The Hierarchy

Chapter 24: The Rules of Royalty

Senior year is supposed to be your year, right? The year everything just magically fits perfectly? You become an adult. You drink. You party. You go crazy. You go to prom and you graduate.

Yeah, think of that as expectation versus reality.

My senior year sucked when it started.

I mean I was left naked in the middle of a lake by my nemesis. My best friend and boyfriend were sleeping together. I lost my place at the top of the social ladder. I stopped being future prom queen. I stopped being cheer captain. I stopped being everything that meant something. My family was kidnapped and my parents almost died. Hell, I almost died because I have a big mouth. I was assaulted by my ex-boyfriend because I was really in love with his best friend. I almost slept with a camp counselor. My mother had twins. My dad turned out to be in a gang. That was the deal breaker for me. I reinvented myself. I modeled for a magazine that was released last week. I am aspiring to become a designer and a model.

Needless to say that I lost my power as being the head of the school. My power in the Hierarchy. The rich and privileged. No one cares. After you graduate, it won't matter. I never made it clear what the rules of royalty were but I did make it clear what the punishments were. In a way, I think I lived up to my punishment of being torturous to those around me.

High school isn't about who's on top. As much as I made it seem that way, it's not. It might as well be the opposite. High school sucks and won't matter in five or ten years. Just live it to the best and don't worry about who asked who and who's dating who and what party is happening.

I'm going to prom. I'm waiting for my arch rival, my boyfriend, to pick me up to take me there. I'm sitting in my living room taking ridiculous pictures with my best friends.

Not Mackenzie, the girl who once meant something and now means nothing. No, Valerie and Maria and Sydney. They mean something. We all mean something to one another. Mackenzie may end up being prom queen after tonight but it won't matter in the least once she'll have her daughter begging for mine and Valerie's designs.

High school is pitiful. The rules of royalty are trivial. Everything is a waste of time and nothing matters.

"One more picture, Reece. It's for your mother I raised you come on." My mother says rolling her eyes. "Its your sisters."

I sigh and adjust the twins on my hips and grin as I tickle their tummies in hopes of my mother catching their first smile on camera.

"One, two, three, cheese!" she says enthusiastically and a flash goes off stunning all three of us. I hope they enjoy that for the next eighteen years of their life.

I set them down on their backs on a play mat. My mom walks over and shows me the picture. They're smiling. Their hands are in their mouths but their smiling.

"They look like you." i point out smiling.

"Which means they look like you too." she says laughing and punches my nose before walking off to show dad.

"I love your family." Valerie says.

"Yeah, I do too."

The door bell rings and I watch as all of my brothers trample each other through the dinning room and into the foyer to get to the door first. They throw it open and it hits the wall and so watch my dad and mom cringe knowing that's something that has to be fixed.

"Hey, guys," Liam tells my brothers and steps inside with Sawyer, Danny Rodriguez, and Ricky Manson.

The girls rush past me to meet their dates and receive their corsages. I fix the top of my dress that feels like it's cutting off my circulation. I look up and my eyes meet Liam's face and I smile. He's in complete awe with a lopsided grin on his face.