#blessclique

[julianvandernerd-blog]

A list of questions Julian has been asked over the years.

"Hey, you're a nerd right? If I give you $50 will you do this homework for me or not?"

"Do you like take Adderall or are you just really smart?"

"You skipped a grade? What a nerd."

"DOTA? What the fuck is DOTA? Is it like Runescape but lamer?"

"What do geeks even do in their spare time? Do you meet up with each other and talk about Star Wars and stuff?"

"Damn, a GN? I was started to believe you people were like mythical creatures that people talked about existing but have never actually seen, where do you guys even hang out?"

"Is it true that you GN have nerd orgys?"

"Who are you?... wait have we really been in the same classes for seven years? Fuck." 

[belle--brooks]

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule. Let me live that fantasy.

Dear Diary- September 15th, 2014.

Growing up with two older brothers like Ben and Andy, having Parker as my twin brother, and having two very wealthy doctors for parents can be a a gift and a curse. I mean, with having my parents as my parents and being their only little girl, I got whatever I wanted when I wanted... even if I didn't ask for something, I got it. No matter what it was, or how much it cost: nothing was too much for their little girl. Then, on top of that, I have three older brothers who constantly have my back, protect me, and make me feel safe 24/7. They always have my best interests in mind, and I know as much as they bug and annoy the hell out of me 99% of the time, that they're only doing it out of love; just how I bug and annoy the hell out of them 99% of the time.

But with all of that, comes the flip side.

I feel so much pressure to live up to my parents... to Ben and Andy... and now to Parker. I mean, for fuck's sake... my brother has been through so much this past year and has only come out stronger than ever, and everyone respects and admires him so much. He's one of the best damn athletes in this school, even with his disability, and not to mention he's such an amazing person (I mean, maybe I'm biased because he's my brother, but it's true. Anyone who knows him can vouch for that) Then there's Ben and Andy, who were practically gods when they went to Westwood. They were untouchable. They literally did rule the school, and now it's my turn... and now that it's my turn, I really wish it weren't, even though I spent my whole life up until sophomore year believing it was what I wanted.

Like my brothers before me, I'm a ruler... the only difference is, I have no idea what that even means, and more importantly, I don't feel like a ruler. Half the time, I really don't feel like I fit in with the rest of my clique. The sad part is when I really think about it, I feel like I wouldn't really fit in anywhere in the Westwood social pyramid. Yeah, I have aspects like a few of my jock and drifter friends, but when I look at them and look at me, we're still totally different. Then the really sad part is that it's obvious I'm only a ruler because Ben and Andy were... simply because of my last name. That's what determined my social status. Not my personality, not my academic or athletic profile... just being a Brooks'. 

I'm a ruler, but I know I'm not. I'm pretty sure everyone else in my clique, and probably everyone else who knows me, knows that I'm not. Not really.

But do I want to be anything else but a ruler?

No... because I can hear the little freshman me saying that the rest of my high school career can't possibly get any better than it already is. 

I'm a ruler. Maybe I just need to start embracing it more.

[alfiebonas-archive]

On Friday 5th September, Alfie came home at 1:12am in the morning after hanging out with Luca for the night. He was greeted by his little sister Cynthia whom he (and nearly everyone else) refers to as 'Cindy', before the pair moved to the sitting area where they talk about school - more specifically, Cindy's first week at Westwood. | Words: 2096

Four hours later after leaving the house to go do some homework with Luca which ended up with the two of them hotboxing his bedroom and doing absolutely no homework, Alfie was glad that his dad had left for Brazil the night before because the boy didn't think he'd ever been so high before in his life. How he'd managed to walk to his front door without falling over or end up underneath a car was unknown but it was nothing short of a damn miracle. After several attempts to put his key through the lock, the door clicked open and the boy nearly stumbled through the opening, but his little sister managed to steady him. The blonde girl looked up at her brother who was bearing so much weight on her with a frown. At first she thought that he might be drunk, but he didn't smell of alcohol, but of an unknown scent which she could only guess to be weed and she wasn't sure whether to be concerned, disgusted or intrigued. Usually, the boy would find a way into the house, on the rare occasion he'd be greeted with the face of his repulsed mother, but never had his little sister answered the door. Alfie thought that perhaps he should be horrified that she was seeing him like this - but eventually he saw the humorous side to it.

