Thanks for the reviews! To the guest to whom I can't directly reply: I really enjoyed reading your comments and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. :)

I've actually had this chapter done for almost a week now, but hadn't quite gotten around to proof-reading/editing it until today. Sorry for the delay and I hope you enjoy!

"Marinette! You're going to be late for school!" Tikki flitted around Marinette's head, but her charge's only response was to roll onto her side and curl herself a little tighter around her cat pillow with a soft smile on her face. Tikki huffed in exasperation, "It's great to see you relaxed," she said as she zipped around the room looking for something to help her in her quest to wake the girl, "But this really isn't the time!"

Tikki's eyes fell on the vanity wash basin in the corner of the room and she was just starting to search for a glass or some other small container so she could dump some water on Marinette's head when a chime caught her attention. Flying over to the source, she found Marinette's phone plugged in, lying on the desk near her computer. The screen was lit up with a message notification from an unknown number. A smile lit her face as she flew up to hover as close to Marinette's ear as she could get. "Oh Marinette! It looks like Chat is trying to message you..." Marinette's eyes flew open just as another chime sounded and Tikki giggled, "And he sounds a little impatient too..."

Marinette flung her blankets aside and shot out of bed, forcing Tikki to back away rapidly in order to avoid getting buried. She dropped over the railed as Marinette stumbled her way off the loft, landing in a heap at the bottom. Before Tikki could say a word, she was back up and scrambling to grab her phone off her desk. Tikki giggled again and Marinette spared a moment to glare at her before trying to unlock her phone.

Five tries later Tikki stifled her laughter so she was able to land lightly on Marinette's shoulder in support, "Slow down, he's not going anywhere."

Sucking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, Marinette paused before letting it out in an explosive burst and carefully entering her passcode to unlock her phone.

Tikki peered down at the phone, "So? Is it him?"

Unknown – CallMe is up and running! Sweet dreams Mari, I'll talk to you tomorrow!

A whimper escaped Marinette as Tikki read the first message and she glanced at her charge in concern. Marinette's face nearly matched her own in colour, but she was smiling, so Tikki looked back down at the phone that had let out another chime.

Unknown – Good morning purrincess! It's a beautiful day!

Unknown – Much like you! ;)

Unknown – Mari?

Unknown – Please tell me I didn't get your number wrong...

Unknown – Hello? Mari? Doesn't your school start in 5 mins?

Unknown – Or something like that anyways...

Unknown – Marinette?

Marinette screeched and dropped her phone. Tikki swooped down to catch it, narrowly saving it from deflecting off the edge of the desk to the floor. "Tikki why didn't you wake me?! I'm going to be late!"

Tikki sighed and shook her head as she carefully placed the phone back on the desk. She looked up just in time to see Marinette fall over again as she tried to put both feet through her pants' legs at the same time. "Marinette..." She got no further before Marinette had scrambled to her feet, somehow pulling up her pants and fastening them at the same time. She lunged across the room to grab her bag – thankfully packed the night before – dashed to the trap door, flung it open and started down the steps. Heaving another sigh, Tikki scooped up the phone and zipped after her.

"Marine–" Tikki cut herself off abruptly upon catching sight of Sabine, who was uncharacteristically in the kitchen instead of the bakery.

"Oh good! I was worried you were going to sleep right through your first class sweetie!" said Sabine, holding out a croissant.

"Nope! Gotta go, love you! Bye!" said Marinette as she snagged the croissant on her way past and shot out the door.

Tikki hovered impatiently, waiting for Sabine to turn away so she could sneak past. She wished she could just phase through the walls, but carrying Marinette's phone made it impossible. When the coast was finally clear, she was just able to catch a glimpse of Marinette's pink ballet flats as she dashed out the door and into the street.

An anxious squeak escaped her and Tikki hesitated. I can't go outside, I'll be seen for sure. But I don't know if I should just stay here either. She hesitated, bobbing anxiously as she debated, Marinette will be back for lunch... It's only a few hours...

Mind made up, Tikki snuck back through the house and up into Marinette's room. She gently replaced the phone on Marinette's desk and phased up through the skylight to the balcony. Looking down, she could see Marinette sprinting to school and dashing up the stairs. Apprehensively, Tikki sunk back into the bedroom, I hope there isn't an akuma...

An alert lit up the screen of Marinette's phone and Tikki glanced over, expecting to see another message from Chat Noir. Instead, she dropped about a foot when she spotted an all too familiar Akuma Alert. "No no no no no!" she fretted, scooping up the phone again and unlatching the skylight to make her way up onto the balcony again, "Now what?!"

Staring in the direction of François Dupont, Tikki wracked her brain to think of a discrete way to reunite with Marinette. Brightening slightly, Tikki took off towards the school, "I hope she still goes to her locker before class!" she murmured to herself.

"I'm telling you Nino, you can't rely on Lila to get your mixes out there!"

