Author's Note

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read this story. Just like with my first story, 'I'm much more me when I'm with you', this story didn't have a plan. To be honest, it didn't even really have a middle or an ending either, and I am not even sure how I have managed to finish this, especially since not even two weeks ago I was thinking that I never would.

Truth be told, I came up with the initial idea – what is described in the description – on the spot and decided to just go with it without thinking it through. Since I didn't have a plan, just an idea, the story didn't really go the way the description intended it to. It was going to be basically all Maricat – which is my second favourite ship, with Adrinette being my favourite – with only a little Adrinette to show the transition of Adrien falling for Marinette through getting to know her as Cat Noir.

This wasn't going to be an uncovering Lila's lies story, it was going to be a Marinette struggling with being the guardian story. However, it ended up being an uncovering Lila's lies story when I realised how out of character it would be for Marinette to simply give up and change schools. At the same time, however, I didn't want to go for a public uncovering of lies like I did in 'I'm much more me when I'm with you', and instead wanted to go with just a Ms Bustier's class (and Ms Mendeleiev's, apparently) uncovering of Lila's lies so the ones who are directly impacted learnt the truth first and foremost.

This is where Chloé came in, and I genuinely believe that Chloé's reasoning for doing so (along with the underlying message that she does care about Marinette, she's just not about to admit it) fits in with her character, as Chloé is an attention–seeking, manipulator, and Lila is the same, to a higher and more dangerous degree, so it would make sense for Chloé to want to remove Lila from the spotlight by calling her out. Having Chloé be the one who calls Lila out on her lies also takes the spotlight off of Marinette, although I did manage to get Lila to prove to the class that she was lying herself in a way that wasn't exactly noticeable (the section of that chapter – chapter 21, You're Too Good – just before the class start going off on Lila, Lila referred to Chloé as one of Marinette's friends, which the whole class knew to not be true, and is why it wasn't until then that they started berating her), which I believe is what is going to happen in the show when Lila's lies are uncovered for real.

As for the ending, I understand that it's not really much of an ending. To be honest, I wasn't really feeling this story, and while I did enjoy writing it and I do love the story itself, I just wasn't that into it, which shows in the rushed ending, what with Chloé all of a sudden standing up for Marinette, then calling out Lila, then the rushed reveal of identities and lack of aftermath.

I leave it up to you to imagine what happens next, how they're dynamic shifts, how they defeat Hawk Moth, how the class responds to Marinette now that Lila's been outed, how Chloé changes, if Chloé changes, whether the pregnancy rumour dies out with the rest of Lila's lies or if there will still be speculation about it (and on that note, I have just remembered I was going to have a chapter where Luka comes to visit Marinette to see if the rumours are true – about the 'pregnancy' – but it didn't really fit in with the story and it made more sense for Cat – and Nino and Marc – to be the only one she actually tells the truth to, beside her parents, and plus it would be rather boring reading basically the same scene twice).

Thank you for favouriting, following, reading and reviewing this story. I love you all for it, and I love all your reviews (just like with 'I'm much more me when I'm with you', I have read them over and over again and they tend to give me a bit of a confidence boost to keep writing) and I don't mind if you keep reviewing even now that this story has finished – I will still read them.

Stay safe, stay isolated, and please don't buy all of the toilet paper; this is the year of the introverts, celebrate sparingly.