The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [165]
Outside of school, Whitney was again spending time with Dirk, who had introduced her to a bunch of his friends. Even Giselle had started going with Whitney to punk parties. In the cafeteria, Whitney usually sat with Shay, Grace, and the other band kids. She often talked to Fern, who had undergone a significant transformation.
In Spanish class, when Fern cracked a loud, sarcastic joke, students were surprised.
“Whoa, Fern!” said Shay. “You’re totally coming out of your shell!”
“You say what you think now!” added Grace. “We like this new Fern!” Other classmates agreed.
As Fern giggled, Whitney realized that Fern had changed people’s perception of her. Only a couple of months ago, she was seen as a loser who sat alone in corners. Then Whitney was her only friend for a time. Now Fern was interacting with people, making witty remarks to teachers, and sitting with the rest of the group at honor society meetings. People knew she existed.
A few days later, in speech class, Caroline suddenly stood up and ran out of the room. The preps in the class laughed at the emo.
That afternoon, Whitney saw Caroline in the hall. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“No.” Caroline buried her head in her locker.
“I’m sorry,” Whitney said.
Caroline sighed. She told Whitney about her awful home life.
Whitney tried to console her. “Well, you know my mom deals with that kind of stuff, so you might want to go talk to her,” Whitney said.
“Thanks, Whitney.” Caroline smiled gratefully. Whitney again couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to someone who used to hate her.
In seventh period, Whitney, Giselle, and Bianca finished their work early and wandered around the building. On the way to the library, Whitney saw Dirk walking upstairs. Before Giselle and Bianca noticed, she slipped away and followed him to the senior lounge.
At first, she and Dirk were the only ones in the room. Eventually a crowd of punks, badasses, and losers streamed in. When the room filled, Whitney was intimidated. She wondered if the others were thinking, “What is she doing here?!” Gradually, Whitney realized that they were funny and nice and laughed at her jokes. She had a much better time than she would have had with Bianca and Giselle, especially now that Bianca realized that she had no control over Whitney anymore. Whitney spent seventh period with that group for the rest of the school year.
Whitney was sure “the old Whitney” was gone. She considered herself officially de-cliqued. She felt more independent. She wore hippie clothes to school without worrying about what other people said. She talked to whomever she pleased. “I’m just myself now,” she said later. “It feels so good!”
She enjoyed her friendship with Dirk, which garnered her an unexpected benefit: Because she had more fun in advertising, she had done extra work and landed a major advertising internship. “This is making me a better person,” she said. “I don’t feel confined anymore. I have one best friend, Luke, one really close friend, Giselle, and then a huge variety of different kinds of friends. And I’m learning things from all of them in different ways.” Shay had taught her to relax and to be less dramatic, Dirk had taught her that even the most mundane things could be fun, and Fern was teaching Whitney to be grateful. “I always thought my littlest problems were the biggest things ever,” Whitney said, “but she helped me to stop taking the things I have for granted.”
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IS POPULARITY WORTH IT?
The first week I started following Whitney, she mentioned that when it came to popularity, “you need to know how to play the game.” When I asked her how to play, she rattled off four steps to gaining and retaining