Chapter 9

~Marinette's POV~

The class stood outside the Bourgeois hotel getting specific instructions from Alya and Nino.

"The same applies here as was at Marinette's house." Alya said. "Only the actresses get to be with Nino while he films. Everyone else will wait in the hotel lobby."

"Thank you, Alya." Nino smiled. "Marinette, Sabrina, are you two ready to start?"

Sabrina and I each nodded in excitement. I could tell Sabrina was excited to have her first role in our movie filmed, but I was excited to film another scene to get closer to being in my first scene with Adrien!

Once everyone except for Nino, Sabrina, and I moved inside, I picked up the Walmart bags, filled with random items, and headed to my place. Sabrina walked to her place. Nino called action.

I started walking down the sidewalk to the front of the hotel. Right when I was about to turn into the front doors, Sabrina stepped into view.

Although I knew she would be there, she still scared me. I squealed a bit and dropped the bags.

"Cut!" Nino called out. He, Sabrina, and I knelt by the spilled bags and began refilling them. "Marinette, you're supposed to be startled to see her and all, but not enough to drop the bags."

"I know, I know." I said, picking up the bags again.

"I'm sorry..." Sabrina said, looking sympathetic. "I won't be as scary."

"No, no." I reassured her. "You were great. I just need to be more prepared."

"From the top!" Nino called. I got back into place and sighed. I'm not going to do that again.

For the second time, I walked down the sidewalk to the front of the hotel. At the same spot, Sabrina stepped into view.

This time, I held onto the bags as I lurched backward, and said, "Woah!" instead of one of my surprised noises. I took a second to regain myself, and remembered my lines.

"Mrs. Winnamucker." I said.

She grinned at me. "Hello, Miss White."

I awkwardly smiled back. "You scared me."

Her smile faded quickly. "Vilma Tuttle... thought she heard a cat this morning." A new, less warm, smile came back to her face. "Have you heard anything?"

"No." I replied quickly, hoping my face didn't portray the fact I was lying. I avoided eye contact as I continued, looking around me. "No, but we're surrounded by other apartments, so maybe one of them have-"

"She distinctly heard it as though it was coming from this building" She interrupted pulling my attention back to her as she pointed to the hotel. She looked back at me as my eyes stayed on the hotel for a second longer.

"Well," I said looking back at her. "Uh, I'll keep my eyes open."

Sabrina smiled and nodded.

"But I can't imagine anybody would want to break the Angel Arms' sacred no pet policy." I continued.

"It would mean immediate eviction." She told me with a serious face.

"Of course it would." I said, forcing a smile. We looked at each other for a few more seconds before Nino called scene.

Sabrina and I giggled. "Good job, Marinette." She told me. "I'm glad that only took two takes."

"Yeah." I agreed. "You're a natural."

The three of us walked through the doors of the hotel to be greeted by our class.

"Done already?" Adrien asked.

"With that scene." Nino answered. "Now we have to go to the room."

To our surprise, Chloe stepped forward, though she didn't look very happy. "Daddykins said I was to show you to the room."

"Oh." I replied. "Alright."

"Lead the way." Nino smiled.

My eyes widened as we got to the room. "Oh, wow."

"I know, I know." Chloe smirked at me. "Probably better than anything you could afford."

I sent her a glare, but then smiled to myself as I remembered that I was the one to end up with Adrien in the film, and he was going to break up with her.

"Anyway," Chloe continued. "Daddy said we get to use this room for as long as we need. No one's going to be checked into this room until we're done."

"That's good." Nino smiled. Chloe sashayed off, leaving Nino and I to look around the room.

I realized where to go as I walked around the room. "Okay," I said. "I think I'm ready."

"Me too." I heard a girl's voice. One of the shelter's volunteers I'm pretty sure is around my age. She was holding Queenie. "Just tell me when to have her walk in here. I'll be over there." She gestured to a closet.

"Queenie should come over to Marinette as she peeks out the window." Nino said looking over the script.

"Great!" The girl said taking Queenie with her to just outside the closet. She gave us a thumbs up.

"Ready?" Nino asked me. I nodded and walked back outside the hotel room.

When he called out action, I opened the door and stepped inside. "Okay..." I sighed as I closed the door.

I walked out of the small entryway and put down the Walmart bags against the wall. I sighed again and crept towards the window, muttering. "Where are you?"

I turned on the Christmas tree lights before leaning over it to pull back the curtains. I peered out the window and nervously looked outside. "Yes." I whispered in relief. Marilee had been checking for Mrs. Winnamucker still hanging around to catch her with Queenie.

I let the curtains fall back over the window and looked down. "Hi, Queenie." I said happily as I bent down to scoop up the cat. "How are you? How was your day?"

I paused for a moment before continuing. "Wow, that good, huh?" Nino was going to edit in the sound effects for Queenie and Ambrose. All the purring and meowing that wouldn't necessarily come when we needed would be added in.

I walked away from the Christmas tree, holding Queenie close to me. "Oh, well, my day was pretty ordinary."

I sat down on a chair as I continued. "I fell asleep in school, I almost got hit by a firetruck, and then I went to work and got slobbered on by a bulldog." I stroked the cat's fur as I spoke.

I paused to look at Queenie. "Well..." I said, continuing to pet her. "All in all, a pretty good start to the holiday."

"And... Scene." Nino said. The volunteer walked over, clapping.

"Only one take?" She asked. "That's impressive."

"Thanks." I smiled and handed over Queenie. "I'm Marinette, by the way."

"Kagami." She smiled. "It's nice to meet you. I hope we'll continue to work together for the film."