Chapter One

Moving Up

On Monday morning I woke up and decided that it was time to change my life.

It was all a bit unexpected, because I'd thought that I'd been content with the ways things were going, but after having a rather detailed and very intricate dream in which both Ron Weasley and Captain Kirk persuaded me that I wasn't happy, and I had all this potential to become a Death-Eater-Fighting-Star-Fleet-Captain, I woke up and realized that they had a point.

I am a nobody. I mean it, I'm literally a nobody. I'm like those band kids in Glee who don't have names but just stand around there in the background. Actually no, I'm worse than that. I'm the girl they pass in the hallway, without even a second of screen time.

No one at school knows who I am, save for Emma, of course, and sometimes even my teachers call me the wrong name.

I mean, it's ok. I'm used to it. I've accepted that it's just the way it has to be. Some people have to be in the background, because it's impossible for any one person to know everyone.

Anyway, on Monday, I woke up and decided to change that.

"Today I'm going to make new friends," I informed the present members of my family at breakfast that morning.

"That's wonderful dear," Mom said, not looking up from her iPhone.

"Yeah, good luck with that," my second youngest sister, Allie said sarcastically. "You're like, the least popular person in school. You aren't even on the popularity scale."

"I'm popular," my youngest sister, Maggie announced. "Three boys asked me out to the Sixth Grade Mixer, so there."

"Yeah, you're just a freak," Allie said to me.

This was probably true.

I got dressed that morning, unfazed by my sisters. Sure, I was sort of weird, in that I liked the fictional world way better than the real one, and I didn't really ever know what clothes or people were fashionable, and I really liked being good at school, and yes, I was working on a totally epic comic book with my BFF Emma, but I usually didn't let that bother me.

"I'm sure everyone else is just as weird," I assured myself as I looped my hair-tie around one pigtail, "but they're just better at hiding it."

I put my glasses on, made a few faces in the mirror, and then started towards school.

We only lived a few blocks from school, but Allie got picked up by one of her friends every day, and I liked to walk, meaning that I usually walked alone.

I was perfectly content with this, because it so happened that the Man of My Dreams, Justin Knox, also walked to school.

He lived about four houses down from us, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'd been in love with him since fourth grade. He was absolutely perfect in every way possible, he was on the track team and he went running every morning or afternoon (shirtless, in the summer) in front of our house. He had blond hair and blue eyes and probably came from some Nordic stock, but he, like everyone else, had no idea that I existed.

Well, that was going to change.

"So, what's the next step up from being a nobody?" I asked Emma at lunch. We were hunched over drafting out our comic book, making sure that we didn't get any pizza on the pages.

"Hmm, probably a loser," Emma said, tweaking Black Nova's hair slightly. "Why do you ask?" Emma and I have been best friends since sixth grade, when it turned out that we both loved Digimon and hated our teacher. I've always seen her as the more sensible of the two of us, but I'm pretty sure that's just because she doesn't wear glasses and she's taller than me.

"I'm tired of being a nobody," I said, grinning when she looked up at me. "So, that means that I'm going to become a loser."

"Wow, sounds like fun, Kate." Emma said, rolling her eyes. "Wouldn't you rather be someone popular rather than a loser?"

"Step by step," I said. "I have to make sure that I actually don't want to be a nobody before I make some irrevocable popularity leap and I can't ever go back."

"Smart thinking," Emma agreed, grinning. "As for me, I'm going to continue happily being a nobody. I have no desire to be shoved into lockers or publically mocked."

"What's a good loser club?" I asked, chewing on my pizza. "Do we even have a glee club?"

"We do," Ella said, "but it's full of choir kids and it's more lame than loser-ish. Too popular for you. Anyway, I don't think they let you join unless you're actually in choir."

"Hmm," I said, leaning back. "I can't join the Chess Club, because I'm crap at chess, and the Anime Club kind of scares me because I don't know any Japanese, and I'm already in the Art Club, not like we do anything…"

Luckily, the Fates must've been on my side that day, because I paused, looking around, and saw two guys in letter jackets vandalizing a poster for History Club.

