Popular 1: Corrupting The New Girl

Sabina Rouge moves through unfamiliar streets, eyes scanning every sign. She's searching, shoulders stiff in her worn jacket. Then she slams right into Avi Love and sends her books scattering across the pavement. Avi yelps, startled. Sabina crouches, hands brushing Avi's as they gather the books. They start talking. Quick sparks fly over favorite novels and battered paperbacks. Sabina learns Avi cosplays and paints faces with surgical precision. Avi learns Sabina is eighteen, new in town, uprooted with her family. The town suddenly feels less empty when Sabina asks for directions to the library and Avi offers to lead her. At school, the quiet outcast warns the plan will ruin Sabina's social standing. Sabina laughs it off. Over the next two weeks they become tight. One afternoon in the coffee shop they cross paths with Jillian Janson, Aria Lee, and Aidra Fox—a sharp trio that runs the senior class. Jillian studies Sabina like a predator eyeing fresh meat and offers her a full beauty overhaul. Sabina feels pulled in two directions. Avi's face tightens, understanding the choice before it happens. Sabina goes with the popular girls. Makeup changes her cheekbones, lips, and the way the mirror answers back. In Jillian's room the three seniors start kissing, hands sliding, soft sounds filling the air. Sabina stands frozen. She wants the status, the safety. She steps in, mouths meeting, the price already at her lips.