Danni Alleto and the rest of the 'popular crew' sat at their lunch table at the front of the cafeteria. They were beautiful, rich, and popular. They always took the best table: the one closest to the lunch counter. They were talking about how ugly everyone's outfit was compared to their own at Danni's party on Sunday.

"OMG, Beth's outfit was, like, so totally eighties-exercise-video-retro-'I think I'm so hip'-ugly. I can't believe she had the guts to wear that trashy eighties outfit to my nineties party. I'm going to get the entire school to turn against her, just like I did to Annette."

A chorus of "Yeah, totally!" and "You're so right, Danni!" filled the lunch room. The bell rang, and the girls stood up and assumed their positions: Danni and in front, Erica, Betty, Chelsi, and Loretta on both sides, and the B-List wannabes in the back, making the "triangle of doom" that the rest of the school had learned to fear. Danni walked to the door, expecting that all the "losers" clear the way as soon as they sensed her "amazing" presence. She was surprised to the entire chess club (a lousy five members) standing in front of the door, chatting about some stupid role-playing game they found online.

"Um, excuse me? Nerds: move. NOW," Danni said, utterly disgusted that creatures so low on the middle school food chain could even be near someone so popular, pretty, and charming. They froze. One of them even cringed at the sound of her voice. Then Dennis, the captain of the chess club, turned around and walked up to the Queen Bee.

"Why should we?" he asked boldly. Suddenly, the room became absolutely silent. No one had ever dared to say anything like that to Danni, especially not one of the geeks. The Ice Queen glared at him.

"How dare you even SPEAK to me, you ungrateful little INSECT of a creature. I have been nice to you; instead of making your life a living nightmare, I took pity on you because nerds do homework and make technology and stuff. From now on, you're unprotected. Before, you doing my homework was your insurance payment, and I was Allstate. Now, you might as well drop dead right now!" Danni screeched. She turned and stormed away. Her posse scurried up to follow her.

"We're skipping school today, girls: I've had enough of those losers." She scowled, remembering the daring look on Dennis's face when he said those terrible words. The audacity of these people, defying my authority like that, she thought, as she and the gang walked out of the school building and down the street, towards the public library, the popular kids' local hangout. Suddenly, an eighteen-wheeler came speeding down the street as they came down to the crosswalk. Danni was too wrapped up in her thoughts to hear, or see, it coming. She walked out into the middle of the road.

"Danni, watch out!" Erica, Betty, Chelsi, and Loretta yelled. Danni's head snapped up just as the truck came towards her. She was frozen with fear; even though her common sense and instincts told her to run, her terror glued her to the spot. The truck driver was honking his horn madly at this point. He swerved and nearly ran off-road. He slammed on the brakes about ten seconds too late: Danni was hit. The girls were horrified, and the driver was crying. He fumbled for his cell phone and tried to talk to the 9-1-1 operator through his tears. Danni was barely conscious; she kept mumbling things like "Stupid nerds," and then she would black out for a few minutes.

It was agony waiting for the ambulance to come. The girls were sitting on the sidewalk, still in shock. The truck driver was so emotional and was trying to wake Danni up. Then, finally, the paramedics came and took her to the hospital. The girls were sent back to school, and Danni's parents and the truck driver went off into a separate room to exchange information. Danni's parents were alerted and sent to the hospital, and they didn't press charges. Mr. and Mrs. Alleto saw how upset the truck driver was and decided that anyone who cared that much shouldn't be charged.

~*~*~

She was a nerd wearing plaid suspenders that were up high on her waist, coke bottle glasses with tape on the bridge, and a pocket protector, complete with a scientific calculator. Her hair was frizzy, her brain full of knowledge, and her self esteem lowered to nearly zero. She was trying to run to the end of the hall, to safety: away from the glaring eyes; the mocking words; the endless locker-stuffings, wedgies, and swirlies. But the end of the hall just kept getting farther and farther away. While she was running, people were teasing her, tripping her, launching spitballs and lit matches at her, and talking about her. Then, she saw herself as a popular kid: shiny hair, glossy lips, model's stance, and full of gossip. Her popular self walked toward her nerdy self with a scowl on her face. "Move it, you sixth grade loser! I've got places to be. I'm ten times more important than you, anyways," she said, glaring at the nerd. Her nerdy self shrank away with tears in her eyes, trying to contain her sadness. She ran away to the upstairs bathroom, sat down on the tiled floor, and started crying. For once, she felt the sting of her own insults. For once, she felt the pain of being snubbed. And for once, she began to see things from another point of view.

Danni stirred and sat up, looking blankly at her parents' careworn faces. She could feel tears coming to her eyes from being so humiliated in her dream. "Mom? Dad? Where am I?" she said, still reeling from the nightmare.

"You're in the hospital, Danni. Are you alright?" her mother said. "The doctor said you only suffered from minor injuries. I knew putting you on the cheer squad would make you stronger!" she beamed.

"Mom, can I go back to school? I… I have an apology to make," she said, knowing what she had to do.

They arrived at the school about twenty minutes before dismissal. Danni rushed to the science room to find Dennis. Now that she knew what it was like to be unpopular, she wanted to make it up to him as best as she could.

"Dennis?"

"What is it, Princess Pain-in-the-Butt?"

"Dennis, I'm really sorry about earlier. I didn't realize how hard it is to be a ner… intellectual. I'm sorry about all the teasing and tripping and every single mean thing I've done to you since kindergarten. Please forgive me; I know better now. I know how it feels to be pushed away just because you're smart. I'm going to try my hardest to be a better person from now on."

"I accept your apology, Danielle," Dennis said, surprised at the emotion and conviction with which she apologized.

"Please, call me Danni."