"Yeeeessss," I said, "That's it! History Club!"

"History Club?" Emma asked, raising her eyebrows. "They're all losers, that's for sure."

"Then it's perfect," I decided. "I can get one of those awful shirts that they always wear and on National History Day I can dress up like my favorite historical person and be made fun of. My name will be known. I will be a somebody."

"Good luck with that," Emma said, laughing. "Just don't forget to sit with me at lunch."

"Psh, of course," I said.

After lunch I walked up to the poster (it had a picture of some old president taped on it and handwritten information about the club below the picture) and inspected it.

History Club met every Tuesday after school in Room 209. The sign encouraged me to come prepared to share my favorite historical moment.

I spent all of Pre-Calc trying to think if I actually had any favorite historical moment, which then led to me trying to remember what history I did know.

Our school district wasn't exactly the best at pushing history. We got the sort of basic "Yay America" stuff in elementary school, and we only had history in seventh grade. They required us to take three social science classes in high school, only one of which had to be American History in tenth grade. I'd taken APUSH, but I was rather certain that all I remembered was that there'd been a Boston Tea Party, the Civil War, and something about Alexander Hamilton being shot and killed in a duel.

I Googled the thing about Hamilton during Lit, when we were supposed to be doing research for our papers, and decided that since this was the only thing I knew about history, it was going to have to be my favorite moment.

"I'm so excited!" I said to myself during orchestra.

"What, to play Prokofiev?" My stand partner asked drily. His name is Chris and we don't really like each other.

"No, to join the History Club," I said, tuning my cello. "I'm totally going to become a loser."

"Aren't you already a loser?" Chris asked. He plays soccer and is wealthy, which means that he is Someone of Note in school.

"Nope," I said, "People know losers' names, or at least their faces. I'm a nobody. I bet that the people who sit in front of us don't even know my name."

"Of course they know your name," Chris said, not impressed. "I've been stuck being fifth chair since I was a freshman, and you've always been sixth chair, and those girls who sit in front of us have been third and fourth chair since then."

"Ask them," I said, shrugging.

Chris did.

"Um, Kathy," Third Chair said (her name's actually Sophie).

"It's Nicole," Fourth Chair said (her name's Liz), "Duh. As if we wouldn't know. We've known you since like, last year."

"See what I mean?" I said, turning to Chris, my point made.

"Sophie was close," Chris said, shrugging, but rolling his eyes. "So you want to be a loser."

"Yes indeed," I said, quieting down when our director walked up to the podium.

&

The next day I could barely contain myself. All during French, and then lunch when we usually work on our comic book I instead told Emma about all the strange history things I'd learned about last night online.

"Who would've thought that there's actually more to it than dates and names?" I asked, amazed. "I mean, I feel like it'd be super boring having to actually learn all this stuff, but still, I think this History Club might have something to it."

Emma, who always liked the humanities and social sciences more than interesting things (like science and math), rolled her eyes, and wondered how I could be this much of an idiot considering that I was so smart.

After school, I gleefully (and slowly) made my way towards room 209. I paused near the door, and put a hand over my heart. "Whew," I whispered, "Calm down. They aren't going to throw tomatoes at you. They're going to be delighted to get a new member. Absolutely delighted."

I took in a deep breath, considered knocking, decided that was stupid, and pulled the door open.

The History Club looked up as I entered, obviously startled to find someone else coming in.

"Detention's in Room 211," a pudgy guy with glasses said, frowning at me. He was wearing a top hat, which delighted me.

"I'm not looking for detention," I said, trying to suppress my rising grin. "I'm here to join History Club!"

They stared at me. There were about six people, all sitting around in a circle of desks, and I was only a little disappointed to see that they weren't wearing their matching ugly t-shirts.

