Jo balanced on her left pump—which was still intact—and removed its twin. She already knew what was wrong with it, but she still frowned at the spot where the four-inch heel should have been.

"You okay?" A vaguely familiar voice called from the other side of the otherwise empty hallway. He sounded amused, but then Jo knew how stupid she had to look. She had her right leg up, bent in front of her as if she were about to do a crane kick right there in the middle of the school hallway. Of course, she'd have to ditch the other shoe first, and swap her jeans for her karate uniform; otherwise her, old sensei would have a heart attack.

Jo looked up from her broken pump and instantly wished that a black hole would open up and swallow her whole. Kev, the hottest guy at her new school, was crossing the hall toward her, holding none other than her missing pink heel. He was tall and broad-shouldered, with thick brown hair and lips that held a hint of a smile. Not that Jo found him attractive or anything. She'd really only noticed Kev because he was dating head cheerleader Martha Donovan. They made the perfect couple, too, since he was captain of the football team.

Jo had met Martha—whom everyone called Mattie— in homeroom, and they'd instantly bonded over their male-sounding nicknames. It happened ten minutes into her first day, so Jo hadn't expected to have much trouble becoming popular. Of course, she hadn't counted on breaking her shoe on the way to the bathroom, losing her heel, and making a fool of herself in front of Kev.

Obviously, she'd practiced walking in heels—just like she would have studied for a test—but the broken pump was like one of those trick questions that totally threw you. It didn't matter how well you knew your stuff. If the question was worth a lot of points, you'd flunk; or, in this case, become even less popular than you were at your old school. Jo could just imagine being "that girl who hopped around in one broken heel" for the rest of high school.

For the first time, Jo wished her Dad hadn't moved them halfway across the country. So what if she was a tomboy science nerd at her old school? At least she'd had friends. Except she'd never had a boyfriend. Guys only noticed her when they needed a tutor or lab partner, and she was tired of constantly being friend zoned. She didn't want to be invisible anymore. At a new school, where no one knew her, Jo could finally be someone different. Someone better. Someone popular.

So Jo had come up with a plan—a popularity plan. She'd made a list of all the ingredients it took to become popular: outfit (cue four-inch heels), makeup (she was actually wearing some), common interests (she'd fallen asleep with her nose buried in countless magazines), and cheerleading (which actually hadn't been that hard, given her years of martial arts training). All she'd had to do was work her way down the checklist, copying the popular girls from back home, down to a T. It never occurred to her that she wouldn't be able to pull it off.

"I think this belongs to you." Kev stopped in front of Jo and handed her the pink heel.

His eyes twinkled as he tried not to laugh, not that Jo could really blame him. If this had happened back home, she'd have been laughing too—because no girl in her right mind would ever wear four-inch heels. Like her sensei always said, they were the surest road to a broken ankle.

Kev's grin widened when Jo took back her heel. A part of her wanted to run and hide, but she wasn't giving up; not without a fight. She was a black belt with a 4.0 GPA. Being popular was just like any other test, and Jo always trained for her belts and studied to make the grade. She'd learned everything she could about popularity, she'd taken comprehensive notes, and she'd practiced every chance she got. She was so ready.

"Thanks, Kev." Jo smiled at the footballer like this sort of thing happened every day. She'd underlined the words be confident in her notebook several times, so that was definitely a good place to start. Popular girls never got flustered and always appeared in control. Of course, they never made fools of themselves either, but it was too late for that. Unless...

Jo tried not to grin. She felt the same rush she always did when she found an elusive answer to a difficult test question or was about to defeat a worthy opponent. She casually put her right shoe back on, sans heel, and switched feet. Now she was standing on her heelless shoe as if she was in the middle of doing a front kick. Another move she knew never to do in her current outfit.

Balancing in the heelless shoe wasn't easy, but years of karate kicked in and Jo found her center. She tucked the heel Kev had retrieved in her back pocket and removed her left pump. She pulled it off pretty smoothly and then examined the heel. Piece of cake. Turning the shoe sideways, Jo gripped the heel tightly in one hand, and the shoe in the other. Taking a deep breath, she twisted, and the heel came off with a snap.

"Whoa," Kev exclaimed as Jo put her left shoe back on.

She hadn't realized how uncomfortable balancing in heelless pumps would be, but she pretended it was easy. With a smile at Kev, she took a slow step, then another, until she was sure she wouldn't topple over. After that, she sped up, sashayed to the nearest garbage can, and deposited both heels. With that task accomplished, she turned to Kev. "I should get back to class."

"Wait!" Kev rushed after her. "You're Jo, right?"

"Yeah." Jo took in the look of admiration Kev was aiming at her and her inner nerd squealed with excitement. Obviously, her broken heel solution had tipped the scales and helped her ace the popularity test. "You're Kev, right?"

"Yeah." Kev broke into a huge grin. "Wanna grab something to eat after school?"

"Sure." Jo couldn't help grinning back. Being invited to hang out with Kev and Mattie's crowd was the next step to becoming popular. "Where are you guys going?"

"I meant just you and me." Kev gave Jo his sexiest smile. It made her heart skip a beat, but she ignored the traitorous feeling and frowned at Kev. She didn't care how attractive he was, she would never date a cheater.

"You're with Mattie," Jo reminded him, letting her disgust for him show.

"With Mattie? As in..." Kev's frown was replaced with a look of horror as realization dawned. "Mattie's my sister. My twin sister."

"Really?" Jo frowned. Now that he mentioned it, she could see the resemblance: same hair and eye color and both equally gorgeous. It was what had made her think that Kev and Mattie made the perfect couple.

"Definitely twins," Kev grinned, "and I'm definitely not seeing anyone."

"Oh." Jo hesitated. Kev was really, really, cute and she did want to go out with him. She just didn't want to become popular by dating a football player. It would be too much like cheating off her neighbor to ace a test. Jo would rather fail than stoop that low.

Plus, she suddenly realized, dating Mattie's brother might ruin their friendship. Which would mean that not dating him could actually make her more popular. That also felt a bit like cheating and the whole thing made her head hurt.

"So? How about it?" Kev pressed.

Jo frowned. She didn't want her decision to go out with Kev—or not go out with Kev—to have anything to do with being popular. Did it really have to? Maybe not. She'd just have to stick to her original popularity plan and keep her dating life separate.

"Sure, Kev. Meet me at my locker after school?"

◈ Did you guys like this story? Would you want me to one day turn it into a book?

◉ This is the first time I've ever written anything in third person. Was it weird? Did you like it? Hate it? Should I re-write it in first person to make it sound more like my other stuff?

◈ Is anyone else super jealous of Jo? I really wish I was more like her! 

◉ Do you think going out with Kev will mess up the popularity plan?