"Bye mom, bye dad! Love you!", Nia exclaimed as she ran out of her front door. "Bye honey we love you too, and have a great day!", her parents said. Once she was outside she looked around the corner to see if her school bus was there, and it was! "Yes!", said Nia smiling. Then she went across the street, and made it just in time before it left. "Hey", said a voice behind her. She turned around to see her best friend, Ian! "Hi!", Nia said, giving him a hug. "How was your summer?" "Pretty good, actually", he replied as they were taking their seats. "My family and I went to Sea World! But it would've been a whole lot better if you were there", Ian added.

Nia blushed. Ian was always so sweet. "Anyway, how about you? Did you go anywhere?" he asked her. "Yes! We went to Atlanta, Georgia to visit some family", Nia explained. As Nia and Ian talked about their summer's, the bus was headed for Lakewood Middle School. Nia and Ian attended Lakewood Elementary school, which went from Kindergarten to 6th, and Lakewood Middle School had students in the grades of 7th through 9th. Most students from the elementary moved on to Lakewood's Middle School, since it was right next door and made sense, and that's exactly what Nia and Ian were doing. 

 Less than five minutes later, the bus stopped in front of the school. "We're here!", Nia said excitedly, as her and Ian stepped off of the bus. "Are you excited for school?", Ian asked, as they were approaching the building. "Well... kind of!", she replied. "Really?", Ian asked confused. "Last year you were dreading for school to come." "Yes, but this year I'm going to try to be more positive!", Nia exclaimed. "Because being negative only makes things worse." "Wise words", Ian said smiling at his friend. Then they went inside.

When they got inside, they were amazed to see how much bigger the middle school was from the elementary building. There were blue banners, which were Lakewood's colors, and a big sign that said, "Welcome to Lakewood Middle School!" "Wow!", said Nia looking around. "It looks so nice in here", Ian agreed. "They have really good decoration, and everything seems to be really nice and tidy." Nia nodded, and the two continued looking around. Then Nia pulled her schedule out of her backpack. "My locker number is #145", she stated. "How about you?" Let me see", Ian replied, pulling his own schedule out of his backpack. Then he smiled.

 "I'm #146!" "Yay!", cheered Nia.  You don't get to have a locker next to your best friend, everyday!", she said. "Yeah!", Ian said. "I think your positivity is really helping us." 

When they got to their lockers, a huge crowd was blocking their way. "Excuse me, excuse me", Nia and Ian were saying, trying to get through all of the people. "What do you think that was all about?", Ian asked, opening up his locker and putting his stuff away. "I don't know', Nia replied. Then all of a sudden everyone started screaming, "She's here!" "Who's 'she'?", whispered Ian. Ian shrugged, but then they soon got their answer. A beautiful girl with long and wavy red hair, and dark blue eyes was strutting down the hallway near them, and behind her were two other pretty girls with similar outfits as the first girl. "Wow", said Nia. "I wonder who she is." 

 Then Nia overheard a conversation between two girls from her elementary - Kristy and Zoey - who were talking about this mysterious new girl at their school. "O.M.G. that's Amy Baker!", said Zoey excitedly. "She's so pretty and popular!", added Kristy. "Did you hear that she has over 1,000 followers on Instagram? And she's a 'Justice' model too!" "I wish I could be her friend!", exclaimed Zoey. "Let's go see if we can talk to her!" I can't believe that she's a 'Justice' model! , thought Nia. She must be really rich! Her thoughts were then interrupted by the bell. "What's your first class?", Ian asked. Nia glanced at her schedule again. "Math", she replied drearily. That was her least favorite subject in school.

"Hey, I thought we were being positive", Ian teased smiling. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm in math too". Nia grinned. "At least you'll be there with me, because you make everything better." Ian blushed. He secretly had a crush on Nia, and loved seeing her so happy. "Uh, t-thanks", he stammered. Nia laughed, and they headed to class.

 Later that day, Nia was home and finished her homework. "Hmmm... what should I do now?", she thought aloud. Then she remembered Amy, and how she was famous on Instagram. "Ooh, I should check out her page!", Nia said. So she took out her phone from her backpack and laid on her bed. When she was on Instagram, she typed up the name 'Amy Baker' to see if anything showed up, since she didn't know her username. It was definitely not hard to find her since her Instagram account was buzzing with lots of likes and followers. Wow, they weren't kidding, Nia thought. She has 1,345 followers and 1,000 likes too! 

Then, Nia looked at Amy's page for about 20 minutes before she had an idea. "Zoey and Kristy were talking about how they wanted to see if they could be her friend, and maybe I can be too!", she exclaimed. So then she came up with a plan. First, she would give herself a mini-make over. Then, she would make an Instagram account, and finally she could get the courage to post a picture! "Operation become popular!", she said. Then she got to work on her make-over.

 After she was finally dressed, had makeup on, her hair done, and a really cute outfit , she was ready to make her Instagram account and post her first picture.  Then she had the idea to invite Ian over.  He can help with taking pictures, she thought. So she sent him a text and a few minutes later he arrived.  "So why do you need me to take pictures?" , Ian asked. For my Instagram! I am going to post something so Amy can hopefully see it and be my friend! ," Nia exclaimed excitedly. " Why do you care so much about being her friend?", Ian asked.  "Am I not good enough for you?" 

Nia frowned. "Why would  you say that? You are my best friend." "Never mind", Ian said. "Where do you want me to take the picture?" After a few tries, Nia gave up."  "All of my pictures look ugly," she sighed. "No they don't", Ian said reassuringly. "Yes, they do!" Nia said on the verge of tears. "Amy will never be my friend now, and I won't be popular." "I feel like you care more about being popular than being my friend", Ian said. "Why do you keep saying that, it's not even true", Nia replied. "Why don't you just take the picture yourself, because I'm not good at taking them", Ian sighed. "Okay",said Nia.  Then Ian handed her the phone . Nia snapped a few pics and after a few minutes, she finally found the one.  She then decided to post it.

