Hey guys! First of all, a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! *Insert atrocious joke about not having updated since last year here* I have been very busy over the holiday period, but I am now back with a lot of free time for the next 6 weeks or so, so expect frequent updates...until the end of the story- if you don't get them, tell me off! I will be finally writing the Jennoist fic I promised some people on tumblr a few weeks ago before I publish chapter 22, but yeah, as I said, the updating will still be relatively quick regardless. I'll stop rambling now and get on with the story. (Does anyone even read this bit anyway?)

Oh, by the way…ANYONE FANCY FINDING OUT WHO KATIE IS?

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee…

"We can go up to my room…" Ryder suggested awkwardly, as they stepped through the front door. He wasn't particularly academically intelligent, but, now that Marley had scraped down the hard, thick, artificial layers of bravado, selfishness and insensitivity, it was clear that he was emotionally intelligent, and could therefore easily recognize that his girlfriend was extremely upset and on edge, and he didn't want to overstep the mark any more than he apparently already had done, not that he had any idea what he was in trouble for.

Marley marched up the stairs in Ryder's large house pointedly, and saw herself into his bedroom, with him following worriedly behind. He watched her perch on the end of his bed and yank a pile of paper from her backpack, thrusting them in his face as soon as he pulled up his desk chair opposite her and sat down.

"Explain." She instructed simply, before exhaling deeply, realizing that she had been auditioning for Carmen Tibideaux a mere fifteen minutes ago and now she was confronting her boyfriend, and she had barely stopped for breath until now.

Ryder cast his eye over the first page, and instantly recognized its content.

"Marley…" he started, confused. "I told you all about this, remember? About Katie-"

"You told me you finished it when you started seeing me!" She interrupted.

"Yeah, I did! Marley didn't you look, I'm pretty sure these messages on this page are from like, last spring…" He sighed. Marley wasn't having any of it, and angrily snatched the paper back from him, fumbling with the pages until she found the message that had hurt her the most.

"Look," she exclaimed. "You sent her this last night. You messaged her saying, 'she doesn't mean anything, not really.' You were talking about me weren't you?" She accused him, her voice breaking slightly. "You must have been. You sent it last night."

"No I didn't Marley!" He said angrily, his voice becoming slightly louder, pulling back the page to inspect why on earth she thought he had sent that last night. He vaguely remembered sending Katie something like that early last summer, after a drunken tryst with a cheerio, but that was months ago, months before he had even met Marley. He focused his eyes on the date given next to the message, and was bewildered to find that it did indeed claim to have been sent last night. "No…oh Marls. I…ok I get why you're upset when it looks like that but I promise you that date is wrong," he pleaded.

"Prove it," Marley challenged him quietly, her arms folded tightly and defensively across her chest, her eyes stinging from the beginnings of hot tears which threatened to escape down her cheeks at any moment. Ryder simply nodded, and turned on his laptop. A couple of agonizingly awkward minutes went by as the pair sat in silence and waited for it to load up. Finally, Ryder was able to turn on the chat-room he had ignored for weeks now, sighing as he noticed a long string of angry messages from Katie which he had consequently not seen until now. Not bothering to give her any more attention than was necessary, he scrolled up past them without looking, wondering how long it might take him to find the message in question. Thankfully he noticed a search box to the side of the screen, and copied the misspelt words of the message into it, sighing with relief as it popped up. He clicked on it triumphantly and handed his laptop to Marley, who read the real date and time underneath.

3/17/13

Almost a year before the date on the sheet Unique had printed out.

Marley placed the laptop on the bed beside her and put her head in her hands.

"I've done it again, haven't I…" she moaned. "Jumped to the wrong conclusion, I mean." Ryder went to sit beside her and pulled her tiny frame into his chest, kissing her on the top of his head.

"No. You saw compelling evidence and talked to me about it. We worked it out together and it's ok. It's nothing like before," he whispered soothingly. "How did you even get the messages anyway? Ones with wrong dates?" He asked.

