Adrien walked into Mrs. Mendeleiv's class and saw that Meg was already in the seat beside his, and she had photos spread out in front of her. I'd forgotten that the seats changed for the project this week. He was looking forward to a friendly distraction—anything to keep his mind off of his inner conflict that was Ladybug.

"Hey Meg, what do you have there?" he greeted her as he got closer. He looked at the photos she had on the desk. Great, just what I need.

"Hey, Adrien. These are photos that I took last night of Ladybug and Cat Noir's patrol. At least, I assume they were patrolling. I didn't hear anything about any akuma attacks."

Adrien took a look at the photos. He and Ladybug were standing on top of the school. Cat Noir was looking at something out of frame, and Ladybug was looking at him.

"How did you know where they were going to be?" he asked her.

"I didn't. I was just in the right place at the right time, and" she giggled, "it helps to look up. You'd be surprised at the things that can go right over one's head."

Adrien sat down in his seat beside her as she put the photos away. Class was about to begin and Adrien let out a sigh.

"Are you okay, Adrien?" Meg asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said very unconvincingly.

"You know, if you don't feel up for working on the project right now, we can just pretend, and work on it later. I don't mind staying after school."

"You'd do that?" he was a little surprised.

"I wont tell if you don't." she winked mischievously.

They laughed together. Adrien was grateful for the break Meg offered him. He really wasn't in the headspace to focus on anything right now. If anything, he wanted to shut his brain off. But he settled for the next best thing: wasting class time with a friend.

"I remember this time my friends and I successfully got the entire class to skip a period. Nobody wanted to go, so we text everyone in our class and convinced them not to. The teacher was furious the next day! She said, "Not a single person showed up." And my friend, who was part of the group text, pretended she didn't know and said, "not one?" It was the funniest thing!" Meg was laughing at the memory.

"The entire class?" Adrien was shocked, but amused at the story.

"Every single person!" Meg was still laughing.

They'd spent the class period this way, laughing and telling each other stories about their lives. Meg had quite a few more stories to share, considering Adrien's school life started not too long ago. He enjoyed listening to her stories, though; she was funny and very lively.

The bell rang signaling that it was time to go.

"I didn't even notice the time." Adrien said, looking at the clock. They started gathering their belongings. He felt a lot better than he did last night and this morning, now that he'd had time to be distracted.

"Thanks for doing this for me, Meg. I really appreciate it." He smiled at her.

"No problem," she smiled back. "So I'll see you in the library after school, right?"

"Actually, I was thinking we could work on it at my place. You could ride home with me after school. The least I can do to thank you for a clear head is keep you from having to sit in that stuffy old library."

"Okay then, that sounds cool. I'll meet you out front five minutes after final bell."

"See you then!" they parted ways, each to their next class.

"You do realize this is the first girl that you've brought home, right?" Plagg asked from inside Adrien's shirt.

"It's not like that, Plagg. She's just a friend. Besides, it doesn't really count since we're going to be doing schoolwork."

"If you say so. But it looks like you'll be able to move on just fine from Ladybug, after all."

And just like that, all of his problems came back to haunt him.

"Thanks, Plagg. Because that's what I want to think about right now."

Meg rode home with him after school as planned, and Adrien had Nathalie bring them a snack to get through working on the project. After about thirty minutes of unproductivity, Meg closed her book and looked at Adrien.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her

"Everything is okay with me. Is everything okay with you?" she asked him.

He paused. I'll admit; I wasn't exactly paying attention.

"I can tell that you're distracted," she continued, "and I think it might be the same thing that had you distracted yesterday, and before class earlier today. I'd like to help, if I can." She offered a gentle smile.

"I'm not sure you can help." He said, unsure of what he could even say to her for her to understand his situation.

"Try me." Meg looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her about his problem.

"Well…I'm sort of…friends…with Cat Noir. And you're right; he's in love with Ladybug. But she's in love with someone else. But he thinks she might be in love with him too, but she doesn't see it because she's too focused on the other guy. He asked me for advice on how to get her to realize she has feelings for him too, but I don't know what advice I could give him. Complicated, right?"

He hoped the whole "asking for a friend" approach wasn't too obvious. To his surprise, her response was laughter. Is this a good thing, or a bad thing? He wondered.

"Meg?"

"I'm sorry, Adrien, I'm not laughing at you." She continued laughing. "It's just so funny to me, because what a coincidence! I've recently become friends with Cat Noir, too, and I've been trying to think of advice to give him about this same thing."

"Wait, you're friends with Cat Noir?" What? No you aren't. He hadn't said a single word to Meg as Cat Noir.

"Yes! And you can't tell anyone, but… I know Cat Noir's secret identity." She giggled.

"You do?" There's no way this is true, Adrien thought.

"Mhm. He doesn't know that I know, yet. But I'm trying to figure out how to tell him."

"Who is he?" he tested her.

She made a face and then laughed again.

"Something you should know about me, Adrien, is that I would never give away Cat Noir's identity to anyone. Ever." She had a serious look in her eye that could be nothing but fake, like the rest of her words. What an actress.

I'm Cat Noir he thought. If she really knew, she would've just told me my own identity. Adrien was speechless. This girl, who he thought was a genuine, honest person turned out to be exactly what Alya called her. A Lila.

She went on, "So anyway, about Cat Noir's Ladybug problem. For now, I think he should just be patient. The guy she has feelings for is cool and all, but I know she'd be so much happier if she let go of those feelings for him and realized her feelings for Cat Noir. I'm secretly trying to guide her to that point, hence all of my photos, but I want her to get there on her own, so I don't know how long that could take. But hopefully not long."

Adrien decided to play along and see how far Meg would go.

"So you know Ladybug's identity, too?" he asked.

"Yes, but same rule applies. I'd never spill."

"And you know who she's in love with?" he asked

"Yes, but I can't tell you that either because it could give away her identity. And, like I said, he's a cool guy, but Cat Noir is amazing. He's clever, funny, trustworthy, and he'll always have her back. She already knows all of those things, but she won't let herself feel it because she doesn't want to stop loving her crush. Cat Noir knows how that feels."

Well, she got that part right. "So Meg," he began, "Why do you want to help them get together?"

Meg laughed. "Because they're too blind to do it themselves. And also," she got quiet, "also because I love the way Cat Noir loves her. He's loved her since Day 1 without knowing the name of the girl under the mask. He loves her for what she is: strong, brave, caring. He loves her heart. And I'm tired of seeing her hurt him and not give him that love back.

She may have been lying about everything else, but she understands exactly how I feel about Ladybug. How can she see all of this, but Ladybug cant? Or chooses not to?

His thoughts were interrupted by Meg's phone vibrating.

"I have to go," she said, "Thanks for inviting me over."

Adrien walked her to the gate outside of his house. He was thinking about the crazy turn of events that just happened. Someone so sweet turned out to be so sour.

"Thanks for walking me out," She said.

"You're welcome." He said, relieved to be getting away from her.

She giggled, "Oh Adrien, ever the gentleman. You know, you're really level headed right now."

"What do you mean?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I mean you really kept your cool and didn't try to call me out once. I know you think I'm lying about everything I said in there. And it's okay; I kind of made it sound that way on purpose. But I want you to know that I meant it when I said I'd never reveal Cat Noir's identity to anyone."

A car pulled up for Meg, and she opened the door.

"Your secret is safe with me." She winked and got in the car.

Adrien stood frozen as it drove off.