I think we’re about the same age, Ruby. My high school was different from yours in that football players and cheerleaders weren’t the highest on the social scale. We had a good mix of people and interests and many of us clique-hopped. There was never a sense of being “in” or “out” with “the right people.”
The biggest dividing line was whether or not you smoked pot. I imagine those who did not didn’t feel accepted.
I stay in touch with several friends I went to high school with, especially since I live closer to them than I do to the close friends I made later in life because I returned to the East Coast after 30 plus years in California.