"It's none of your business who I date."
"Well, of course not, I don't care!", spat Lila. "So what is your angle here? Will you expose me to all of your friends? Burn a favour to hurt me?"
"He invited himself, remember? And I don't think the topic of you will come up."
"Oh please, as if…"
"No, really, Lila. You're not that important. We don't talk about you. You're never part of any school projects, you don't show up for events, and most of your lies are just excuses to ditch us. You may be a good liar, but you suck at being a friend."
For just the tiniest instant, Lila looked almost, hurt, vulnerable, if such a thing was even possible for her. But the next moment, Lila was back to being angry.
"Oh look at you," she said. "All Miss High-And-Mighty. Always working so hard to fix everybody's problems, be around all the time, and trick them all into falling in love with you. It's so boring."
"What? I'm not trying to make people fall in love with me." Marinette felt her cheeks heat up. "I like helping people because it's nice to be nice."
"Sure, if that's what helps you sleep at night," said Lila with a smirk. "It's not really my business anyway if you're in denial. But you know, with that whole beautiful but approachable thing you're cultivating?" She moved closer, and grinned. "All the boys and half the girls are thinking about you when they drop their hands down their pants late at night."
"Eww, eww, eww, Lila, that's disgusting!" Marinette recoiled and took a step back.
"It's the truth", Lila said with an irritating sing-song. "They're all just dreaming of having the one problem that you will want to solve with a kiss."
"Wha- no!" shouted Marinette. What did this have to do with anything? Where was Lila getting these ideas from?
…actually, come to think of it, rationally and calmly, where was Lila getting these ideas from?
"Are you telling me they told you that?", Marinette asked with a smirk.
"What do you mean?"
"You don't talk to our classmates. Whenever they want to hang out, you make excuses. Even if anybody did have a secret crush on me, why would anybody tell you about it?"
She moved closer, backing Lila more towards the exit.
"You're just making this up. The only person whose secret crush you could know is… is actually…"
…oh god. Marinette felt her heartbeat increase. Why did she have to think about that rationally and calmly? This was not working at all!
"No I don't!", shouted Lila quickly.
"You don't what?"
"You're disgusting, the way you tease everyone by just being… Never mind!" Lila was now getting very flushed and agitated. She got all up in Marinette's face, shouting. "I will destroy you! Your friends won't even remember you!"
"Get out of my space, Lila," said Marinette with all the menace she could muster as the blood was rushing to her head.
"Or what!? Do you think this is one of these movies where the rivals suddenly start kissing for no reason? No way!"
"Is that what you're hoping for?", said Marinette sarcastically. She took a step towards Lila. Maybe she could intimidate the other girl. The, uh, very pretty other girl. With her annoying deep brown eyes and her stupid lips and, you know…
"With you? Never. Piss off," said Lila. She leaned in closer, too, angry, scowling, breathing heavily. Marinette could feel the heat of her skin. For a moment, they just staid there, looking at each other.
Then their lips met.
The kissing was rough and forceful. Lila had her hand in Marinette's hair, pulling her close. Marinette was holding the back of Lila's neck, angling her better. She opened her mouth, and Lila followed, or was it the other way around? Didn't matter. Her tongue met Lila's halfway, while she was pressing herself closer. Some part of her brain was registering that Lila was doing the same, and had a hand on her hip. Marinette traced her finger down Lila's spine, and–
Steps rang out from outside the door. Immediately, the girls jumped apart and stared at the handle.
After a moment, the footsteps got quieter. Whoever was there wasn't not on their way to this bathroom.
Marinette released the breath she'd been holding, and looked at Lila. Lila seemed like she was in a daze, looking at her confused and surprised.
"I, um…", began Marinette, but Lila cut her off.
"This… this never happened. Right? Not a thing", she said, and turned to leave.
"You, uh, your hair," said Marinette, and pointed at Lila's braid, which had unravelled. Lila looked around, noticed the braid, and nodded.
"Oh, right, thanks." She began putting the tie back on. Her eyes shifted uneasily between Marinette, her hair, and the wall. "I, umm… No, screw you! …never happened. Not a word."
She left the room hurriedly. Marinette looked at the closing door, then at herself in the mirror. Her lips were bruised, she was flushed, and one of her pigtails was completely out of shape.
What the fuck had just happened?