Chapter One: Act Naturally Summary

How Not to Be Popular begins with Sugar Magnolia Dempsey or Maggie in the backseat of her parents' Hearst, sad and distraught as her family drives away from their home in Portland, Oregon. Though Maggie is accustomed to moving frequently, she really loved Portland and her boyfriend Trevor and is devastated by the move. Whileshe sits heartbroken in the backseat as her family heads Southeast and her parents are rattling about the good things to come, she vows to hate Austin and to not make any friends.

On her first day of school, she isolates herself from any of the the popular kids that she would usually become friends with. Even so, a popular boy named Miles, approaches her and she ignores him. He calls her stuck up and she feels that her plan is working. At...