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 popularity. Now Lauren wants to make amends by teaching Kat the secret to her 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.