Chapter Text
Chloe had always known how to piss people off. Knew what buttons to push to get her desired result. If only because it was funny. Whenever she’d had a bad hair day, or a particularly frustrating call with her mother, she just wanted to laugh. And watching people reel in the desire to strangle her had been funny.
She knew she could be needlessly cruel, selfish. She knew she was a coldhearted bitch. Chloe knew she was a lot of things. She’s sure the list could go on and on. But one thing she never was, was fake.
See, Chloe hated fake people. With a passion. She could be a cruel, selfish coldhearted bitch. But she would never be a liar and a fake. Maybe it was because she’d grown up in a world surrounded by people being all sorts of phony. Maybe it was because she hated the way her stomach turned when Adrien would put on his fake model smile; when she knew all he really wanted to do was scream. There were thousands of reasons she could probably give, but the bottom line was that she hated people who were fake.
So when Lila Rossi arrives at Collège Françoise Dupont, and the first words out of her mouth are lies? Chloe instantly has beef with her. But it remains mostly one sided.
It wasn’t like Lila was targeting her specifically. In fact, Chloe was of the assumption that Lila didn’t quite care for her. Which, for the record, she is totally fine with. The feeling is quite mutual. Thank you very much.
The problem lied in the fact that everyone ate her bullshit up. Like it was the last pastry on 'Joyeux Noël. Within less than a day she had almost everyone wrapped around her finger. It was almost impressive.
Almost.
If not for the fact that even her own Best Friend, Sabrina, was one of those people; She might not even care.
Now everyone can whine and say she treat’s Sabrina like a slave, and that she makes her always do her bidding. And to an extent she acknowledges that they aren’t exactly wrong. She needs someone to do her bidding. Besides, Sabrina’s cool with it, everyone can shove off.
The point is that… well she supposes the point is Sabrina is her minion. Not Lila’s or anyone else's. So when she shows up to school and finds the girl practically hanging off of Lila’s every word, she decides it just won’t do. It’s ridiculous.
“Sabrina!” She hollar’s. “Sabrina I need your help!” Chloe stands with arms crossed, waiting for Sabrina to come over to her.
But when she doesn’t hear footsteps she looks over. And Sabrina. Hasn’t. Moved. An. Inch.
That’s what really pisses her off. Because normally, when Chloe calls, Sabrina comes. It’s how they work. It’s their dynamic.
Instead, Sabrina sit’s next to Lila, nursing a drink that is not possibly her’s. Sabrina doesn’t like hot drinks. Even in winter she takes all her coffees and teas iced. And then? And then Lila has the audacity to take it from Sabrina’s hands and Drink from it. Only to give it back to her as she continues telling whatever exaggerated fantasy story she had now.
“What the fuck?” Chloe mutters. She scowls, marching up to the small gathered group with hands on her hips. “I called you Sabrina.”
Sabrina’s head snaps in her direction, blue eyes widening. “Oh, Chloe. Sorry! I was just helping Lila out! She said he wrist was hurt again and-”
Chloe cut her off with a sigh. “Her hand clearly doesn't hurt Sabrina. She literally just used it to take a sip from the drink. She lied to you.”
Now Lila’s paying attention. And so are the various students gathered around her. Lila narrows her eyes, but never drops her stupid fake smile. “Oh Chloe. My wrist hurts. I just can’t hold things for long amounts of time. A quick sip isn’t doing anything. But thank you for your concern.”
Sabrina turns back to Chloe, nodding. “Yeah. but if you need me I-”
“Fine, Sabrina. I’ll be in the classroom waiting.” She starts to turn — frankly done with the bullshit — but Sabrina calls out to her.
“Wait!” Chloe turns around, raising an eyebrow as Sabrina continues. “Is it okay if Lila sits up front with me today? She asked if I would take notes and I needed her there to check them.”
Chloe has to resist the urge to scream. Because did Lila just delegate her to the back row? She decides this day is already terrible. “Fine.” She grits out. “I’ll see you after school then.”
Chloe stomps off to the classroom, taking a seat in the back row. Next to Marinette of all people. She ignores the confused look she gets from the other girl, instead glaring daggers into the back of Lila’s head as she sits next to Sabrina. Maybe if she thinks it hard enough, she’ll make Lila explode.
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She does not make Lila explode, much to her displeasure. But she does see Lila almost trip and fall on their way to lunch. So that was something. It was worth the glare that Mylene gave her when she giggled.
