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“Hey girl, I don’t know what’s been up with you lately, but I’m going to need you to look after the twins and Chris today, okay? I’ll be dropping them off at your place at 1, so see you then!”
Marinette let out a scream of frustration under her pillow while Tikki tried to calm her down as she listened to the voicemail Alya had left her. Alya mostly refused to speak to her in class for weeks now, along with some of her classmates, for supposedly ‘bullying’ Lila. And now she had the nerve to pull this? The only times Alya tried to talk to her was when she snidely asked for free clothes and pastries, to which Marinette always refused. This is why, she supposed, Alya didn’t give her a choice in the matter today.
Marinette checked the time and realized the kids were due to arrive in two hours. As she ran around getting ready, she knew she didn’t have time to refuse Alya a sitter as she wouldn’t hear it from her, and Marinette didn’t want to leave the kids in the lurch. She was lucky that she managed to finish her commissions and homework the day before. However, since the bakery always closed on Sundays, her parents were out of town for the day.
At 1:30, Marinette was wondering where they were when she heard a knock at the side door of the bakery. She dashed down the stairs to open it only to find the twins and Chris with neither Alya nor Nino in sight.
“Hi guys!” Marinette said brightly, though she was fuming inside at not only being taken advantage of, but that they just dropped off their siblings late and didn’t even stay to explain.
“Where are Nino and Alya?”
“They just took us to the corner and told us to knock because they were late for something and ran off,” Chris explained, as Ella and Etta stared at Marinette.
“They said you’ll take us for ice cream though!” Ella exclaimed, as the other two nodded excitedly.
Marinette couldn’t believe the lengths Alya and Nino went through to convince the kids to come here. They probably rushed them, Marinette thought, irritated, giving them little warning, and on top of that they expect me to pay for their snacks by making promises they didn’t tell me about?
However, Marinette knew she couldn’t disappoint them, especially when they were clearly looking forward to it. After all, it wasn’t their fault that they were told that.
“Sure, just come in for a second while I grab some-“
The ring of Marinette’s cellphone cut her off. Quickly ushering the kids inside, she answered the phone, only to hear Chloe speaking over what sounded like a group of people in the background.
“Marinette, where ARE you? The park is right by your house! I know you don’t sleep in this late, and you’re already over a half hour-“
“Wait, Chloe, slow down. Why are you at the park near my house, we didn’t have anything planned for today,” Marinette spoke quickly, trying to ensure Chris and the twins didn’t knock down anything as they ran around the main floor of the bakery.
“The class picnic? The one Lie-la and Alya planned as class rep and deputy, although I bet Alya did all the work.”
“I never heard of any class picnic!” Marinette exclaimed, startling the running kids and causing them to stop and stare at her.
Marinette heard Chloe sigh loudly on the other end of the phone. “I bet they convinced Ms. Bustier to exclude you, after all, you hurt poor Lila every day when she only wants to be your friend,” Chloe said sarcastically.
“I-“
“You know what?” Chloe interrupted. “I’m going to gather up our friends and you should join us at the hotel instead. I know we’re not even welcome here, but I guess they couldn’t exclude all of us. We can get room service, and there’s more stuff to do, and better company.”
“I’d love to Chloe, but I’m watching Alya and Nino’s siblings for them.”
“Did they-“ Chloe started angrily. “Never mind. Bring them too, I’m sure they’d love to come,” she said before hanging up.
Marinette stared at her phone for a few seconds, debating if she should take them before deciding that they would have a better time at the hotel, and she could easily keep track of them there.
“Okay guys,” Marinette said excitedly. “Guess where we’re going?”
When Marinette entered the hotel while corralling three rambunctious kids, the first thing she did was accidentally bump into someone. Marinette started apologizing profusely, and looked up, only to see Alya’s mom staring at her and the kids in shock.
Marinette was surprised to see her, before remembering she was the head chef in the hotel’s restaurant. All three kids quieted down immediately, slightly cowering, and Marinette didn’t know why, but based on their reactions, she had a few guesses.
“Marinette! Where’s Alya and Nino?”
“They’re at the park near my house! Apparently there was a class event I wasn’t aware of, which I didn’t realize until around half an hour ago but Alya told me this morning she’d be dropping them off and-“ Marinette rambled.
Marinette saw Alya’s mom’s face flit through several emotions in the span of a few seconds as she tapered off: confusion, skepticism, and then simmering anger. Marinette’s theories were confirmed without it having to be said: Alya’s mom wasn’t aware that Alya pawned her siblings off on Marinette that day.
