Ugh! Why did it have to be another blonde?!

Marinette sighed as she shook hands with Charles. Charles was a bit younger than she had expected. She had expected Charles to be as old as her parents, but no, he was actually 20 years old, 3 years older than Marinette.

Marinette didn't have any dirt on Charles, but the way he looked sort of reminded Marinette about Adrien, and usually she would like that, but now she didn't. Maybe she just didn't want to think about him.

"Its nice to finally meet you, Marinette," Charles shook hands with her and Marinette nodded back. She wanted to look happy, but her feelings obviously weren't like that. Her smile couldn't appear on her face anymore.

"You look kind of upset. Anything wrong?" Charles seemed to notice, which wasn't what Marinette had wanted at all. "Does it have anything to do with me?"

"What?! No, no, no," Marinette sighed and took a seat. "It's great to have you here, Charles. It's just about my... Friend. Yeah, my friend. He's been ignoring me and I'm getting worried."

"Your friend? Hmm, was he the one you went to visit?" Charles took a seat next to her. "What happened between you two?"

"Uh, I... I don't feel comfortable talking about it," Marinette lied. She just didn't want to talk about it. "Anyway, I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything." Marinette stood up and started walking to her room.

She took out her phone again. Nope! No new messages from Adrien, but there was one from Chloe. Marinette sighed and clicked on it.

C - hey, me, Sabrina and Lila are going to the mall. I wanted to invite you. Wanna come along?

M - yeah, sure I'll come. Can you come pick me up?

C - no probs. Will be there in a short while with my limo.