Then Nia followed Amy and all of her popular friends, and for a few seconds she waited. Then all of a sudden she received  three notifications. "Yes, I got three followers already, but Amy and her friends didn't follow me yet," Nia said. This is definitely trouble, Ian thought to himself.

Nia finally started to get likes from so many people she could not keep up. Amy even followed her and sent her a private message to meet with her in the morning before class started.  She message Amy and told her she would. 

Nia was so happy and excited the next morning, that she rushed to put on her clothes, ate breakfast, and headed to the bus in less than 10 minutes.  She was really curious about what Amy was going to tell her.  I want to talk to you about something."   

Meanwhile, Ian was waiting at the bus stop as usual.  Hmmm, I wonder where she is, Ian thought. Then Ian sent her a text. Back at school, Nia rushed to find locker #225. When she arrived, Amy and her two best friends, Lynn and Victoria were waiting for her. "Hi Nia!", said Amy. 

" I just wanted to tell you that the picture you posted yesterday was really pretty and me and my friends wanted to know if you could join our group."  Nia was speechless for a moment. She could not believe that Amy Baker wanted her to be in the popular group.  

  "Wow! Yes, I would love to!" said Nia.  "Great", replied Amy. "You will be replacing Victoria."  Victoria looked at Amy in shock.  "What do you mean she will be replacing me!?", asked Victoria confused. "I thought she was just going to be an addition to our group!" " No sorry", said Amy. "You have been losing followers on Instagram and we don't associate with people who are not popular." Victoria looked really sad, and ran away crying. Nia felt kind of bad for Victoria, but she was more excited that she would become friends with the  popular girl in their school.  "Now come on girls, let's go to class." said Amy, and her and Lynn walked away.  "But wait, what class do you even have?", asked Nia. "Math!" They said in unison.

Then the girls headed to the math room. Little did Nia know that Ian was behind them and saw the whole thing. Then Ian also walked to math class sadly.  Usually Nia would sit by Ian in the classes they have together, but today Nia sat with Amy and Lynn.  When classes were over and they were heading to lunch, Amy, Nia and Lynn were all walking to get their food, when Ian called out and said, "Nia, why are you just hanging out with them today?"  "Oh Ian, Hi", said Nia nervously. She had totally forgotten about her friend. 

"She is hanging out with us now," said Amy flipping her hair, and turning away.  

"Yeah!" said Lynn. "We are better to her than you are!" Ian ignored their comments and asked,"Are you really hanging out with them?  I knew you cared more about being popular than being my friend." He frowned at the three girls and walked away. "Good riddance" said Amy. "Forget about him - you have us now!" "She's right!", said Lynn. "Stick with us and be more popular!"

 Nia did not want to say anything to risk losing her new friends, but deep down inside she cared for Ian and did not like to see him upset.        

 Later that day, Nia was finishing up her homework, and decide to change into her pajamas. She was really tired and a bit sad about how Amy and Lynn treated Ian. Then, Nia's mom came to her door and knocked. "Is everything alright sweetie?  You seemed really sad when you came home." " Yes, I am sad", Nia replied.  "I really wanted to be popular. It's nice, how everyone talks to me and pays attention to me, and I get lots of likes and followers, but at the same time the girls that I hang out with that are popular are not really nice. 

They only like me because I have more followers on Instagram now!" explained Nia.  "That's funny",said Nia's mom, "That happened to me when I was around your age too", Nia's mom said, sitting down next to her on the bed.  "Really?", asked Nia, curious as to how her mother handled the similar situation.

 "Well you see",said her mom.  "I realized that I wanted to be popular and get lots of attention, but the I realized that I had real friends that truly cared about me whether I was popular or not", Nia's mom said.  "True happiness does not come from being popular, because people's opinions about you can change day by day." "Wow, I guess you're right", Nia said, letting her Mom's words of advice sink in. "I think that I know what I have to do", Nia said.

The next day at school, Nia was about to head to Amy's locker, when she passed by a poster that said, 'Fall dance tonight at 6pm.'   Wow, I did not even know there would be a school dance.  I guess I was so focused on my problems that I did not even notice, Nia thought.  Then Amy and Lynn came running up to her.  "Tonight is the fall dance!" exclaimed Amy. "What are you going to wear?",asked Lynn. "I just realized there was a dance", replied Nia. "But I'll probably just wear a dress",   "How did you just realize about the dance, when I posted all over my Instagram!?" asked Amy, somewhat annoyed. "Do you even checkout my Instagram?" 

"I do", said Nia nervously. " Good ", said Amy.  Then she flipped her hair and walked away, and Lynn followed her. As they were walking to class, Nia saw Ian.  He was alone and looked really sad. Nia thought she would go up to him and say hi, so she did.

" Hi Ian", Nia said shyly. Ian looked at her and walked away.  I guess I deserve to be ignored she thought, as she headed to math class sadly.

After the class had ended, Nia, Amy and Lynn were heading for the bus stops they could go home and get ready for the dance.  " Let's get ready at my place girls", said Amy.  

"Okay!", said Lynn.  "Well, I would like to get ready at my house if that is alright with you. My mom wants to help pick out my outfit and do my hair and make up", Nia said.  "Why would you want your mom to do your hair and make up when I have a professional hair and make up artist at my house!?", Amy retorted.  Those words coming from Amys mouth was the last straw and Nia realized that these friends were not for her.