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The Clique

Hi summer break has started yippiede do da day AHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Has anyone read the Clique series? (Does anyone even remember it lmao)

Anyway, I remember reading those books back in middle school/junior high in the library. I was there so often that the librarian practically knew me by name. (Yeah, let's just say that eighth graders are immature assholes who thought they were the shit)

The series was kind of amusing to read. The plots got so fucking ridiculous at times that I had to laugh at it, and Lisi Harrison (the author) at some point said that was her intention with these characters and the overall setting. I mean, her workplace was literally the inspiration for the novels. I wasn't hardcore obsessed with the series but I do have a few favorites from it. The first book was a good starter but the rest of the books that came out after it were (or are) comedy goldmines.

(Also Samantha Joann Boscarino and Bridget Mendler from Good Luck Charlie were in the movie as Alicia Riveria and Kristen Gregory respectively and now I can't unsee the casting because its kind of fitting)

The more I think about it, the more I realize that this is a pretty unique series. You know the mean girls in other stories and how they're always popular and rich? This series imo is the earliest example in humanizing them (other than Mean Girls, that is, tho they were both released with a month gap). They all had clear character development throughout the series. 

Kristen was a god with insults but she was a freaking smart student at OCD (Octavian Country Day) on a scholarship, with Claire the only one knowing the truth...at least until the third book. From then on, she starts trusting them more, while also questioning Massie's decisions, developing more of a backbone against Massie.

Alicia was pretty, even more so than Massie, but often struggled with an inferiority complex that resulted from being Massie's beta for the four years they've been friends. She also starts questioning the decisions Massie makes throughout the series and next to Claire is possibly the person who gets the brunt of Massie's rage whenever something goes horribly wrong.

Dylan was the daughter of a famous TV show host and was their connections to Hollywood but was constantly worrying about her weight (and reading the prequel novella about her oh my god I wanted to kill that dress fitter like that is such an asshole move idgaf of how much the family are complaining about their weight you do not replace the mirrors to fool them about their appearances you fucking asshole-)

Massie was your everyday perfect "Alpha" of the group; everyone followed her, friends included. But underneath, there is a very insecure side of her (and she used to be a beta in another group) and lonely side that she was evntually able to share with Claire because she knew she wouldn't make fun of her. As the series goes on, she becomes more compassionate and caring towards the people she genuinely cared about (including Layne surprisingly) and that was primarily because of Claire's influence. 

Claire herself started out as a nice, but naive person, and the new kid who had to bear the worst of Massie. But as the series goes on, she eventually earns the respect of Massie and the others by simply being who she was all the while learning how to deal with various situations, including Massie, who literally goes from being her worst nightmare to her best friend. While Claire influenced Massie to be a better person, Massie taught Claire to deal with the harshness of the world around her and even if Massie tried to change her at times, she unwittingly taught Claire to stand her ground and challenge her viewpoints, because not everything is cut and dry into good and bad. 

The relationship between Massie and Claire is one of the biggest highlights of the series because the relationship they develop is unique to the rest of the girls in the PC. Since they are forced to live together for the rest of the series until Claire's dad found a place, they both end up seeing the best and the worst of each other, possibly more so than the rest of the PC crew.

An observation that I noticed by the end of the summer novellas: 

I kind of realized the irony that Claire found a better friend in Massie, the rich girl who literally gave no fucks about her at the beginning of the series as well as the person she's known for only a year, than she did with her best friends from Orlando, aka the people she's known for years, who were supposed to be financially modest, and not get jealous of their best friend to the point of treating her like shit. Also they wanted Claire to chose between them and Massie. Like that is such a shitty thing to do, especially since Massie was one of her friends that did come to care about her, while they themselves threw Claire under the bus when she wasn't giving them what she wanted. Real friends don't do that shit unless said friend had done something totally unforgivable. Like:

It also kind of showed just how much Claire has matured and how much her world had expanded since moving to Westchester. Claire had moved on but her friends in a way hadn't. One of the biggest takeaways I gleaned from this was that your surroundings change you for better or worse. Hanging out with the Pretty Committee had shown Claire that the world had its ups and downs and the harsh reality of how people can act. It may not have been Harrison's intention but by the end of the series and especially the summer novellas, that much was pretty evident.

So basically: you don't have to be rich in order to be a jerk. Being a crappy human is an innate ability that everyone has and its our job to not act on it.

**End Observation** 

The spin-off series was amusing too. The Alphas, I think it was called. It took one of the eighth grade alphas, Skye Hamilton and put her on an island called Alpha Academy, which was created by Shria Brazille. Oh my god I loved this character, next to Allie A and Charlie Derry. 

Its not as good as the original series but it was good for what it was. Skye was a good protagonist since she was the ultra perfection in the OG series/antagonist but she was humanized too since she was competing with others who were literally better than her.

Anyway, what do you all think? Okay, yeah I love the series. But I still wasn't hardcore obsessed with it. Comment, vote, ect. Let's all have a conversation about this, folks! :D