"What, seriously?" A tall, skinny girl asked. The desk in front of her had books piled on it, and she was steadying them with both hands.

"Yes," I said, feeling myself blush. There is, after all, a reason why I'm a nobody. It's because social interactions terrify me. I wasn't sure how I'd managed to forget such an important thing as that. I almost considered turning around and babbling something about realizing that I actually was looking for detention, but I stopped myself, remembering that I was here to change my life.

"Um, who are you?" The Top Hat Guy asked, eyeing me.

"Kate Johnson," I said, still red. I think that I was probably shaking. I forced myself to take another calming breath.

"Do you know her?" A girl whispered to the guy sitting next to her, not that quietly.

"I've never even seen her," the guy whispered back, although I was pretty sure that he'd been in the same classes as me since sixth grade. Oh well.

"Um, can I… can I join?" I stuttered, all of my earlier eagerness replaced by my horror at finding myself here.

The six of them looked at each other. As it turned out, I knew two of them, not just the guy.

The guy was named Jeff Ross, and he was in my grade and in two of my classes. He was kind of short and pimply, but I had high hopes that he'd grow up one day. The other person I knew was Shawn Knox, who happened to be the Man of My Dreams' younger brother. I only knew this because he used to come over and play with Allie before she became too cool to hang out with him.

The silent exchange between the six of them seemed to end with them all looking at Top Hat Guy, who frowned impressively before looking back at me. "Sure," he said, almost grudgingly. "We do need a new member since Julian got mono."

Yay! I thought. I clasped my hands together. "Oh thank you!" I said, some of my terror leaving me.

"I think I know you," Shawn said, eyeing me through his glasses.

"You used to play with my little sister," I said, wondering if I was supposed to pull up a desk. Apparently so, because the tall girl pointed at Shawn and the whispering girl, and told them to move so that I could sit down.

"So," Top Hat said, once I was in a desk, awkwardly sitting in their circle. "Since we have a new member, we should introduce ourselves. State your name, your grade, your favorite historical figure, and your favorite historical time period." He paused self-righteously. "I will begin. My name is Andrew Sundeen, I am a senior, and my favorite historical figure is Joshua Reed Giddings. My favorite time period is the Reconstruction Era."

"Typical," The girl next to me muttered.

The tall, skinny girl was sitting next to him, and she "harrumphed" quietly, straightening up. She had sleek red hair, freckles, and a decidedly wicked look to her. "My name is Erica Dawes, senior. I am the Vice-President of this club, and Andrew, who forgot to tell you, is our President. You will address him as Mr. President."

"That's bullshit," Shawn interrupted. "Call him O Captain My Captain."

"Call me Andrew," Andrew said.

"Anyway, like I was saying, my favorite historical figure is Emperor Hadrian—"

"What happened to Charlemagne?" Jeff asked. "I thought that you were totally crushing on him."

"Oh please, that was like, two months ago," Erica said, rolling her eyes. "Hadrian had this great beard. Anyway, my favorite time period is…" she paused, thinking, and then said, "Protestant Revolution."

Jeff was sitting next to Shawn, and he introduced himself, stating that his favorite historical figure was Otto von Bismark, and his favorite period was probably Post-World War I to Cold War.

"Boring," the girl between us said. She was little and looked Chinese. "So anyway, I'm Krista Hwee, and I'm a sophomore. Um, I'd have to say that right now my favorite historical figure is probably James Cook." When the others all said, "What, really?" She said, "well, I'm a sucker for jerks. So I guess my favorite time period is probably the 20th Century Imperial Age in Europe."

They all turned to look at me.

"…Oh," I said, realizing that it was my turn. "Eerrr, my name's Kate Johnson, I'm a junior. Um, my favorite superhero's Batman, so I guess he doesn't count as a favorite historical figure, so um," I thought furiously. "Alexander Hamilton." One down. "And my favorite time period is… is…" I felt myself turning red again. I couldn't even think of one. "Um, the American Revolution." Thank you, APUSH. Thank you.

