}———{
"Okay, Class, it's time we start heading back," Miss bustier said, clapping her hands together to gain the attention of the class, whose attention was scattered across the museum's captivating exhibits.
Marinette looked around for Chloé, she had lost sight of her in the museum after some particularity old blankets made of animal fur had caught her eye .
Marinette slowly moved away from the exhibit, instead focusing on searching the crowd for a blonde wearing a school-assigned field trip T-shirt.
As Marinette passed through to the next exhibit, her eyes latched onto the small sign that credited the maker of the Gotham Natural History Museum.
Marinette, so far, decided that she was enjoying the overall experience of the trip.
Finally, Marinette made out a glimpse of someone's light blonde hair, another person with the same shade of hair beside them.
Her dynamic with Chloé was definitely different compared to most people's friendships'. Sometimes, things had to be translated—made clear that nothing was wrong. Misunderstandings were fixed with letting the other person calmly explain.
This friendship of theirs was built from multiple things, desperation and trust being two of the most vital.
Building this relationship between the two of them had been a slow and rocky thing to create, as both of them were used to things being tense among the two of them. Rather than a tense electric-like anger flowing between the two, there was a sense of forgiveness and friendship—something neither of them had not experienced in a long time—something that was difficult for them to work with correctly.
Their friendship formed with trial and error, each of them as unsure as the other.
Marinette and Chloé had a difficult past that seemed to make the odds of them being friends almost impossible.
Chloé had been Marinette's and the whole classes' bully for as long as the two could remember.
And yet, against the improbabilities, their friendship grew and prospered.
Now, no longer was the bully that Marinette and her classmates knew; now there stood a friend.
—for some, at least.
Lila, someone whom she had thought was harmless against the loyalty of friendship, had turned out to be anything but what she had originally assumed.
Despite the fact that her first few lies had been tough to sell and correctly produce, she actually was talented in the area of telling stories.
And so, Lila's devious tale began, slowly unfolding until the last piece fell and the puzzle was completed.
The tale was slowly told, she had waited and prepared for weeks, from coming in late with obviously puffy, bright red eyes, to arriving slightly later than usual with a limp or poorly covered bruise.
She told them bit by bit about someone who had been nothing but absolutely vile to her— flat out refusing to tell everyone who it was. That was, until about three months later, when she finally ushered the name of her bully.
Marinette.
At first, no one believed her, not thinking it was a lie, but rather, assuming that she had somehow been wrong.
But then, Marinette had given her the perfect time to fake something, and all of her friends had quickly flown to Lila's side.
All of her friends, but two
Chloé was immune to her lies, as she knew most of the very same celebrities Lila talked about. So when she began spewing Marinette's name out and accusing her of being rude to her in multiple different ways, she immediately had her suspicions. And, although they had not quite yet formed a friendship, this was when the seeds to their dynamic were placed.
Looking back, Marinette did not realize how nice Chloé was being. Before Lila had arrived, Marinette had thought of her as the rudest student in the school. She had not realized, that, while Chloé was snarky and definitely a bit rude at times, she had never bragged about being friends with so many celebrities.
Adrien on the other hand, had been inching farther and farther away from his own advice, taking the high road, until he had snapped.
{———}
It had been a few weeks ago, when they had all been sitting down in class, everyone had just finished doing a fun assignment that had brought them back to first grade. They had just finished cutting out the assignment and had begun coloring in the paper.
"Of course, I know Felix! He was so angry when I met him, but then the next day he apologized. He came straight to my hotel room door, and as soon as I got it opened, he started begging on his knees for me to forgive him. Of course I did, we've known each other ever since."
Marinette's had watched Adrien jerk up and snap his head toward Lila, his fist clenched tightly at his sides. Marinette was glad that he didn't have any scissors in his hands.
There had been one big problem with that statement.
Felix—the one she spoke of—was Adrien's cousin.
And, unless his dear cousin had experienced a massive change in mindset, he doubted she had bothered to describe him correctly.
Adrien had described him to her once with six words, three good ones, and three bad ones, his pros, and his cons: Loyal, observant, and intelligent. Rude, manipulative, and cocky.
Lila brushed it off when he shouted at her, stating it was another Felix.
He apologized to Marinette after that, for telling her to take the high road, as he finally understood where she was coming from.
{———}
Only a few months after Adrien snapped, did Miss bustier announce that they would be going to Gotham for a few weeks.
The trip, which had parents' worrying dearly for their children, was quickly narrowed down to two short days.
Marinette was sad they would not see anything really important there, but was happy for a break nonetheless.
When Miss bustier announced this, she decided to lend Chloé the Horse Miraculous.
She had multiple reasons for this, the main one being she trusted her, and wanted to give her another chance. The other one was that she had informed her that she would be watching over them while they were in Gotham, so she would need a way there and back. She knew this was an excuse, but she wanted to give Chloé a second chance.
But what had ultimately make her decide this, was the fact that, other than Cat Noir, she had no other holders. She had decided she could no longer trust her classmates.
And now, here she was, at a museum in Gotham, on the very last day of her trip.
A sickly sweet voice broke her from her thoughts.
"Oh, yes. I was almost adopted by the Wayne family. The brothers consider me their Honorary sister. Bruce, he allows me to call him that, calls me his honorary daughter," Lila gushed.
"I bet she doesn't even know their names," A voice whispered next to Marinette's ear, disbelief ringing clear in their tone.
Marinette could not help but lightly laugh at Chloé's seriousness.
"I bet she doesn't know how to spell Honorary Sister,"Adrien whispered with her.
Marinette smiled softly, empathy flowing through her as Adrien eye's flew over to Nino.
"Did you see the old blankets in that one exhibit?" Marinette whispered because Lila and Alya were coming close.
Alya.
She did not know what to think of her. She was a reporter, an amateur, but a reporter nonetheless, and still, she failed to see through Lila's tricks.
—maybe that would change.
"Come on, guys. Let's go," Chloé said.
Chloé put her arm through Marinette's and pulled her towards the bus, not wasting any time.
{———}
The ride to the hotel was uneventful, nothing but the purr of the motor and small whispers from students whispering to one another filled the air.
By the time they had arrived, the sun was setting, its golden hue already starting to disappear under the skyline.
It was a beautiful sight, but before Marinette could get her sketchpad out,
Miss Bustier ushered her inside, whispering about how they had a long flight ahead of them.
Dinner went by quickly, and soon Marinette went to bed, knowing that tomorrow she would have to get up at an early time. And while she knew she probably would only get a few hours of sleep, it certainly would not hurt to try.
{———}
Marinette's blaring alarm woke her up in the morning, telling her that she had, in fact, needed a good night's rest.
She fell to the ground with a light whine, before getting up to click it off.
Right before she did, Chloé called her. She answered quickly.
"Marinette, oh gosh! I told them! Why couldn't you have your phone off silent!" Chloé said.
This concerned Marinette, as Chloé sounded close to tears.
"Hmm? Chloé, take a deep breath. What's wrong?" Marinette asked soothingly.
A deep breath could be heard over the phone.
"Marinette, Lila told Miss Bustier you left early this morning. So when you weren't answering my calls. . . ." She paused.
Marinette waited patiently.
"Marinette....We left you in Gotham."
The words sent two little shivers of dread down her. She was stuck in Gotham. Without anyone.
}———{