Oh God, school is just so boring. I always wanna go back because I’ve got friends there, and they’re the best, but actually going to school is the worst. I almost fell asleep by the end of the day; I’m sorry, but chem class just isn’t interesting.

“Maria,” I mumbled, knocking the head of the girl next to me. She had actually fallen asleep and her face was down on her desk. She mostly looked like a short lump of slightly frizzy hair dyed a light shade of red. “Maria, get up. Class is over.”

“Meehhh,” she moaned.

Whatever. The teacher would wake her up soon enough. I grabbed my stuff and went out the door. Maria was the life of the party, but man could she not take staying up. The bright, extremely thick rainbow sweater really added to it too. I’d probably see her later tonight anyway.

When I walked out of the classroom, there were a few kids hanging out and messing around in the hallways. It was an obstacle course of dropped school supplies, short kids, and people being general roadblocks. Maybe walking forward was an advanced skill. And here I was thinking I was behind the curve.

“Sophs,” said a voice behind me. “Wait up.”

I could tell who it was for sure. Cadence strolled out from calculus class, pushing multiple kids out of her way in the process. She wasn’t the kindest person, admittedly. Though when you’re already taller than most and you wear high-heels, the power probably goes to your head. I saw Ben walking by not paying attention, as usual, and I had to grab him by the backpack to stop Cadence from giving him a careless elbow to the face. She didn’t seem too concerned though.

“Ben, watch out,” I scolded. “You almost got hurt.”

It was really weird though, Ben still didn’t say anything. He gave me this really depressed look and just looked away before continuing his walk out the school. He wasn’t usually talkative, but he usually was careful to not come into contact with people. On top of that, it wasn’t like him to just walk away without saying something…

“Hey, Sophs,” Cadence said, snapping her fingers. “What’s with your bro?”

“Ignore him. He’s just being weird today.”

“I don’t think it’s just today,” she said, blowing a balloon with her gum, which deflated with a satisfying pop.

I hate to say it, but Cadence was kind of that stereotypical popular girl in school. I mean, she looked the part, so I think everyone just gave the role to her. She was just happy to fill it. She already sat at 5”7 or 5”8, but the heels easily gave her another inch or so; height is power in school. She was also gorgeous, and her blonde hair was hung up in a bun today; beauty was also power. And her clothing showed as much skin as she could get away with; that definitely solidified her control over teen’s hormones, and if that’s not power, I don’t know what is. At a snap of her fingers she’d have an army of young boys and girls. I think that’s enough to show how and why she’s at the top of the social pyramid. Socially, I was lucky to be her friend. In reality, I was the group babysitter because she didn’t have a great concept of what being careful and responsible meant.

“Hey, are we still on for tonight?” I asked.

“Where are we meeting?”

“Behind my place,” said Megan, walking up to us. “A little after midnight should be good.”

Megan was a special breed of insecurity to me. She was average enough height, and maybe only slightly bigger than average. She had plain brown eyes, and kept her jet-black hair in a way similar to Cadence’s, probably not by accident either. Even their bun today was the same. Megan tried to get away with wearing some of the same clothing as Cadence, but I think her parents didn’t like her showing all the skin, so she just wore thigh-high shorts and a crop-top when going out. Hilariously, she was forced to wear a regular t-shirt to school. 

She pretty much mimicked whatever she could from Cadence, and I think it was because on her own she didn’t stand out too much on her own. Harsh, I know, but that’s the ecosystem of school. I could name another dozen girls with her description, but I only know her because Cadence is friends with her. Why is Cadence friends with her? Because she’s at her beck and call, and I think they both know it. If you’re doing something she can call out, she’ll call it out and try to bite your head off for it. And when she’s tearing into someone else, her insecurity really shows. Other than that, she’s nice enough when she wants to be. A real wuss around her parents though.

“You sure we can meet there?” I asked. “After last time.”

“Yeah,” Cadence agreed. “We could hear your mom in the bedroom pretty clearly when-”

“It won’t happen again!” Megan rushed out, turning red. “That was one time!”

“Fine,” Cadence said. “Someone tell Maria and Brittany though.”

“I got it!” Megan said, taking out her phone.

The three of us walked out of the school together, talking about schoolwork, tonight, some guy talk, and just whatever. Generally popular girls speak. Our language is gossip. Talking about who was dating who, who was making out under the bleachers, who cheated on who, and just everything that went on between people in our school.

When we walked out of the school I saw Mom waiting in the car with Ben in the backseat. Apparently she had today off too. I wasn’t that great at paying attention to her schedule to be fair. If I asked Ben, he could probably tell me. Anyway, she stared daggers at my friends. Mom’s got a type of person she doesn’t like. Cadence and Megan are two of that type. They check all the boxes. Bitchy? Check. Degrades and insults others? Check. Lowers the self-esteem of anyone in a ten-mile radius? Check. Pretty? Check.

“See you two tonight?” I asked.

“Don’t be late,” smiled Cadence. It gave me shivers.

“You bet.”

I walked to the car, and I saw Cadence and Megan walk away and continue to chat. When I got in, Mom still had this unhappy look on. I wish she’d just get over who I was friends with.

“Did you have a good day?” she asked.

“Yeah, mom.” I said with a complete lack of enthusiasm.

“Anything interesting happen?”

“I dropped my lipstick in the toilet. Does that count?”

Mom sighed and started driving away. The ride home was filled with the usual jokes and asking what we learned and stuff. I was just thinking about tonight.

*   *   *   *   *

We sat down to eat dinner surprisingly late that night. Dad had made shepherd's pie, which I think might’ve been slightly burnt, but the whole meal was so heavy I couldn’t tell. I noticed Mom was just stirring the stuff around her plate a lot, which wasn’t out of the ordinary. Dad was busy trying to feed her like she was a baby. What was actually weird was seeing Ben do the same thing. Dad was too occupied to see that he was basically following mom’s lead.

“Hey,” I whispered, leaning over to Ben. “You eat the food, not stir it into a modern art piece.”

“It almost looks like Green Lantern,” he said, trying to make fine details in the shepherd’s pie. “Just a little more…”

“Hey, it would look better if it was in your stomach.”

“That’s gross.”

“Then just eat it.”

“I will, I will…”

Ben kept stirring around his dinner and looking at it weird, like it was medicine or something. He eventually ate his plate’s worth of food, but never asked for seconds. Ben always asks for seconds. Something about him was just… wrong.

After dinner we all went to bed after a bit more joking around. Well mom, Ben, and I went to bed. Dad just went to his office area to continue his work. Between his job and this family, he always had more work on his plate.

Anyway, we all just slept for the night. Mom had work tomorrow, and Ben and I had school tomorrow. And I had somewhere to be tonight.

*   *   *   *   *

My alarm went off at about 11:30pm, and I jumped out of bed. I had to be fast. I threw off my sleeping clothes and tossed out something fit for going out. I even took a minute to put on some makeup. But eventually I looked back at the clock and realized I had to either leave now or risk missing the group. So I grabbed my purse, opened the window, and jumped right out and into the side-yard and closed the window again, leaving it cracked just slightly.

I ran as fast as I could down the street, hoping to make it to Megan’s house before midnight. I didn’t want to miss a girl’s night out.