The Elites

02 | pyramids

Chapter II: Pyramids

Hey Candy.

How could you think Celeste isn't beautiful? I mean her mother does own a major fashion magazine; she's natural born cover girl material. But I do agree with you. Once upon a time, I felt so privileged if Celeste even looked at me but now, she makes me want to run for the hills. I know it makes you upset that I damaged myself just to live up to her standards, but it was an addiction; being or even breathing the same air as they were like an addiction. Regarding your last question about who I am, I don't know the answer to that.

Please stay away from them, C. I don't want you to have the same fate as me. I don't want you to not know who you are. Hang out with the third clique; they are the only decent humans in that school.

I wish you never went in the first place.

Sent by Scarlett at 10:00 P.M.

***

SOCIAL HIERARCHY WAS said to be dated from over 7,000 years ago. The first case of it began with the Sumerians, religious people who belonged to the Mesopotamian civilization. The city expanded rapidly around the shrine of God, the increase of riches and wealth in food and resources creating a divide between their people.

Later, we have the Egyptians, who placed the Pharaoh at the top and the farmers and slaves at the bottom. To the Egyptians, the Pharaoh was God in human form; they believed he controlled their lives whilst they performed all the needful to make him happy.

You'd think that over a course of thousands of years, social hierarchy would be destroyed as people began to become more accepting over each other despite their wealth and family background but, sadly, that was never the case.

See, Harrington had a system, one that unlike a pyramid identical to the Egyptians. It was much more complicated and invisible, enforcing everyone into five categories, one Scarlett had put together during her time at Harrington. At the bottom were the freshmen, belittled by those above. There, not only would you find freshmen, but people who had been openly outcast by those in the higher cliques as punishment for overstepping their boundaries or challenging their authorities.

'Bottom feeders' were what people called them, people like Celeste. They were open targets, prey which could be easily hunted and suffered horribly. Above them, still following close behind, but far enough to at least have some amount of protection from the harassment, were the misfits. In simple terms, they were harmless and didn't fit in.

Then there was the safe zone, the third clique. It was a balance between in and out of being seen and not seen. Unlike the bottom two, the third cliques rarely faced any type of harassment from the higher groups, one could say because they were simply invisible. Scarlett called them 'Robin Hoods', at first I never understood why.

But one week at Harrington was all I needed to understand. The third clique were mostly artists, quiet and mellow students and the name was due to how they were simply the only group that had a sense of humanity. Although, they made minimal interactions with the lower cliques, they didn't disrespect them or made them feel inferior. The third clique just kept themselves to themselves; they weren't bothered by the other groups. They made Harrington seem normal, average.

Scarlett used to be them.

Until she got hungry for more.

Right above them, high enough that a fall could be drastically damaging to their social life, was the largest group in Harrington, consisting of people who wanted to be the Elites. They were the people who worshiped the ground people like Celeste Leon walked on, fuelling both the Elites' egos and power, a group residing of cheerleaders and jocks, even a few freshmen. They did anything from fulfilling tedious tasks to humiliate the groups below them just to gain the Elites' approval and attention.