A/N: Yes. You get more frequent updates when I'm nervous, anxious, excited, need to talk but don't feel like I can to anyone IRL, etcetera. Nervous Alyce writes. Excited Alyce writes. Needs-to-talk Alyce writes author notes. Covid doesn't help with creativity. Music does. Suggestions do. Reviews do. Please, anything you can say about this story will help!

misconceptions

[[[[[[[[[[adrien]]]]]]]]]]

The first thing I see when I walk into school is Lila's toadies, all in a huddle. I can't even see Lila.

I turn away. The last thing I need right now is for her to notice me. Better to get to class early so I can have a free minute to start figuring out Ladybug's identity. Ever since Coccinelle appeared, Father's had me even busier than usual.

I sit at my desk and pull out a sheet of paper. What did Ladybug mean, I'd be able to find her? I wonder if she already knows my identity…?

"Oh, Adri-kins!"

I look up. "Hey, Chloe."

Chloe leans over my desk, mouth hard and eyes aflame. "When that lying witch gets in here, you will back me up. She needs to be discredited, because now she has gone too far!"

I lean back, to get some space. "Why? What did she do?" Oh, I really don't want to confront Lila. She's an incredible liar, and she has Father's ear. She could get me thrown out of school!

Maybe she did go too far yesterday. Maybe Chloe hates that Ladybug trusts Lila, even though Lila revealed her identity, yet Chloe almost had any chance of having a Miraculous, ever, gone because Chloe was foolish and impulsive just once.

I hate it too. Hate her, Lila. But I can't afford to show it. She could get me kicked out of school, back to being homeschooled. Doing modeling sessions with her. I'd never be able to escape.

Chat would stick up for Marinette, for Chloe, for himself. Chat isn't afraid of lies, nor of Father.

Adrien is.

"She lied to me!" Chloe says like it's the worst sin in the universe. "When she came to give me my Miraculous, she promised me she wasn't Lila! And she lied!"

"Un-unless she was lying to Alya," Sabrina suggests nervously from her desk.

Chloe turns sharply. "What?"

Sabrina quails at the attention, but bravely answers Chloe. "Chloe, if Ladybug gave you the earrings, wouldn't you want to discredit someone who had been lying about Ladybug and you? The other day, Lila told everybody that she was Coccinelle, but what if she's not?"

Chloe's eyes widen. "I didn't think of that," she says wonderingly.

I breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe I wasn't working well with Lila after all. "Ask Lila something only Coccinelle could know," I suggest.

"Like what you said to her when she gave you your Miraculous!" Sabrina exclaims.

Chloe smirks, a sadistic expression I'm glad isn't directed at me. "How smart I am, to ask your advice," she grins, sashaying up to Lila as the other girl takes a seat in the back row. Unusual.

||||||||||chloe||||||||||

"So, Lila," I purr, looking down at the sulky girl.

Her face instantly brightens as she looks up at me. "Oh! Hi, Chloe. What, do you want to talk to Paris's newest superhero too? I'm afraid class is about to start."

I keep my expression calm, even smile slightly. "No, just wanted to ask you a few questions. They won't take long, and Bustier is running late."

Lila leans back in her chair, tilting the front legs off the floor. "Ask away."

I slide in next to her, causing her to startle. Guess she wasn't expecting that. "What gives you your powers as Coccinelle? You know, the suit, Lucky Charm, Miraculous Ladybug."

Lila smiles. "Why, the Ladybug Miraculous, of course! The earrings."

"Oh?"

"Yes, there's a spell to activate them. Ladybug taught it to me ages ago"

"Really?" Does she honestly think a sometimes-Miraculous holder won't know how Miraculous powers work? I bet if I asked her what a kwami was, she'd say gesundheit.

Lila willingly confirms the spell.

Under the desk, I touch the stop recording button on my camera. "Thank you for enlightening me, Lila."

"Chloe?" Ms. Bustier calls. "Do you want to sit in the back today?" Confusion is evident in her tone.

"No, Ms Bustier," I say, rising. "I was just clearing something up with Lila." And now I just need to wait for the right moment to play this for the class. Perhaps I can get Coccinelle to come in, to verify that Lila's lying.

But then, Lila admitted on the Ladyblog that she was lying, I think, and have to remind myself that Lila isn't Coccinelle.

Oh. Preoccupied, I barely notice as Bustier calls roll. It doesn't actually matter whether Coccinelle is Lila. What matters is that everyone thinks she is. There's no way for Lila to win. Either she admits that she was lying about being Coccinelle, or she, by 'her own' admission, has been lying to the class since she transferred. Lose-lose.

I allow myself a small smile.

"Coccinelle is a genius," I whisper to Sabrina.

"You think so?" Bizarrely, the girl looks proud.

"Yes, I think so! Somehow she got wind of Liela's attitude, and she just painted that girl into a corner like nobody's business."

Sabrina gives a tentative smile.

As expected, Dupain-Cheng runs in late with some excuse. As expected, everyone buys it as easily as Rossi's lies.

Except Sabrina, who's watching Dupain-Cheng solemnly, and Adrien, who looks slightly confused.

[[[[[[[[[[adrien]]]]]]]]]]

When Marinette came in, she apologized for being late. She said she was up late last night helping her cousin.

Her cousin Nellie.

Marinette is Coccinelle!

A/N: I need help with something. There's this guy I know. We used to be best friends, but gradually stopped hanging out when we were still young (I think due to his Boy Scouts and my gymnastics). Our moms stayed close. Now, I'm seeing more of him than I have in years, and I'm...confused.

Look. I'm 99% sure I'm asexual. (Definitely not aromantic, though.) I've had a few literary crushes, but the only time I thought I had a crush on a real person, it stopped as soon as I said anything, and I now think I actually had a crush on the idea of having a crush on him, if that makes sense. So what I can't figure out is, do I actually have a crush on my friend? Or do I just have a crush on the idea of having a crush on him? Or maybe it's just a natural reaction to interacting with a friend I've barely seen for years, and not anything romantic at all? If it's the first one, I wanna say something, find out if he likes me back (and also NOOOOOO). If the second, I will most absolutely not say anything because that would be so embarrassing. If it's the third, saying anything about crush would be even MORE embarrassing. (I took him a dragon I'd drawn for a graduation present today, and I was SOOO NERVOUS and had butterflies before and after and felt like smiling the rest of the day PLUS I was extra distracted and forgetful and DOES THAT MEAN ANYTHING? AHHHH PLEASE HELP I FEEL LIKE MARINETTE.)