Cindy's nose turned upwards as she watched the boy straighten himself up and lean against the door frame for support. A few of the curls that rested on top of his head fell forward and bounced on his forehead finding permanent residence there. Cindy took a step back, it was the first time she'd ever seen someone high before. Yeah, she watched television but never had she'd seen it in the flesh. She wasn't exactly well versed with how to deal with the situation, but the girl had to ask him the obvious question. "Silvy, are you... high?" and as soon as the question left her mouth, Alfie just started to snicker until his laughter had practically filled the whole foyer. Cindy didn't know what was so hilarious about her question, and to be fair, neither did Alfie but at that moment laughing seemed like the right thing to do. As he tried to straighten himself up to walk to their living room, the boy felt a sudden rush of numbness and he just fell back, missing the door frame completely and slid down the door, but not without pulling Cindy down with him. The speed at which the short event happened took the girl's breath away and left her quite scared for a second or two, but when she saw that her brother was okay she ended up laughing with him.

"Let's watch America's Next Top Model." the boy said after a moment of silence. Cindy got up, not really knowing how to respond to his outburst and using both of her hands, grabbed onto his and pulled him up.

"Whatever, you're lucky I recorded it." She spoke in a hushed tone for no apparent reason, the blonde helped Alfie into a chair and switched on the television. The familiar face of Tyra Banks graced their screen, and as Alfie (after a good ten minutes of shuffling) found a comfy spot and settled, Cindy lolled her head to the side and rested it on his shoulder.

"So, Cynthia. How was your first week of high school?"

"Fine."

"Just fine?" He raised his eyebrow at the girl's response and tried to turn his head to look at his little sister but it was just too much for him.

She noticed him straining to look at her, so instead Cindy piped up to avoid her brother's integrating stare. "Okay, well I mean it's hard and stuff, but it's good, I met some really nice girls and yeah, I like it." she offered him a small smile and snuggled closer underneath his long, heavy arm.

"You made the cheer team then, you happy with it? Or do you want me to throw some jello at Kenly or something?" Alfie’s face was soon graced with a lazy grin, despite knowing that Kenly wouldn't unnecessarily make Cindy upset, the thought of covering her in jello seemed like a grand idea as he sat there. Cindy sat up rather abruptly before slapping Alfie on the shoulder and giggling a little.

"Eeeeew! No! Kenly is lovely, She hasn't even been at practice because she's been sick."

The boy sighed and shook his head, he had most definitely noticed that Kenly had been away from cheerleading and school in general, and he was genuinely sad about it. He did miss her a lot. "I know, I've missed seeing her during practice." a smirk had started to cross his face and the blonde’s mouth opened her mouth a little before scrunching up her nose and hitting him once again.

"Silvy!" his hands raised instinctively in a defensive manners as yet another laugh left his smiling mouth. Alfie kind of guessed that such a conversation would perhaps make Cindy a little giggly, because it wasn’t as if his particular liking towards Kenly was a secret, if he was honest with himself, he was perhaps a little too fond of her for his liking. Yet, as the thoughts crossed his mind whilst he continued to laugh, he wholeheartedly focused his attention on his baby sister and pretended to act clueless.

"Oh my god!! What?!" the young girl crossed her arms and looked back at the television screen which was showing two of the models yelling at each other, as the argument cooled down she turned to face her brother and stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're disgusting!" but of course, Alfie already knew this, but he wasn’t about to go and let his facade down when he was having so much fun with it already. He put his hand on his chest and gasped a little, the smile that had grew on his face the second he entered his home showed no signs of fading as he continued to converse with the most important girl in his life.