She was at her usual table, expecting for Sabrina to come over and eat with her. That’s how they do things every day. But when five minutes pass and Sabrina’s planted herself at Lila’s side, it’s clear lunch plans for the day are forgotten.
Chloe groans, looking around for anywhere else to sit. She doesn’t like the proximity of her table to Lila’s. She doesn’t have the patience to listen to that girl's bullshit all of lunch.
She spots familiar blonde hair and her heart leaps into her throat. Adrien. She hadn’t talked—really talked— to him in a while. She gives the courtyard one last sweep before resigning herself to sit at his table. Dupain Chengs there, and she was really hoping to avoid her. It was bad enough she had to sit next to her in class, now she was forced to be next to her at lunch.
Another reason to hate Lila is added to her mental list.
“Hey Adrikins.” She thunks her tray down next to him, sitting down. Across from them both, Marinette has a scowl.
“What do you want Chloe? Can’t you leave us alone?” Marinette crosses her arms, lunch in front of her long forgotten.
Chloe sighs, pulling out her phone and using the camera to check out her hair. “Believe it or not, Dupain-Cheng, not everything revolves around you. You’re not the sun.” Well, she considered Adrien the closest thing to human sunshine, but that’s not the point. “I didn’t sit here to bother you, so you can relax.”
Marinette looks ready to refute that, but thinks better of it. And Chloe couldn’t be happier. She was not in the mood to hear one of her self-righteous rants.
Adrien clears his throat, glancing at her. “Okay, but why are you here? Don’t you usually have lunch with Sabrina?”
Chloe feels her face twist. She takes a breath trying to get that awful feeling in her stomach to go away. “Not today. Lila’s being a bitch.”
Marinettee lets out a startled snort, surprised at Chloe’s words. “What, not buying her innocent angel act?”
“Fuck no! I saw through that girl the moment she walked into our classroom and opened her fat mouth.”Chloe smirks at the surprised expressions on both their faces. She takes pride in the fact that she can still shock people.
“You don’t… you’re being serious?” Marinette asks tentatively. “You don’t believe the things she says?”
Chloe feels scandalized. “What? Of course not! I am Chloé Bourgeois, and Chloé Bourgeois is not a fool.”
Adrien rub’s his face, exasperation forming in every nonexistent line on his face. “Thank god!” He says. “If I had to watch one more person eat up her lies I was gonna lose it!” He puts his face in his hands. “I’ve been trying so hard to let her be, but there’s only so much one man can take.”
The switch is startling to Chloe. To see normally calm and composed Adrien, kind Adrien, talk about snapping is unfamiliar territory. Uncharted waters for Chloe. It just reminds her how much school has changed him.
“Same.” Marinette whines. “I can’t stand it. All her fakeness. She exhausts me.”
Chloe looks between the two of them, and finds herself sympathetic. Not that she would ever say this out loud to anyone, especially not Dupain-Cheng. But in the one day she’s had to directly deal with Lila she already wants to yank her by those stupid sausage bangs and throw her off a cliff.
She can’t imagine putting up with this bull shit for months. If it had come down to that, she probably would’ve done something. Something that would’ve caused a lot of akumatizations and a lot of hurt feelings. Maybe a student or two getting suspended.
Which brings her immediately to her newest pressing question. “Why haven’t you guys done something?”
Marinette's eyes widened. She glances at Adrien ever so briefly. But because Chloes not one for fitting the ditzy blonde stereotype, she’s observant. She catches it.
Adrien just shrugs. “It’s better to take the high-road. I don’t wanna cause her to become Akumitized, cause that would just be a whole disaster. And besides, she’ll never change if we’re rude to her. If we’re nice and welcoming she’ll see that she doesn’t have to lie to get friends, and things will go back to normal. And it will have all happened without her getting Akumatized.” Adrien say’s it like he’s said it before a thousand times Like it’s a practiced speech. He also says it like he’s trying to convince himself of its validity.
Marinette nods, but Chloe get’s the feeling she doesn’t agree. And the more Chloe thinks about it, she doesn’t agree either. (Later, as she falls asleep she finds herself quite dismayed at the fact that she and Dupain-Cheng agree on something. She may or may not spiral).
“So what, you’ve just been letting her get away with everything? You let her lie to everyone?” Chloe glances between the two.
