Always a lot of naysayers here when anybody tries to do anything. A girl wants you to take pictures of her great, she's going to pay you awesome. You're in HS she knows your skill level, she doesn't want to pay for professional photos. I'm pretty sure my yearbook photos were in front of some plastic screen with stars on it. Hey, that guy had a big contract with the school probably knows more than I'd have thought back then. I think you can meet those standards though.
So, what exactly do you need to know and what was your initial question. I'm pretty sure it wasn't should i go out on a Sunday, take some pictures and get $50? Lighting is the most important thing. Senior portraits today are pretty much modeling portfolios at least among the haves. I'm sure a good amount of kids are still just out that day, use a passport photo, or who knows what the photo submission rules are today with cell phone camera proliferation.
So lighting, what do you know about it. lots of people today are all about the natural light but that to do right is harder and requires you to meet natures conditions rather than creating good light. So you don't need a bunch of stuff but if you have it or access to it then use it. You say you have a mentor they may have some off camera flash you can use. Of course it would have been best to experiment before.
As I said they look like a bunch of modeling photos to me so you can think about your composition (if you're going to try it), scenes and maybe including her interests and personality into them (cheerleader pom poms or a lacrose stick isn't really great art). Know your submission rules, is this just a headshot are they doing full page spreads or anything like that.This is all your stylistic stuff compared to the technical details of light and such. I suppose there is plenty to get into in less than a week. I'd look up examples of senior portraits.
Plenty of info on any technical or style stuff. I'll just say you can use the hour after dawn or before dusk for usually a good light thats pretty basic knowledge. If doing it at sunset once the sun goes down it's over so consider that you'll have to be done. You can use a window during the day to i think it's diffuse light and get better light in a room. With no sun directly on the window have them pretty close to it. the light creates shadows giving depth to the picture making it seem better, crisper, and 3D much the way most of painting and drawing is shading. I feel thats one of the most important things in portraiture not that i know that much. If you had all the equipment thats what you'd be trying to create with your flashes. You can have sun coming in directly for more dramatic shadows rules to be broken. You can backlight people by hiding the sun behind them can give a bit of a glowing aura around them.
Seniors maybe get more space and color. For the little 2x3 black and white spot i remember from the cheaply printed yearbook I'm not certain much detail will even be printed. Some places are fancy though and they must be doing something with these senior portrait sessions. Sorry so long.
Edit: people are generally pleased by looking at themselves and don't know much about the technical stuff in photography. If it's exposed decently and not blurry they're usually happy. If it's really good though they'll sometimes pick up on it but often won't always think the ones you like best or that use some technique the best are their favorites. So I wouldn't worry too much about them being disappointed. Also note girls know their best side.
However, the kind of girl you really want won't try to use you, which is kinda sorta sounding like what may be happening here.
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