One Truth and a Lie - A MLB Fanfic

Intermission III

(Or Chapter Lila gets wrecked)

To be fair, Lila hadn't started out a liar.

She'd been pretty popular in her old home in Italy, but of course, her parents being diplomats, she moved too often for this to be easy. But this was the first time she'd left Italy, and to France? New kid syndrome was bound to be high.

She'd gotten herself up to speed on all things popular or note-worthy in Paris; the model, Adrien Agreste, the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, that sort of thing. And when she'd started lying... it had been a bit surprising just how fun lying was. Like acting, but any time she wanted to.

Seeing Adrien for the first time in person hit like a shockwave; he was hot, and she knew instantly he had to be hers. And the lies had increased from there. From being a descendant of a superheroine that didn't actually exist and being friends with Ladybug to meeting Prince Ali and working with charities alongside other celebrities, Lila built up her social status with only words and a clever way of staying home from school for half a year.

As she drew him nearer, getting back into school became absolutely necessary. This boy was too close to his friends and wouldn't back away from his social life, so she decided she'd have to be a part of it. Pretty far to go for a guy, but as she joined the school and wormed her way in, her eyes were opened to just how far she could take this.

She'd had to start writing down and rehearsing every lie she ever told just to keep things accurate; even then, she was sure she'd messed a few things up, but these French students were so stupid they believed her. Except for a single exception. Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

At first, Lila had decided she could draw her over to her side, to her little group of worshippers. She had replaced the girl in her seat, so it was expected she'd be cold toward "the new girl." But then, when Marinette had tried to out her, she realized quickly how smart she was. She had never believed her lies. She never would. And for that, Marinette would have to be taken care of.

Her threats were small at first, though Marinette had seemed absolutely panicked by them and had backed off her. For the rest of the day, showing Lila had done a good job. But the girl hadn't seemed concerned later when, after causing her trouble, Lila had threatened her again. She'd dismissed her threats.

So nonchalant. So calm, so composed, like it didn't even matter. But the further Lila got into the secrets of the students and of Paris itself, the more interested she became in it, especially how far she could push Marinette until she broke. Her initial goal was to get herself a boyfriend and move back to Italy when the time was right. By now, she wanted to stay because she was finding out so much that she wouldn't if not for her lies.

Something in her hadn't fully decided if this was how she wanted to go about things. The lying had been fun, but did she really want to continue it?

The answer had been yes, in the end. With this decision, Lila had gotten onto Gabriel Agreste's good side and discovered that he plotted behind his son's back to get "bad influences" away from Adrien. She found out he was willing to let her have his son if she helped his cause in secret. And this was what had led her, after a long time, to the biggest lies she'd ever told.

It had taken a significant amount of planning to prepare for the moment when she framed Marinette three times in one morning. Careful thought, innocent research, and a lot of spying on Marinette, who obviously was secretive. Something Lila also wanted to figure out.

After all, she'd discovered that a select few of her classmates had been temporary superheroes. All she knew for sure was that Kim and Max had both been chosen; she wasn't quite sure about Nino yet, and the jury was still out on Alya Césaire. Chloe was pretty obvious-- she was just wondering about Marinette. Maybe she'd been a temp at one point, for the way she was secretive.