Marinette sighs. “I mean… yeah? There’s not much I can do.” Her use of the word ‘I’ and not ‘We’ doesn’t go unnoticed by Chloe. “Besides, Adrien's right. We don’t want her Akumatized again.” She practically spits the last part.
Adrien just nods along. Like they’ve had this conversation before and this is the conclusion they’ve arrived to everytime. Chloe feels like her mind is breaking. Because for once in her life, she thinks, Adriens an idiot.
“That's so… selfish!” Chloe loudly declared, ignoring the stares she briefly get’s form her surrounding peers. “You’re just letting people live in her pathetic lies? Which, might I add, aren’t even good!”
“But, they’re not hurting anyone!” Adrien says. “It’s all harmless and a ploy to make friends. It’s not worth her getting Akumatized over!”
Chloe huffs. “Adrien, I love you and you know that. But you’re being so fucking stupid right now.”
Adrien opens his mouth, ready to retort, when it seems like her words catch up to him He just sits there, gaping at her. His mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. He probably feels like one.
Marinette wears a matching expression, but Chloe can see a shimmer of amusement in her eyes.
Chloe puts a hand on Adrien's shoulder. “Look around, does it look like anyone is happy?”
He turns his head, looking at all of his classmates. They’re sitting in their same spots, hanging with the same people. But Chloe knows even socially-oblivious Adrien can pick up on the tension. The way Nino and Alya look at each other with a little less affection. How Myelin spends more time being Lila’s personal groupie than with Ivan and her friends. Everyone has a general heavy air hanging around. Even the normally cheery, ‘oh-so-nice’ Marinette is looking worse for wear.
And if Chloe looks at Adrien himself, she can tell he’s not doing well. He’s trying to hold it together, but she knows he’s every bit worn down as the rest of the class.
“I…But what about-” Adrien stumbles over his words. “I just wanted to do the right thing.”
Chloe admits her heart hurts a little then, and if Marinette's disgustingly softened face is accurate, her’s does too.
“Sometimes the right thing isn’t the path of least resistance dumb dumb.” She flicks the side of his head.
“I just…” Adrien sighs. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought it’d be best not to stir up trouble. Just let things be. If nobody was being physically hurt, then what was the big deal?”
Marinette sighs, reaching a hand out to lay on top of Adriens. “Physical pain isn’t the only kind Adrien. And sometimes, the emotional pain is just as bad.” She says that last part, and her voice sounds hollow. Chloe doesn’t like it.
“Oh god…” Adrien groans. “I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t even realize, I…”
“It’s okay.” Marinette says. But it’s very clearly not. “You didn’t know.”
Chloe very suddenly gets up, grabbing her tray and trash. She departs from the table without a farewell and doesn’t look back. If she has to sit through anymore sappy, teenage angst bullshit she was gonna lose it. It made her nauseous.
(A part of her, the part that she only allows herself to explore on nights she can’t sleep. That part of her wonder’s what about it all makes her feel so sick).
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“Chloe!” Sabrina calls, waving excitedly at her. “I was waiting for you!” She smiles.
Chloe sighs, crossing her arms extra tight across her chest. “Sabrina.”
“Ar-are you still good to hang out now?” Sabrina asks, eyes flicking across her face with her usual anxiety.
Chloe nods, already heading out of the school and into the streets of Paris.
Sabrina speed walks to catch up to her, shakey smile on her face. She wrings her hands and Chloe can practically feel the worry radiating from her. It’s giving her a stress headache, and she’s not even the one stressed!
“What’s wrong Sabrina.” She tries to sound at least a little genuine, but after the day she’s had she doesn’t have the energy to put effort into being empathetic.
Sabrina chuckles. “O-oh! Nothing! I mean, it’s just-”
“Spit it out, will ya?” Chloe knows she’s being harsher than usual. She should be kinder, unfortunately her patience has run thin.
“Are you mad at me?” Sabrina blurts it out. All in one go. No stumbling through sentences or stuttering on all her words. Just one clean question all in one breath.
Chloe feels her eyes widen as they keep walking. Several people passing by. It’s all just a blur of color to her.
“It’s just, you seemed so tense this morning! And- well, I know I wasn’t at our usual table for lunch but Lila needed me and I thought you’d come over to us. But you didn’t and then you just seemed mad and you didn’t give me your bag to carry so I-”
“I’m not mad at you, Sabrina.” She cut her off. “I was just annoyed today, bad phone call this morning.”
Sabrina instantly seems to mellow out. Her shoulders losing a bit of their tension. “Oh. Sorry Chlo.”
