I guess I was just a weird teen lol cause I just never really cared. Even now as an adult, I still don’t really care.
I had my friends, none of us were "popular" but we liked each other. I got along pretty well with the popular kids, but I never craved to be one of them. It's sort of the same for me now, I have my friends, we like each other. I'm actually in touch with a lot of the popular crowd from high school via the magic of social media. Some have confided how desperately insecure they were, which I think is common in high school even now. I had my doubts back then, but I always acted like I owned the place, wherever I was. Popularity is perception, I learned you're better off being yourself, and piss on the people who don't like it. ?
I went to a small school. Though we had the "popular" kids, it wasn't something that really mattered. We missed got along with one another.
Popularity wasn't an option so I didn't put time into worrying about it.