"But I didn't even say anything!" he continued to plead his case knowing that it was a failed effort because Cindy had pretty much decided that the boy - in her mind had insinuated something she really didn’t want to hear, the girl loved that she had this kind of relationship with her brother. They were close, they didn’t argue that much, but above all he was there for her, just as she is there for her - even when he doesn’t need it or want it.

After a few more moments of silence, watching the final shoot, they exchanged small comments about the poses and such, before the girl shuffled in her seat a little and piping up again, readdressing the conversation the pair were just having. "Whatever... the older girls say stuff about you."

At this point, Alfie sat up a little and raised his eyebrow, the inner working of the girl’s changing room gossip had always been something of a mystery to him - maybe having someone on the inside was a good idea, he thought. "Oh really? What do they say?"

"You know what they say!" she hit him on the shoulder again before laughing once more, she knew that he had an idea but didn’t want to repeat a damn word of it. "Everyone calls me little Alfie, or blonde Alfie or girl Alfie or fetus Bonas. It's annoying. But good, it means that at least people know who I am." there hadn’t been a single moment in her first week where people didn’t point her out whispering to their friends about who she was, or stuff of the sort. She liked the attention, she was a Bonas, she loved it when people looked at her and talked about it. But, she wanted people to look and talk about her for her, and not because of the achievements of her older brother.

"It's because you have the best big brother in the world." he gave her a toothy grin before planting a big, sloppy kiss on Cindy’s cheek which made the blonde screech a little as she pushed him off of her. Now, far away from Alfie on the other side of the sofa, she kicked out her leg to hit his arm with her foot to stop him from falling asleep on her.

"I'm a Drifter, you know? I'm pretty popular, but not that popular." she added, the last bit with a sour taste in his mouth. Her aim, was to be popular, her brother was popular, her dad was at the top of his profession, her mother was popular within the circle of friends that she had - and all Cindy had was a load of pageant titles which kind of made all the other pageant girls across the state hate her, but she loved that, she fed off of their negativity and it just made her better.

Alfie rolled his neck to the side to look at her, he kind of knew that Cindy was going to be like this, she was pretty, had high aspirations and well, she just had the personality for it, but Alfie didn’t want her to get obsessed about the whole culture of High School popularity, because he knew that in the long run, it didn’t matter at all. "High School isn't about being popular Cindy, it's about getting good grades, making good friends - being popular is just an added bonus, I guess." he blew out a small sigh and rolled his eyes when he saw Cindy rolling her eyes.

"That's easy for you to say, Mr. Popular. You're like... a Ruler and you don't even care." and it was easy for him to say, after all, he had free reign on his popularity level. If the boy wanted to rise to a Ruler, he easily could; he has the money, the popularity, he was the quarterback and co-captain or their very reputable football team, he was voted Prom King and people respected him.

"I'm not a Ruler. I could be, but I don't want that kind of title. Cindy, trust me. Most of them are just... it's just too much drama for me. These cliques are lame anyway. Being a Jock is easy. It's simple, we all like sport, we all strive to be the best we can be in all areas of our lives, not just sport - but in everything." Alfie was lucky to be pegged as a Jock from the very moment he entered Westwood, he’s never known unpopularity, social unacceptance like some of the other people in the school. The boy pushed himself up a little, only to slide back down again before speaking. "Rulers are just popular, rich, good looking who have more drama in their lives than a season of Pretty Little Liars. Aspire to be better than that Cindy. Because after that, High School ends, and no one will care if you were the most popular girl, or head cheerleader. Yeah, it's good to want that, but don't let it define you." Alfie shrugged a little, trying to find something else to say but decided that he probably said everything he needed to say at this point. He couldn’t help but want his little sister to be more than her stereotype.

Cindy nodded at Alfie’s words, taking in the advice. She couldn’t exactly talk to her mother and these kind of things, nor her father because he was never around. Alfie was her support system, the best kind of one and the only one she had ever really known. "Okay... but you dated Belle though, and she's a Ruler." she said with a smirk on her face and Alfie turned away from her a little as a small blush started to form on his cheeks. It was around about this time last year that the pair were dating - it wasn’t rare of him to get flashbacks of the time they shared together.

