Just Another High School Story!

When Leah closed off the broadcast by signing off with her name, Ethan stopped the mic and walked into the studio, she was exhausted but this was fun, for the first time in her life, she felt like she had written, and poured out her heart. Now, all that was left were the students' reactions. She took a deep breath and walked out, without looking at Ethan, or returning his smiles, and good jobs, he said, "Chareso!" which means 'good job' in Korean but she didn't even smile.

When she walked out of the broadcasting room, many kids were standing in the hallways, they dragged her into the cafeteria, they had set a table in the middle of the room and told her to sit on it, then they flocked around her and started speaking, she could only catch words like 'amazing', and 'cool', enough to assure her that no one really hated the idea of destroying this toxic hierarchy. They were all talking together, in loud, muffled voices, just as she was about to squirm away, Heather Baskerville, the most famous lacrosse player in their school, a guy who was on another level started speaking, he had descended from his heaven and he walked up to Leah and sat down next to her. Leah didn't understand what was going on, he took her hand in his and said, "Head Girl, this was honestly the best day that I've had in school since, I joined. Thank you." And then he proceeded to kiss the back of her hand, like every gentleman would in a Jane Austen novel, because it is a form of polite courtesy; every girl watching them, and a couple of boys were jealous, and this jealousy further flared when he gave her a rose, everyone started hooting and she blushed, clearly pleased. I mean, come on, if Heather was okay with destroying the 'hierarchy', all lacrosse players and immediately the whole school would follow. Her efforts could make school life better for so many kids, she was really happy.

Everyone used to think that Heather was a know-it-all, and a proud jerk, when in all actuality, he just hated how things worked in their school, he had felt like he was the only one who thought so, that the 'hierarchy' was bullshit. He didn't hang out with his team because of this, they bullied others, and wanted him to participate, because, apparently, everyone needs to be mean to be cool. He faced so much pressure that at one point, he had wanted to leave school but today when he heard Leah say that she thought the 'hierarchy' system was nothing but an old, way-too-much concept, he felt like someone had spoken to his heart. He would finally have a friend.

Their school's situation was like this right now, Leah was at the top of the popularity triangle among the girls, which meant that she was competing with other girls aiming for popularity, that essentially means that she was the target of all slander, someone's dog died, two blocks away and it was her-- Leah's fault.

With popularity come misunderstandings, people assumed that the popular ones were all shitty people, narcissists-- desperate for attention, this was precisely what Leah was trying to change. She was really tired, smiling all the time, seeing livestreams on instagram of parties, she was invited to, but would never go to because she didn't feel confident about her body, or her clothes, then her hair would be a mess, and she would altogether shut down the possibility of a night-out, she felt really bored at home, people thought that since she was popular, she had everything, she had thought so too, back in middle school, it had seemed easy from the outside, being under everyone's eyes, receiving endless attention, but it all turned out to be untrue. She didn't really have anyone by her side, and the reality was totally opposite to people's thoughts-- not only was she unhappy, her bulimia was eating her alive, she felt like she had no breathing room, she could've made a great actress, smiling when every part of her stomach was aching, acid refluxes were the worst for her, she would feel this burning sensation in her oesophagus and it was worse than a thousand needless stabbing her, repeatedly. She was a total mess.

Mindy Allen, the school's second Miss Pop was definitely the worst of Leah's enemies, people often say that as teenagers, we do stupid things, but Leah thought that as a teenager, Mindy was a malicious person, calling her a senseless bitch would be an insult to bitches; Mindy was constant in her effort for popularity. She was also the number one bully in their school, she would probably strip you in front of other people if you so much as accidentally brushed past her and didn't apologise, and by strip, I don't mean she'd make you take off your clothes, nah, she was the ultimate killer, she would find out your weaknesses, pit your best friends against you, make your thoughts, and emotions visible to others. That's exactly what she was doing to Leah, right now, despite the fact that they were in this war with each other-- a silent, cold, useless, tiring, hurtful war-- Leah had to be calm and take every blow, she didn't do this because she wanted to be a philanthropist and have mercy on someone hell bent on ruining her life, she did it because she felt like she was alone, if she started refuting and rebutting, she would end up making a fool out of herself as she strongly believed in unity, Mindy had a group of girlfriends whom you could call her pawns, they tailed her all day long, if Mindy was bullying someone, every one in her group had to do the same, some kids were even experts in doing background checks, of course, not through official or legal documents, but they would stalk the target on instagram, snapchat, follow them around in school, size them up to make them fall.

Many kids transferred from Wilson's High because of this. It was a true war zone, with everyone giving their best to survive.