[on hiatus] Metamorphosis of a Mean Girl (How To Rule Your High School Part 2)

Chapter 3: The Article

When I pulled into the school parking lot the next morning, a scene was playing out before me that I had never witnessed in my life. There, sitting on their picnic benches and lounging over the stairs on this blissfully mild day, the A-Listers were reading.

Most had their faces glued to their phones, but a few held paper copies of what looked deceptively like the mediocre school newspaper, The CHS Times. Those scattered paper copies weren't limited to the A's either - I noticed a group of freshman walking by, a copy of the paper clutched between each of their hands. As I slid out of my car, Melody Jiang was handing her copy over to none other than Emma Baxter, Ernie's crush. The two of them were frowning, Mel clearly upset by whatever she'd read.

But upset was not the word I would've used for my brother's body language as he leaped up from his seat at the picnic table.

"Did you read this?" Brandon demanded as I approached the A's. Brett's jaw muscle was pulsing so hard I could almost hear his teeth grinding from three yards away. He was ripping his own copy to shreds.

"No, why?" I asked innocently, holding my hand out for Brandon's paper. He hesitated, shooting Brett a look.

"She has a right to know what that bitch wrote about her," Brett growled, "I'm going to find Vic."

Brandon and I watched him stalk across the quad to where Victoria was pulling into her parking space. Behind her, a familiar red coupe was entering the lot.

I felt my blood begin to boil as I snatched the paper out of Brandon's hand.

"What's it say?" I asked him, my eyes dropping to the paper.

"Nothing good..." Brandon said, murder in his eyes.

Normally this space is filled with an editorial urging you all to become better citizens of the world and support my Paper for Peace recycling campaign, but this week I feel I have more pressing matters to address. As acting Editor-in Chief of the Clairview Chronicle, I feel it is my responsibility to share with you my opinion on a very sensitive matter.

For as long as I, and probably you, can remember, we have been subjected to a social hierarchy based solely on looks and money. Relegated to the bottom like most of the rest of you, I'm starting to question exactly why. The group of spoiled rotten "pretty people" that sits at the top of this social pyramid has been abusing their position of privilege for far too long. Thanks to some rather shocking recent events, I now feel compelled to call them out.

This past weekend, a group of these so-called "A-listers" crashed a concert in Huntington, one of them physically assaulting two of the band members while another made threats against the life of one of the victims. Why have you not heard of this, you ask? That's because it's been covered up.

That's right, Madison Carlisle, the queen of the juniors herself, should have been arrested on assault charges this weekend. But instead of spending a night behind bars with a newly acquired black mark on her record, she drove off to attend a party.

Now, if it had been you or I committing said crime, we'd be kissing our college dreams goodbye. But thanks to her privileged status in our society, Madison escaped this weekend without even a slap on the wrist.

This is why I have decided to start naming names with today's editorial. This two-tiered disciplinary system has gone on for far too long, punishing those of us who don't have rich parents with political connections. Below, you will find a list of alleged crimes that these so-called "A-listers" have gotten away with scot-free:

-Brad Brighton: all you freshmen should look out for that brainless wide receiver you all seem to worship. Last summer, he was spotted dragging a passed-out then-freshman girl into a bedroom at a party.