They all gave me skeptical looks, until Shawn shrugged, and said, "Ok, whatever. My name's Shawn Knox, I'm a freshman, I would have all of Pope Urban II's kids. Seriously. I freaking love the Crusades."

"Not a time period, and that's gross," Krista objected.

"Fine, I love the High Middle Ages," Shawn said, shrugging.

The last member of the History Club was an African American girl with really large, ugly glasses, who was wearing a sweatshirt, and said quietly, "Hi, I'm Bianca… um, I'm a senior, and my favorite historical figure is Kublai Khan, and I really like the Abbasid Dynasty during the Middle Eastern Middle Ages."

"Some things never change," Krista said, sighing. "What is with you and those Abbasids?"

"They were just so different from the Umayyad Dynasty, it's very interesting," Bianca said, looking at her hands.

"Great. Now that we've made introductions, let's talk about what we're going to do for Spirit Week," Andrew said.

I really wanted to ask why he was wearing a top hat, but I didn't quite dare.

They talked about ideas they had for putting on an event (all clubs were asked to do something for Spirit Week), which all seemed to revolve around them showing a movie. They couldn't agree on the movie, however.

Krista really wanted to watch Apocalypse Now, which everyone else told her was a terrible idea, while Andrew wanted to watch Gettysburg.

"Oh please, no one's going to come if we show a movie about the Civil War," Krista said.

They paused, and all started laughing. "No one's going to come no matter what we show," Jeff said, chuckling.

"Yeah, not unless we show Avatar," Erica said, rolling her eyes.

"Avatar," I said, suddenly speaking up, "Is probably the greatest film ever made."

They all stared at me.

"Are you serious?" Krista demanded.

"Well, no," I mumbled. "I mean, I think my favorite movie's actually Star Trek. Chris Pine. Let's be real."

"Do you even like history?" Krista asked.

"Yup," I said. "I mean, I don't know much about it, but it's pretty great stuff, isn't it?"

"History," Andrew said, straightening up slightly, "is the noblest subject of study. It is the reason for all—"

"Ok, you don't need to hear his rant," Krista said. "Don't worry, Kate, we're going to teach you all sorts of great historical things that you never knew." She pointed at Shawn. "Quick, name the weirdest thing about history you know."

"So, Prince Usiaslau of Polatsk, this Belarusian dude from the 11th Century was believed to be a werewolf sorcerer," Shawn said. He turned to Jeff. "Beat that, bitch."

Jeff frowned. "Attila the Hun died from a nosebleed on his wedding night."

"That's disputed," Erica said, crossing her arms.

"Your face is disputed," Krista said.

"Oh please, you're just mad at me because I kissed Colin," Erica said disdainfully.

Erica and Krista started arguing about this Colin guy, who I guess was the hot thing in the Science Club. I was amazed, and impressed despite myself. Even History Club losers got action. This was a better deal than I'd first thought.

Eventually the conversation moved back to what movie to show, but by the time they'd agreed on showing The Red Violin, it was already 4:30, and time for us to leave.

"Kate Johnson, so you're going to stay in the club, right?" Shawn asked on our way out.

"Yes," I said, tugging on the end of my pigtails. "I'm done being a nobody. And um, of course, History is great."

"Do you want to buy a club shirt?" Shawn asked. "Bianca's the Treasurer and technically in charge of all that, but I totally ordered like five when I joined under the expectation that my larping buddies would all want some, but for some reason they didn't."

"Yes!" I said, delighted. "I'd love one." A club t-shirt! Emma would be so jealous.

As it happened, Shawn and I started walking back together.

"So, um," he said after a long silence between us, "How is… how is Allie?"

"Allie, like my sister?" I asked. I paused, and then said, "Oh. Well, how is Justin?"

Shawn grinned. "Well asked, Kate Johnson. Where have you been these years, anyway?"

