Switching Deceit

Chapter 4

"Sorry about that!" I said to Alya when I walked out of class. "Mdm. Bustier wanted to get me to plan our senior trip!"

"Oh that's so cool! Do you have any ideas?"

"I have a few, yeah."

"Maybe we can go to England and meet the royal family since you guys are friends! Or we can go to the Philippines and meet Bruno Mars! Or we can go watch Blackpink in New Jersey and get some backstage passes! Ooh this is going to be the best senior trip ever!" Alya ranted while I just tuned her out.

"Hey, Nino!" I waved cutting Alya out of her rant.

"Guys, guess what! Lila is planning the senior trip!"

"That'll be fun," Adrien said with a smile. Maybe for me, but definitely not for you.

"Can't wait, dude! It'll be sick!"

"I know right!" Alya said and continued talking to me about it while we were walking to the Seine River.

"Hey, Alya?" I cut in, "Shouldn't you be walking with Nino? I mean, you guys are dating, and I feel bad if you leave him out."

"Oh, right, we'll talk more on this later. I have so many ideas for you to do!" She waved and went to speak to Nino.

Thank goodness she stopped talking, and she's not next to me anymore! Even better! But seriously, how do you just forget you have a boyfriend? On top of that, when's the last time they actually did anything romantic with each other? Falling out, maybe? Nino deserves better in my opinion, but he did choose Alya so whatever.

"Hey!" Adrien started walking in sync with me. "That was nice of you for what you did back there."

"What did I do?"

"For starters you convinced my dad to let me go out today, secondly, you're bringing Alya and Nino closer together." He said and scooted a little closer to me. "That's really honorable of you."

"Oh, yeah, thank you." I wanted to puke.

"Did you want to, um, go to the park with me tomorrow? I've always wanted to see the fountain at night, but father would never let me. Maybe you'll convince him." So Adrien Agreste is using me to be able to get out of the house? Hmm, kinda weird at this point, but if it helps bring Lila down, I'm all for it!

"I'd love to Adrien!"

"Great! I'll meet you there at 7!"

"Perfect! I can catch up on some homework in the mean time."

"It's a date!" Adrien said with a smile. I froze in place causing the others to stop and look at me weirdly.

Am I really going on a date with that-that thing?

"Right, I'll meet you there, then." I said with a plastered on smile. Alya then left her boyfriend and came over to me.

"Ta-da!" Alya yelled, "Did you like my surprise! You're going on a date with Adrien Agreste! Aren't you excited!"

"Yes I am," I lied through my teeth.

The rest of the walk consisted of Alya and Adrien trying to talk to me while I was figuring out a way to fit this into my plan.

"Coconut, banana, and passion fruit for the both of you!" Andre happily supplied the corresponding flavors.

"Creamsicle, vanilla chocolate chunk, and raspberry for a girl who doesn't always make the right decisions," Andre frowned and served Adrien his flavor. He looked at me next and looked surprised.

"It's you!" He called out and winked at me. Does he know I'm Marinette? "You're going to love this one M-" He noticed his mistake. "M-iracles happen when you're in love." He saved in relief. "Anyway, pandan for his eyes, ube for his soul, and black coffee for his mysterious past. This one was fun to make, I've never had anything like this before."

"Thank you, Andre!" I smiled and handed him a twenty.

"Thank you, Lila," He winked. Okay, so one person knows I'm Marinette. To be fair, though, he could read my soul.

"Wow! Your soulmate will be so lucky to have you!"

"Y-Yeah!" Adrien agreed.

"This is so cool! Now we all have our soulmates!"

"What?" I asked Nino.

"I mean, Alya and I both got the same flavor so we're soulmates," Alya blushed. "And your cone represents Lila! Think about it! Orange, white and gray, and red! That's like Lila! And yours," He turned his attention to me. "Green eyes? Sound familiar. Adrien has a past because he's been locked up in his house for the past 15 years!" Adrien winced. "It all makes sense!"

"I- There's no way?"

"Right?"

No, Nino was wrong. By his logic, Adrien and I would have the same flavors because that's what him and Alya had. So therefore, our cones describe different people. Plus, it goes by soul not by body, so while Adrien's soulmate could still be Lila, mine is someone different because Adrien and I didn't get matching cones!

As much as it pains me to play along, this could be good for the plan.

"I mean we never know, right?"

"Wow! That's amazing! Father's going to be so happy! Now, I can go out anywhere as long as I'm with you and we have an excuse!"

We started walking around the Seine to finish our ice cream when Alya came up to me.

"See! Aren't you glad your 'I'm starting to get out of my crush on him. Slowly but surely. He doesn't like me back anyway, and I'm sure there are other people out there!' phase is over! You found out your crush is your soulmate! Not to mention the hottest guy in Paris!" Nino overheard and frowned a bit.

"It's amazing, Alya! I can hardly believe it." Yeah, I couldn't. And I didn't. "And we're going on a date! This is amazing!"

"Girl! You have to tell me everything about this date! What you did, what you ate, if you kissed." She added smugly. Oh heck no!

"Of course I will, Alya! This is probably one of the best things to ever happen to me!"

"I'm so happy for you! I'm so glad I could set you guys up." Technically, Andre did, otherwise this never would've happened and our date would be a one time thing, but it's fine, I guess.

"Aw! Thank you so m-" I got cut off by a loud roaring sound and many screams.

"Paris! I am Solo. HawkMoth has given me the opportunity to achieve what I've always wanted! Attention!" Wow, Lila much? "Ladybug and Chat Noir, give me your Miraculous or else Paris shall be watching me and only me."

Solo shot out beams of light from her bracelet which made people stop and just stare at her rendering them useless. Speaking of useless, so was this villain.

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. "Everyone! Let's go hide in that alley! It's not safe out here!" I led Adrien, Nino and Alya to a safe place then went back out because 'I forgot my phone and my mom is probably worried about me'.

I ducked into another nearby alleyway and called my transformation. Surprisingly, I looked like the exact same Ladybug as usual. I guess it really is tied to your soul.

I jumped onto the building in search for Solo. Chat Noir has yet to show up, as per usual, so it was just me for now.

I took a deep breath, "I've got this!"