"Unique." She replied. "She found it open on a computer in the school library."

Ryder sighed angrily. "So that's still Katie's game huh? Setting shit up to give you the wrong idea and planting it somewhere so that she doesn't have to do anything face to face," he spat out bitterly. "I'm sick of it," he continued. "We're gonna send out a message to her loud and clear. She can't keep on coming between us."

"How are we gonna do that?" Marley asked somewhat worriedly.

"With a little help from one of the cheerios," Ryder explained, picking up his phone. "Don't worry, I haven't slept with her," he added hastily in response to Marley's raised eyebrow. He found the correct number, tapped the green phone and put it to his ear.

"Brittany," he started. "How do you fancy an exclusive interview with McKinley's hottest couple on your next Fondue For Two?"

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The next three weeks had gone by in something of a blur. Ryder had been spending every moment possible in school with a protective arm around Marley, determined that, if Katie was indeed a student at McKinley, she would not be allowed to come near her. The time had also been spent in limbo. Brittany's monthly episode of her web-show had aired a mere week before Ryder had called her, so they were having to wait until now, a Saturday in mid-March, for their exclusive interview, which, thankfully, Brittany was very grateful for…something about competing with Jacob Ben-Israel for top internet show at McKinley; apparently an interview with Ryder and his 'mysterious nerdy girlfriend who no-one really knows' (her words,) was a big scoop.

Even more important a wait, was the one for the letter from NYADA. Graduation was only 3 months away, and Marley's (and indeed, Ryder's) future still hung in the balance. In fact, Marley might have objected to Ryder's borderline possessive attempts to protect her from Katie, if she hadn't been so consumed by worry over what the letter would say. Unlike Ryder, she had back-ups, of course she did- one college in New York had already offered her a place, but a major in English with a minor in Music from an acceptably decent University didn't compare to a music and song-writing major from one of the country's most prestigious performance colleges.

Like London buses, Marley thought to herself briefly, as the envelope with both NYADA and New York City postal stamps arrived in her letterbox on the very day she would appear with Ryder on Fondue For Two.

"Well?" Her Mother asked expectantly over the breakfast table, once she clicked what Marley was holding. "Are you going to open it up or stand and look at it all day?"

Marley opened her mouth to speak but couldn't force any words out. They wouldn't have expressed her fear or emotion well enough anyway. She simply sat down and pushed her cereal, for which she now had zero appetite, out of the way, running her fingers over the envelope's seal and slowly beginning to rip it open. She pulled out the letter with shaking hands and tried to will herself to unfold it and discover her fate.

"I can't do it Mom," she sighed, dropping it on the table. "I can't bear it…do it for me?" She asked, and Millie nodded slowly, reaching over and picking up the letter, before unfolding and reading it, her eyes widening at the words inside.

"Oh my baby girl," Millie whispered, the corners of her mouth stretching into a beaming smile. Seeing her Mother's expression, Marley clamped her hands across her mouth and instantly felt the tears begin to pour down.

"I did it!" Was all that she could muster, squealing it over and over again.

"Oh Marls, you didn't just get in…" her Mother choked out. "You got a full scholarship. All your fees are paid for by the school! Your accommodation too!"

Marley simply stared back in shock for a few seconds, before throwing her arms around her Mother's neck.

"There are strict conditions though," her Mother informed her with mock severity. "You have to maintain your high GPA and not have a single blot on your school disciplinary record…I don't think that's gonna be a problem for you though sweetheart!" Millie laughed; her daughter had never even got so much as a single detention, let alone something that would require a permanent mark on her record; she was as good as sat on the plane to New York now.

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Ryder came to pick Marley up on the way to Brittany's house a couple of hours later.

"So your NYADA letter should be due any day now, huh?" Ryder asked, as they neared the blonde, slightly crazy cheerleader's house. Marley bit her lip to prevent the grin from returning to her face.

