Chapter 112

Marinette's P.O.V:

"So girl, what dress did you pack for the Gala tomorrow?" Alya asked me as we all entered a thrift shop.

"Well I was going to wear an old pink dress I made a year ago but Damian took me to a fabric shop just down the road and I found this beautiful red sequin silk. Alfred let me borrow an old sewing machine he had so I could make a dress out of it." I spoke as I looked around the shop with everyone else.

"Oh, I can't wait to see it!" Rose said excitedly. "Everything you make is always so pretty."

"Who's Alfred?" Alya asked.

"He's the older gentleman who drove me here. He's technically the family's butler but he's more of a member of the family. I mean he is the one who raised Bruce after his parents died."

"Oh." Alya nodded. "So, what is Bruce Wayne really like?"

"He's cool." Alix speaks up. "I'm surprised that that man hasn't gone crazy with all those boys though. He was eerily calm amongst all the chaos."

"You think that was chaos?" I giggle. "The boys were being good because we had guests over."

"But you were chasing Dick around and you ended up tackling him to the ground after he sent those photos to his brothers." Alix raised her eyebrows at!me.

"Yeah." I scoff. "And Dick is the good one."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait..." Alya looked at me with shock. "You tackled one of Mr. Wayne's sons?"

"Yeah, and with perfect form too." Alix lightly punched me on the shoulder with a wink.

"And Mr. Wayne was okay with that?" Alya still looked surprised.

"Sure." I shrugged. "Trust me. If Bruce didn't want me doing something, he would tell me. Dick deserved it."

"Honestly, Mr. Wayne looked just as amused as the rest of us." Alix added.

"Does he have a super nice house?" Juleka spoke just above a whisper.

"Nice doesn't even begin to explain that place." Chloe shook her head. "You would have thought we just stepped inside a castle."

"Totally awesome, girl! And you've been living there?" Alya asked.

"Uh, yeah. I'm very grateful that Bruce opened up his home to me." I smile brightly.

"He must really like kids." Rose said.

"Yeah." I chuckle. "Jason, Tim and Dick joke around and say that if I was an orphan, he would have adopted me already. Damian doesn't like that idea very much though and for obvious reasons."

"It seems like you get along with his family pretty well." Alya smiles.

"Speaking of which." Chloe pulls out her phone. "I was totally going to bombard you with texts when I saw you tagged in this photo on twitter but I knew you were busy with your dress and all. What is this about?" She showed the picture of Tim and Jason wearing the t-shirt of shame.

"Oh." I giggled when the rest of the girls looked at the picture too and started laughing. "It says right there on the sign I made for them. They were too nosy for their own good."

"Yeah, we see that, girl." Alya laughs. "What did they do?"

"Damian's brothers have a bad habit of not minding their own business. They decided to snoop on a date Damian and I were having and we caught them red handed. That was part of the punishment." I smirk.

"Have you seen how many followers you have gained on twitter since then? You even passed Adrien's follower count. It's impressive." Chloe said.

"I've been ignoring twitter." I shook my head. "I don't even want to know what people have been saying about me."

"It's overwhelmingly supportive." Chloe looks at the phone for a bit. "But why are they calling you the 'Sunshine of Gotham'?"

"That's what Damian's family calls me." I shrugged.

"Aww! Super cute." Rose squeaks with joy.---------"So, what exactly are we looking for?" I ask when Alya makes a beeline towards a shoe store.

"Well the dress that I bought is super cute and all but I never had the time to pick out any shoes because I was stuck helping out Lila with her dress." Alya looked over to me with sorrow in her eyes. "I realize now that she was just using up my time."

"It's okay." I smiled. "What's you dress look like? Maybe we can all help you look. Besides, the old pair of heels I was going to wear with my dress anyways isn't the best fit for the style. I need to look for some shoes too."

"Awesome!" Alya pulled out her phone to show all of us the dress she was going to wear. It's a floor length dress that was muted orange color and had a slight golden trim. It was sleeveless and had a sweetheart neckline. The dress was simple but very much suited Alya. "What do you think?"

"This is very cute, Alya." I smiled up at my old best friend. "You should also find a necklace to go with it. I'm thinking gold."

"Maybe some pretty golden bracelets too!" Rose added.

"Let's get to work." Chloe actually looked excited about this.---------"Hello, ladies." Madame Mendeleiev greeted us when they arrived at the café. "You are right on time. Come take a seat with the rest of the class." She gestured to where about four tables were pushed together that Adrien, Nino, Kim and Max sat at.

"It's good to see you again." I said to the teacher as I sat down with the rest of the girls. "So, what have you all been up to this past week?" I asked my class.

"Well, we went to the park on Monday." Kim said "And on Tuesday we all watched movies in Adrien's room."

"And on Wednesday we all went to the pier." Chloe scoffed. "That place was utterly disgusting."

"I thought it was cool." Juleka whispered.

"And yesterday we had another hotel day." Max said. "We mainly just video chatted with the rest of the class to update each other on our situations. Apparently, the school is a mess."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Sabrina was telling me all about it." Chloe shook her head. "We are friends again now that she knows the truth." She smiled. "Anyways, she said that they are scrambling to find someone to step up and claim the role as principal. Nobody wants that job after he screwed up so badly. They are also struggling to find new teachers so late in the year. They think we are going to have a permanent substitute. Sabrina says that school is just a daycare right now. They aren't learning anything."

"That reminds me, students." Madame Mendeleiev smiled at all of us. "I offered to take the role of principal. The school board hasn't said yes yet but they have agreed to interview me once we get back to Paris. They think it's pretty much guaranteed though because no one else has stepped up."

"That's awesome." I beamed at the teacher. "I think you will do great."

"Thank you, Marinette." She smiled back at me.

"Are you guys ready for me to take your order?" A waiter asked as he approached the table. He clearly looked like he didn't want to deal with such a large party.

"Oh, yes." I picked up the menu. "I'll have a..."---------"Why is it that American foods have such large portions?" Kim asked as everyone was paying for their meals.

"Are you complaining?" I asked as I picked up my bag that held the new shoes wbought. "You ate it all."

"He's just mad I finished my food before him." Alix chuckled.

"I had more food than you." Kim defended.

"Did not." Max and Alix said in unison.

"Just give it up, dude." Nino shook his head. "You lost fair and square."

"When are you going to be picked up?" Adrien asked.

"Damian will be picking me up at the old antique shop in about an hour. Do we all want to do something until then? I think all us girls got what we were looking for."

"You want to come back to the arcade with us?" Nino asked. "That place is super cool, dudette."

"I'm cool with that. How about the rest of you?" I turned to the girls.

After everyone agreed, we made our way back towards the old arcade.