High Society [13+]

High Society

Chapter 1.
Story Of A Girl
This is the story of a girl;
Her pretty face she hid from the world!
And while she looks so sad and lonely there,
I absolutely love her,
When she smiles...

RING.
The school bell.
Kendra and her best friend Jessica walked up to school. The fresh smell of schoolbooks and the pupil’s perfume filling their noses. They walked up to their lockers that were fortunately located next to each other. That’s how they met. Just before the autumn holidays Kendra moved to South London, totally friendless and unaware of London society. Jessica isn’t exactly popular. Most pupils don’t even know her name. But she welcomed Kendra with open arms and for that she was grateful. At her old school Kendra used to be really popular. Guys fancied her, girls envied her. The usual story.

But then disaster struck and Kendra’s mother, Henrietta, died in a car crash.

After that Kendra’s father started dating different women every week, much to the displeasure of only child Kendra. Then some fancy law firm in London offered him a job and an opportunity to escape from the city that held so many memories. Away from his old life. A chance to start afresh. And Kendra, well she didn’t have a choice. So they moved. Packed their stuff, got in the car and drove up to London.

They settled down in a posh neighbourhood just outside of London. A week after she started her new school. She remembered the first day very well.

A nervous young girl of 14 years standing alone in the hallway. Looking desperately around. A sheet of paper in her hands. Timetables on it. A key to her locker in the other hand. 614. The aisles of lockers next to her, none of them 614. People walking up to her and telling her to get the fuck away. 2 blonde girls in skirts and tanks giggling and pointing at her. That morning she woke up extra early so she could pick out the right clothes. And she thought she’d done quite a good job. Black skinny jeans, yellow Converse and a yellow tank top. Her hair in a messy bun and her make-up neatly applied and not smudged.

A group of boys walked past her and stopped to greet the two girls. They whispered and pointed at her. The guys all turned around to look and continued whispering. The girl walking away, still searching for her locker. 600, 601, 602. Almost there. 611, 612, 613 and then 614. She put the key in the lock and turned it. The locker opened, revealing a messy locker. The girl was staring at it.

‘The previous owner didn’t clean up’ someone said. Kendra looked up and saw a girl opening the locker next to her. Wearing Vans, baggy jeans and a Hurley hoodie. She looked at Kendra and smiled. Kendra smiled back and started cleaning her locker up. ‘I’m Jessica by the way.’ The girl said. Kendra looked up ‘Kendra’ she said.

‘So what’s your first class?’ the first girl had asked after Kendra cleaned up her locker. ‘Uhm.. maths’ Kendra said looking at her sheet of paper. ’ In classroom 3.11.’ The girl’s smile grew wider. ‘Me too!’ she said and laughed.

When the bell indicating the start of the class rang Kendra sat down next to Jessica. The teacher introduced her to the class and started talking about algebra. Kendra felt several pairs of eyes looking at her. She looked around and saw the same group of guys looking at her. She nudged Jessica and asked her who they were. ‘They’re the popular guys. It’s very American high school here. We have the popular girls, the popular guys, the nerds, the geeks, the drama kids, the skaters and the people in between. Oh and of course the outcasts.’ She explained, counting the groups on her fingers.
‘Right, what group are you in then?’ Kendra asked. ‘I’m with the skaters. The most important thing you need to know about our school is that you must always stick to your group. You can never go talk to a group that is higher in ‘rank’ than you are unless of course they start talking to you. It’s actually quite ridiculous but it’s the way it goes over here. The popular kids are usually the rich ones, with famous parents and huge mansions.’ She said explaining everything to me. ‘The first week of school is the most important one. Everybody starts watching you and then they ask you to sit with them during lunch. So in the first week you’re allowed to sit with everyone that invites you, but in the second week you must choose one group and sit with them. If you are invited of course. And then there’s always the possibility of switching groups and stuff. It’s like some freaking caste here.’ Kendra started laughing.

