{———}
"What do you mean?" Marinette said, she could hear the edge of worry in her voice, as well as the fact it had gone a few pitches higher.
"I'm so sorry! I told them! I did! The favorite-picking teacher! Daddy will not be happy when I call him," Chloé apologized.
Marinette could feel the dread in her stomach, the feeling sloshed around, making her uncomfortable.
"What happened?" Marinette somehow got out.
"Apparently, Lila told everyone we were supposed to get up a hour earlier then we were supposed too," Chloe started.
Marinette's stomach flipped.
"But I told everyone we left at six'o'clock !" Marinette remembered distinctly looking at Lila when she explained what time they were going to get up.
Chloe snorted darkly.
"Well, apparently, they have short-memory loss—Or just don't care!"
"Anyway, then she said that you already left. Miss bustier asked me to call you, but your dumb phone was on silent! She was about to say we should go back, when, mysteriously, Lila had a horrible panic attack,"Chloe's sarcastic words ripped through the air.
"How did you get there?" Marinette asked curiously.
"Rose woke me up, she repeated the message to me. She said you should already be on the bus," She responded a little more calmly
"Are you already on the plane?" Marinette asked urgently.
The phone crackled and made a loud noise, a distorted "get off the phone!" was heard before it beeped.
"No! No!" Marinette tapped on Chloe's contact, repeatedly trying to call her.
Marinette's stomach churned.
Marinette took a deep break, calming herself down. The information that flowed through her seemed like too much.
She tapped her phone and called her mother, knowing that she could smooth her worries.
"Marinette?" Her mom's calming voice rang through the end of the phone.
"Maman,"Her voice came out small.
"Marinette, are you okay, honey?" Her mom calming voice rang through the end of the phone
Maman's voice grew more and more concerned with each word.
Marinette drew in a shaky breath. It was at that moment she realized she was crying.
"I'm stuck," She hiccuped.
Quickly, Marinette drew in a breath, this was not a time where crying would help her.
There was a moment of silence between them.
"Honey, what do you mean?" The worry was still there, but now Marinette could hear a new edge to it, almost like she was scared.
"She made them leave me. My Class left me alone in Gotham. They left earlier than they were supposed to, they thought I left yesterday," Marinette paused. "She lied to them, made them think I had already left—she just lies so much. . ."
"What? Who is a liar?" Her Maman said urgently.
"Lila," Marinette said the name with pure disgust.
While it had been one of Marinette's main focuses for awhile to expose Lila, now, she more drive to put into exposing her.
"Okay, sweetie, let's work on finding you a ticket home."
"Okay." She wipes her eyes.
She wasn't about to let emotions overwhelm her, right now, she needed to focus.
She searched up Gotham plane tickets, and was rewarded with past ticket dates. But she couldn't find any new ones. She scrolled down and finally found some that were not expired for...A year?
She swallowed hard.
"I can only find tickets dated for in a year."
"Marinette, this is the city of Gotham. The one with all kinds of crime," Her Maman said quietly.
She could not go home.
"Marinette, you're going to go to a bank or an AMT and get some of your money out. We are going to get you situated," She says in a determined voice.
Her voice made no room for argument.
"Okay," Marinette said in relief.
She couldn't think, or focus, she was freaking out. She just wanted to go home.
She got out of the bed, and put some clothes on. Then, with her mom still on the phone, she headed out the door.
{———}
After ten minutes of confusion, Marinette finally found the entrance to the hotel. Marinette asked the manager to keep her bag until she found a place to stay, as the hotel room she was in was reserved for another person.
The money was the most complicated thing for her, as the whole process was tiring in itself. The employee had to go to her account and convert euros to the US currency.
She had a fair amount of money from her designs, one that Jagged Stone showed off: Ladyluck. She was grateful that she had something so popular. It was so popular, in fact, Lila had started bragging about knowing them—which, as teeth-grinding as that was, proved a slight point.
Marinette took a deep breath, she had to focus, she could get angry later.
"Okay, Maman, I think I might look for a place to stay now."
"I love you, sweetie," She said in soft tone.
"I love you," She replied in a loving tone.
Marinette hung up.
She searched for apartment spaces near her, and it pulled up five results.
She picked a random one and followed the directions on her phone.
She was slightly worried that it would be in a bad area, but, when she got there, it turned out she was in a nice safe area.
The building itself was big, and had nice soft colors that matched each other.
She walked in and looked for the desk.
"Did you come to rent an apartment?" A lady asked.
Marinette slowly nodded.
"Okay, it'll be a total of four hundred fifty a month."
The woman had a soft voice one Marinette liked, as it reminded her of her moms.
"I can handle that much." Marinette said in English.
"Oh, are you French?" A small note of actual curiosity rang through the woman's voice.
Marinette nodded with a small smile.
"A class trip brought me to Gotham," Marinette replied softly.
"Shouldn't you already be gone then?" The woman asked, worried.
She gave her a small smile and ignored her comment. She didn't want anyone worrying about her.
"Could you please show me my room?" She asked quickly, changing the subject.
The woman's brows furrowed, but she quickly nodded.
She led Marinette to a room at the end of a hallway that branched off from the main room.
"Thank you."
And without another word, Marinette silently went into the room.
{———}
"Mister, Wayne, I have found out something that concerns me." The woman said on her phone.
She couldn't let this go, it was important to her. Even if it was nothing, she would rather be safe than sorry.
}———{