When Math finally comes, I'm relieved. I'm also kinda hungry because it's lunch period. As soon as I step into the classroom, Kylee bounds right up to me, asking I will sit with her at lunch. I nod as we walk to an empty table. We start to sit down at the same time that Victoria walks in. She walks over to me and claims the seat next to me - the exact seat that Kylee was about to sit in.

"Sorry, this seat is taken," Kylee says.

"Yeah," Victoria says. "By me." She smiles coldly and sits down.

Ms. Smith comes around and hands us our assignment.

"You do know how to do geometry, right Ashlynn?" she asks. I nod. "Well if you have any questions, feel free to ask," she says warmly. I smile and Ms. Smith walks away. I reach into my desk and grab a number two Ticonderoga pencil. It's sharpened, so I get to my work right away. The first question is about the volume of three cubes combined. I solve it quickly and move on to the next question. I solve the rest of the paper just as easily, so I check my work and walk up to Ms. Smith's desk. It looks like she is grading papers, so I clear my throat to make sure that she knows that I'm waiting for her. She puts the pen down and looks up at me.

"I finished. Is there another assignment?" I ask.

"My, aren't you quick at math!" she says approvingly, completely disregarding the fact that I said something else. "What do they teach in California?"

"Math...I think," I say. "I've already taken geometry though. I took it last year as well. My parents think that since we moved so much I lost some of my knowledge." Ms. Smith nods.

" Your parents are smart to make you retake geometry. People do lose knowledge when they move, due to all the distractions that are involved," she agrees. "You must be seventeen, then." I shake my head. She tilts hers to the right, ushering me on.

"I was so good at math that my old teacher insisted that they put me in 8th-grade math even though I was in the seventh grade. So since I am repeating geometry, I am the same age as everyone else in this class."

"Ah. That makes much more sense." She says. "Now, about that other assignment." She hands me two papers. "The top one is school work, and the bottom one is homework. I have a feeling that you will blow through the top, so you might as well do the homework. You'll find that the papers are almost identical except for the fact that they have different numbers." I walk back to my seat and quickly finish all of my papers.

I nudge Victoria and ask her where we should meet to do homework.

"We'll talk about it at lunch." She whispers.

"I'm sitting with you at lunch?" I ask.

"Yeah. When else would we talk about it? Also, I want you to meet my friends."

"Sounds great!" I say nonchalantly. I'm trying to act like I don't care that I'm going to sit at the popular table. But honestly, I'm freaking out! I try to think about what Carolyn would do. It isn't much help, because Carolyn would probably be the one inviting a new girl to sit with her.

Kylee pushes a note towards me. I open it up to read what she's written.

Are you going to sit with me at lunch?

Huh. I thought she already asked that. I pick up my pencil and write back,

Sorry,  I can't. I'm sitting with Victoria.

I push the note towards her and she opens it. She reads the note, scribbles something, and then pushes it back.

Meet me in the hall. We need to talk.

I nod and stand. I walk up to Ms. Smith and ask to go to the bathroom. All she says is to sign out. I do, and grab the pass and walk out into the hallway. Kylee walks out after me.

"What the heck?" She says. "We had plans."

"I'm sorry," I start, but Kylee cuts me off.

"If you were really sorry you would eat lunch with me. Instead, you're ditching me to hang out with Victoria and my sister!"

"I'll sit with you tomorrow."

"Well, maybe I don't want you to sit with me anymore!" she says loudly.

"Okay, then, what do you want me to do?" my voice grows elevated.

"I want you to leave me alone!" Kylee turns and walks away.

I felt bad that I might've just lost a friend, but I didn't initiate the fight. I was just trying to make a new friend. Also, I think that her reaction is crazy! We only just met yesterday! It's normal to want to make new friends. Carolyn once had a friend that sat with different people every day. Kylee should be happy for me, not mad at me!

I sigh and slump down against the lockers. I don't know what to do...I want to run after Kylee and tell her that in sorry, but technically, I don't have anything to apologize for, except wanting to make new friends.

I replay everything that led up to our fight. Victoria and I talked this morning about me helping her with homework. I had classes and didn't see either of them until math. I was really hungry when I got to math, so I was kinda agreeing with everything. When I walked into math, Kylee ran up to me and asked if I was going to sit with her at lunch and I think that I may have said yes... shoot!

Shoot!

Shoot!

I told her that I would sit with her! But then I changed my plans without asking her if it was okay! No wonder she was so pissed off about me sitting with Victoria! Duh! I'm so stupid!

Lone footsteps on the tile floor remind me that I'm supposed to be in class. I stand up and walk to the door of the math classroom. I barely get in class in time to grab my lunchbox when the bell rings. Kids hop-up all around me and run to the door. I don't miss Kylee's glare as she leaves. Victoria and I are the last ones to leave. We walk slowly to lunch, Victoria inquiring Jack about his latest date with Kiara. From what I understood, they went to a very fancy restaurant and ate sushi? I'm not sure. We walk into the lunchroom and sit down at an already full table. I'm pretty sure that three girls give up their seats, so we can fit. I squeeze into the space between Kiara and Victoria.

"Toria!" someone says. "Is this the new girl?"

" Yeah." She replies. "Her name is Ashlynn, but you can call her Ash." She turns to me. "This is Bailey, Lina, Piper, and Gigi. I think you know everyone else." She points to each girl in turn.

"I think I do..." I say timidly.

The rest of the lunch is a blur except for the part where Gigi invites me to her Halloween party. I'm actually super excited to go! I think that it is going to be really fun, just so long as people aren't drinking. That would not be fun. 

Also, it turns out that there are rules to being popular;

#1 Call your friends by their nicknames if they have one.

#2 Go to parties and host some of your own.

#3 Have no uncool friends.

I'm not 100% sure that these are real, but these were what seemed like the rules.