"Yeah I guess," she replied as nonchalantly as possible. Ryder sent her a brief reassuring look. He supposed she was too nervous to talk about it, and he understood completely; the wait to hear news about his football scholarship was killing him too. He sighed at the thought, and pulled into Brittany's street.

Once they had arrived at the Pierce house and knocked on the door, it was answered by a very tired looking man.

"Hi, I'm Ryder and this is Marley, we're here to see Brittany," Ryder announced.

"First door on the right upstairs," he sighed, with the tone of a man who had somewhat given up on trying to curb his daughter's bizarre antics. "She's burning all my cheddar."

"Lord Tubbington! First you steal from the jewellery store, now my cheese? If word gets out to the cops they'll throw you back in jail again," came a very cross voice from upstairs. Ryder and Marley exchanged amused looks before going to seek their hostess out.

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"So," Brittany began, towards the end of their interview, once the hilarious theme tune, tasting of Brittany's bizarrely concocted excuse for a fondue, and more inane, small-talk questions had been gotten over with. "The question is, what made you specifically request this interview, Ryder? Why have you chosen now to be so public about your relationship? Because my dinosaur prom is in like a month, you could have chosen then, hashtag just saying-"

"Well, we were already open with our relationship," Ryder interrupted, before Brittany could ramble too much, whilst Marley nodded. "But someone has failed to notice that, and is intent on trying to ruin us. So Marley and I would just like to send a message to Katie, if you're watching; we are happy together, and you need to realize that all your cowardly meddling only serves to make our relationship stronger."

"Who is Katie?" Brittany asked, sensing an opportunity to become the source of some juicy gossip. Ryder sighed.

"Katie is someone who could have meant a lot to me if she had made the right choices," he replied. "But she didn't, and now she means nothing to me, and Marley is my everything, instead." Marley smiled bashfully at this announcement…if anyone had told her six months ago that Ryder Lynn would be calling her his 'everything' in front of Brittany Pierce's viewership- that is to say, practically the entire McKinley student body, she would have probably laughed in their face. Brittany beamed at the material she was getting for her show, which was airing live as they spoke.

"So, before we finish this interview, Marley, is there anything else you would like to add? About Ryder, or Katie or anything," the blonde inquired.

"Actually there is," Marley announced, taking a deep breath. She had wanted to tell Ryder in style and here was a perfect opportunity. She looked first to Brittany, who she figured wouldn't know what NYADA was. "Today Ryder asked me about my letter of either acceptance or rejection from the New York Academy Of Dramatic Arts, and I shrugged it off…but the truth is I got it today."

Ryder's eyes widened, and he sat up, taking her hand. Brittany gasped and shot up, moving in between the pair behind the sofa they were sat on, and looking pointedly at the camera.

"And Marley, what did it say?" She asked, so dramatically it was almost comical. Marley looked deep into his dark brown eyes.

"I got in…on a full scholarship," she announced with a grin, and delighted in the way Ryder jumped up and punched the air, before picking her up and spinning her around before swooping in for a deep kiss. Brittany delighted in the way her cameras picked it all up for her show.

"This is a Fondue For Two exclusive. Suck my balls, JBI!" She yelled crudely into her microphone, before concluding the interview. Ryder and Marley barely noticed as they embraced.

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Across Lima, McKinley students watched the show. Brittany had heavily advertised the fact that she was interviewing the couple with flyers in every single locker. Out of nosiness and boredom, hundreds had tuned in. One viewer had tuned in out of jealousy.

Some days she cursed herself for having let herself take it this far. What had started out as using a fake identity online to finally be able to talk to a guy, (and the gorgeous and popular Ryder Lynn of all people,) who wouldn't immediately freak out about who she was had turned into a sour campaign of jealousy and sabotage.

