I know what it’s like to be an outsider- to constantly wish and long for friends, or to look down as you walk for fear of catching your classmate’s eyes. Yes, I know what that is like, but, as in every other story, there is another side. The popular kids-“They’re horrible; so superficial…dumb too. I hate them.” It’s so easy to judge them, to make automatic assumptions about them just because they posses something you don’t- that being the limelight. We are very aware, though- we aren’t dumb like you think. (Yes, I’m one of them, now.) We understand that there is a social pyramid and that we are at the top, but it still hurts. We don’t enjoy stepping on other people, there is no ‘natural high’ to having a boyfriend for publicity, and we certainly don’t take pride in the fact that the reason we are accepted is because we can smile and pretend that are lives are perfect. It is a common ‘fact,’ though, that we get into drugs, drinking, and smoking because it is ‘cool.’ Somehow, we are ‘weaker’ for being able to make our own personal choices about the things we indulge in; don’t you understand? There is no peer pressure in our group. We do not do drugs because we are pressured into it- this exists only out of our circle. Peer pressure comes from kids that strive to be like us, so they do what we do. One thing that is true though, we do judge based on clothes. It is horrible and shallow (we know that too,) but it’s a lesson that we’ve learned. People don’t see a shining personality walking down the street- they see a baggy sweatshirt and old sneakers. Our power is our visual appearance; we recognize this and know that trust and kindness comes after we have established ourselves socially.
Now that you know some our story, maybe you won’t judge so much. Maybe you’ll even recognize that we’re humans too. Drinks, lies, masks and clothes- this is the way of the Populars (at least at my school.)