The next day, Marinette gets ready for the day. Then, she starts to work on something. She makes a few posters, fliers, and such for her idea. She hopes to get a lot of people on board with her.  She is about to do something no one thought her capable of until now. 

           "Hey, guys, sign here, will ya?" Marinette asks.

           Most of the guys look at it, shrug their shoulders, and signs it. 

         Then, Alix, Juleka, Rose, Mylene, and Alya sign the form too. 

           Sabrina signs it as well.

           Lila does not sign it since she lives outside of Paris now. 

          Chole laughs and refuses to sign it.

         Now, everyone other than Kagami and Luka has signed it when it comes to the group of friends who were with Adrien and Marinette.  Marinette sees Luka climb off his bike as he approaches them, and hands him the paper.  He reads it laughs, but signs it too.

          Marinette thinks, Adrien better watch his back because this is war.  She smiles at all those around her other than Chole. She ignores Chole.

          "As most of you know already, this here is the AntiAdrien League, so none of us are to speak to Adrien or contact him in any way,"  Marinette speaks up.

       "Understood, girl, he deserves it for what he did to you," Alya adds.

        "Yes, that is fine by me," Alix points out.

        "Same, I mean the boy should have known better than to hurt Marinette," Luka scoffs.

        "Where can I sign?"  Kagami remarks as she grabs a pen. 

            Chole walks off in disgust. She can not believe things got so crazy. She thinks it is so unfair why can not everyone be on her side for a change?   Is everyone that ridiculous not to notice how Marinette is just using them to prove a point?

           The others do not seem to notice Chole's lack of presence at the gathering. They could care less even Sabrina since she is tired of Chole's stuck-up and meddlesome ways. It is like that girl is in a world all by herself or something.  

            Meanwhile, Adrien has no idea what is about to go down.  He leaves the house after a nice breakfast in the hopes to apologize to Marinette.  It is a break time between school years so why not give it a try?  He arrives at the park and sees the group all clustered together.

           Strange, Chole is not here, he thinks to himself. Then, he climbs a tree quietly so as not to alarm anyone to his presence. He listens in to the conversation only to wish later he did not.

              "Great, now that is settled, what do you do if the said person approaches you?"  Marinette inquiries.

              From his view in the tree, Adrien notices Marinette is still cross with him.  He thinks she is still cute. Whoa, where on earth did that come from Agreste?   Adrien shakes his head. He wonders who it is Marinette speaks out so feely with the others?  It is not like he heard any names or anything.

                "Yes, we should act like we did not see him and walk away," Kim tells her.

                "Dude, that is right,  and we should make sure to let the others know that the loser was in the near facility,"   Nino adds.

         ...Tree eye view...

            Adrien thinks whoever this guy is I would hate to be him right now.  He wonders though why did not Nino invite him to the discussion. It is almost like his best friend ignores him now.  Nah, that is not it, is it?

                 He makes sure not to lose his grip on the branches. The last thing he needs is for everyone to discover his closeness to them or that he overhears all.  Why should he make himself known when clearly they left him out.

                Adrien feels a few tears stain his cheeks.  

         ...On the ground...

             "Here, here, those are some brilliant ideas, NIno," Marinette states.

             "Marinette, I think those are great, but also, I believe we should block his number in case he attempts to text us,"  Luka puts in his two cents worth.

               "We should not like his photos on social media," Rose adds.

             "Good, what else do you have?"  Alya questions the group this time.

              " We should egg his house, refuse to attend his photo shoots, and yell at his driver,"  Another person brings up.

        Tree view...

   Adrien feels his heartbreak at the words. He knows for sure now it is him.  He has no doubts that he is the boy everyone intends to ignore, walk away from, block, and egg the house.  He sobs louder this time despite not wanting them to know he overheard everything.

        He thinks so that is it then is it?  It seems some kind of AntiAdrien club or something is around. The only thing is he is still no closer to finding out why.  How can he?  

            This is even worse than Plagg believes it to be when everyone is against him.

        Ground...

          The meeting finishes a few minutes later as Marinette announces, "Ok, that is all. Meeting adjourned."

            The others leave a few in pairs like Kim and Alix, Ivan and Mylene, Max and Rose, while some live by themselves like Sabrina, Luka, and Juleka. 

              Marinette stays put since she can sense there is someone nearby that should not be in the first place.  She waits until her friends are out of sight.

              "Whoever you are you can come out now," Marinette yells.

    In the Tree...

  Adrien does not budge.  Why should he?  It is not like she wants to speak to him.

      No one does. He wipes his tears away with his shirt.

  Ground...

   "Fine, be that way, see if I care!"  Marinette retorts. Then, heads on home.

 Inside the   Tree...

     Adrien climbs out once Marinette is out of range.  He falls to his knees in confusion.  He lets more tears fall out of sorrow.  It is like he lost all that is good to him in the world. He lost his best friends Nino and Alya.  He lost the other friends, and most importantly he lost Marinette. It is the last part that pains him the most.

      "Marinette, not you too," Adrien mumbles under his breath as he walks home.

         Once inside his room, he lays on his bed in silence. He is not sure how to cope with the sudden knowledge that he has no one.

           Marinette's place...

              Marinette answers the phone once in her room.  She can not believe it when she hears the voice who calls from a long distance.  It is her niece, Tikki.  She has not heard from her in ages.

             "Hello, Tikki," Marinette says with a grin.

             "Hello   Aunt Marinette," Tikki replies on the other end.

               "Tikki,  it turns out Adrien has a girlfriend,"  Marinette announces.

            "Oh, and how is that affecting your crush on him?" Tikki wants to know.

               "Ha, he has what is coming to him,"  Marinette replies.

                 "Aunt Marinette, what did you do?" 

                 "Me, I just got a few friends together and made a special group that is all,"  Marinette shouts.

                 "Aunt Marinette, you didn't,"  Tikki lowers her voice in dismay.

                  "Yep, I am the proud founder of the AntiAdrien League," Marinette brags.

                   "Hmm, well it figures my aunt would find a way to get back at a boy who did her wrong."

                  Marinette and Tikki talk some more until it gets late.  Tikki eventually hangs up but rolls her eyes as she does. She still can not believe her aunt would stoop so low as to be so mean to Adrien when he is the boy she knows her aunt likes.  It is obvious by how much she could not stop talking about him the last time they spoke.

          Find out more in Chapter  4

          bye, bye little owlets!

         Summer out!             

Chapter published on October 20, 2020

Edits made May 17, 2021