'It's Like Carrie With a Happy Ending'

This mean high school prank did not go as planned. Or in the words of Francis X. Donnelly in the Detroit News: "It's like Carrie with a happy ending." It seems sophomores in the small town of West Branch, Michigan, thought it would be a hoot to send an unpopular girl as class rep to the homecoming dance. They voted in Whitney Kropp, who was happily surprised at first, then crushed when she learned she was just the butt of a joke. The popular athlete who won the boys' vote even backed out of being her date.

"I thought I wasn't worthy," said the 16-year-old. "I was this big old joke." That's when word spread around the small town, helped by a Facebook support page started by a stranger. Residents plan to pack the homecoming game adorned in "Team Whitney" shirts, and businesses are donating everything she'll need for a great night. Whitney, meanwhile, has embraced it all. "Going to homecoming to show them that I'm not a joke," she posted on Facebook. "Im a beautiful person and you shouldn't mess with me!" At Jezebel, Erin Gloria Ryan has some choice words for the would-be pranksters. (More high school stories.)