Marinette chuckled at her reply. To be honest, she didn't want to deal with Chloe and her minion, Lila, right now, but hey; why not have some fun while at it?

~~~

"And this one! Get me this on!" Chloe picked up a short blue 1- shoulder dress and drew it towards Jean. "Ooh, and I love these ones!" Next she had picked up a ball gown and Qui Pao dresses.

"I never knew you were interested in Qui Pao dresses," Marinette frowned. "They're my mom's favourite as well." She remembered her mother telling her about how she had met her dad while wearing a Qui Pao.

"Are you kidding?!" Chloe rolled her eyes as she grabbed another dress. "Every type of dress are my favourite, as long as they look totally awesome and new!"

"Yes, of course," Marinette didn't say anything else. She looked over towards Lila and Sabrina, who were busy looking at some female shoes. Wait, why was she here again?

"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask," Chloe turned her attention from the dresses to Marinette. "Who really locked you in that room yesterday? I know it couldn't have been an accident, so tell me!"

Marinette frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just worried about you, Marinette," Chloe sighed. "What if that person that locked you in does something more dangerous the next time? You could really get hurt!"

You really do a great job at pretending to be such a great friend. "Don't worry, it's all over now. I was being stupid back there. I know how to protect myself better now."

Chloe didn't look like she believed her, Marinette could tell. Chloe decided not to ask anymore questions though.

"Hey," Chloe looked around herself, searching her pockets. "I don't have my phone with me! Marinette, can I borrow yours?"

"Why do you need it?" Marinette wasn't just going to hand over her phone like that without knowing why.

"I want to take a picture of this dress and send it to someone. I don't want to buy it though, so that's totally out of the question," Chloe answered, taking her hand out for Marinette to give her her phone. "So, may I?"

Her phone then dinged and Marinette looked down at it, seeing that it was a text message from Ivan. He must have gotten an idea on how to make the girls hate each other. Chloe was peering over her shoulder at her phone and frowned.

"You have Ivan in your contacts?!" She gave Marinette a disgusted look. "Gross. You know, Marinette, I'm quite worried for you. You don't know how to make proper friends. If you stick with me and Lila, we'll show you some cool people that you can hang out with, instead of those losers."

"Those losers are my friends, Chloe!" My true friends, unlike you! "Besides I don't need help with making new friends, alright?" Chloe sighed but nodded anyway.

As Chloe continued looking through some new clothes and yelling out about how she loved them and was going to buy them all, Marinette took the chance to check the messages Ivan sent her.

I - I've got an idea, but it's really risky.

I - I got it when I heard that you were locked in a room. If you want to hear it, just text me back.

M - I want to hear it, and no matter how risky it is, I want to go through it.

I - alright, then here's the plan.

I - ...

"Hey Marinette!" Marinette silently groaned. Ivan had just texted her the new plan, but she couldn't read it now because stupid Lila had to interrupt. "So, how are you and Adrien doing? Listen, I'm not asking this question because I'm jealous and all that. I'm actually passed that. I just want to know if he's okay, because he didn't come to school yesterday."

"Adrien is doing fine!" Marinette answered. "He just got into a little trouble, but he'll be back to school soon."

"Oh well, that's good to know," Lila gave her a wide smile. "I was just worried about him, you know, as a friend. So, um, you never answered my question of how are you and Adrien doing."

Marinette smirked. "Oh we're going great. You know, he might not be able to see me now, but he sends me a lot of messages every hour to check if I'm okay. Isn't he all sweet?"

"Oh," Marinette could see her disappointment, but Lila tried to hide it, thought she wasn't very good at that. "Well, I can help you. Adrien can't see you now, but he is at the park, doing his usual photoshoot. If you want to go see him, we three can go with you."

Chloe overheard their conversation and walked over with Sabrina.

"But maybe Marinette is tired. She can see her boyfriend some other day," Sabrina quickly spoke. She shook her head towards Marinette.

"I..." I really do want to see him, but I have a feeling that Sabrina is trying to warn me of something. "Yeah, maybe next time."

"Aww, come on," Lila rolled her eyes. "Adrien will be so upset hearing that you didn't want to see him. Maybe later isn't going to cut it, Marinette. Thought you wanted to see him so badly."

Sabrina was shaking her head at Marinette, before she stopped so she wouldn't get caught by either Chloe or Lila. Marinette disagreed to go now once again, and started walking away from the girls.

"Why wouldn't she come with us?" Chloe folded her arms. "She's an ungrateful brat, that's what she is!"

Marinette walked far from the girls before she pulled out her phone to see what Ivan had texted her. She would have checked with Sabrina, but she had remembered that the girl didn't have a phone.

I - are you sure you want to go through with it?

I - alright, if you do, then here's the plan...

Marinette read the plan Ivan had given her, a smirk slowly replacing her frown that she had had a while ago. She sent Ivan an appreciation text, before she put her phone away and walked back to the girls.

"Alright, we're leaving," Chloe motioned for Jean and the girls to follow her. "Marinette, are you sure you don't want to get anything?"

"Sure I'm sure," Marinette nodded. "Let's just go."

As they were walking out of the store, Chloe suddenly widened her eyes and turned the other way. "No. Way!" She started walking over to a section. "They got it!" Lila started walking over to see what she had. Marinette rolled her eyes, seeing that it was just another pair of heels. "I am so buying this!"

Chloe picked up the angle strap and lita heels, showing them at Lila for her to see. Lila nodded as she picked up a red open toe heel.

As Chloe and Lila were gushing over the new heels, Marinette turned to Sabrina. "Um, thanks? I just wanted to ask why you didn't want me to see Adrien. Are the girls planning something?"

Sabrina frowned and turned to her. "The girls. No, they're not planning anything!"

"Then... Why didn't you want me to go see Adrien?"

"Marinette, if Nathalie says not to see Adrien, then don't see him. If you disobey her rule, she's probably going to punish Adrien even longer." Marinette bit her lips, knowing Sabrina was right.

Sabrina continued. "But that's not the full reason I didn't want you to go. Remember what I told you, about going back in time to do the right thing? In my last life, I let you go with Chloe and Lila wherever they wanted to go, I let you get bullied by them. But now I want to keep you away from them, so I keep trying to find a way to separate you two! Marinette, take my advice. Leave them while you still can!"

"Sabrina, I've got a plan," Marinette assured, but Sabrina looked unsure.

"Just remember what I said and do the right thing! I've warned you. If you end up the same situation as the last time, then I can't really say it is my fault anymore," Sabrina sighed.

Finally Chloe and Lila walked over to them, with their hands full with bags, and the girls exited the mall.

~~~

Word Count: 1701 (excluding this)
-Edited-