Undercover

High School Popularity by Evelyn Parks

So, I didn't know how to do an epilogue, so I thought this may be a better ending than the thing I handed you that said "The End."

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High School Popularity

By Evelyn Parks

What is "popular"? Well, Webster calls it "adapted to or indicative of the understanding and taste of the majority". Well, something tells me that Webster was kind of the geek in high school until he wrote that book. Doesn't that suck for him?

I mean, I bet you that Mr. Webster was the kid with the pocket protector that got his head dunked in the toilet after the lunch that he didn't get to eat because someone else stole his lunch money.

This tells you two things; the first being that I should have studied up on Noah Webster.

The second thing is that popularity isn't in your blood. The sad fact, yet promising fact is that, many times, you have to do something to gain popularity. The good thing about this is that it can be something like winning a race, being the first man on the moon, writing a book, or saving us when someone says a word that we have no clue the meaning of.

That's good! If you do something fantastic, you deserve to be commended for it. There are some sad facts in that too though.

Take a look at the people that we idolize. Singers, actors, even some people with no talent at all. They make so much money because we love them. I'm not hating on them because they're talented. 

Believe me, the last thing I want is a bunch of Bliebers on my tail for hating on Justin Bieber. But really, why do we worship these people? Take a look at your hero. Ask yourself why you like them. 

If your answer is "because they are a great actress" or "because he can sing/rap well.", you need to reevaluate human nature.

If your answer is "because she fought for the right to give women suffrage." or "because he put himself in harms way to save someone else", you're my new best friend. You deserve a high five.

Congratulations America! We give millions of dollars to the person that can move their voice up and down to someone else's words, and to the person that can play a sport. We give millions of dollars to the person that can pretend to be someone else. 

I did that! Where's my money?

I don't want money though, because this experience has opened my eyes to what we call popularity.  

In the movies, they show the girls as popular because they are pretty and they can be mean. And then they have the audacity to show girls with an attitude, and call them "jealous." 

No, That's not how it works in the real world. I have never seen a situation beyond Elementary School in which a girl was popular because everyone was scared of her. That doesn't sound like "indicative to the taste of a majority." Well, perhaps that how it is in Iowa, or some other irrelevant state where they say "pop" instead of soda.

So how did I become popular? I let myself. I stopped brushing my shoulder on the wall while walking down the hallway, I started to get noticed, and then I somehow became popular. Though most of you readers think I'm being insane, there is at least one person saying "who is this?" Yeah, being popular doesn't mean everyone knows you, or even that everyone likes you. It just means that you have a group of people that likes you.

But that's not how most of us view it when we talk about the popularity of a person.

Let me tell you a story about Marcus. He was the man of middle school. He was funny-ish. But I wouldn't consider him the funny one. His jokes always took a second too long. I guess he was good looking. He wasn't ugly, but he wasn't drop-dead gorgeous. He had a girlfriend. She was sweet. He wasn't a jerk. He was nice, and he was actually smart. He was a smart jock and no one teased him for it.