I'm a junior Electrical Engineering student. My courses tend to be very difficult and time-consuming, so as a result, a study group to do homework with and correspond with about classes is very important. I used to do this easily with a prior study group. Unfortunately, they disbanded, and I'm left alone in my EE classes knowing only a handful of people, and not knowing them very well. There is one study group in my classes in particular which has all the smart people. These people do well in class, as well as know how to scour around and dig up hard to find information (homework answers, quiz topics, etc.). I've decided I need to get my way into this group. Previously, I had a friend, Jack, who was part of it and fed me their information. I relied on Jack for being my lab partner in any classes, my homework partner, etc. Unfortunately, he's taken the semester off, leaving me floundering. I also know one girl in the group who I used to be very close friends with, but since then we've drifted apart. She was very fake and bitchy and I couldn't stand it, so I let her have it. Because of this, I'm sure she's bad-mouthed me to that group (she bitched about me to literally everyone she knew, even people that barely knew me). And finally, I know one of the girls in the group is attracted to me. Those are my options here.

My best bet, as far as I can tell, is to contact Jack and ask him to get me into the group. Next most probable option is to game the girl who's attracted to me into getting me in there. Dead last and quite inconceivable is asking my former friend.

I'm asking for any advice you fellow TRPers might have- any Machiavellians and social geniuses here may have some insight for me that I can't see myself. I appreciate it.

There is, of course, always the advice "work harder" but I will also take any shortcut I can get- I'm a smart guy, so I can do well regardless, but having extra resources as well as networking is very, very helpful to my education.