I recently read Prep by Curtis Stittenfield.
It's about a girl going through boarding school. (Aptly titled, right?) Every now and then I like to take a break from classical reading and read a book about high school. This was extremely well-written, by an author who won the Seventeen magazine fiction prize when she was 16.
It follows the life of Lee, who feels like an outcast at a ritzy northeastern prep school. She's not cool, has only one friend, and longs for a guy named "Cross Sugarman" (the book is littered with very odd names. Another character is named "Gates Mendowski". Maybe the author was trying to hide people she knew with crazy names.).
It's the most stellar example of foreshadowing I've seen in modern fiction for a long time. Lee narrates the novel from a flash back point of view, so as she's talking about her classmates, she jumps to the present, talking about where they are now, or what significance they had later in her high school years. It really kept me interested and kept me reading.
(I should mention too, that the author is a woman. Some of the reivews on Amazon.com said that "Curtis" didn't write women well, but she just has an unfortunate name, and in my opinion, does write women well.)
Disclaimer: There is a little mention of sex in the book, so if that offends you, I don't recommend it. It's still rated as a teen book (it's probably in the category of "Catcher in the Rye" with regard to sexuality) but if that bothers you, don't read it.
is it easy to relate to? topic seems like it would feel too foreign to me.
It was easy for me to relate to. It's as if the main character sees herself as really uncool and alone, but she's not. She's not popular either, but she's average. I felt a lot like that in high school, so it was easy for me. I could see how a really outgoing bubbly person might find it a little difficult to relate to, because the main character is the opposite of that.
ha i went to a high school where there was so little of that popularity contest stuff. all of my classmates were too smart to interact with each other.