It’s a lie. Her mom hadn’t called in a few months. But it’s fine, she’s not in the mood for her shenanigans.
Sabrina is still talking, but Chloe doesn’t quite listen. She’s busy wondering if her small white lie makes her a hypocrite. For all her hatred of fake people and liars, she had just lied to Sabrina.
Did it matter that it was to spare her feelings? Was it actually to spare Sabrina’s? Or was she just ignoring her own?
Today was making her head hurt. Too much was happening, too many feelings.
“Chlo?” Sabrina calls. And she’s using that nickname. The one she only reserves for when she knows Chloe’s had a hard time with her mom. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m alright. It’s just been a long day.”
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She and Sabrina end up getting drinks at a cute cafe downtown. They gossip about whatever for about forty-five minutes. Then Chloe makes up some excuse to slip away early and goes home. She knows it’s shitty. But she’s just so tired.
And very, very conflicted.
She doesn’t even take off her shoes, she just collapses face first into her bed at Six o’clock in the afternoon. She scrolls for a while, saving cute bee themed nail ideas. Maybe she can find a way to have fingerless sleeves on her costume and have cute nails while she’s Queen Bee.
Chloe doesn’t think too hard about the fact she hasn’t been called in for an Akuma attack for a while. After all, the other miraculous holders hadn’t been either. So it wasn’t just her. But the smallest chance that Ladybug doesn’t trust her anymore hurt’s.
She hadn’t exactly proven herself as of late. But she wasn’t being given many chances.
She quickly shakes it all out of her head. There’s no point in driving herself crazy when it’s probably nothing. The Akuma’s have probably just been really tame. And if that’s the case, she’s thankful. For some stupid reason her class was an akuma hot-bed. So if the akuma’s have chilled out she might actually have a shot at graduating school without being a complete idiot.
The thoughts of schools and akumatized classmates of course cause her mind to wander back to Lila. Because apparently the world can’t give her one goddamned moment of peace. Today, it seemed the sun had risen just to spite her.
She’d always disliked Lila, but she never had to put up with her directly before. Usually her little stunts have her remain unaffected. So it’s way easier to ignore her pathetic existence, just like the rest of her goody goody classmates.
But today had been frustrating beyond what she’s comfortable with. It made her uneasy that Lila hadn’t had to do much to get a rise out of her. It was even more unnerving that Lila was just now bothering her. Completely out of the blue. Why was Chloe suddenly on her radar of people to piss off? It didn’t make sense. And Chloe didn’t like it. It made her unpredictable. And unpredictable people were most often a problem.
Once again, Chloe had to snap herself out of this line of thought. She was being utterly ridiculous. It was one day. Lila was probably just trying to grow her little army of undyingly loyal fools. It wasn’t personal.
She kept that in her head as she got up from her bed and showered. As she got changed into pajamas and set her clothes out for tomorrow. It wasn’t personal. She repeated it like a mantra right up until she was asleep.
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The next morning she wakes and decides that she moped enough last night. Things were going fine, she just needed to utilize that thick skin of hers and get over it.
She ran to her closet, original basic outfit long discarded to her hamper. If she wanted to feel good today, she needed to look good.
Chloe ends up going with her yellow sun dress. The one that stops just before her knees. It isn’t too flowy and fancy, casual. But still good. She throws her hair into its signature ponytail and goes for a natural makeup look.
She gives herself one last look in the mirror, gives her signature smile. Today would be a good day.
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Chloe sighs, checking her phone. It’s almost Seven-thirty. Usually Sabrian’s here by now. She takes a deep breath, calming herself. She probably just stayed home sick today.
When it’s almost eight o’clock Chloe realizes she can’t wait any longer. She has to go inside or risk a lecture from Madame Bustier. She shoots Sabrina a quick text, trying to be mindful about how aggressive it is. She goes passive aggressive today, feeling generous.
And as soon as she enters the classroom all of that generosity dries up.
Because once again, Lila is in her seat. Sabrina next to her with two notebooks out and a pen in each hand. Eagerly chatting together.
When she catches Chloe staring, she sends her an apologetic shrug. A wordless promise that they’d hang out for lunch. But Chloe didn’t hold her breath as she was once again relegated to the back.
This time she’s surprised to see Adrien there as well. He doesn’t bother to put his fake model smile on today, instead just staring off in the general direction of Nino and Alya.
