It was just another day

.

Marinette was trying to get through each day at Collège Françoise Dupont as they came; the liar was making life difficult for her. From moving her seat to the back of the class, to alienating her from her friends, Lila was prepared to go to any level to make Marinette's life miserable. If it wasn't for Adrien and her loyal kwami, she would've surely given up by now.

She slowly made her way to the back of the class where her seat was, ignoring the stares her classmates gave her. The stare that hurt the most was from her "best friend" – Ayla. The one she befriended the first day of the school and trusted the fox miraculous to. Oh, how times had changed. Then she walked in.

"Bonjour tout le monde!" she said in her sickly-sweet voice but Marinette knew that it was just to hide the venom underneath.

"Bonjour Lila!" chimed the entire class. The entire class except Marinette that was. She couldn't bring herself talk to her; not after she promised to make her life hell.

"Alya," the liar started, "I heard that you've been having trouble catching Ladybug for interviews after the battles. If you ever need one with her, I'm sure that I, her best friend, can convince her to give you one!"

"Pfft. Yeah right." Wait… was that just said aloud? It wasn't meant to be said aloud!

After the whole "check your sources" incident, Marinette began to keep away from the wanna-be reporter as Ladybug. No doubt that she'd say something she'd regret if they met face to face. With the mask to hide her identity, she wouldn't have to worry about repercussions in her civilian form; it may cause an akuma, something she really couldn't deal with right now.

The whole class turned to face Marinette where she was sat. Her face drooped and she started to panic. Oh great, there might end up being an akuma after all.

"I-I mean… Maybe Ladybug has a reason to not give you interviews anymore Alya."

"Oh yeah? And why would that be? What could I have possibly done to offend the hero of Paris? Girl, if you don't have anything polite to say, don't say anything. And besides, I don't remember you being a part of this conversation". The words stung like bee stings. Ironic seeing as the actual bee was sat just a few rows in front, keeping quiet for once.

Marinette turned back to Lila. Her smug face sent anger coursing through her veins. "Stay calm," she thought to herself, "If you become an akuma there'll be no one to purify it." An assuring nudge from Tikki calmed her.

"Premièrement, Ladybug would never put a civilian in danger like that. Publicly having Lila be her best friend would put her on Hawkmoth's hitlist. Then again, she has been akumatised three times now. Aussi, wouldn't Chat Noir be upset knowing that he's not her best friend?" Mumbles from the onlooking crowd gave her more confidence. Maybe they'd believe her before she had to go too far after all. Lila, however, just stood back and let Alya do all the hard work for her. After all, why should she bother getting her hands dirty when others were willing to do it? There's no way this meek girl could unravel her web of lies; she had no proof!

"How do you know that for certain though? You should really check your sou-"

"Believe me Alya," Marinette chimed, still looking calm, "my sources are very reliable."

"And what source could be that reliable?"

"Ladybug herself. Yes, that's right. Ladybug let me interview her and not you. I wonder why that is." She hated saying that. The words felt like lava on her tongue. It was the only way to get her to listen. Alya wasn't exactly the best listener when she was like this. An audible gasp was heard from the spectators. Alya's face had now gone as red as the tips of her hair. That comment had pushed her to breaking point.

"YOU COW!" She spat. "WHY ON EARTH WOULD LADYBUG LIKE YOU? YOU'VE BEEN NOTHING BUT MEAN TO LILA EVER SINCE SHE GOT HERE! HONESTLY, SHE'D BE PRETTY DISAPPOINTED IF SHE LEARNED THE TRUTH ABOUT YOU!" Pausing, she tried to catch her breath. She hadn't lost it like that in a while. Marinette just stood there, mouth agape with a single tear rolling down her cheek. She knew that she'd gone far with that previous comment, but she didn't expect her best friend to react like this. That was it. There was now only one way to prove her innocence. Tikki squirmed in the bag, knowing what her chosen was planning on doing, but even a small goddess was powerless to stop it.

"That's enough Alya." Adrien had just walked into the room to find Marinette being screamed at by her supposed best friend. He had no idea what had happened before but he had a hard time believing that Marinette could've cause Alya to explode like this. He had his hand placed on the enraged girl's shoulder, hoping to pull her away. There was an akuma yesterday and he certainly didn't want another one so soon.

"C'est bien, Adrien." Marinette smiled "As of this moment, Ladybug's disappointed in her too."

Marinette stood up on her seat, thankfully Mme Bustier wasn't here yet to scold her. The rest of the class looked at her confused but knew better to interrupt an angry Marinette. She wasn't thinking straight. The liar had caused her to lose her cool.

"Écoutez-moi! I've been here since day one. Just a couple of months ago you were all saying how I'm like your "everyday Ladybug". Oh, if you only knew all the trouble you have caused me in the past year without even realising it. And then this liar shows up and suddenly you all believe her over me! You have no idea what she's done to me, what I've been through! I had to fight off an akuma because of her and yet it still lingered around here because of what she's caused. There's so much negative energy around here that Hawkmoth would have a field day! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! IF YOU ALL WANT TO ABANDON ME SO BADLY, GOOD LUCK BECAUSE YOUR EVERYDAY LADYBUG WON'T BE HELPING YOU MUCH LONGER!" She was panting now. All that pent-up anger from the past month had finally erupted in a spectacular show. "Tikki, transformez-moi!"

A blinding pink light filled the room and when it dimmed, Paris' heroine stood in the place of Marinette. She let out a sob before bolting out of the room. To say everyone was in shock would be an understatement.

"My best friend is Ladybug…." Alya sank to her knees, no longer infuriated but stunned and the event that had transpired, "Marinette… my best… friend…" She broke down, wailing as she realised what she just did, what she just caused.

"I just caused Ladybug to abandon us…"