Problems With Popular

Chapter One

I tug my old t-shirt down. It's reads, "2010 Girls Volleyball" on the front and "Eat Leather!" On the back. A bull charges through the letters, cracking them down the middle.

The shirt is old, but it's my favorite in my wardrobe. That means it's pretty special, considering my entire closet is stuffed full of old t-shirts from various events.

My outfit is nothing special. It consists of jeans that have seen more years than they should have, and a pair of Vans that are practically busting at the seams.

My mother constantly begs me to get new shoes, but I don't want new shoes. I'm fine with these.

I shuffle up to my locker and turn the combination onto the lock.

7,28,15.

I know the combination like the back of my hand, considering the fact that I've had the same locker throughout my high school career.

As soon as I open my locker, a folded up sheet of notebook paper falls out. It reads,

Hi J! Meet me by my car at the end of the day. Marie will be there too. And hurry, I have great news! -T

T is Taylor. Taylor Gracen. We met in freshman year, when we shared a health class. We bonded over how boring our teacher Mr. Dodger was. Neither of us had many friends, so we immediately stuck to each other like glue.

I wonder what the great news could be as I make my way to lunch. Marie comes into my view as I enter the large double doors to the lunchroom. Heading for my normal table, I notice that Sadie and Caroline are already there waiting. Marie and I flop down in our normal seats at the same time. She wears the same confused look that I probably do.

"I'm assuming you got a note, too?"

Marie nods. She, Taylor and I are best friends and have been ever since Marie moved here from Colorado halfway through sophomore year. We took her under our wing, realizing that a new member to our group would only benefit us. (Like I said, we didn't have many friends.)

Taylor doesn't share the same lunch period as Marie and I. It was perfect the last two years, because we all three had the same lunch time, along with Sadie and Caroline.

Sadie and Caroline are best friends, too, and are in the same boat we are. Not many friends, but still happy people. We joined forces for lunch time last year.

A sudden commotion from the opposite corner of the cafeteria causes all the heads in the room to turn abruptly toward the Popular Corner.

The Popular Corner, also known as "The Corner" is the corner furthest away from the lunch line and the doors to the lunch room. It's floor-to-ceiling windows allow light to pass through and illuminate the faces of the Populars sitting there. But due to the architecture of the building, natural light only reaches that particular corner, making the Populars faces be lit like that of an angel, while the rest of us look green under the sea of flickering electric lights.

The commotion has come from Ashley Davis, who is standing in front of a girl I don't recognize. It's weird for me to not recognize her though, since these are the people I've spent almost seven years if my life with. We all went to the same middle school, and now the same high school, too.

Marie practically reads my mind by leaning over and whispering, "that girl's new. Moved here from Arkansas or something," she pauses for a bite of her chicken sandwich before continuing, "she was in my chem class. Nice girl. Junior."

It's appears as if the new girl was trying to approach an empty table close to The Corner. It was obviously to close for comfort for Ashley.

The schools soggy ravioli is scattered all over the floor and the girls shirt, who I'm assuming is named Thalia, based on the whispers floating around the lunch room. I can barely pick out Ashley's annoyingly high pitched, overly-peppy voice over the murmurs from my classmates.