Many days she felt bad about sending threatening messages to and trying to ruin the relationship of the girl who was supposed to be her best friend, but other days she remembered that Ryder had wanted her until Marley had come along and ruined everything with her pretty face and overly put on 'adorkable' personality. Today in particular, however, she felt humiliated. She understood Ryder's dislike of her at the moment. She had been horrible to him and his girlfriend, after all. But to call her 'nothing' in front of half the school felt like a slap in the face. And the way in which Marley nodded smugly at the declaration made her want to punch both of them. But physical violence had never been Unique Adams' style.

She knew that Ryder could never be hers now, she accepted that. But he had still made her feel like dirt, and for that reason, she didn't even really want him now, she just wanted to ruin his life. That could be easily done. No-one at McKinley knew who Katie was now, but that could change in the blink of an eye. She waited until school on Monday, before going to find McKinley's other prominent web-show host. Unique finally found him in the library and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and frowned.

"May I help you?" He asked.

"Need any more gossip for your next show?" she replied.

"Sorry, I'm fully booked." He sighed, shooing her away with his hand. Unique ignored his rudeness and continued regardless.

"What if I told you I had a story so sensational you'll have to rearrange? After Saturday's broadcast, your show is lagging pathetically behind Fondue For Two, and rumour has it you've been looking for a scoop to take down Ryder Lynn ever since he beat you up on the first day of the school year. What if I told you I had information that could destroy Ryder Lynn in a heartbeat?" She hissed.

"I'm listening," he told her, cocking an intrigued eyebrow. Unique pulled a pile of paper; a copy of every message she and Ryder had ever exchanged, from her bag, handing them to JBI.

"This is nothing," he groaned. "Ryder Lynn has always admitted he had an online girlfriend last year, stop wasting my time."

"Open your eyes, idiot!" She retorted exasperatedly. "Katie is a fake persona. I am Katie." Jacob looked back in shock, his eyes widening at the gravity of the information he had just received. Shock soon turned to delight at the opportunity to bring down his former bully.

"How much do you want for these messages?" He asked.

"Nothing. They're yours free of charge as long as you make sure everyone knows that Ryder Lynn was in love with me." Unique replied. Jacob held out his hand to shake hers.

"Pleasure doing business with you Adams."

DUN DUN DUNNNNN…

Well done to all of you who guessed that Katie is Unique!

So much info to process in that chapter…Marley has got into NYADA and Katie has revealed herself…soon to the entire student body! Let me know your thoughts and feelings on those big reveals below!

Just a note- I know some people thought it was Jake to keep Marley, but of course the majority of the relationship with Katie took place before Marley had even moved to Lima…so it was only ever going to be Unique! I thought I'd made it obvious way back in the house party chapter where Unique leaves early, upset that the boy she's messaging is into someone else, but hey, it's confirmed now :p

I will try and update very, very soon- as I said before, I can pretty much write whenever at the moment :)

To my reviewers:

TeaAndGlee: It was Unique, so your first instinct was correct! Hope you a) had a great Christmas a New Year and b) enjoyed this chapter :)

Ember411: Time to go all Lima Heights ;) Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I promise, promise promise I'm going to catch up on Ryley Vignettes when I've pressed publish :)

RocioMelinatic-Ryley15: Yay! Hope you continue to enjoy :)

Gleeatic713: Hope so! Regardless, awesome reviewers like you still stick around :) I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and survived Matt Smith's regeneration!

guest: So it did, haha :p Sorry, I kind of left you in suspense again, haha…hope you still enjoyed!

Savannaramirez35: She is, twofold! Sorry for yet another cliffhanger…thanks!

LittleMusicalOwl: I'm so pleased you're intrigued to unravel the mystery that is (no longer) Katie! And I'm glad you like plot twists, because the last few chapters are full of them, haha. Hope you had a lovely Christmas!

Guest: Eyy guess who got one of their guesses right ;) Hope you had a lovely Christmas, despite the revision!

Sux2budude: Wow, I can't express how happy this review made me! I'm so touched that my writing makes you feel that way! I hope you continue to enjoy the last few chapters :) Ps. Your username had me laughing for a long time :p