QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
You’re browsing online for some new songs to add to your iPod playlist. How do you go about getting new music?
Go on iTunes and download whatever is on the “Bestsellers” list.
Ask all your friends what you should download and then follow their advice. They know what you should listen to.
Listen to your friends’ collections and download only the songs you love. Some of the songs are great, but some are just weird!
Listen to a bunch of stuff you’ve never heard and find something new that even your most hipster friends don’t know about.
Tomorrow is a school trip and your crush will be there. You want to look great. So you:
wear whatever Teen Vogue says is hot, no matter how crazy it looks. They’re the professionals, after all.
call all your friends to find out what they’re wearing and model your look after theirs.
wear the typical teen uniform: jeans and a T-shirt. But add a twist, like a colorful shrug or cowboy boots.
wear what you always wear. You want your crush to like you for who you really are—vintage tees and all.
In gym class, the other kids always want you on their team because:
you tend to come up with the best plays and have no problem getting your teammates to follow your lead. With you as the captain, your team usually scores a win.
you’re great at taking the captain’s play and making it even better.
you are the true definition of a team player. Even though you’re not usually playing one of the star positions, you’re good at following instructions.
although you may not take charge on the field, you do bring the refreshments.
Which Gossip Girl character are you most like?
Blair Waldorf: She ruled her high school with an iron fist and tended to take the reins in any given situation.
Serena van der Woodsen: Her buds influence her (and not always in a good way), but for the most part she does what she wants.
Jenny Humphrey: Although she is trying to follow her own path now, she spent most of the early seasons desperately trying to be part of the popular clique and often did whatever they asked in order to fit in.
Nelly Yuki: She doesn’t quite have the confidence to take charge of the crew, but at least she’s part of it.
Your friends have had a fight with a girl in your class who you’ve always gotten along with. They know you’re her friend too, but they demand that you pick a side. The only sane thing seems to be to:
tell your friends you’re sorry they feel that way, but you’re going to hang with whoever you want. No one is going to boss you around and tell you who you can talk to. If they’re your real friends, they’ll agree.
negotiate a truce between the girls instead. You’re sure if you can get them in the same room at the same time and force them to talk, they can work it out.
steer clear of the girl when your friends are around, but be really nice to her when they aren’t.
cross the girl permanently off your Facebook page. She seemed nice enough to you, but you can’t go against your friends.
Give yourself 1 point for every time you answered A, 2 points for every B, 3 points for every C, and 4 points for every
—If you scored between 5 and 12, go to Chapter 14.
—If you scored between 13 and 20, go to Chapter 15.
Social climbing doesn’t interest you at all. Instead of constantly being on the lookout for a more popular friend or a better party, you’re happy being exactly who you are and hanging with your close-knit group of buds. You may not ever be in the middle of the action, but you know that wherever your true friends are is the coolest place to be.
As you take your seat between Jimmy and Lizette, across from Charlie, Lena, and Jessie, you wave quickly over at Shawna, hoping she’ll understand that you’ve got to sit with your crew. Shawna’s pretty nice about it too. She just shrugs, then smiles and waves back before becoming absorbed in whatever it is the in-crowd talks about when they’re together. Maybe you should have taken the time to get to know your fellow student judges, but today has been pretty stressful already, and nothing calms you down like some quality time with your friends.
Besides, you never pass up a chance to sit next to Jimmy—especially today, when he seems to actually need some encouragement.
“So are you ready for your big art debut, Picasso?” Jessie asks him as she reaches up to tighten her ponytail.
Jimmy just pushes his string beans back and forth on his tray, looking miserable. “Uh…not really. But I guess it’s too late to back out now, right?”
“Back out?” you pipe up. “Why would you do a crazy thing like that?” As the words leave your mouth, you hope that Jessie and Lena don’t bring up the fact that you backed out of the audition today. Better keep Jimmy talking. “You’ve been getting ready for this for weeks. What’s the prob?”
“I don’t know.” Jimmy shrugs one shoulder and takes a big gulp of chocolate milk, then wipes away a few drops that fell on his shirt, which is already covered in small gobs of paint. “I’m afraid nobody will come. But I’m more afraid that everybody will come and think my paintings are lame.”
“What? That’s so not possible,” you assure him. “You’re the best artist I know. Everything you do is so awesome, and…” Immediately you feel the blood rush to your face as embarrassment creeps over you. Your friends all know that you have a big crush on Jimmy, but you don’t exactly want to broadcast it by gushing about how great he is. Sheesh. Get it together! “Ahem. I mean, you’ll be fine.”
Jimmy smiles shyly at you, his dark green eyes barely meeting yours. “Thanks.”
Lena gives Charlie a knowing grin but goes back to eating her fries without saying a word, thank goodness. You really hope none of this shows up in her blog later.