Nino sighed softly as he walked to class with Alya at his side. Spotting Adrien ahead of him, he sped up a little to reach his best friend and clapped him on the shoulder, "Morning dude!"

Adrien jumped and quickly lowered his phone, "Oh! Ah, good morning!"

Nino smirked, "What'cha watching your phone so intently for?" His smile faded, "Don't tell me you're taking off on me again today."

Adrien shook his head and reached up to rub the back of his neck, "No, no... I'm just waiting for a text from Natalie about yesterday's shoot. There was some concern about one of the wardrobe choices and I'm just hoping I don't have to redo it."

"That sucks man!" Nino squeezed Adrien's shoulder before dropping his hand, "Hopefully everything comes back okay."

"Yeah..."

"Nino!"

Sighing again, Nino turned back slightly to see his girlfriend glaring at him. "Babe, I'm not counting on her. Networking and connections are great, but they aren't going to make me succeed unless I've got good material. And even then, not everyone is gonna like my style. I know better than to put all my eggs in one basket."

Alya's glare faded, leaving her looking a little lost, "Oh. Uh... right." She quickly pulled herself together and Nino suppressed a smile. Alya's ability to recover and refocus in the face of pretty much anything was one of the things he loved about her. "Well I wouldn't put much faith in her passing anything on. I bet she barely knows the names of most of the people she says she's met and helped." Alya scowled as they walked into the classroom.

Nino glanced over at Adrien, expecting to share an amused smile as they slid into their seats in Mme. Bustier's classroom, but was surprised to see a very serious look on Adrien's face. He half-turned back towards Alya, about to speak when another voice interrupted.

"What do you mean she barely knows their names? That's pretty mean!"

Alya stepped back and spun around, giving Nino a clear view of Rose and Juleka who had just entered the room. "Well it's not like she's ever had any proof! It's just a bunch of far-fetched stories!"

Rose's eyes were wide and her brow crinkled, "You've always believed her before, why are you suddenly against her?"

"Let's just say I've had my eyes opened. Marinette was right about her all along," Alya planted her feet as though she was expecting a battle.

"Al, I don't think that's going to be the best way to convince people..." said Nino.

As he'd expected, Rose's confused look was rapidly shifting into annoyance, "I know she'd your best friend, but wasn't it you that pointed out that Marinette has a tendency to get jealous?" she said with a pointed look towards Adrien, who Nino noticed was avidly staring at his phone again.

"That's not what's going on!" protested Alya.

"Well why don't you share your enlightenment with the rest of us then?" Rose snipped.

"Fine. You want proof?" eyes narrowed, Alya smiled, and Nino stood up to see what had caught her attention. He let a resigned sigh and sank back into his seat when he saw Lila coming up behind Rose. "How's this? Lila says she not only met Jagged Stone, but she saved his kitten from being run over by an airplane. Setting aside the ridiculousness of a kitten loose on a runway or Lila being on a runway while a plane was taxing close enough that she could see the kitten in its path and run to get it out of the way without getting injured herself, how about the fact that Jagged doesn't own a cat! And!" she rapidly continued before Rosa or Lila herself could respond, "Jagged has given multiple interviews in which he's stated that cats are 'just not rock 'n roll'." Her grin widened and Nino flinched slightly, "Not to mention the fact that he owns a crocodile which would happily eat any kittens that came his way!" What had started as a smile and become a grin now fully shifted into an extremely smug and predatory look as she folded her arms across her chest and met Lila's gaze.

At this point, the entire class was watching the exchange with bated breath, most of whom had now shifted their focus to Lila for her response. Nino had to give her credit, she did look suitably surprised, but she barely hesitated before laughing and waving a hand towards Alya.

"Oh I'm so sorry! You're right, that was pretty confusing wasn't it?" Lila smiled warmly, "It wasn't exactly Jagged's cat. He bought it for Penny. You must know how important she is to him." Lila let out a small giggle and waved a hand dismissively, "Anyway! He figured she'd be a cat person, so he went and picked her out a kitten. Of course, he's not exactly very good with standard pets, so he'd had it on a leash, you know, like Fang? And the kitten just slipped right out of its collar and ran off! So I chased after it, but then it ran towards another plane which had just finished loading. We ended up under the plane and they didn't see us before giving the pilots the all-clear to start moving." Lila shuddered, "It was pretty terrifying to have a giant plane start rolling towards me, but I knew that I just couldn't let the poor kitten be run over!"

"Of course not!" Rose jumped to wrap her arms around Lila in a tight hug, "That was so brave of you!"

Lila gently returned Rose's hug, "Thanks. I wasn't thinking about being brave though, I just knew I had to do it." She gave Rose a small smile which quickly faded, "I don't think Penny ended up keeping the kitten. It wasn't really a good mix with Fang and all the traveling that they do."

