Chapter Text
Absolute power. Something that Adela craved. Something she thought she had, through gossip, connections, and fear.
Adela knew she was a bad person for having these feelings and the potential to ruin people's lives, but it just made her feel stronger. If only she had realised that by corrupting everyone around her and instilling fear in others, she was becoming worse than Lila. Adela was a hypocrite; she despised Lila for lying but had no qualms about doing so herself. "It's different," she persuaded herself. "I'm doing it to help people, Lila's doing it for popularity," but she knew it was a lie. She only believed herself superior to Lila because Adela's lies were compelling and plausible. Lila's were not.
The burn blog was quickly updated and improved to look perfect for its future viewers. Everyone already had their phone notifications ready for their first upload. Then on a Thursday night, Adela decided to give the people what they wanted.
Really keen people had already read the introduction page, the subcategory descriptions, but they were thrilled when an article written by Burnblogger and illustrations by Nathaniel Kurtzberg appeared in the subcategory entitled, Millie Swan.
A smirk appeared on Chloe’s face as she looked at Adela’s phone and saw the plan working out perfectly. They would start off small, build it up, week by week. Then, when the time was right, they would strike like a black mamba and take Lila Rossi down.
"I still can’t believe we’re 16 and you’re making me braid your hair for you," Chloe tsked, Adela, smiled and looked up at the other blonde.
"You know you love me," she stated, eliciting a chuckle from Chloe. Lainey rolled her eyes, watching her best friends’ banter like the old days. "The article is so good; I hope we never lose Marc. But the illustrations are just perfect, Nathaniel is just the best. " Adela flicked through the blog and added a sponsor page.
Adding Marc and Nathaniel’s names to it and a link to their work, she also added a link to the sponsor page in the comments down below (which she had noticed was beginning to explode with the number of comments they were receiving).
"I can’t wait to see what Marinette has made us. Hopefully it is worth the wait and money," Lainey said, reading over the juicy article again. "That also makes me wonder, are we paying Marc and Nathaniel?" Adela shook her head.
"They said they were more than happy to do it for free, as long as we sponsored them," Adela put her phone down as Chloe let go of the blonde’s now braided hair. She got up off the bed and headed to the closet. They missed this hanging out they used to do.
Chloe tried on a range of clothes and the girls gave their honest opinions, then Adela tried them on, then Lainey. This continued for a while until Zoe, Chloe’s half-sister, begged them to go to sleep as she had an early flight back to New York tomorrow.
On Friday morning, a meek girl with ugly ginger hair, pale with dull green eyes and freckles all over her body approached them. Millie Swan. "Why did you write about me in your blog?" she asked, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"Well, Millie. Next time you cheat on your girlfriend with your best friend, try to hide it better. You shouldn’t even be dating if you’re willing to betray someone that way, "Lainey sneered, the girl squealed and ran away. Not daring to talk to them, "We have so many secrets. The next person who talks to us might be next week’s article, " Adrien hadn’t heard what Lainey said, so he went to greet the three girls.
"Hey Adela, Hey Chloe, Hey Lainey," he waved. The girl turned to face him, ready to scorn whoever just said hi when they noticed it was Adrien. They waved back and took turns saying hello.
"What’s wrong?" Adela asked, stepping closer to Adrien, who just shook his head, in a low voice that only Adrien could hear, "Is it about your dad again?" He looked around and it seemed like no one had heard her. He discreetly nodded his head. "Photo shoots?" he nodded again.
Leading him away from the bustling of the entryway to the locker room, she sat him down on a bench and sat next to him. "Ok, tell me about it. But first, do you need a hug? "
Adrien initiated the hug. When he finally pulled away, she realised he had been crying and she rubbed his back soothingly. "I’m just so exhausted, all of the time, whether I’m busy racing to fencing, Chinese lessons or going from one photo shoot to the other. And it’s not like Lila makes the photo shoot easier. She just always has to be touching me, making it look like we’re dating, acting like we were dating. She’s also a diva and insists that she doesn’t have to follow the rules and that they needed her-I am sorry for ranting, I’m just frustrated, "Adrien vented.
Adela shook her head, "Hey, don’t worry about it, everything will be fine." So, Lila was not only getting fussy during photo shoots but handsy as well. With the right information and the perfect way to spin this story, Adela could make her out to be handsy with more than just Adrien.
Adela informed her posse of the dirt on Lila and how they now had more power over her than before; all they had to do now was keep collecting it."If you want to dig up dirt on someone, you can’t be afraid to get your hands dirty," Adela whispered.
"We have to keep digging. I want this article to be extra long and juicy," Lainey whispered.
"Or we can make it into a series, keep the viewers on the edge of their seats for all the gossip," Chloe said. Adela nodded, something had to be done about that psycho girl. It was a shame, not to Adela, Chloe, and Lainey because this was everything they could have ever wanted and dreamed of, but to the innocent people who could be dragged into it because this was how it was going to go down.
Marinette had worked hard on the girls' outfits for Marinette designed Monday, a trend the HBIC planned to start, and despite being overworked, she couldn't help but be proud of the outfits she had created.
Even better, she couldn’t wait until the HBIC would model her flawless designs around the school while looking absolutely powerful in them.