During the whole class Jessica kept explaining and told Kendra about everyone in the popular group. Most of them were rich, posh people. And not exactly nice. One wrong action, one wrong word could ruin your entire social status when you’re in that group. At least the girls. The boys were more relaxed. They didn’t care about school and homework and grades and they had parties every week. But at the age of 14 there was no need to watch your grades yet. Jessica also told her that one of the popular guys, Dougie, used to be her best friend. They used to skate together every day after school. Until Dougie started taking music classes and he started hanging out with Danny from the popular crowd and forgot about Jessica. And then when he started dating Jen Hudson, the most popular girl in school is social status had gone from this ‘loser skater dude’ to ‘the most popular guy in school’.

And then they broke up. Everybody was talking about it for weeks. Dougie remembered Jessica again and tried to apologise but she didn’t want to hear it. And she hasn’t talked to him since. According to Jess he’s ‘changed for the worse’ and he turned out very arrogant and posh.

Kendra turned to look at him. Wearing worn out Etnies and a DC shirt. He didn’t look very posh to her. He turned around and looked at her. She blushed and quickly looked the other way and continued her maths assignment.

After maths she walked back to her locker. Jessica had PE now and had already walked towards the fields. Kendra had double music and collected her books. She closed the door to her locker and saw someone standing next to her. She turned around and saw Dougie standing there with a smirk on his face. Kendra looked surprised. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked him. ‘I saw you looking at me during maths’ he told her. ‘Yeah.. so?’ she asked him, wondering what his point was. ‘Tell your friend Jessica that I don’t fancy her talking about me.’ He said causing her to raise her eyebrow. Jessica was right, he did turn out very arrogant. She scoffed and walked away until she felt a hand grab her arm and turn her around. ‘What?’ she asked annoyed. ‘You, on the other hand can talk about me any time you want baby.’ Kendra rolled her eyes and walked away.

Yeah, it was going to be quite a long year. Fights, relationships, love, hate and friendships were all coming her way.

Chapter 2.
Still Figuring Out
Times just a photograph
Never thinking of the past
Well there’s a lot to see, and there’s only one path

A lot had changed since the first week of school. Kendra was approached by a group of girls to sit with them during lunch. Jessica had offered her to learn how to skate and she was getting bugged by Dougie every day. Yet she already loved this school as much as she loved her last school. Not because of the building, or the classes but because of the people. This school had the American high school appearance that she loved. The people were different than any other school she’d ever been to. And even though she wasn’t as popular as she was before, she liked it.

It was week 2 of her being here and she’d have to decide who to sit with. According to Maria, another friend of Kendra, this was the most important decision of your teenage years, and shouldn’t be taken without thinking about it.

So on the one hand she had Jessica, who was the first one to be nice to her. Tell her everything about this school and kindly offer to teach her how to skate. Kendra had been hanging out with her quite a lot in her first week of school and in the holidays. And Jessica was awesome to hang out with. Totally crazy and extremely funny. And not to forget an excellent skater. She spent most of her afternoons at the skate ramps.

And then on the other hand there was Maria, and her group. They’d approached her after the first day and asked her to sit with them the next day. And so she did. And they talked about stuff and got along great. They invited her along to the movies they were seeing that evening. Maria and Kendra had hit it off extremely well and even shared some secrets.

So who to choose?

The fun, crazy skater kid or the nice, smart, more popular girl.

‘Go for Maria’ Dougie said as Kendra slammed her locker shut. ‘How come you even know where my locker is?’ Kendra asked rolling her eyes. ‘I have my connections’ he said and wriggled his eyebrows. Kendra walked away and Dougie followed her. ‘Why are you following me Doug?’ Kendra said annoyed. ‘Because’ he replied. ‘Ugh.. piss off!’ she told him and walked off. She heard Dougie laughing and she rolled her eyes, again.

That boy had seriously gotten on her nerves.

