In Creating Fictional Worlds

In all three books I drew inspiration from my local area. From the high schools I'd been in.

The high school layout for The Bookworm Next Door was the high school I attended.  It had - counts - 5 parking lots. One for the theatre/football stadium, football locker room/weightroom, administration, North Campus/baseball field, and the front Student/Staff parking.  Six if you count the softball field.  

So while Mr. Wallace's (a math teacher I actually knew, who once taught at my alma mater, but not when I attended) car would be parked near the North Campus/Baseball field in staff parking hidden by the Foreign Language portables, David's car could easily be overlooked in the crowded Front parking lot.  

By the way, my high school also had 5 buildings.

Are all,  they say "write what you know" and using actual locations helps.

Half-Moon Manor and Keeping Secrets are both in the same county.  This county in fact has 4 school districts.  3 city/towns and one for the rest of the county.  The grand total of high schools - 5.  I've been in 4 of them.  

It is really easy to combine elements of the high schools I've subbed in (2). All three rivers actually exist. 

That doesn't count all of the teachers I can base teacher characters on.  

When your author is a teacher/substitute teacher, she tends to learn things.  When she's a bookworm, she'll reference things.

They say to write what you know. My advise, make sure you have a map (real or created) when you world build.