As the rest of the class wandered off to their seats, avidly discussing Lila's heroics, Nino turned back to Alya, who was glaring at Lila's back. "That girl!" she hissed.

"Let it rest Alya." Nino turned around, unsurprised to catch Adrien glancing at his phone again before looking up at Alya. "Lila is good at what she does," Adrien said, "You're not going to be able to convince them and you're just going to make things worse for yourself or get Lila akumatized. Again. And I think Ladybug and Chat Noir could use a break from her antics."

Alya turned the full force of her glare on Adrien as she stalked over to the front of their shared desk, "You knew?" she said, "Why didn't you say something?"

"You mean like defending Marinette when Lila accused her of cheating? Or trying to stop Mr Damocles when he expelled Marinette without doing any kind of reasonable investigation?"

"You could have done more!" Alya insisted.

Nino reached out to try to sooth his girlfriend, "Babe–"

Alya jerked herself away from him, "Maybe if you had said something before Lila pulled the 'let's get Marinette expelled stunt' it never would have happened!"

"Alya," Adrien sighed, "The teachers believe her. Mr Damocles believes her. Our classmates all believe her. Up until this morning, you believed her. None of you listened to anything Marinette had to say about it. If you wouldn't believe your best friend why would you believe me?" His eyebrows rose in a silent question and Nino watched as Alya flushed and dropped her gaze to the floor. "Lila is an excellent liar and she knows what she's doing," Adrien gestured towards the doorway of the classroom where the confrontation had occurred just moments before, "You just saw her wriggle her way out of being exposed when your points should have been proof enough that she was lying. What do you think I could have done?"

Alya's head shot back up, "Not been so nice to her! Sided with Marinette! Told us Lila was lying!" Alya ranted. Nino hushed her since they were starting to attract attention again, and though she glared at him, she did lower her voice. "Why didn't you tell me that Ladybug showed up and debunked Lila's lies about being best friends? Then I wouldn't have to put out a retraction!"

Nino raised an eyebrow, "So this is about you now?"

"No! That's not what I meant!" Alya huffed and buried her hands in her hair, pulling at it by the roots for a moment.

The pieces suddenly all fell in place and Nino leaned back in his chair, "Ah... you feel guilty for not listening to Marinette." Alya flushed again. "And embarrassed because you didn't do your job properly before posting Lila's stories on the LadyBlog."

Alya's shoulders drooped and she slowly made her way to her seat. Nino and Adrien turned with her. "Yes. I feel guilty. And embarrassed. And stupid. And frustrated that nobody is listening!"

"Neither did you," said Adrien. At Alya's look he quickly tacked on a "Before."

"And really dude, this isn't the way to convince people. You just come across as angry and trying to pick a fight," said Nino.

Alya shifted back to glare at Nino, "And you? Did you know she was lying too? You seem awfully chill about this whole thing."

Nino shrugged, "Naw, I thought she was telling the truth. I mean with a diplomate for a mother she's got to travel a lot right? It's not impossible for her to have met all those people."

"And now you're convinced she's lying? Just like that?"

"Dude, Lila was never my friend. Sure, it was nice of her to watch our siblings that one time so that we could go out on a date, but the only reason I've had anything to do with her is because you did."

Nonplussed, Alya blinked at him for a moment, "And are you going to continue to be that chill when I tell you that Lila threatened Marinette?"

Nino stared at her in shock while Adrien shot to his feet beside him, but before either one could speak, a warning buzz started to sound from all the cell phones in the room. Mme Bustier came through the door at a quick walk, shutting it securely behind herself, "Alright everyone, that's an Akuma Alert. Standard drills apply: everyone stays here, and everyone stays quiet until it's over."

A loud bang as the door flew open had everyone crowding under their tables and fearing the worst, but a flash of pink caught Nino's eye and he rapidly straightened back up. "Sorry I'm late Mme. Bustier!" said Marinette.

"That's fine Marinette, the Akuma Alert has just sounded anyways, so we won't be doing much this morning," said Mme. Bustier.

Nino watched as Marinette froze in place. She reached down to her purse and popped it open, glancing down as she spoke, "An Akuma Aler–" All colour drained from her face and Nino jumped to his feet, afraid she was about to faint, but Adrien beat him to her side.

One arm wrapped securely around Marinette to keep her steady, Adrien turned towards Mme. Bustier, "I think Marinette needs to go the infirmary Mme."

Mme. Bustier glanced up, frowning, "You know the rules Adrien, you need to stay here until the akuma attack is over."

"Marinette really doesn't look well Mme," he pressed, "I'm not sure waiting is a good idea."

Mme. Bustier frowned at them for a moment and Adrien evidently decided to capitalize on her hesitation, "I'll make sure she gets there safely!" he said as he ushered her back out the door.

Nino stared after him in disbelief, for such a mild-mannered and polite person, Adrien sure knew how to take advantage of a situation.