Hello John! Welcome to the boards!
Well, in canon Cat seems to be somewhat bookish, just hiding it well.
Yes. Cat was very intelligent in the first half of season one and worked hard to hide her smarts. Why will always remain a mystery. The one and only time her apartment is ever seen, Clark commented on how well read she was.
When the fic is completed this part will be the prologue. As I mentioned previously to KenJ, the story has a prologue, five parts and an epilogue. Perhaps just this once I'll stick to my outline!
The big question in my mind is Luthor really good, or is Ariana in on his evil plots, or is she duped as well as everyone else?
We shall just have to see how the story develops, as I mentioned earlier; there are no hard and fast rules in this story.
It is the alt-universe.
Thanks again to everyone who read this small story!