Young Writers Society

Sandy was tired of not fitting in. She vowed that one day she would be accepted into the popular group. That’s all she could think about. In math, rather than struggling through the equations on the board she plotted ways to get into the “in crowd”. In social, instead of studying politics and government she studied the dynamics of the popular group’s friendship. It was a bit obsessive but Sandy didn’t care. She was to get in with the popular group, soon.
The next morning Sandy decided to start her plan. Step one, group and talk to Kate, the leader. A simple yet daunting task.
“Hey man,” she said uncertainly. “What’s up?”
“Did you hear something?” Kate whispered to her best friend, Jolie. “I swore I heard something. It must have been just a fly.” With that Kate, Jolie and the rest of their clique sauntered away snickering.
Crushed, Sandy realized how ridiculous she felt. Taking another look, Sandy knew she wasn’t one of them. She turned and made her way to the library.
Settled into one of the secluded study carrels near the back of the library, Sandy sat and cried. She would never be part of the popular group ad it killed her to admit it. Sandy sat there crying for hours until suddenly and idea came to her. What if she was looking at it all wrong? Talking to Kate wasn’t the first step, dressing and acting like Kate was. Sandy hurried home excited to put her new plan into action.
For days Sandy practiced talking, walking, acting and dressing like Kate and her clique. It was hard work but Sandy knew that in the end, it would all be worth it. Sandy knew that dressing like the popular kids would get her in trouble with her mom but she didn’t care. A weeks’ worth of no TV was worth ceaseless popularity at school.
It was finally time. Tomorrow Sandy would infiltrate the popular group. It was perfectly planned. Nothing could go wrong.
Monday morning. Dressed in black, belly button exposed, and wearing a sneer, she approached the cool kids.
“Nice shirt,” said Kate, “where’d you get it?”
Sandy was so happy she could have leap into the air and screamed for joy. The acknowledged her! Her plan was working!
“The mall,” came Sandy’s snappy reply.
Kate and her friends nodded. “I see…” Kate smiled, “I’m Kate, this is Jolie and they are Ariadene, Rene and Isabelle.”
“I’m Sandy.”
“Nice to meet you Sandy. Do you want to be part of our group? One of my friends?”
Sandy was overjoyed. Kate personally asking her to be friends? Could life get any better?
“I would love to be friends,” Sandy replied, breathless.
“Well you’ll have to prove yourself.” Kate sneered, “You up to it?”
“Sure, whatever. What do I have to do?” Sandy asked nervousness slowly over taking her body.
“You see that kid over there? The one wearing the hideous yellow sweater?” Kate smirked, “Go make fun of her. Or him. I can’t really tell…”
Sandy was relieved. This was easy. Not what she had expected.
“Nerd, Geek!”
How easy was that? Sandy was relieved.
Sandy walked back to the group holding her breath. Would she be accepted?
“I did it….” Sandy announced nervously. They turned and smiled. Acceptance! She’s in.
Sandy couldn’t believe it. Finally after years of longing, Sandy was part of the cool group! It was, as some might say, a huge weight off of her shoulders. But something didn’t quite feel right.
Looking back over her shoulder Sandy glanced back at her new friends. They were pointing and laughing. At her! Her body tensed. Her steps faltered. Sandy suddenly knew the truth. They weren’t really her friends. They were using her.
After years of observing the popular group from the outside Sandy had finally gotten in, and in doing so, she realised that they weren’t really the people that she idolized. They were cruel and cared of no one other than themselves. It was this moment that Sandy realised that being who she was, even if it meant not being popular, was really the right thing. If they didn’t like her, she didn’t care. Tomorrow, she would be a new Sandy. One that didn’t care what the popular kids wore, how they talked or what they ate. Sandy was going to turn over a new leaf. Re-invent herself. She was excited.

This is definitely a classic tale. I honestly enjoyed it very much. As I've told a few others, I did notice a couple spelling errors. I understand that some of them were probably typos, yet, I still feel the need to point them out. The only thing I honestly would have liked to read, were some facts about things that Sandy liked to do before she tried to be popular. Though, I suppose it's not entirely necessary, I still would have liked to know a few more things about her. other than that, great job.
Keep writing!

I guess I can't exactly nitpick the story too much, seeing as you had to use certain lines. I still can't help feeling that it could have been less cliche with the right wording, though. It just seems like the same-old inspiring, "Be yourself" story that schools force us to relive every year. It's just the old unpopular-girl-wants-to-be-popular-does-something-stupid-to-fit-in-and-regrets-it-strives-to-be-better tale. The writing is fine though, not spectacular but not at all terrible. Apart from that, I don't really have any nitpicks. So good job, good luck, and KEEP WRITING!

Tiger