You have one interesting friend there, if popularity is all your friend wants and doesn't care about what your other two friends are thinking about her, then their really not much of friends. Working for popularity can also make you lose a lot of great friends. I have a friend as well who wants to be popular, and because of that not a lot of people like her.
Popularity can destroy friendships, but also build them. But it all depends on how your friend gets there. If you can see she`s not going toward a good direction, convice her other wise.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.