‘Hi there!’ Jess said as she walked towards Kendra. Kendra smiled and greeted her. ‘Almost break eh?’ she asked. Kendra nodded and looked at Jess who smiled sympathetically. ‘Kends, I’ve been thinking. I know how you were like really popular at your last school, and I know how much you loved that. And well, I’m not exactly popular..’ she said while fidgeting with her shirt. Kendra raised an eyebrow ‘What are you trying to say Jess?’ ‘Well you know how today you have to pick who you want to sit with? So yeah I’ve been thinking..’ she started again ‘So you said Jess! Spill it out!’ Kendra said getting a bit annoyed. ‘I think you should sit with Maria! We could still hang out like after school and stuff and you won’t have to be really unpopular.’ Kendra’s heart melted. Jessica was so sweet suggesting that and being all nervous about it. She smiled and hugged Jessica. ‘Of course we could still hang out, thanks so much!’ Jessica just smiled weakly.

The bell rang for break and Kendra sighed. Here we go. She walked towards the queue for lunch and felt every pair of eyes in the cafeteria on her. She paid the lunch lady for her lunch and started walking towards a table. People in the cafeteria were holding in their breaths and followed Kendra’s every move. Kendra put down her tray on the table and smiled at the people sitting there.

‘Hello Maria..’

Chapter 3.
Dear Maria, Count Me In
When the lights go off
I wanna watch the way you
Take the stage by storm
The way you wrap those boys around your finger
Go on and play the leader
'Cause you know it's what you're good at
The low road for the fast track
Make every second last

Just like that Kendra made a ‘life changing’ decision. The girls at Maria’s table smiled at her. Kendra just smiled back and turned her head to look at Jess who nodded at her.

‘So..’ Maria started stretching out the o. Kendra looked up from her sandwich and raised her eyebrows. ‘Now that you’ve officially chosen for us, we can invite you to the party!’ she said excited. Kendra looked at her confused. ‘What party?’ Maria laughed and soon the whole table was laughing. ‘Of course you wouldn’t know about the party, it’s very... low profile. But every year Jen Hudson throws a bash just after holidays and she invites all the cool and semi-cool people. And this table is invited.. and so are you! It’s the perfect opportunity to move up a table. ’ Maria said excitedly. ‘How come?’ Kendra asked. ‘Well if you’re seen kissing a popular boy at that party or hanging out with popular people at the party they can invite you to sit with them. It’s THE social party of the year.’ By now all the girls at the table were nodding excitedly. Kendra just smiled at them. The way things were going around here were just.. weird.

‘So are you coming or not?’ Maria asked her. ‘Uhm yeah sure!’ Kendra said. ‘Good. We meet at my house at around 8 to get ready. Be there.’ After that Maria and her minions stood up and walked away leaving Kendra sitting there alone with Samantha, another new girl. Sam smiled at her and rolled her eyes causing Kendra to chuckle.

Kendra spent the rest of the break talking with Sam until the bell rang and Sam headed out for English while Kendra left for the fields.

Once arriving there she entered the locker rooms and greeted Maria and her friends. She also smiled at Jess who smiled back. Jen and the group of bimbos soon walked in causing everyone to stop talking until one of them started a conversation. ‘So you the new kid in school then?’ Jen asked Kendra. ‘Yeah, just moved here couple of weeks ago.’ Kendra told her. ‘Welcome! I’m in charge of the party committee and I recommend you check it out. We’re AWESOME!’ she said over excitedly. Kendra forced a smile and nodded. ‘Good!’ Jen said smiling and turning her back at Kendra again. Jess muffled a laugh and Kendra gave her the finger, unnoticed.

5 minutes later all the boys and girls were standing on the fields in their shorts freezing their asses off. The coach was yelling at them about field hockey or something. When he was done yelling everyone grabbed a stick and started playing. Unfortunately Kendra got teamed up with Dougie and his mates. Fortunately though she also got teamed up with Jess. Her only solace.

...

‘Ugh. If you don’t stop it right NOW I will shove this stick up your arse!’ Kendra screamed at Dougie. Dougie smirked and continued following her. Jessica watched everything happen and ‘accidentally’ hit Dougie on the back with her hockey stick.

‘You. Apologise now.’ Danny told her.
‘Sorry’ Jess said, not even meaning it.
Danny smiled and patted Dougie on the back making Dougie flinch in pain and hit Danny on the back of his head.

‘Jones, Poynter! Stop messing around and fucking continue the game.’ The coach yelled and blew his whistle.

