The Popular Kids

There are lots of people in the world who can act mean and snobbish, but there are only two kinds of mean people in the world. Those who do mean things and those who see mean things being done and don't do anything to try to stop it.
Some kids think it would be very cool to be in the popular crowd. In the town's local high school, there was a group of kids that always stuck together and usually hung out downtown. People thought that those kids were just normal small-town high school students, but what they didn't know was that these kids were in the popular crowd. 
These kids were popular for their wealth, fashionable style, and confidence. They were intelligent, but they preferred not to show it. They came in all shapes and sizes, from short brunettes to tall blondes. They were exceedingly confident, to the point where they could be arrogant. The way they dressed was far different than how the regular kids dressed. Their hair was always perfect and usually straightened. They all had clear and smooth skin, to the point where nobody could see a single imperfection. They were intelligent, but they excelled at many unimportant things, such as sports and studies. The normal kids saw the popular kids as very annoying and didn't like them at all. The popular kids pretended to be friends with the regular kids, but said bad things about those kids when their backs were turned. Many kids though that this group made absolutely no sense at all because if everyone outside of the group referred to them as popular and didn't like that group, but they were really only popular among themselves. What they didn't know was that the only truly popular kids were the relatively quiet ones that everybody could get along with. What made the popular kids so popular was that all of them were social and excellent at something. Not all of them were tough jocks or peppy cheerleaders, though. Some of them were hipsters that sometimes failed to be cool, fashionistas who tried to keep up with all the latest trends and styles, or nerds that wanted to show off by getting more good grades than anyone else.
Some regular kids thought that most of the popular kids were popular because they were wealthy, born with silver spoons in their mouths. Other kids thought it was because of the clothes that they wore, the cars they owned, the phones they had, or other things that regular kids normally didn't have. But everyone else knew the real reason why the popular kids were so popular. They were all cool in their own way, and most people around them were jealous of them for doing things better than they could. 
The popular kids weren't in just one group. Because there were so many popular kids at school, there were a lot of other popular groups formed by them. Because those kids were so popular, it seemed like they were at the top of the school's social hierarchy. The dominant popular group engaged in a lot of nasty political maneuvering just to maintain or enhance their social status. The group of "wannabe" popular kids often hung around the edges of the main popular group, hoping for acceptance. They got enough crumbs of approval to keep them hooked, but hardly ever gained full acceptance. The middle status cliques were smaller and more independent friendship groups, but they disliked the popular kids because they thought they were very stuck up. The kids at the bottom of the social hierarchy didn't belong to any group and were considered isolated outcasts. 
Some of the regular kids doubted that the popular kids even liked each other. Most of the popular kids spent most of their time gossiping about each other. They loved to talk about who was wearing what and who was dating who. The non-popular kids weren't quite sure if the popular kids ever talked nicely to them behind their backs.
The popular kids often disappeared during school dances. They had a tendency to sneak in and out of the building without catching the attention of any chaperones. This made the regular kids convinced that there was a secret "popular kids only" place they were going to, where they would get together and gossip even more about all the non-popular kids trying to dance with each other. But nobody knew where it was. It could've been behind the bleachers, in the bathroom, or in someone's car. Wherever it was, it left all of the non-popular kids baffled.
As far as other people could tell, most of the popular kids didn't like school very much. Nobody quite understood why the popular kids would roll their eyes when the class got assignments, or why they would look so moody when they walked into the classroom. The non-popular kids were convinced it might have been just an act.
The popular kids were able to trick their teachers into giving them free passes. Most of the teachers would never let the regular kids turn in their homework a day late, but for some reason, they gave the popular kids a two-week extension on their homework. Some of the regular kids thought that it was because the popular kids might have been bribing the teachers into giving them more time on their homework.
None of the non-popular kids knew how long it took for the popular kids to get ready in the morning. They walked in looking impossibly polished every morning, much to the confusion of the other kids. They didn't know how long it took for them to do their hair, their makeup, and choose their outfit. They knew that there had to be some long-winded effort that went into that whole process.
The popular kids were excellent party-throwers, and often threw parties at their houses while their parents were away. The strange thing was that they almost never got caught by their parents. If they truly had as many wild parties as they so claimed, the non-popular kids knew that there had to have come a time when they got totally busted by their parents coming home early from a weekend getaway. Not that anyone wanted them to get into trouble, but they knew it had to happen at some point.
The popular kids almost never shared anything with the non-popular kids, even if it was a snack of some sort. The elite group of popular kids only seemed to share the delicious snacks they brought from home with each other. Some of the non-popular kids thought it was because the popular kids thought they were too unpopular to pass their goodies around with, but they were just too prideful to admit it in front of their popular friends.
The popular kids were always bragging about how fun the sleepovers they threw were. The sleepovers the popular crowd had sounded so cool to the non-popular kids, that whenever they had friends over, they were afraid that their friends would tell the popular kids how lame it was to hang out with the non-popular kids after school. But none of the non-popular kids had been invited to those sleepovers, so they weren't quite sure if they were really the fun events that the popular kids said they were.
Most of the regular kids didn't like the popular kids, and every day, they wished that the popular kids would die by getting run over by a bus or a truck. But others had hope that one day, the popular kids would become nicer. They knew that sometimes high school could be an absolute nightmare for them and they always tried their best to get through it, but there were some times when the popular kids were just downright mean. They acted as if they were the kings and queens of everything, and many of the non-popular kids hated how rude, prideful, and stuck-up the popular kids were. But some of the non-popular kids had hope that one day the popular kids would swallow their pride and be given second chances at hanging out with the non-popular kids. Even though it looked like the popular kids were being mean to others, it was only because they were acting mean to others. 
Years have passed since the popular kids ruled the school. Before they graduated and went to college, all of the popular kids seemed to become nicer and have moved on to activities that suit their interests outside of their group. The cliques that have formed years before have now disbanded and have lost their popularity because of their cruel actions on regular kids. 
The era of constant ridicule and belittlement is over. The glory days of high school for the popular kids are gone, and the cliques that they formed when they started school might never come back. At least, until a new one forms.
Category:Stories
Category:Original Stories
Category:Short Story