“Right,” Jessie says. “And if it makes you feel any better, I’m nervous too.”
“You are?” Jimmy asks, casting a doubtful glance at Jessie. “About what?”
“Haven’t you heard?” Jessie says, her blue eyes widening in shock. You’re all so used to Amy Choi spreading around every little tiny bit of school news that Jessie is clearly surprised that word of her signing up hasn’t reached Jimmy yet. “I’m going for a solo in the choir today!”
“There are choir auditions today?” Jimmy asks with a blank expression.
“Uh, yeaaah,” Jessie answers, as if Jimmy had just asked if Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana are the same person. It’s just one of those facts that everyone should know, as far as she’s concerned. “And the closer we get to them, the more nervous I get. I just wish I knew what to expect!”
“There’s no reason to be nervous, Jess,” Lena says calmly. “Charlie has interviewed most of the faculty judges, and I have interviewed half the people auditioning, and they’re all just as clueless.”
“Hey!”
Lena pats her shoulder. “Oh, you know I mean that with love.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jessie says, smirking at Lena.
“Besides,” Charlie cuts in while straightening his tie. “At least you have one friend on the judging panel.” He nods at you. “So it’s not like you’ll walk out of there with no votes.”
“That’s right, girl!” Lizette squeals, reaching over to bump fists with you. “We’ve got your back.”
“That’s true,” Jessie says, instantly looking more cheerful. “This will be a piece of cake!”
As your friends go on talking about the blog and the audition and the art show, you can’t help feeling like the lunchroom is getting smaller and smaller, making it hard for you to breathe.
Although none of them would come right out and tell you to vote for Jessie, that’s obviously what they all think you’ll do. But if your other friends had only heard Jessie sing this morning, they’d know that Jessie shouldn’t automatically get your vote. Your only hope is that the other people auditio
ning all sound like Mark Bukowski (in other words, like nails on a chalkboard).
Finally the bell rings and everyone starts to file out of the cafeteria. You’ve never been so grateful to get lunch over with in your life! Even sitting next to your übercrush, Jimmy, couldn’t salvage the last half hour.
Your friends have all gone ahead to their classes, and you’re drifting down the hallway in a fog of stress and guilt when all of a sudden you bump into someone in a pink Gap T-shirt and denim skirt.
“Oh! S-sorry, sorry,” you stammer, trying desperately to pull your head out of the haze you’ve been in since you left the cafeteria.
“No problem,” Lisa says innocently. “We wanted to talk to you anyway.”
“We?” Finally you glance around and see Maria closing in from behind. They are standing on either side of you, blocking your path. This can’t be good. But for the life of you, you can’t think of a single reason they would need to talk to you.
“We heard that you’re going to be one of the judges for the choir auditions,” Lisa says, jumping right in.
“Uh, yeah…,” you answer slowly, refraining from adding, What’s it to you?
“That’s great,” Lisa says. “So I assume you know that Mona is going for the solo, right?”
Suddenly you feel like a rock just sank to the bottom of your stomach. The answer to Lisa’s question is a big fat no. You were so worried about Jessie’s audition, you hadn’t noticed that Mona had actually signed up to compete against her. Perfect.
“I do now,” you say, trying to sound cool. “So?”
Maria stares at you in surprise, shocked, you guess, that you dare speak to them like that. “So,” she repeats. “So?”
Lisa puts a hand on Maria’s shoulder and gives her a warning look, as if to say, I’ll handle this.
“So,” Lisa goes on in a voice as smooth as silk, “we’re judges too, and we were just thinking about how much nicer Mona is when she’s happy. Like when she gets a good grade on a test, or when the weather is really nice out, or…when she wins a competition. A singing audition, for example.”
As what they’re saying sinks in, your stomach starts doing somersaults. Great. You’re getting it from both sides. It’s bad enough that your friends expect you to vote for Jessie. Now the popular girls are pressuring you to vote for Mona? If only this were some kind of hidden-camera show and this was all a big joke. No such luck.
Lisa slides one arm around your shoulders. “And it’s no secret that she hasn’t been all that nice to you. Especially since you started hanging with Jimmy. Didn’t she put gum on your chair once?”
“A few times,” you correct her, getting irritated. “But who’s counting?”
“Hmm…,” Lisa purrs. “I bet she’d stop doing that if she had something else to focus on.”
You nod slowly. “Right. Like maybe singing in Carnegie Hall?”
“Wow, you catch on fast!” Maria says with a big smile.
“I knew you were smart,” Lisa adds. “If everything goes well with this judging thing, we should totally hang out.”
“Uh-huh,” you mutter. “I should get to class now.”
