Project Popularity

Chapter One

Chapter One

Jamie Vandeviere

“Seriously, Jamie? A flannel shirt? On the first day of school?” asked Lucy, as she glanced at me with mocking disappointment.

“It’s comfortable,” I said to my shirt’s defense, smoothening out my collar.

 We stared at each other for a while and then I broke into a run, slamming straight into Lucy and Clara as I pulled them into a hug. It was the first day of senior year, but I didn’t feel any different when I got out of my truck and found my two best friends waiting for me in front of the school building. I had spent the entire summer in Nevada with my grandparents so I hadn’t seen Lucy and Clara in over three months. I really missed them, since they were pretty much the only friends that I had.

The thunderous rumble of a motorcycle engine startled all three of us, and we turned our heads to find Luke Archer making his grandest first-day-of-school-entrance yet. The jocks and girls cheered when he parked his newest means of transportation right in front of the building, a fancy Harley-Davidson that probably cost twice as much as my truck. He took off his helmet, shook his hair, and the crowd went crazy.

Luke Archer was the quarterback of the football team, and was legendary around Roseville since he was the reason we made it to States last year. He was also very, very gorgeous. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes when Summer Merrick, his girlfriend, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right there in front of everyone. What a show-off. The entire town knew how good she and Luke looked together. They were the typical It-couple that you read about or see on T.V.: The QB and the cheerleader, ruling the school together with the popular people.

“Let’s get to class. I have Banks first period and I don’t want to get on his bad side,” said Clara, tugging at the sleeve of my shirt. Lucy and I laughed at the absurdity of what she said. Clara was one of the smartest, brightest kids at school: every teacher at Roseville High adored her.

 We compared our schedules then went on to our first class. Lucy and I had second and last period together- Gym and English- while Clara and I had no classes in common, much to my disappointment. I gingerly walked down the hall with my head ducked when Roger Coleman, one of the jocks, started tossing the football back and forth with Seth Hemsworth to show off as they made their way to their first class, which thankfully wasn’t History.

Mr. Lawrence, the History teacher, always had the seating chart taped in front of his classroom on the first day of school. I sighed when I caught my name in the last row again- it seemed that he always liked putting the jocks in the front rows to make sure they paid attention in class. They didn’t.

 “This is shit. Luke, the dumbass put me in the first row again!” Over my shoulder, Bryce Anderson was complaining to Luke Archer, who groaned when he saw the chart.

“Detention, Mr. Anderson, for insulting a teacher,” said Mr. Lawrence, who happened to be walking out of the door when Bryce let out his outburst. The people that overheard this conversation laughed when Bryce started cursing. How impressive; Bryce had only been in school for less than an hour and he had already gotten detention. Rolling my eyes, I walked straight into the classroom and dumped my textbook on the table. Beside me sat Samantha Mathews, a girl with serious acne problems who was constantly tormented by the In-Crowd. I suppose I should consider myself lucky. I had never been picked on in high school, unlike kids like Samantha Mathews and Joseph Reynalds- the jocks’ subject of ridicule because of his unruly cowlick and crooked front teeth. The popular people had been seeing right through me since freshman year- I highly doubt they even knew there was a Jamie Vandeviere who was attending Roseville High School.

Gym went better, since Lucy was in that class with me. The coach made us run five laps around the field, and while it was a piece of cake for Lucy with her being on the track team, I could barely breathe by the time I got to my second lap. I had always envied her ability as an athlete.