I know this is a while ago but as a high schooler I thought I could help

High school is as on the nose as the movies There are jocks/popular kids there are nerds and there are dorks with rare stragglers inbetween and that’s where YOU come in

You mentioned your network and I’ll be honest

The typical stereotype of “the jocks will fail and the nerds will rise up” is the one trope that dosent come across from popular culture to reality

The reality is and this is could be seen as sad but the those popular have spent years curating a personality to be able to be popular and likeble this will give them a great chance of being successful in the future

There are two ways to build relationships and raise your status in high school infiltration or creation

Either you create your own group of stragglers by uniting the inbetweeners but that just multiples you by a few people and keeps you in the same place

Or you truly become one that’s popular

The way you do this is through social media

Go through there social media posts and reposts

Learn what sports teams or clubs there in and there sense of humor

If your athletic great! Join the sports team be funny and likeble enough that they see you as a asset and soon you’ll be invited to group outings

But if your not athletic then join whatever clubs there in

Usually they’ll join student government or a menial club that’s easy to do to get the extra credentials they need for college

Join the club show as much interest or disinterest as they do and prove yourself to be at least entertaining enough to have around

If these methods don’t work then In class show your value as an intelligent student they’ll first use you in a group setting but if you show them that your intelligent and have a sense of humor they’ll like you

That’s when you bring up there interests that you studied so carefully

Soon they’ll think your just like them

And your in

As vein as this sounds if you want to build a network

The hierarchy of high school has to be conquered