"Yeah, she's different." he mumbled a little before pursing his lips. He didn’t even need to look at Cindy to see that she was smiling at him, ready to say something else, he turned to face Cindy again with a look on his face that resinated that he tried to be serious - but it just wasn’t working for him. "Shut up, I want to see who gets sent home."

[vidconjunkie-blog]

new year, new me?: youtube story || rileydm

"I finally did it. Went to my high school, finished my first day, and thought it was hell, but hey, I did it! It’s a cause for celebration." [Places the camera down and pulls out a mini confetti cannon, smiling comically before pulling it.]

"Okay, that was louder than I expected. Anyway, school isn't the most radical of stuff but my people are there! Duh, it's a bunch of teenagers but like, my people. . I'm so close to LA, which makes VidCon super easy but besides that the creativity around here is absolutely magnificent. It's really chill like you can talk about internet stuff, sj stuff or whatever really. Not anything because then you lose focus and it's just--I'm rambling now."

"Today’s video isn’t going to be very exciting, but it’s still very important. YouTube and vlogging and the whole community, it’s really done a lot for me. I’ve been doing this for nearly two years, that’s probably the most commitment I’ve ever had. " [Laughs.]

"But back to seriousness, it’s opened up a ton of opportunities for me and it does for everyone. I have power now, not like a Disney villain, but like, in the December of my freshman year, I tried to participate in P4A, Project for Awesome. I didn’t have a ton of subscribers back then, yet I still raised some money. I made a real fool of myself. Making a difference is the best thing I've ever done. I got thinking, because yesterday was Genevan fast so you tend to think about doing good deed around then. I'm not into good deeds, but I like making people happy. And it's the positive—and negative—comments that let me know that. I guess that's a decent deed after all."

"I started...in my last days in Switzerland. It was the perfect therapy for pre-teen angst, I swear. Please don't go looking for that channel. Every YouTuber is full of themselves; I'm honestly no different, but there's always some higher purpose to it."

"Whether it's raising a ton of money for someone who needs it, or like making someone over the internet laugh at how ridiculous you are, it's good. It's a two way thing. Like I said before, school is hell. I can't do that thing where you get good grades or be this leader, or success of any kind, simply not my thing but—there's tears in my eyes I'm so weak, hold on bare with me—but, I can make people happy and express myself. And that's the best. It really is."

"I wanted to wait until the actual New Year to do this, but the academic one still counts, right? This video could be named 'Riley has run out of ideas—send help'." [Shrugs.] "I'll decide in post." [referring to post production.]

"Also, stay tuned for a short film? I'm not really sure because I'm still trying to write a script. I don't have laser focus, but I'll get it done someday. But letting all my fantastic supporters that that might happen. God, I love you all so much."

"This is ends today's very short video, I'm really sorry. I have to go be a teenager and do homework. I'm Riley and stay cool, my friends. Subscribe, like, and share it on your social network of choice because that would so cool of you?" 

[darrenhaas-blog]

task;; dinner with the haas'

In a rare opportunity, both of his parents are home. They don’t have work. Darren has nothing to do. Stuck around their kitchen table for the first time in months, a conversation begins. School has just started and his parents start reminiscing of their own teenage years. Irritated and uninterested as usual, their talking gets past him…until they ask a bold question—

—"Hey Darren," his dad began, turning from his giggling mom. "They still do cliques in Westwood?" The intonation of questioning didn’t occur to Darren until the few moments of silence that followed. Coupled on top of that was the instinct to ignore it. He’d gone into freshman year hating the cliques to no end, not caring at all where he ended. But after a year of being degraded and quite frankly, fucked over by a goddamn system—which wasn’t what he was about—that’s when he started caring about it. Maybe he cherished the system a little, but it wasn’t an extreme either.

"Yeah," Darren replied hesitantly. "They’ve gotta be different to your, uh, heyday.” His dad nodded, a little more feverishly than what Darren would've preferred.  "Alright then, Darren can you pass the—"

"Ah, Greg!" His mom interrupted loudly, gaining the attention of both her son and husband. “Come on, what was the name our group of friends again? All of us aspiring theatrics and gosh, even hired actors with that one idiot who got cast in The Young And Restless.”

