Stuck in a Cabin (with you)

Written by: JuliaFC

Betas: Khanofallorcs, Agrestebug, Etoile-Lead-Sama and genxha. Thank you all so much!

Cover Art credit: Rosehealer02 on Deviantart

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc, TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

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Chapter 1 — Lila's plan

Lila sighed looking at the message that had just pinged on her phone.

Mamma: [Sorry, tesoro. I got stuck at work because of the snow, don't know when I'll get home tonight. If you want, you can order something. Otherwise dried pasta is in the first cupboard at the side of the hob. I'll make it up to you. Love you!]

Even after all those years, messages like those left a hollow feeling into her heart. Lila had been moving around a lot in the last few years, because of her mother's job. She hated her mother's job. Because of it, Lila had had to leave her grandparents and aunt in Sicily and all her childhood friends. Besides, her mother had been completely absent since she started working at the embassy, sometimes not even coming back home before Lila went to bed. Sometimes she wouldn't see her for days in a row because when she woke up to go to school, mamma was sleeping and when Lila would go to bed, mamma wouldn't even have started to come home. Mamma tried to make up for it by filling her days off with a lot of activities they could do together, but that wasn't enough for Lila. She wanted more. She wanted her mother all for herself, like she had been at home, when papà had been there and mamma hadn't yet obtained her role at the Italian Embassy.

She had been moved around like a pawn: Vienna for a couple of years, then Berlin, Geneva, Dublin and finally Paris. A lot for a 14 year old girl, having to leave it all behind way too many times.

When she moved to Vienna, she had been bullied quite badly because of her accent and her difficulty speaking the language. She had been ostracised and had spent the better part of two years fighting against stupid kids that she couldn't even understand very well. Add to the mix the fact that papà ended up having an affair and mamma decided to divorce and leave him, and Lila's life became even worse, even lonelier.

Luckily her mother had been moved to Berlin, but the situation hadn't improved for her. Vienna or Berlin, the language was still incomprehensible to her and the kids didn't like her because she was new, uncool, and because her accent sucked. Because her skin was too olive. Because her hair was too brown, or her eyes too green. They used to make fun of her hairstyle, of her clothes, of anything they could put their hands on. Lila started developing a huge amount of rage, frustration and anger. Plus, she missed her papà terribly, and she couldn't understand in her mind why her mamma had decided to leave him.

Then she moved to Geneva, and on her first day there she met a girl who 'acted' cool. She was a couple of years older than Lila; her name was Charlotte, but she allowed Lila to call her Lottie. She took her under her wing and gave her some very interesting lessons. Lottie was a manipulative wench. She used to be the most popular girl in class because she always knew what to say in order to flatter the interlocutor, twist words around and obtain their favour. Lila was fascinated by her ability and craved to learn how to do the same. She worked for months to copy Lottie's mannerisms and behaviour.

'In life, you need to always take the upper hand,' Lottie told her. 'Tell people what they want to hear. This will automatically bring them to your side, and when you have them wrapped around your little finger, there's nothing that they won't do for you. You just need to keep up the appearances and you're set for life.