Funny and read-on worthy

"Hi. I'm a loooong way from high school and don't read YA, so I might not be the best fit for this passage, but I thought I'd give it a go. I really like this. It hits some strong notes - the sense of being an outsider, the clumsiness of the MC, his cleverness, we like the red-head already with his troubled expression and look forward to seeing what's causing it- but am a little puzzled about the hugely stereotyped cast. You may have done this on purpose - that might well be how a crowd of schoolkids filter down to an observer: jock, gigging girls, nerds etc. As I said, long way from high school (which was a posh London girls' school, anyway!), so perhaps this kind of thing is OK and expected by YA readers. It would be interesting to see a school story that didn't have this characterisation, though. You have a likeable MC and an interesting female character, but I would be careful of doing the 'everyone else but our two - or three, including the ginger guy - are stupid, predicable stereotypes' thing. Underneath any cliched person is a real person. I hope your story leans into this and the cliches are just there to be dismantled. Otherwise, you have some very funny lines and turns of phrases and I'd be interested to see where the story goes. Could Cameron fall in love with the red-haired boy? Could James have unrequited feelings for the girl? Could Cameron? All to play for. Well done! Keep going! Hope this helps. "