Chloe looks to Marinette who, for some reason now has psychic powers and can read her mind, only shakes her head. And very quickly any ideas Chloe had about this day being good go out the window. She can just already tell it’s gonna be another one of those days. Unfortunately.
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Lunch rolls around and once again she goes and sits next to Adrien. She doesn’t even bother glancing at her usual sport which she already knows is vacant.
“O-Oh! Chloe! I thought you’d be back with Sabrina…” Adrien trails off. Today Marinette only seems mildly annoyed with her presence. The feelings Mildly mutual.
Chloe nods. “I thought so too.” She grumbles. “I seriously don’t get what Lila’s sudden big infatuation with Sabrina is. Like, up until yesterday they’d talked like a few times. I don’t understand!” She throws her arms up in frustration.
She quickly reigns in her frustrations though when she catches the two giving he looks of pity. She decidedly hated that. “Anyways, what’s up with you today Adrikins? You were super out of it this morning.” Subject changes are good.
Adrien tenses, nodding. “Uh, yeah. Me and Nino just got into a bit of a disagreement. It's fine though!” He rubs the back of his neck.
“He tried to tell Nino about Lila. But he didn’t want to hear it. They aren't on speaking terms right now.” Marinette explains. “And it’s not fine. He was really mean about it this morning. He didn’t have to be a jerk.”
He just sighs. “I know, but it’s no big deal. I’m sure by tomorrow we’ll be all buddy-buddy again. You and Sabrina too, Chloe. I’m sure of it!”
Chloe herself wasn’t too certain about that. If the way Nino keeps glancing at their table from him and Alya’s spot is any indication, she thinks they might fight for a bit longer than Adrien anticipates.
And when Sabrina catches Chloe’s eye, she looks content to be Lila’s personal foot servant for a bit. It stings a little, but it’s fine. Afterall, it’s not personal.
It’s really not.
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Chloe sends Sabrina a text, some bullshit excuse about her dad wanting her home early. She’s sure Sabrina will see through this one. Because while her dad had asked that she come home sooner, everyone knows she wouldn’t listen if she really wanted to.
She honestly just didn’t feel up to seeing her tonight. She was ready to go home and crash for the entirety of the evening. She’s almost out of the school when suddenly a hand blocks her way.
Alya.
“Hey, you and I? We need to talk.” She steps in front of her, crossing her arms over her chest.
Chloe groans, rolling her eyes. “Really, Césaire? Can’t this wait? I’m really not in the mood to put up with this crap today.”
Alya completely ignores her, bulldozing right over her words. “Why are you suddenly hanging out with Marinette? I thought you hated her.”
“I do. But honestly I’d rather sit with her and Adrikins than deal with liars and bullies.” She knows the irony of it. Being a bully herself and all.
Apparently Alya does to. “That's hysterical coming for you. You quite literally tormented Marinette all throughout school! You’re terrible!”
“At least I admit to it. You’re almost worse, Césaire. Because you pretend you’re some good person. But when it really came down to it, you believed some lying new girl over your best friend. That’s actually sad.”
Chloe doesn’t know why she’s suddenly decided to pick a fight with Alya. Why she felt herself getting angrier just looking at her. She doesn’t even like Dupain-Cheng! So why she feels the need to rip this girl a new one is a complete and utter mystery to her.
Alya just gapes at her. She can see the flashes of anger in her eyes, maybe even a little hurt. But she really can’t find it in herself to care., and why should she? She doesn’t like anyone here so she could care less if she hurts their feelings.
Plus she hates fake people. And Alya can be really really fake sometimes.
She begins to walk away, really wanting to just get home and not deal with all of this. She doesn’t need all these extra problems. Chloe like’s drama, but only when she’s the one in control of it all. And she is quickly realizing she’s not in control of any of this.
She’s barely made it two steps before she sees movement in ehr peripherals. Her heart drops as she watches the purple butterfly glide into school and head straight for Alya.
Chloe turns around, reaching to push her out of the akuma’s trajectory. “Césaire-”
The butterfly lands. Hawkmoth's signature insignia splays across her face. And within seconds her body was engulfed in purple goo, revealing a new akuma.
“I am Aletheia, and I will open everyone’s eye’s and reveal their true colors!”
And Aletheia leaps on top of the school's courtyard staircase, giving some generic evil laugh.
Chloe groans. Really wishing she had just gone home. Why did she think today would be good? Of course it wasn’t going to be good!
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