Maybe popularity isn't everything, but in high school it is. All the fragile moments at first. peer pressure, Bulling, drugs, and alcohol. Nothing goes the way you envisioned at all. Some may escape on honor roll, but the high school drop out streak is on a roll. You also have to be careful with what you say because if you say the wrong thing their life might wilt away.
You see teenage minds are the most easy to manipulate. Which seals there forever known fate.