Popularity Isn't Easy

In the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart the main character Frankie, is a seemingly normal girl in a not so normal boarding school. By not so normal I just mean a very competitive Boarding School called Alabaster. In her freshman year, Frankie is mildly geeky, someone you would look over and not think much of. She wasn't the best looking, but she still got a secure enough position in her school because of her sister Zada. But in her Sophomore year Frankie had gone through a change, and has filled out in all the right places. Frankie gets her second boyfriend, Matthew Livingston, and gets accepted into the "Alpha crew" (led by a guy called Alpha"). Although positive changes were made in Frankie's life, I think her boyfriend and his friends are negatively influencing her, almost like peer pressure. In middle school or high school most students feel like they want to fit in, and generally want to be liked.

In Frankie's sophomore year, she gets a name within Matthew and Alpha's group, and starts to become popular. But Frankie is still an outcast in the in-crowd. When Frankie first officially meets Matt's friends, they all start by saying things like, "hey look, Livingston has a girl!" or "Livingston, who's that girl?" Frankie had also met Alpha over the summer, and he had flirted with her, but acted like he had never seen her before when Matt introduced her. Frankie asked her friend about it later, and she said that Alpha was only pretending that he didn't know her because Matt so obviously liked her. Another way Matt and his friends influence her is when Frankie asks Star about her invitation to a party. Frankie  was invited to a party, and before she got the invite Star asked her if she had gotten the blue envelope. After Frankie got the blue envelope and after the party, she went to Star and asked her why she asked if Frankie had gotten one. Star had said, "did I ask you about it?" and acted very confused. Frankie wrote this off as the same thing Alpha was doing. It was "intended to discomfort another person who was in some way perceived as a threat." Frankie felt like Alpha and Star weren't making an effort to like her, or even to be polite. This influenced her emotions in the way that she felt like an outcast within her boyfriend's friends.

In most stereotypical books or movies placed in High Schools there are the kids that strive to be popular, or liked. Frankie is not striving, she just gets it using wits. But once she has it, she doesn't feel very inclined to keep it, especially with Matt's friends confusing her. People in books who usually want to be liked are those people you don't see very often. The people that are there, and you don't think about it much. Reading this book I thought of the book, The Clique. In the book The Clique, the main character Claire has to fit in with a rich, fashion designer world, coming from Orlando. It's hard for Claire, and she pretends to be someone she's not to get popularity, but she ends up being friends with the girls. This reminded me of Frankie because Frankie gets accepted, but doesn't know what to do with it. Claire has it in her reach, but she has trouble finding out how to get it. Frankie is influenced and confused by Matthew's friends about her place in their group.