The Popular Plan

Chapter 6

song of the chapter: getcha head in the game// high school musical

Gym at my old school wasn't that fun at all. You had the sporty people who were on every single JV team our school offered on one side of the gym, and the Netflix-Lovers on the other. In the middle would be the people who were active, but didn't do basketball or softball. I wasn't in the sporty group or the middle group. I was a Netflix-Lover as they called it.

I was never a captain on a team, ever. I was usually picked last, and yet I still didn't care. People would kid around with me when I would finally be picked and would say, "Yeah! Let's go McKenna, woo!" I knew they were only kidding around with me. Been there, done that.

When we would play soccer, I would usually be goalie because everyone in my gym class that played every single JV sport actually played soccer! When we played basketball, I would sit on the bench except for the last three minutes. I would never be allowed to bat in softball. I was underestimated a lot.

I stopped at my locker to grab my stuff for gym. I had packed some gray shorts and a black sweatshirt. I also had gray and green sneakers in there too. I walked over to the gym, following the man who had my phone. He walked like he owned the place. I didn't like him.

I walked into the gym. It was very, very dull and had a rotting stench. I held my breath and walked into the locker room, which wasn't any better. There were four girls in there, who were running around and chasing each other, with someone's bra in their hand. I awkwardly walked into a stall and quickly changed.

Then, I walked into the gym that was fuller than before. Three girls with basketball shorts and T-shirts were helping set up a volleyball net on one side of the room, and a basketball game on the other. Girls were talking all around me, but I just stood there.

"Excuse me? Hi? Is your name McKenna?" Someone asked me.

"Yes, hello!" I replied, getting more and more excited.

"Well, hi, my name is Nya. Uh, he wants you to be a captain to pick a team."

There were three other girls standing up there. It was the three girls setting up the basketball and volleyball stuff. I stood on the end and smiled at my options. A bunch of people stared and me, but I smiled back. I knew I was an outcast.

"Well, Newbie, you can pick first," the teacher told me.

I noticed Annastasia in the middle, staring at me. She seemed like she wanted me to pick her, so she could probably get all of her friends on the team, too. I smiled. "Annastasia. I pick her." She nodded and gave me a little grin as she stood behind me.

"Mary."

"Nicole."

"Felicia."

"Pick Blake," Annastasia whispered.

"Blake," I called out nice and clear.

"Aria."

"Lilian."

"Carly."

"Terra," she whispered again.

"Terra," I called out, louder than the first time.

Overall, my team seemed pretty good. It had me, Annastasia, Blake, Terra, Irene, Mollie, Hillary, and the Nya girl. I was talking with them, smiling so hard. They were nice, but I didn't really know if they liked me. I hope they did. It would be great to have friends.

"Okay, McKenna and Emma's team at volleyball. Sierra and Loren at basketball. You all had me last year. Same rules with this. Everything is the same. Go ahead."