"Huh?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"I remember you used to be really cool," Shawn said, "I mean, back when we were kids and stuff. You'd always play Animorphs with us and remember that one time we put on that play about Redwall? You got to be Martin the Warrior, even though Justin really wanted to be him."

"Justin got to play Matthias, so I still don't see what the big deal was," I said, shrugging. I'd forgotten about how we used to hang out with Justin and Shawn when we were all kids.

"Seriously though, Justin's a total jerk-ass, and all he cares about is his muscles," Shawn said. "He won't even join me when I go larping. Usually we meet on Saturdays down at the park and reenact some of our favorite medieval battles. I'm usually Richard the Lionhearted, although being Saladin is pretty badass too."

I really, really wanted to tell Shawn that he was a huge nerd, but that seemed inappropriate, given that we seemed to be bonding or something.

The thought made me excited. I was making new (well, old) friends! Ron Weasley and Captain Kirk, your dream quest won't be for naught!

We chatted about our respective popular siblings for a while, until we parted ways.

I sat around cheerfully doing my homework, which isn't unusual, because homework always puts me in a good mood. I delight at it. Don't ask me why.

"How was your day at school, girls?" Mom asked at dinner that night. Usually she just asks it out of politeness, because she works as an anesthesiologist and doesn't really have much extra brain power after her shift is over.

"I joined History Club today, and I am on my road to being someone awesome," I announced.

"Seriously? You're such a dork," Allie said disdainfully. Right, I hadn't heard that one before.

"That's nice," Mom said.

"History Club, eh?" Dad asked. "Don't you want to be an astrophysicist? What good is history?"

"Well," I said, and I launched into my explanation.

"You know, Kate, being popular isn't everything," Dad said. Dad is an editor or something for the newspaper downtown, and really never has any idea what's going on.

"It's not about being popular," I said, sighing. "It's about changing my life. I just don't want to go through high school being nobody. I want people to recognize me, or know my name, and know that I actually go to school here. You know, the girls who sit in front of me in orchestra don't even know my name? They think that I'm a sophomore too."

"Well you dress like a kid," Allie said. "Pigtails are for six year olds."

"I like my pigtails," I muttered.

"And you're probably colorblind, because pink does not match orange," she continued. This was in reference to my cardigan and the shirt underneath it.

"Allison, be nice to your sister," Mom said vaguely.

"I like Kate's pigtails!" Maggie announced. "They're cute."

"Thanks," I said to Maggie. "But seriously, some of the girls in this club have dated boys."

"What?" Dad rumbled. "Dating? Not allowed."

"Oh please," Allie said. "I'm fifteen. I'm totally old enough to date. And Kate's practically an old maid, but no one's ever going to ask her out, so don't even worry about it."

"You're such a little brat," I said, amazed.

"Yeah, well at least I don't think joining Loser Central History Club is going to make me cool," Allie retorted. "I heard that you get thrown in the dumpster just for wearing one of those shirts."

"People don't throw girls into dumpsters," I said, not sure if this was true.

"Well, maybe not, but they'll get you, just wait. You're social climbing and no one likes wannabes," Allie said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

I went to bed that night, considering Allie's words. Was I being a wannabe? I didn't really think so. I mean, sure there were cliques in high school, but the rules were fluid. It was easy to be popular or ordinary, unpopular or a loser. Unpopular kids became popular, just like Jenna Sandson, who lost all that weight over the summer and joined the Dance Team. Allie was just fifteen, she saw everything a dualistic, in or out. But it wasn't like that. Me joining the History Club proved it. Sure they were all super dorks, but dorks were fun, and I'd always sort of admired people who weren't scared to be themselves unashamedly. The really popular kids always seemed like they were just acting at being real people, but I never knew what was really going on in their heads.

Seeing as how no one ever talked to me in class, I had plenty of time to creep on the popular kids.

I spent the hour before bed reading a copy of Introductory Astrophysics that Dad had bought me for my birthday a month ago, and fell asleep quite contentedly.