Fake It Till You Make It

Chapter 2 - Kingdom of the Cliques

Being cautious, and yet trying to remain as cool as possible, I sneak towards the courtyard. The group of popular kids slink along a few meters behind me. Not that I meant to, but I can hear every word they're saying:

"So, I'm walking around the mall, and I walk past Lorenzo Burgers and guess who I see working there?" I hear one of the girls say. There's a long pause. "Jessica Forbes." Almost as if it's an instinct, the entire group chime in with laughter. "It was disgusting. She looked like she was working in a sweat shop or something. I mean, it's no wonder she's piled on all that weight, it's probably transfered from the food into her skin!" Once again, the whole group chimed in with laughter.

I don't see what was so funny about a girl working in a fast food restaurant - tons of people do that. It must be an inside joke or something, I don't know.

I can see the courtyard looming ahead now. It looks even more crowded than I first anticipated; I just hope I can find somewhere where I can sit down and plan out what I'm going to do.

When I reach the courtyard, I can barely see a pathway through. I guess I'll have to let my rude side take control for this bit. I push and shove people to forge myself a pathway, letting out the occassional: "Sorry", "Excuse me", "Pardon me", "Coming through!" or if I'm feeling extra pushy even "Move out of the way!"

Finally I find a quiet bench area in the corner of the courtyard. It's occupied by one nerdish looking girl with her nose in a book. I'm sure she won't mind if I sit next to her. Her auburn hair is tied back in a very neat ponytail, a pair of glasses rest on the bridge of her nose, and a 30 cent pink-ish pharmacy lipstick is (not very precisely) covered all over her lips, trying to draw attention away from her glaring metal braces. Her outfit isn't much better, to be honest: A white tank top tucked into a red and black plaid skirt with black buckled shoes, all topped off with a black blazer and brown leather bag.

I take a seat next to the nerd girl, and take out my phone. After about 2 minutes of awkward silence, the girl finally speaks. "You're new here, aren't you?" She asks.

I switch my phone off and face her straight on. "Yes. How did you know?"

"Quite simply really," she says, still keeping her eyes thoroughly reading the book. "The dead giveaway was the fact you came and sat with me. Anyone else wouldn't be caught dead here."

Her informative little speech gives me the impression that this girl is one of the nerds - not exactly the first clique I wanted to be friendly with. "Oh." I reply after about 10 seconds of silence.

The girl slams her book shut, which I can now see was on the French Revolution, and gently places it in her bag. She faces me straight on. "I'm Camilla," she says, outstretching a hand. "Camilla Dawson."

I put out my own hand to shake it. "Hi, I'm Anna."

Camilla faces the massive crowd which has filled the courtyard. "Welcome to Glen-Hill High - Kingdom of the cliques."

As I start to glance around the courtyard, I slowly start to understand what she means. The place was littered with different cliques! "Wow." I say.

"Okay, I'm going to run you through this quickly," Camilla begins. "In the corner there are the Goths;" she points to a group of gothic looking kids, dressed head to toe in black all looking pretty emotionless. "Then there's the hippie song and dance kids;" she points to a large group of kids where each one either holding a set of bongos, a tamborine, clapping to the beat or in one particular kids case - dancing wildy and dramatically in the centre. "Then you've got your Jocks, your Drop-outs, your nerds..." Camilla's voice slowly starts to fade away as my gaze is firmly settled on the popular kids who have just entered the courtyard. The group take a seat at a clearly vacant table under a tree surrounded by identical tables occupied by what looks like the outer circle of the popular clique.

"Who're they?" I ask, accidentally cutting Camilla off.

Camilla looks over at the tree. "Oh. Them." She grunts. "That's where all the popular kids hang out."

"Ah..." I reply.

"I'm warning you now," Camilla says, interrupting my train of thought. "Beware of the popular kids. They have enough power over this school to turn everyone against you. Stay out of their way. They may look like they've got it all, but trust me, they're all black-hearted, pure evil devils."

Despite what Camilla described what the Popular kids are like, I'm still determined to become one of them.

All of a sudden, there's the loud blaring noise that echoes over the whole school. I cover my ears. Next thing I know, everyone is moving off into different directions. Camilla is nowhere to be seen. So much for my first friend.