April Bowers misses her best friend -- make that her only friend -- Haley, who moved away over the summer. So she's dreading going back to school. When she gets partnered up in gym class with Britney Taylor, most popular girl in school, it seems like her day is just getting worse. But then she gives Britney a lip gloss and earns admission to the most popular lunch table at school. As she gets drawn deeper into Britney's clique, April has to deal with the fact that putting up with Britney's shallowness and casual cruelty is the price she has to pay for her own new-found popularity. And then Britney makes April sign THE LIPSTICK LAWS, which give the clique control over everything about April, from her weight to her choice in boyfriends to which parts of the mall she is allowed to visit.

Some of this is a bit over the top -- such as when April tells Britney that she is new in school and, because she felt invisible the year before, honestly believes that no one will realize that she actually sat behind Britney in math class. Everybody keeps saying what a nice girl April is (though there's little evidence of this in the tactics April chooses to use when fighting back against Britney once April becomes a "Lipstick Lawbreaker"). But there are a number of truly funny moments, and April learns a lot about the true nature of friendship along her roller- coaster journey back towards being a nice person.

Yet, underneath all the humor and the snarking, April (who is a self-proclaimed addict to bra stuffing) is learning an equally important lesson about body image and self- acceptance. Part of that lesson is that other people have body image problems too, even perfect Britney, who once had a weight issue and had to live down the nickname "doughnut."