"This main hallway is the prime place to tape posters, but we can't forget about the other nooks and crannies of the school." I say, twirling a roll of tape around my finger as Riley struggles to hold up the pile of my posters. He nods in agreement as I find a clear stretch of wall that will complement my posters nicely. Riley sets down the posters next to me and picks up the top one, situating it in the middle of the wall. I tear off a few pieces of tape and secure it before stepping back to admire my handy work.

Riley and I spent all weekend trying to come up with a catchy slogan and a poster idea that would knock the rest of the candidates out of the park; it took a few days, but in the end, we figured it out. Our posters had me superimposed onto some sort of angelic beam of light with the words 'May Parker, a legacy to believe in'. It isn't perfect or clever, but it's a good launching pad for the first round of voting. In other words: it'll be enough for now. Riley and I go up and down the hallways until we only have one poster left; it's the one we're going to hang on the door of my campaign headquarters in the journalism room. We walk back down the hallway and pass a few of Trip's posters.

"If anyone can, Trip McCan can do it." Riley chuckles, barely able to get the sentence out. "I don't think you have any competition with this one, May."

" He did not..." I say, staring at Trip's poster in disbelief.

"Oh, but he did." I turn around and find Trip walking towards me. "You like it?"

"Are you stalking me or something?" I say, tucking my poster under my arm. "I see you way too often for my liking."

"Speaking of liking, what do you think of my posters?"

"I think I could come up with a better slogan if I was six feet under the ground." I say, crossing my arms and smirking at the arrogant picture of him in the middle of his poster. "But, I guess if that's the best you can do..." I smile sweetly and continue my trek down the hallway, turning the corner and walking straight towards the journalism room. Riley holds up the poster for me and I tape it down, effectively sending a message to the rest of the candidates that I own the media. Riley and I walk through the door, the sounds of cheers filling my ears. My campaign team applaud and then commence typing away on their computers again, researching the breakdown of students in the school and the issues they care most about to help me develop my platform.

"Do you have your speech prepared for Friday?" Riley asks, consulting his clipboard of campaign notes.

"I've started it, but it isn't perfect yet." I say, pulling up the document on the computer in front of me.

"That opening is too pedestrian; you don't want it to sound empty or lifeless." Riley says, barely looking up from his notes. "Everyone will say that; you want to be different." I sigh and backspace the opening sentence as he sits down next to me. "You need a hook, something to grab their attention and hold it for the duration of the speech."

 I nod and type something new in, turning to him for approval. He bites his lip as if he's gauging how the sentence will appear to the audience. He takes the keyboard from me and changes a few words before giving me his blessing. I chuckle and finish writing my speech before sending it to the printer. I pick up the warm sheets of paper and tuck them into a new manila folder.

"I'll see you at lunch, Riley, don't forget the candy." I say and grab my bag, heading down the hallway to my speech class as the bell rings.

~~~~~

"Be sweet and vote May Parker for school president." I say and hand some candy to a group of girls who are walking through the doors of the cafeteria. They accept the candy and walk over to their lunch table. I look around the cafeteria, taking in the atmosphere and gauging how best to optimize my candy giving for maximum exposure.

The cafeteria seems to be split into factions; it's easy to tell one group from another. The middle is where the popular kids like Trip sit. They have a view of all the people they've deemed below them, while the rest of the school has a perfect view of the people they inadvertently placed on a pedestal. Next to them are the wannabes; the people who still have too many ties to those of lower social status to be fully popular or the ones who have been scorned by the popular people and vice versa. In the back right corner are the intellectuals, the people shooting for Ivy League colleges; the people who want nothing to do with the pettiness of popularity. In the back left corner are the gamers; they're too wrapped up in their own little world to notice what's going on in ours.

In the front left corner are the artists; the writers, the painters, the dreamers of the school who feel scorned by the heavy emphasis on sports and the like. In the front left corner sit the druggies; they're too high most of the time to notice school events, but they're still an important swing group to have in your arsenal. Dispersed throughout the cafeteria, though, are the most important swing group: non-aligned students. These are the people who aren't affiliated with any group, the ones who sit at the ends of tables or wherever there's space. They have friends from all groups, but only really talk to those who are non-affiliated like them. They can be molded, they can change alliances in a snap and they are the people I need to be campaigning to.

I tuck the bucket of candy under my arm and begin to walk around the cafeteria, stopping every few tables to talk to my constituents, making sure to avoid the popular section at all costs; there was no need to impede of Trip's turf when I could spend my time wrapping the rest of the school around my finger. I sit down at the end of the wannabe table and begin to talk to a few of the non-affiliated students, asking them about their concerns for the election and what they'd like to see change. I take their concerns into consideration and leave them with some candy, thanking them profusely for their time. I make my way around the entire cafeteria and come back to Riley who's still standing by the door, handing out candy to anyone who walks through.

"How's the public doing?" He asks with a grin.

"Trip isn't going to know what hit him come Friday." I reply, high-fiving Riley.

"You're not the only one who knows how to work the crowd, though." Riley says, pointing towards Trip on the other half of the cafeteria. He's standing in the middle of some girls, smirking and speaking so that they have to stand close to hear him. They're giggling and twirling their hair as if they've never been more infatuated with someone. He looks up and catches my eye. He winks and my face contorts in disgust as he goes back to talking with the girls. He finishes his conversation and then begins to walk towards me. I draw myself up to my full height and readjust the 'Vote for May' pin on my lapel.

"I saw you looking at me and I just thought I'd ask who you were voting for on Friday." Trip says with his most infuriating grin as he leans against the wall near the cafeteria doors.

"I saw you talking to those girls and I just thought I'd ask if all you had to offer was the goods south of the border." I smile sweetly, my eyes never leaving his.

"If it works it works." He shrugs and takes a piece of candy from the bucket under my arm. "This is a cute idea, May, bribing people with store-bought sugar."

"At least I don't have to sink low enough to bribe them with my body." I roll my eyes, holding the bucket behind my back and out of his reach.

"We haven't reached that point yet." Trip smirks, taking a few steps closer to me. I draw in a deep breath, his face only a few inches from mine. He reaches behind me and grabs a piece of chocolate from the bucket. "Bye, May, see you on Friday." He whispers in my ear before walking off to rejoin his friends. I exhale and turn to find Riley chuckling.

"Cut it out." I snap and walk out of the cafeteria, Riley just a few paces behind me.

"Oh, c'mon, May. It's pretty hilarious; even you couldn't hold your own around him."

"I could too." I say as we round the corner and come to the journalism room. "He was just too close for my liking."

"May, maybe he's right. Maybe you should learn to use your God-given charms to get votes." Riley shrugs, setting the buckets of candy in the cabinet in the back of the journalism room.

"I'm not sinking to his level. He can do whatever he wants to try and get votes, but I'm sticking to the formula that's proven to work." I reply in a final tone. "And just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I have to flirt my way to the top. I'm going to beat him and it's going to be because I'm powerful enough to, not because society tells me that the only way a girl can be on top is to manipulate men."

"Well, at least we know he didn't completely incapacitate you." Riley smirks as I log onto a computer.

"It's time for us to take him down." I say as I bring up my speech. "And it all starts on Friday."