The High School Sociables

Chapter 1

     What defines the high school experience? Teenagers always speak of wanting a glamorous high school experience, but do they really know what it is and how to get it? First, what is the first thing you notice when you reach high school? Pretty much the first thing you’ll notice are the cliques: the popular kids, the jocks, the emos, etc. Everyone has their place in high school, but what people don’t know is that it isn’t real. Each superior student, the quarterback, the King of the Geeks, the head cheerleader, all of them were chosen individually for their background, and the rest of the student body just follow their lead. Nobody knows about this arrangement except for us, the High School Sociables. I’m not here to give you a long boring research paper about us, so don’t worry, future Queen Bee. Just read my report.

     I was recruited on a Saturday at Bloomingdales which totally sucked. They were having a major sale for gods’ sakes. Anywho, I was in the dressing room, trying on this adorable red dress. I left the dressing room to see how the dress looked in a different lighting. I couldn’t determine if it was wine red or cherry red. There is a big difference, you know. I was admiring the adorable lace detail when all of the sudden, someone threw a bag over my head and knocked me out.

     When I gained consciousness, I found that I was in a dark and eerie room that you're probably in now. Don’t eat the cookies they offer! It’s absolutely disgusting. My boss, or rather our boss now, Mr. Gallea appeared with a folder. He flipped through the contents of the folder and after an uncomfortable period of silence, said, “You may be wondering why you are here.”

     “No, I was just admiring the bland beige color of this room,” I said sarcastically.

     He didn’t laugh or show any reaction at my sassy remark. Instead, he just stared at me with his grey soul-sucking eyes. He pushed the folder towards me, and I continued to glare at him. You would think that I’d react more drastically, but I kept my cool.

    “Read it.”

     I rolled my eyes and opened the folder with curious eyes. Still, he remained emotionless as if he isn’t surprised that I was, well, interested and a tad surprised. I asked nervously, “What the hell is this?”

     “It is the envied High School Experience. They want it-teenagers who do not know how to belong, who do not have someone to get through high school with. Have you ever wondered why there are nerds and emos? It is because we create them,” he explained, getting to the point. “You could think of it like Disneyland. You, the Sociables, are the employees whose goal is to make high school a ‘magical experience’  for the non-Sociables, or the customers. When one of our Sociables graduate, we fill in the spot that they were once in. Here is where you come in. We have a spot at West Irvington. Would you like to take it?”

     My jaw dropped. He is the kinda guy to get to the point, huh? I tried to convince myself that this was a dream, but I knew deep inside that this man was legit. I finally took a look at the folder which had big red letters spelling out the Popular Program. I flipped it open revealing plans, the last popular girl’s report (like this one), and other information that I might need. I stared at them in shock before finally saying, “So, you want me to be the popular girl of the school?”

      Mr. Gallea nodded his head in a mysterious way that confirmed that he wasn't kidding. The whole time, I kept wondering, why me? I was average, normal. I had brown hair with a matching pair of brown eyes. Like the psychic Mr. Gallea always is, he immediately responded, “We offered you this part because of your background. You’re rich, you have a fancy name, in other words, you fit the part.”

     I squinted at him, trying to see if this still had the chance of being an elaborate joke. But alas, Mr. Gallea kept a straight face. A slow smirk slithered onto my face.