High school. Its not as fine and musical as Disney makes it look. Along with being the place we spend a bunch of years actually choosing what we want to do with our lives and work hard to get into a good college, its also a place full of drama. Being a GIRL in high school though, that's way too much drama. There's snitching, sly mud-slinging, putting down people JUST to get to the top, and defaming others in the cruelest ways possible.In short, the daily GOSSIP.

More often than not, we find ourselves in the midst of people who swear to be BFF's for life, and then the second you falter, they claim to not know you at all, and add on to the name-calling. And its not like there are exceptions, no girl can deny that she gossips, because virtually everyone is part of it, starting conversations with "Oh my gosh, guess what?" and ending with "Sheesh, she's freaky!" (Ofcourse, there are more emphatic responses, but I'll not get into the details.) Oh, and this is punctuated with hushed choruses of "What? I promise i wont tell (cue high-pitched whiny voice) annyyyboddyyy! Now tell me tell me tell me!"

I look around me, and see so many packs of students, huddled in little groups of thier own, constantly judging everyone around them. She's fat, she's anorexic, she's dated practically all the guys in school, she's a total geek, she's such a drama queen, and so on. So many fingers pointed at one other, picking on the insignificant little things.

You know, maybe the prettiest girl in school is not "blonde", maybe the geek would look beautiful in a prom dress, maybe the "fat" girl is very friendly, and maybe the drama queen wouldn't be one if she had someone she was close to and could share her secrets with. But all of them never get a chance. We don't give them one. People do not care enough anymore, so don't bother actually getting to KNOW the person. Instead, they quickly assume things, and generalise others based on one or a few little things. If you socialise with people who happen to be "different" in one aspect, onlookers somehow assume you have imbibed the weird quality. Even though you may learn a LOT of good things from being with them. All these people who are victims of our gossip trains just need that one chance, that one hand of support that helps them along the way. If we could just stretch out a friendly hand, we could prevent a whole lot of people from feeling absolutely worthless later on in life.

I happen to be lucky enough to be a part of a friend circle who don't judge based on those weird qualities. We are a bunch of people with varied interests, but accept each other for who we are, and are always there for each other. We give each other that chance to bring out that 'something' that makes each one of us special. I got that chance, and that's why I know that no matter how crazy High School seems, I will survive it. They've got my back, and that's all I need.