The meek don't inherit a thing. Nice girls win nothing but regret. Virtue is wholly overrated. If you don't do it, some other girl will. Kat Elliot has spent her life fighting against phony schmoozing-and it's led her nowhere. A rebellious music journalist, Kat is down on her dreams when her ex–best friend Lauren swishes back into town. Ten years ago, Lauren dumped Kat for high school gold: popularity. Now Lauren wants to make amends by teaching Kat the secret to her success: The Popularity Rules, a decades-old rule book that transformed Lauren that fateful summer. Broke and desperate, Kat reluctantly agrees to a total makeover-what does she have to lose? She's gotten nowhere on her own. Maybe becoming someone new is just what she needs.