Burnouts

Addington High

Scene 1: Addington High Hall

Heather Blakely

"Where'd you say you moved from again?" Audrey questions the newest recruit.

"California," the girl smiles.

"Well, Manhattan is better, I would know. My family and I travel somewhere new every summer break," Audrey tries to establish her superiority, as usual. She feeds off of feeling like she's better than everyone else...which is why she always volunteers to show around the new girls who she deems 'almost as pretty as her.'

Fortunately, Alison and I have been friends with Audrey since the third grade. She doesn't think of us as competition anymore.

And, I know this school was already divided before we got here...but I do blame Audrey for the division between what we call the burnouts and what they call us, the centrals.

The burnouts tend to live in the lower east side of Manhattan, they catch the subway to make it to school every morning, and they only go to Addington because of a scholarship program the old headmaster founded.

Three years ago, Addington was in hot water over discrimination allegations, so the school board decided to reserve spots for ten students in each grade level for poor kids in low-income families.

The headmaster was hesitant about letting them in, you know, in fear of them giving our "pristine school" a bad look. However, word got out, and it inspired a bunch of burnout parents to send their burnout kids to a school full of overachievers, athletes, and "centrals," trust fund babies who live with their status-obsessed parents in the Upper East side of Manhattan by Central Park.

We don't intermingle. Though, every here and there, rumors spread about hookups between centrals and burnouts. It figures, even if central girls stuck to central boys, central boys would still go after whoever puts out the fastest, burnout or not.

It doesn't matter in the end. No one ever admits to it. 

Nonetheless, I've been in a two-year relationship with Jace Kendal since freshman year. He's sweet but also kind of an asshole, the central boy specialty.

We met at the annual society gala that my mom hosts to "keep our community close." In other words, It's just an excuse to get into everyone's business and search for economic opportunities. Jace and I were one of the few sons and daughters who were forced to attend such a dull and lifeless event. Therefore, instead of fake smiling and being introduced to middle-aged narcissists, we ended up talking to each other and making out in my bedroom.

Soon after, he started "casually" standing in front of my hotel before school and conveniently forgetting that I lived there. I thought it was cute that he went through all of that trouble just to walk me to school, yet never had the guts to ask me out, so I asked him, instead.

This is as close as you're going to get to a romantic fairytale in New York, but I'm okay with it if everyone else is.

"Anyway, we should get to class," Audrey sighs, "see you at lunch, Heather?" She asks and pretends as if the new girl isn't there.

"As usual," I laugh lightly.

"Oh, and you...Lisa, right?" She furrows her eyebrows.

"Mhm," the girl smiles.

"I guess you can sit with us too," Audrey rolls her eyes, "we sit at the tables lined up in the middle of the cafeteria, you can't miss us, no one ever does," she smirks and confidently walks off in the direction of her first-period class.