Just then, Chloe, Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose walked up to the group when they saw Marinette floundering. Sensing the tension, Nathaniel, Juleka, and Rose hesitantly asked if they could look after the kids while Ms. Cesaire talked to Marinette so she could figure out the situation. Alya’s mom looked skeptical until Marinette assured her they were trustworthy, to which she agreed to the request. Chloe quietly asked Marinette if she could stay for the conversation, as she knew Marinette didn’t have the full idea of today’s events either and Chloe figured she could fill in the pieces. When Marinette agreed, Ms. Cesaire immediately asked for the full story.
“Well, when I woke up this morning, I noticed a voicemail from Alya, telling me that she was bringing both her and Nino’s siblings over.”
“She told you? She didn’t ask if she could?”
“...Yes,” Marinette answered timidly.
“Do you still have the voice message? Can I listen to it?” Marlena Cesaire knew her daughter, and she knew that she was often upfront and brash. However, she didn’t think that she would forcibly insist her friend do something that was supposed to be her responsibility as well as something that was her boyfriend’s responsibility. Even though Marlena was angry enough that this was done to Marinette in the first place, and she would’ve faced consequences for that regardless, she had to get the full picture to determine the punishment she was going to get.
Marinette plucked her phone out from her pocket and played the recording and watched Ms. Cesaire get more and more incensed. Marinette was just grateful that Hawkmoth wasn’t active at that moment as she kept subtly checking for butterflies. Seemingly resigned, Alya’s mom gestured for Marinette to continue.
“When the children got to the bakery, they were half an hour late. I noticed that neither Alya or Nino were there with them. When I asked them about it, they said that they were dropped off at the corner and were told to just knock. They said that Alya and Nino dashed off because they were late for something, and I just figured they were late for whatever they planned for what I assumed was a date. Instead, I heard from Chloe that they were at a class picnic.” At the last statement, Marinette trailed off dejectedly.
“A class picnic? Yes, I did know that was today now that I think about it. But Alya and I agreed that she wouldn’t go until later, after Nora came back from her wrestling match. She was only supposed to look after them for two and a half hours,” Marlena said exasperatedly, “I can’t believe she would do that to you. She’s never done this before, I don’t know why she would do this now.”
At that, Marinette looked away sheepishly for a second, but Marlena noticed. “Marinette? Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Marinette looked away again, debating telling her about all of the previous times she was roped in to babysitting Alya’s and Nino’s siblings so they could go off on dates. Marinette hated lies and lying, but she didn’t want to throw Alya under the bus even more than she already had, even though they weren’t friends anymore.
Chloe stepped up slightly, making Marinette jump as she had forgotten Chloe was there. She also realized Chloe knew about the previous times Alya did something similar, as Marinette had told her one day when she was very stressed.
“Alya’s often coerced Marinette into babysitting her and Nino’s siblings at the last minute by telling her that they rarely get the chance to go on dates nowadays with how busy they are. Never mind if Marinette’s busy that day with homework or her commissions, I’ve heard that Alya used to insist that she could do her planned activities while watching them. Or Alya would guilt Marinette into it by saying that if she was really their friend, she’d do it. She’s never paid Marinette once, and has barely even thanked her. Instead, she acted like it was a favour owed to her. More recently, like today, she’s taken to not giving Marinette a choice in the matter. She hasn’t called on Marinette for a couple of weeks until today, from what I know. When I was at the picnic, I heard Alya tell Lila that she gave her great advice about what to do when she got stuck babysitting.” When Chloe finished speaking, Marinette didn’t think it was possible for Marlena to get more enraged.
Marinette also realized that the timing of when Alya started to pawn the kids off on her aligned with when Alya started to get closer to Lila a few months ago.
Meanwhile, Marlena was dumbfounded. She had no idea how long this was going on, and she had no idea this Lila had this much of an influence over Alya. She supposed it was her fault for not being around more often, as she only heard Lila’s name in passing from Alya. She also wasn’t aware how fractured Alya’s relationship was with Marinette, as she only knew Marinette as her daughter’s best friend. When she questioned Chloe and Marinette about this, she noticed Marinette’s eyes start to shine with unshed tears. Chloe slipped her hand into Marinette’s and squeezed comfortingly.
