Alya sat on a stack of boxes with a notebook as Marinette moved bolts of fabric in the back room. Marinette paused to readjust her pigtails. Shuttling fabric from the store displays to storage (and vice versa) had been deceptively simple work, but she was glad for a mindless task now. She kept replaying her encounter with Chloe from earlier. Could things get even worse?

"Marinette! You could've warned me earlier! I'm happy as happy as anyone to see Chloe get shut down, but that was so unlike you. What came over you?"

Marinette shrugged, unsure of how to respond. It was a loaded question, and she herself didn't quite know what had possessed her to raise her hand. She was glad she had managed to gather her courage though. She truly desired to be the class representative in order to help out her peers. Privately, she thought that Chloe didn't even want the job, just the notoriety. It was a real shame that those outside of their class didn't realize her true nature, merely seeing a smiling girl who looked so pleasant (and class rep too!) and assuming that she earned the position based on merit.

Having moved the last roll of fabric, Alya hopped down from her roost and left ahead of her. Locking the door behind her, Marinette gathered up her things and waved goodbye to Mrs. Guinebertiere. Unfortunately she would have to return tomorrow for more fabric; Alya wanted to go to the park to see if any of their classmates would be convinced to vote for them. Marinette just couldn't say no when the possibility of Adrien being there was mentioned. Telling herself she wanted to see him purely for design purposes, the pair set off down the block.

Marinette relaxed as she entered the park. The green space was always so soothing to her, and she especially loved the tall trees that swayed overhead. Over near the fountain she spotted a group of kids her age, who the two girls greeted as they approached them.

"Hey guys!" Marinette chirped, unsure of how to act around them.

To her surprise, she was assaulted by a wave of comments before she could continue.

"Marinette, it was so brave of you to volunteer!"

"I'm sure you two will do well in our election tomorrow."

"I can't believe you stood up to Chloe like that!"

Marinette had to pause. Why was everyone suddenly treating her so nicely? Were they setting her up for failure?

Upon voicing her thoughts, the assembled group was shocked. They demanded an explanation- what had they done to make her think they didn't like her?

Marinette cleared her throat and began, "Well, the day after filming, someone had trashed my locker and I found a note in the vents. It had all of your signatures on it, and basically said that I wasn't a good producer…"

The group assembled exploded in outrage. Someone had forged their signatures? They had wanted no part in whatever Chloe had been planning and had told her so when she approached them. Apparently, the blonde didn't have very strong listening skills. And they certainly didn't want her as class representative in light of her recent actions! Marinette and Alya left the group, heartened by their conversation. They actually had a shot at this!

Marinette's day got even better. As the pair strolled down the path beyond the carousel, she caught a glimpse of short blond hair peeking out from one of the trees. Blond hair that Marinette was pretty sure she recognized on sight. Continuing down the path, her suspicions were confirmed. Adrien was in the park too!

Not only was he in the park, but he was posing (rather attractively, might she add) right under Marinette's favorite tree. When she was little she had spent hours climbing it and reading underneath the shade of its branches. Though its trunk was forked and gnarled, it had always held a certain charm to Marinette. The cameraman continued taking pictures of him, pausing occasionally to tell him to move certain limbs. Marinette broke out of her reverie. Alya had continued walking, not seeing her friend stopped behind her. If Marinette stood there and stared, gape-mouthed, she would be noticed for sure. She certainly didn't want Adrien to know how much of a crush she had on him!

Carefully, Marinette darted behind another tree. She quickly sat down and pulled out her books. She was going to watch, yes, but she also wasn't going to mess around. Between her new job and the campaign planning, time for homework was scarce. Although it came second to time spent appreciating Adrien, it was still very important.

Math became somehow enjoyable when she got to watch Adrien while she did it. It was almost like a treat for not putting it off. She breezed easily through her math homework, even getting to her paper like she had wanted to earlier.

Biting on her pencil as she pondered her next words, she was distracted by the shouting cameraman.

"We are missing something here! You are lacking in emotion! What to do, what to do…"

Marinette knew very much what she wished would happen. The photographer would notice her, and realize that she would be the perfect element to add. She would look tenderly into Adrien's eyes and see her emotion returned, so pure that it couldn't be faked…

Eyes dreamily turning to the sky, she didn't even notice the man clad in red approaching her. Her eyes snapped to his face as he addressed her.

"Excuse me miss. I was wondering if you would be willing to participate in a photo shoot? You would not be compensated, but…"

Marinette's mind went into overdrive. Was this even happening, or had she fallen asleep in the park.

"Y-y-yes, I would love to!" Marinette stammered, suddenly nervous and self-conscious.

"Well then, follow me!" The man began to walk back to the tree with Adrien (Adrien!) underneath it. Marinette scrambled to pack up her things, and quickly walked behind him, struggling to keep up with the lanky strides. She was two meters from the tree when he turned and noticed her for the first time.

"Marinette?"