The Agreste Internship - Book 2

Chapter 2: The Internship

****Two Days Ago****

In the morning, Mari rolled out of bed and put on her normal day clothes. She ran downstairs where she was surprised to see both of her parents sitting at a table stocked with a full crepe breakfast.

"Why aren't one of you down in the bakery?" Marinette asked. The miraculous ladybugs had fixed the bakery, so there was no excuse for them to have it closed. She looked suspiciously at the delicious breakfast and then to her parents. "What's the bad news?"

"What? Can't we celebrate our daughter's first day off on Spring Break?" Her father asked while serving her a perfectly cooked crepe and adding sliced strawberries and chocolate sauce on top, just like Mari liked it.

Mari took her breakfast and started shoveling it in. It was delicious. It was exactly what she needed after a day like yesterday. But when she noticed the silent look exchanged between her mother and father, she had to get to the bottom of this. "Okay guys, what is going on?"

Sabine giggled as she went into the other room and when she came back she had a large, official-looking envelope. It said Gabriel Agreste on it. She handed it to Mari and then could not contain her excitement any longer. "Go on! Open it!"

Marinette picked it up and noticed it had already been open. She eyed her parents suspiciously. "Did you guys already open this?" Seriously, her parents had nothing better to do than to spy on her. It was a miracle that they hadn't found out that she was Ladybug already. But her annoyance at them all but disappeared when she opened the large envelope. In it was a letter of acceptance signed by Gabriel Agreste himself, an official-looking document, and a plane ticket to the Bahamas. "I got the internship!"

Sabine clasped her hands together while Tom jumped up and did a little dance. "My little girl is going to be an international fashion designer!"

"We've already signed the parental agreement portion. You just need to sign it yourself," Sabine said as she looked over at her husband, who was still doing a goofy little dance.

She checked the document and saw her parents signatures. Their signatures wouldn't be necessary in another week when she would be legally able to sign things as an adult-- which reminded her of her birthday plans. "But my eighteenth birthday is coming up. I have plans with Alya, Nino and--" She was going to say Adrien, but now that he was out of town, those plans were scrapped. And perhaps for the best. Now that he had confessed his love to Ladybug, she didn't know how she was supposed to act around him.

"But it's the chance of a lifetime!" Tom protested. "You can't just turn it down like you did that one opportunity with Audrey Bourgeois."

"And I think that little crush of yours is going to be there," Sabine teased.

Marinette's eyes went wide as she read the paper again. She was expected to attend the photoshoot of the Gabriel Agreste Summer line, featuring Adrien Agreste and other models. Oh no, this can't be happening! I'm going to the Bahamas for Spring Break-- and Adrien Agreste is going to be there. She jumped to her feet too quickly, and a moment later she fell over on her back. Ow.

But as she stared at the ceiling she worried about being able to keep up with Ladybug's duties. She couldn't possibly be in two countries at once. Wait, didn't the Guardian use the Pegasus miraculous last time when Chat was out of town for something? Could it be possible that she could be an intern, and protect Paris at the same time?

Her parents exchanged a knowing glance while Marinette got back up to her feet. "I've got to call Alya! I've got to get my sketchpad! I've got to start packing! I've got to call Alya!"

"And don't forget to breathe," Tom called out as Mari ran up the stairs to her room.

************

Natalie had knocked on the door and waited for Gabriel to invite her in before showing Lila Rossi into the office. When they came in, Gabriel looked through Lila as though she didn't exist and ignored her while he addressed Natalie.