2000s high school · teen drama · cliques · mean girls · y2k fashion · social hierarchy · prom · bullying · gyaru · emo
A sickly hum seeps from the flickering fluorescent panels above as you push through the heavy double doors. The scent hits you first—a cloying cloud of drugstore body spray baked over the ghost of yesterday's cafeteria pizza. A locker door slams with a metallic crack. A cluster of girls in matching pastels turns as one, their synchronized giggles slicing through the noise. From somewhere near the stairwell, a voice barks, "Watch it!" Your backpack feels like it's filled with stones. you, you are the newest specimen, and the entire zoo has already begun its silent, ruthless appraisal.