Without another word Lisa slips her arm back off your shoulder, and she and Maria smile their sweetest smiles and step to the side, each of them swinging an arm out in front of them to show you the way down the hall. The effect is beyond creepy.
As you rush past them and down the hall toward your next class, you hear Lisa yell after you, “Don’t forget what we talked about!” As if you could.
Remember that rock and hard place you were between this morning? Well, it looks like you’re back there again! Just when you thought you could relax around your lifelong friends, they make it pretty clear that they expect you to vote for Jessie—who you already know is no Mariah Carey. Then before you even have a chance to decide what to do about Jess, your fellow judges, Maria and Lisa, make it equally clear that they want you to vote for Mona, implying that your life at school will get a lot better if you do. Who knew you’d have to make up your mind about who to vote for before you’ve heard even one note at the auditions? A better question is, are you the kind of person who bows to this sort of pressure? You probably think you know, but maybe you should take the quiz and find out for sure.
QUIZ TIME!
Circle your answers and tally up the points at the end.
The night before your biology final, your friends decide that you should all go hang out at the mall and catch a movie, then spend the night at your friend Annie’s house so that you can all study together. To be honest, you’d rather just go home and focus on the final, but your friends are practically begging you to come. What do you say?
No way, no how. Uh-uh. Not a chance. Negative. Basically? No. You know for a fact that if you spend the day hanging out and then try to study with your pals at night, you’ll end up doing less studying and more talking, which equals failing the final in horrifying fashion. Your buds can get Fs if they want to, but they can count you out.
You know you shouldn’t, but you agree to spend the day at the mall with them but opt out of the sleepover. A few hours of fun during the day couldn’t hurt, right? You’ve got all night to cram.
You agree to the outing on one condition: The group of you actually has to crack the books together, and not just the magazines. You have a bad feeling that it won’t go quite that way and you’ll end up struggling through the test. But you don’t want your friends to think you’re a drag.
All you ask is what time you should be at the mall and what you should bring to the sleepover. Your friends don’t seem that concerned about the final, so why should you be worried?
Your crush has taken you to eat at his favorite diner, Pop’s Greasy Spoon. He’s been dying for you to try their triple-decker chili cheeseburger, which comes with a heaping plate of cheese fries and the world’s thickest milk shake. Sounds great…except that you recently vowed to start eating healthy foods and working out. When the waitress comes around, you order:
a spinach salad and a glass of water. That might seem like it’s the opposite extreme, but maybe it’ll encourage your crush to swing a little more in that direction.
grilled chicken with a side of broccoli, a baked potato, and a glass of iced green tea. You can still have a hearty meal that won’t be quite as bad for you. (Not to mention you won’t end up with chili breath.)
a regular cheeseburger and a soft drink. And you’ll eat a few of your crush’s fries. The triple-decker might be too much for you, but you want to prove to your date that you share his love of diner food. You can always go for a jog later.
the triple-decker chili cheeseburger, cheese fries, and extra-thick milk shake, of course! Yes, it will totally derail your plan to eat healthy stuff, but you don’t want to let your crush down by having him face the triple-decker alone.
Though it has never been your thing, some of the girls at school have started wearing makeup. When a few of your classmates tell you that you look a little plain and offer you some blush, you respond by:
saying “No, thanks” and explaining to them that you wouldn’t want to ruin your complexion. You’ll take plain and smooth over colorful and splotchy any day.
turning them down, but saying the blush looks good on them. You add that they looked just fine without it too.
saying “Okay, I guess” and letting them put a little blush on you. (You can always wipe it off later when they aren’t around.)
shouting “Sure!” and preparing for a minimakeover. If everyone else is wearing makeup, maybe you should too. What’s a few pimples anyway?
You and a few kids from your school are volunteering at the local nursing home over the winter break. You’re the one who organized the group and you really dig spending time there. But after about half an hour, the other kids get bored and want to leave. When they tell you that you should all ditch the nursing home and go shopping instead, you say:
“You guys go on without me. I’m staying.” O
ne of the older women there has the best stories. The other kids are missing out!
“I’ll catch up with you in a little while.” You want to stay until you finish your checkers game with Mrs. Lankford. Then you’ll be happy to hit up some sales with the other kids.
“All right,” reluctantly agreeing to go. But you promise your nursing home friends that you’ll come right back.
“Let’s go!” Even though you really want to stay, you act like you can’t wait to leave just so the other kids won’t think you’re weird.
Your BFF has the brilliant idea that the two of you should wear matching outfits on picture day. She’s even picked out the clothes already. You think her idea has “dorks” written all over it. So when picture day rolls around, you:
tell your friend it was a sweet idea, but no way are you doing that. Your friendship has always been based on being individuals, and you want to keep it that way.
Your Life, but Cooler Page 9