Bad Influence - popular girl x nerd boy

1- Rome

Cheers, greetings, gasps; it was all just background noise as I walked through the corridor.

Pushing one foot in front of the other, I smile at the envious faces staring at me. Being watched or revered, some might even say worshiped, has been normal for me since my freshman year of high school. Now I am in my senior year and this type of treatment is more than normal, it's expected.

When I open a door to a room, attention is instantly thrown at me. And although the pressure can easily suffocate some, I love it.

Stepping back onto campus after winter break, I have nothing on my mind except making this semester the best anyone has ever had. It is going to be the last few months of my high school life, and I refuse to waste it. Next to me strides my two best friends, Autumn and Chloe.

Autumn has beautiful black hair that is currently tied into many long braids that compliment her dark skin well. She is slightly taller than both me and Chloe, which gives her a certain type of power and aura that's irresistible. Where Autumn is a reasonable and cunning plotter, Chloe is all action and impulse. She has stunning blue eyes that draw attention against her pale skin and medium-length blonde hair that she loves to twist with a flirty smile.

Needless to say, I love these girls with all my heart.

We had met during our freshman year at the school, where we were all new and thrown into this scary world of popularity and friends. Autumn and Chloe had been friends for years before meeting me, where together they had clawed their way up to the top of the social hierarchy. Even as lower classmen they were loved and feared by other students. Powerful, cruel, and threatening, they had perfected their control over their fellow classmates. They were in the same friend group as my then-boyfriend. He was an upperclassman, a very attractive one at that, who had been running the game of popularity. He dragged me into it, introducing me to all of his friends who also loved to see others below them.

And I wasn't even close to being ready for it.

I had always been beautiful, but keeping people's attention on me for long enough to speak had been a challenge. I was shy and insecure, and these upper-classmen knew it. They smiled when my boyfriend was around, complimenting me and being kind when they knew he was watching, but as soon as he turned his back they tried to tear me apart.

Degrading my outfit, or my body, or my jokes, nothing was out of reach for them. One day, it was just the girls of the group hanging out together, and the older girls set their sights on me out of jealousy.

"Look at you, a junior's little whore." They giggled.

I didn't know how to defend myself, but luckily I didn't have to. Chloe promptly told them to fuck off, with as little elegance as you would expect, and Autumn made sure I was alright.

Since then, the three of us have been inseparable. Through shitty boyfriends and fake friends, we have stood by each other and made sure that no one would ever treat us like that again.

It would have been easy for them to laugh along, watching me be crushed by the pressure of pretending to be someone I didn't know how to become. But instead, they helped me. Quickly, they taught me all they knew about manipulating boys and talking back to petty bitches, and suddenly I wasn't that cowering little girl anymore.

I hold my head high, embracing the feel of my long brown hair as it hits my back with each step of my legs. My body has been rigorously toned through sports, specifically running and cheer, and I take pride in the body I worked for. I have a curvy body covered in muscle, complemented by a smaller chest that leads well into my thin waist and big bottom. It took little effort from me to be desired by boys, just a wink from my soft brown eyes or a pout from my full lips had them tripping over their feet.