I Trusted You

Malice

The deadline of the project finally arrived, and all of them were glad that their work was over. It had certainly been a stressful week.

"Adrien, Marinette, and Lila," Ms. Bustier called out. "Present your project."

Adrien turned to Marinette. "You got this, Marinette," he said sincerely. She smiled at him with a small blush and got up from her seat as Lila neared down the corner. She smirked at Marinette. Marinette raised an eyebrow. Lila seemed suspicious.

They went to the front of the classroom. Adrien turned on the projector, and his part of the project was displayed. The people in the class looked on in admiration as Adrien began to read out the slide.

Next up was Lila. Her work was mediocre, and her speech was fine as well. Everyone nodded in approval.

Lastly, there was Marinette. She was excited to show her work and scrolled on to the next slide. Giggles and whispers burst out in the room as everyone shook their heads. Marinette was confused. She looked at the projector and gasped. All of her work had vanished! Instead, there was a gif of a dancing cat displayed on the board. She looked at her group partners in horror. Adrien had a shocked look on his face and Lila was trying her best to hide her smug face, which was full of malice.

Ms. Bustier looked on in disappointment. "Marinette, this is not what I expected from you. You were supposed to put in effort."

"But Ms. Bustier, I did do my work! Someone must have deleted it!"

"Oh, Ms. Bustier, we tried to tell Marinette to do her work but she won't listen. It's such a shame," Lila said, trying to look innocent.

Marinette turned to her and immediately connected the dots. This was all Lila's doing.

"What do you mean, Lila? We saw her do the work. Didn't you-" Adrien started, but stopped when it dawned on him. Lila was the cause of all this!

"It was you, wasn't it?!" he growled, fists clenching.

Lila put her hand on her chest and faked a look of hurt. "Adrien, why would you think iI did this? I would never-"

"Yes, you would, Lila!" he yelled in anger.

Everyone quietened down as soon as they heard Adrien's voice. Lila looked startled.

Even Ms. Bustier was shocked.

Marinette stood there, still in astonishment. This was the second time Adrien yelled at Lila. And this time, it was even worse. It was in front of the whole class.

"You have no right to do this! How dare you think you can get away with this evil scheme of yours, you're such a-"

"Adrien Agreste!" Ms. Bustier shouted. "Off to the principal's office! You too, Marinette,"

Adrien gave Lila a black look as he stomped out of the room. Marinette followed after, still in stupor.

"I did not expect this from you, Adrien," Mr. Damocles stated, looking pained.

"But Mr. Damocles," Adrien said. "It wasn't Marinette's fault. I saw her work. It was great! This was all Lila's doing," he said, trying to calm his anger.

Marinette stared, next to him. She had never seen Adrien this angry before. He really was acting out a lot in the past week.

"I will investigate further. For now, Marinette can work on another draft for her project. Marinette, you have three days." Mr. Damocles told them.

Marinette was relieved, but Adrien wasn't having it. "But that won't be fair! Lila has to get punished for what she's done-"

"Do you by chance, have any evidence that it was Ms. Rossi?"

Adrien looked down at the ground. He didn't. But he was certain it was Lila. Marinette would never spoil her work on purpose.

"I'm sorry, Adrien, I can't help you. I can't punish Lila with no proof," Mr. Damocles said, looking upset.

"It's fine, Mr. Damocles. Maybe I just... accidentally deleted my work or something. I'll do it again," Marinette spoke, trying to lighten the mood.

"Marinette, that's not right. You don't deserve to do it all over again because of Lila," Adrien insisted.

"It's fine, A-Adrien." she said.

But it isn't, Adrien thought.

"You are dismissed. Adrien, be thankful that you aren't suspended." Mr. Damocles pronounced.

They left the office. Adrien was still angry, but he had calmed down. "A-Adrien, are you... okay?" Marinette asked, hesitant.

He gazed at her. "You don't deserve this." he stated simply.

"Maybe I don't, but... there is nothing I can do."

He took a deep breath, resisting his primal urge to lash out even more at Lila.

"I won't let her do anything to you." Adrien declared, as Marinette flushed.

Tikki watched as Marinette tried to recover her work from her files. "How did Lila even delete my work in the first place?!" Marinette asked, frustrated as she frantically clicked her mouse.

Tikki shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it was shared or something?"

"Just my luck," she sighed.

She got about half her work done before she got tired of staring at the screen. She rolled away from her desk and glanced up at the clock. Her eyes widened. Oh no! I'm late for patrol!

She stood up, her chair almost falling to the ground as she quickly uttered "Tikki, spots on!" and jumped to her balcony.

She swung to the spot, finding Chat Noir sitting on the ledge.

"Sorry, Chat... I... got late," she said, out of breath as she held her knees.

He turned to her with a blank look. "It's fine." He turned back to the horizon.

"Should we get started?"

"Yes, why not." Ladybug responded.

They split up to patrol.

After they finished, Ladybug remarked worriedly, "Hawkmoth hasn't been akumatizing anyone for a while now. The last time we fought against him was 2 weeks ago!"

Chat Noir blinked. "You're right. But maybe he's out of ideas?"

"I don't know. I told Tikki the same thing, but now I'm worried," she said.

"Perhaps everyone is happy or something."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, Chat Noir, as if that could happen."

She noticed that he seemed distracted. "Chat Noir?"

He flinched to face her. He gave her a questioning look.

"You seem distracted. Is everything okay in your home life?"

"Oh yeah, everything's fine. Just... someone irritating in my class."

She frowned. "Okay..." She decided not to pry and waved. "Bug out!" She zoomed away from him.

He stood for a while until he left too.