Chloe explained everything from the beginning as Marinette couldn’t bring herself to explain. She explained how Lila moved here from Italy. She charmed the class with seemingly small lies at first, like her connections with celebrities. Sure, they may sound outlandish to other people in the school, several members of their class of their own celebrity connections so it didn’t seem too farfetched to them. Lila made glittery promises about how she’d further her classmates’ careers by introducing them to the people she knew, and most of the class believed her. Only Marinette knew she was lying and tried to call her out and implore her classmates to do their own research, to which most of them didn’t, except for the classmates currently in the hotel lobby and Adrien Agreste, who insisted Lila wasn’t doing anything too terrible. Lila lied about being Ladybug’s best friend, which Alya immediately believed and posted an interview on her blog about. Marinette tried to get Alya to take it down, but Alya insisted that Marinette was jealous of Lila over Adrien and refused.
Then, Lila moved onto lying about how Marinette was bullying her. Shoving her when no one was looking, threatening her when it was only the two of them. Of course, Chloe explained, that those who already believed Lila didn’t want to doubt her because that would mean she doesn’t have the connections she mentioned, when they so desperately wanted it to be true. So they all turned on her, even those that knew Marinette since collège. Chloe went on to acknowledge how Ms. Bustier was an enabler and constantly told Marinette to be a good example for the class, causing Marinette to step down from being class representative due to stress, and Alya and Lila took up the mantle instead.
Ms. Bustier knew Lila was lying due to an ‘uncontrollable lying disease’. But since she didn’t want Lila to not be able to make friends, as well as being intimidated by Lila’s mother being an ambassador, she did nothing. Nowadays, while the class doesn’t physically do anything to Marinette, they either outright ignore her or yell at her over something Lila claimed she did. Alya and Lila managed to get Marinette excluded from the picnic and Ms. Bustier readily agreed because Marinette wasn’t acting like the star pupil she always knew. Finally, it seems that Lila was the one to convince Alya to get Marinette to babysit for her and Nino because she has ‘so much free time’ and ‘whatever she does isn’t as important as you wanting more dates’.
When Marlena heard all of this, she had to pause for a moment to think about all this information. She knew what she had to do.
“Marinette, first of all I’m sorry that Alya has been doing this to you. I genuinely had no idea that this was happening until I saw you today.”
“It’s okay-“ Marinette started.
“No, it’s not. Please let me know the dates you babysat instead of her and I’ll make sure you’re paid back accordingly. I’ll make sure this never happens again. I’m going to have to contact Nino’s parents as well, as I’m sure they don’t know about this either.”
After hearing this, Marinette relaxed a bit, as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders, despite some lingering guilt remaining at what she did to Alya and Nino.
After Marlena reassured her that she did the right thing in letting her know today, she felt some guilt herself. If Marinette hadn’t (literally) run into her today, she would have had no idea that this was happening, and it could have happened again in the future. From that moment on, she vowed to make more of an effort to be involved in her daughters’ lives, no matter how busy she got with work. As she went to leave early from work and take the kids home, Marinette sagged into Chloe’s side in relief, as she was emotionally drained from that conversation.
Once Marlena and the kids left, Marinette, Chloe, and the rest of their friends gathered to spend the rest of the afternoon as they planned, while comforting Marinette.
———————-
Later that night, when Marlena talked to Alya about what she learned, she insisted that Alya should search up Lila’s claims of celebrity connections to see if she was telling the truth. When Alya did, and found that the only result popping up was her blog, she was in denial at first before she accepted it. However, Alya denied that she was in the wrong for forcing Marinette to babysit because she didn’t know Lila was a liar! How was it her fault? Despite Marlena trying to placate her while gently explaining that Lila didn’t control her actions, Alya refused to listen. She didn’t want to have to pay Marinette back because it wasn’t her fault. Eventually, Marlena lost her patience trying to explain and laid out more punishments. Taking down the Ladyblog. Saying she didn’t have a choice in the matter of paying Marinette back, and she would pay her back a time and a half worth of work for forcing babysitting on her when she was clearly busy. Extended grounding. Marlena even said that if she was rude to Marinette after this at school, she would likely find out about it. Eventually, Alya relented when she knew she wasn’t going to convince her mom otherwise, even though Alya was certain it wasn’t her fault.
As Marlena went to bed that night, she vowed to contact Tom and Sabine the next day to apologize as well, and suggest they contact the school board about the some of the educators at Françoise Dupont’s negligence. She vowed that she’d do anything to help the girl who helped Alya time and time again despite being wronged by her.