Dougie shot the ball to Danny who shot it to Kendra. Kendra looked at the ball and then at the goal. She hit the ball hard and it flew into the goal. Kendra and Jess did their victory dance and the rest of the teamed yelled.
5 minutes later the coach blew his whistle indicating the end of class and sent everybody off to change.

Chapter 4.
Dance Dance
You always fold Just
Before you're found out
Drink up its last call,
Last resort,
But only the first mistake and I...

Kendra walked out of the car and up the driveway of Maria’s house. She sighed as she stood on the porch and rang the doorbell. Not a minute later the door was opened by an old woman smiling at her.

‘Miss Callas is in her room, it’s the second one on the left.’ She told me smiling. I smiled back at her and walked up the stairs. This house was huge. The hall alone was as big as my entire living room. The paintings that were neatly aligned on the walls probably worth thousands of pounds and the chandelier hanging from the ceiling sparkling with reflecting light.

Kendra knocked on the door with ‘Maria’s room’ carved in it in gold. Her knock was soon followed by a muffled ‘Come in!’
Kendra opened the door and smiled at the girls that were already there. She put her bag on the bed and joined them in the living part of the room.

‘Hey Kends’ Maria smiled and patted the seat next to her. Kendra sat down and Maria gave her a glass of Martini Coke. Kendra thanked her and drank it.

After about half an hour of gossiping the girls started getting dressed. They put up some music and borrowed each other’s make-up and clothes. Kendra ended up wearing yellow Converse, blue skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt with a yellow belt around it. Her hair was in a messy ponytail.

‘you all look beautiful!’ Maria said and smiled ‘Let’s go shall we?’
She got a few nods in reply and she rung for the car. A couple of minutes later we were all huddled up in the car driving to Jen’s house.

...

Once they arrived there they already heard the music blasting and some people were drunkenly running around the house. They walked in and were greeted by Jennifer and her clan. They ran towards them and started kissing them all on the cheeks.

‘Welcome to the party gals! Drinks are over there, you can dance over there and the bathroom is right there.’ She said and left us again. Maria looked at me and smiled. ‘Your first official party here, have fun!’
The girls all walked into different directions. Some getting something to drink first and others walking over to their boyfriends. Kendra walked to the ‘dance floor’ and started dancing to the rhythm of the music.

Soon this guy she didn’t know joined her and they were dancing away for a good hour before he asked her if she wanted anything to drink. She nodded yes and he soon returned with Martini Coke for her and beer for himself. Kendra had never drunk before this day and after the guy got her a few more drinks she was swaying on the dance floor and leaning on the poor guy.

Then a slow song came on. Kendra squealed and moved her hands to his neck. He smiled uncomfortably and put his hands on her waist. They slowly started moving to the music until they were interrupted by someone tapping the boy on the shoulder. Kendra was too drunk to notice that the boy asked if he could dance with her and didn’t realize she was now dancing with someone else.

‘I knew you wanted me’ the boy said after a couple of minutes and Kendra moved her head from his shoulder looking at him properly for the first time. She flinched when she realized who it was and tried to get away. His grip on her however was too tight and she was forced back.

‘Why are you dancing with me?’ she asked him. He shrugged and smiled at her. ‘I don’t even like you’ she said. He looked hurt and looked away. ‘Let me go’ she whispered.

‘No’ he said. ‘don’t you get it? Are you that stupid?’ he asked her whispering. Kendra raised her eyebrow at him and tried to get loose. ‘I’m not stupid now let me go!’ she said raising her voice a bit. The guy moved her heard with his finger so she was facing him. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked him. ‘This’ he said and crashed his lips on hers. Kendra didn’t realize what was happening for a while and kissed him back but then it got through to her and she pushed him away. She shook her head and walked away. Away from him and away from the party.

She stepped outside into the cold air and closed her eyes.
What just happened?
She didn’t notice someone following her and jumped a bit when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Maria standing there.
‘God Maria, you scared me!’ she said and chuckled, glad it wasn’t some creep.
‘Sorry’ she said ‘but why were you kissing Dougie Poynter?’