Of course, they were part of the Soap Opera, literally.

"He was really good at crying," his dad agreed along with a nod.

"It was absolutely awful to be categorised like that, but it made casting for the musicals much easier. I wonder if they still do—" She gasped, holding her husband’s hand. “—the Christmas panto! Courtesy of that one very handsome English transfer student who suggested.”

This was the last thing Darren wanted to hear, anything they mentioned sent such dread down his spine. Although nothing made him cringe more than the next question.  "It worked out for us fine," his father replied, placing his cutlery down. "But Darren, you must be pretty good with those kind of guys, must be plenty of 'em over there too. I’m sure you would knock them out of the ballpark with your skills."

"Because smiling and telling someone pretending to be my parent how fantastic Cheerios are is total preparation for the film industry,” Darren replied, raising his eyebrows. It wasn’t like Darren didn’t try to show off on his first day. But it was something that came over him, something nice about not to being defined by his parents’ occupation for once. Sexuality was a close second, yet that made it better. No one could compete on how gay he was versus how could he was at entertaining—especially with international stars just casually walking the halls. 

When Darren first entered Westwood and learnt the system, the idea of the Pirates wasn't too bad. Before, it was either gay or straight so it was super easy to associate with them. It was two extremes that he was comfortable with accepting. After that, it got a whole lot more complicated. He's still hesitant. While his own experience might have contributed to some biphobia he has going on, it was always like that anyway. He didn't—no, doesn't—get the gender thing either. Nothing past drag queens, at least. 

"That's how we all start," his dad said, rather curtly. "It was good for you, come on, you had total fun." That was a statement Darren couldn't disagree with. Yeah, it was fun. He didn't mean to sound like a narcissistic ass all the time, but he enjoyed anything when people were so focused on making sure he looked good and he was in good hands. 

After that, there was quiet. Maybe once in a while one of his parents would ask the other about some local theatre event, and then the only ambience would be the clang of cutlery against ceramic plate or the muffled sound of a glass being put down. It drove him insane. This was why Darren hated dinner at home. It was so mundane, so unexciting. And worst of all, he was unable to escape his parents. Usually he would be out at Farrah's eating something that would burn his tongue or drinking enough to forget about a meal at all.

"What do you mean different?"His mother asked at the end of it, as Darren stood up to go to his room. "Your dad and I were both talking about high school today, and surely, cliques always stay the same. It's almost universal, right? We've been in enough high school films to know that." Darren stared at her, not really in the mood to answer. No one could forget Jennifer Haas'—then Jennifer Espen—role as the most forgettable and sixth member of a loveable group of misfits in a unknown 1990s TV film among her "impressive repertoire". Noting that Gregory was only an extra in said production. 

"Where else would I be?" Darren retorted. "I mean, your son's a loser. He's with the other gay misfits who no one cares about." 

"Sounds good to me," his dad said nervously. "Always nice to fit in somewhere." 

[opheliabo-blog]

anonymous asked heythereophelia:

Hallo, anonymous! Ich liebe Berlin! Ich hoffe, bald zu besuchen! School in America is a lot different than I thought it would be. When I saw High School Musical as a kid, I did not think that it accurately portrayed American schools, but it does seem to fit my new school. There is no singing and dancing, but there are groups of people -- cliques -- who are sorted based on their interests, much like "jocks" and "nerds".

I was labeled as a "Busy". My cousin tells me that it is because I am very open with my sexuality and have had quite a few sexual partners since arriving at this school. I must say, I do fit in with the rest of the group, but I find the idea of these cliques to be ridiculous. My school back home had groups, but they were never as serious as they are here.

I mostly hang out with my cousin, but I do have a few friends here, yes! There are a lot of parties that take place here, and there is always time to socialize. I do like school here, though I sometimes struggle with the lessons.

Vielen dank für ihr interesse! xx