One Way or Another

An Appointment and Red Ribbons

Marinette opened it and was instantly attacked by an excited four year old.

"Marinette!" Annabelle screamed, wrapping her arms around her.

She laughed. "I missed you too Annabelle."

The girl broke free and ran over to her brother as Emilie, Gabriel and Nathalie came inside.

"Thank you for having us over tonight," Emilie said, greeting Marinette with a kiss on the cheek. But her face suddenly fell when she pulled back. "What's wrong?"

A forced smile. "Nothing," Marinette said quietly with a small shake of her head.

Emilie slowly nodded. "Right, of course. Don't mind me," she murmured, subconsciously running her fingers over the purple jewel pinned to her shirt.

"It's no problem at all. Please come in. My parents are already here."

Emilie went over to greet Sabine and Tom, Gabriel following behind. "Marinette," he said with a nod as he walked past her.

"Gabriel," she responded back with a nod. Then she gave Nathalie a hug.

"Everything okay?" Nathalie whispered to her while they walked together towards the living room.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Anything we can do?"

Marinette shook her head. "No."

The families greeted each other and chatted for a minute before Gabriel turned to Marinette. "Any news from the Fédération yet?" he asked.

After a quick glance at her parents, she answered his question. "No, not yet."

"News about what?" Sabine asked.

"You didn't tell your parents?" Gabriel continued, surprised.

Marinette shrugged weakly. "I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up."

Tom moved over to her. "Hopes up about what?"

"I uh... I presented my collection to the Fédération de la Houte Couture to see if they would select me for next season's fashion week."

"Oh my goodness, that's so exciting," Sabine squealed. "When do you find out if you made it?"

"They were supposed to call me by today but I haven't heard anything yet."

Gabriel put his hand to his forehead. "Oh, I knew that I was forgetting something. Alexander asked me to reach out to you to tell you the news, but it must have slipped my mind completely." A smile crossed his face. "So, let me be the first to offer my congratulations, Marinette Agreste. You have been selected to present your collection at Paris Fashion Week."

A chorus of excited gasps made its way around the room. Marinette covered her mouth with her hand as happy tears filled her eyes.

And her parents quickly embraced her. "Oh sweetie, we're so proud of you!" Sabine cried, her eyes filling with tears too.

"So proud," Tom repeated, starting to bawl.

Marinette nodded before breaking away and hugging Gabriel.

"Congratulations, you deserve it," he whispered to her.

"Thank you."

Then she hugged Emilie and Nathalie.

"Yay Marinette!" Annabelle screamed. "Your dresses are so pretty!"

"Thank you, Annabelle," she replied, giving her a hug too.