So High School

Part-1 The Beginning

"High achiever don't you see? Baby, nothing comes for free."

Especially not academic validation.

Hi, I'm Emmie. I'm a topper, basketball player and high schooler. I'm invisible to the popular crowd and do NOT want to change that. I have a close friend group and I love reading. Your basic Ruby Bell of a cheap public school, except I don't want or need a James Beaufort right now. Lies. It was February and everywhere I went, there were proposals and roses and stuff. Now, see, I have nothing against love. I love love. But when you're single and have never gotten proposed to in your life? It gets under your skin and you just wanna beat up someone's ass. My best friend is a popular bitch and she's awesome, but I'm not misusing the word 'popular' here. She has people eating out of the palm of her hand and boys chasing her. Ironically, the one guy she does like (and he sucks) is the one who doesn't want her. Of course, boys suck. I'm one of the few girls who doesn't have guy friends. I hate it but also love it. At one point in life, you stop caring about love and bullshit. And then all you want is female friendships. I'm a raging feminist lunatic and I love being that way. I look pretty average and that's okay. I'm hopefully gonna get an Alex Dunphy type of glowup later in life. I aggressively binge-watch Gilmore Girls and Maxton Hall and spend all day daydreaming about Leo Valdez and Jason Grace and Alex Volkov and Jameson Hawthorne and Wes Bennett and Nick Stark and Ravi Singh and basically all fictional men ever. Anyways, February. I was roaming in the hallways with my best friend, who was telling me about yet another proposal she had gotten. "And on my water bottle, there was this note, like "I like you a lot" and shit.""So you said yes?"She gave me a side eye and blinked."Nah, are you crazy? The guy who put that note looks disgusting. Like, ew.""Yeah, you're right. You deserve better."She laughed hypnotizingly. "Yeah, right. The actual one doesn't even want me.""That's because he sucks. Trust me, you'll be the first of us to actually get a boyfriend." I told her, trying not to sound jealous. I mean, she was my best friend, and while our friendship wasn't toxic or backstabbing or shit, there were some moments I felt like I wasn't enough for her. I'm not the kind of girl who gets insecure easily. I have high standards from reading so many rom-coms, and I wouldn't settle for the bare minimum. Even if I was an average girl with average looks. Everyone deserves the best. And so did she and so did I.