I posted in the Senior Superlatives thread that although I should have been voted “Most Likely to End Up in a Convent, I was instead voted “Most Talented” for emceeing our senior variety show and for wining a state trophy on the forensics team (class of ‘76). I “went steady” with a track star junior and senior year, but I was not part of the popular crowd. I was a studious NHS member, earned the “Top English Student” award, graduated third in a class of 650, and went to beauty school on a scholarship after graduation while working in a bookstore.
I did NOT see myself as my classmates saw me at all. I was nominated for homecoming court but declined thinking it was a setup for a Carrie-like event. College changed all that. Those were my magic years.
ETA: A member of the popular crowd became my BF senior year, though I didn’t hang out with her clique. She went to Michigan and needed a replacement roommate second semester of her freshman year and convinced me to take a temporary leave of absence from beauty school to help her out. Future DH lived on her hall, so I stayed to graduate. The rest is history. (She’s still my BF today and is on the planning committee for our upcoming 50th reunion.)