1

Eiling

I ALWAYS hated Colorado. Mainly because the people here made me feel weird. You couldn't walk down the street without receiving stares from those around you. They made me feel like they recognized me, and I didn't want to be recognized.

I had my black hoodie on. The hoodie, the pair of blue jeans I was also wearing, and the two shirts in my back-pack were the only items of clothing I owned. When I was roughly thrown out of my uncle's home, I wasn't given my clothes. All the money I earned from the jobs I did were spent mostly on food, hotel room payment and general survival. I didn't have spare money to purchase a second-hand outfit from any of the local stores, and besides, in Colorado, you never know who's gonna pop up at the store and say "Hey! I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

I hated being put in such 'spotlight' situations so I avoided stores like the plague. Too many people. Maybe I was just being paranoid because I didn't want anyone to find out about my past. I didn't even want anyone to know I existed. I just wanted to go to school, graduate, and get a job.

Three goals, three simple goals that I was going to accomplish. I was, after all, in my senior year. But then there was school...

I didn't like my school. The populars were too popular, and the unpopolars were too unpopular. The entire system was stereotypical and biased. It sucked. Everything about my school went in a straight line. They had a particular way of doing stuff and once you fell out of line...

Let's just say you're doomed.

Nevertheless, even after I knew about this sickening system, school was the place I was currently trudging to.

My head was bent down, the top of my hoodie cap covering my eyes from being seen. My hands were tucked safely into the pockets of my hoodie as I marched through the front gates of Stanley Georgeson High: a place where gossip flew about like oxygen and the little ones struggled to survive.

I hated this school.

Immediately I passed through the front gates, the chatter around me increased.

From the corner of my eye, I spotted a group of cheerleaders giggling at something on one of the girls' phones. From the other corner, the football team was seated at one of the lounge tables on the 'popular field', and they were laughing.

As I passed another group of girls, I heard them whispering. Then one of the girls broke off from the group and proceeded to whisper into yet another girl's ear.

The same process continued. Whispers flew around to everyone's ears except for mine. It was at this point I determined that I was the cause of the sudden laughter.

I hiked my bag higher on my shoulder and pulled my hoodie further down to shield myself. I noticed that even though they seemed like they were laughing at me, they weren't actually looking in my direction. I released a sigh in relief. I was probably just being paranoid again.

I trudged up the stairs leading to the front doors of Stanley with both speed and caution. Speed because I wanted to get out of the popular territory...fast, and caution because I didn't want to draw any attention.

Attention was the last thing I needed.

Once I was in the safe haven of the halls, the chatter died down into comfortable-almost-silence. I had just entered the unpopular territory.

In case you're lost, here's a little description of my school's Social Community.

The entire school was divided into three. The Stanley Populars who hung out outside the school in a wide span of grass and tables they called "The Popular Field". It was really hard to spot a Popular anywhere in the halls when it wasn't time for classes.

The populars were, well, popular. They were the influential rich social queens and kings of partying who didn't give a donkey's ass about school or whatever happened at school. Well, most of them didn't. They literally controlled the school because everyone was practically blinded by their adoration for them. This group consisted of the golden boys and glitter girls of Stanley Georgeson. A few of the populars were mean, the only reason why those mean populars were popular was because they were friends with the actual popular people.

Then there were the 'Stanley Unpopulars' who were… you guessed it, unpopular! Honestly, there was nothing much to say about these people. Most popular wannabes fell into this group. It was an unspoken rule. You're either Popular or you're not.

And then there were the negligibles.

No one cared about the negligibles so this group was like a safe spot. All the bullies usually picked on the unpopulars, it was really rare to find a negligible who was bullied. Like I said before, no one cared about them. They didn't affect the social ladder of the school so they weren't counted as people who mattered.

And that's why I was negligible. It was the perfect spot to be in if you didn't want anything in the social ladder to affect you.

The funny thing was, you didn't get to pick where you fell under. The groups had a way of picking their members. And it was very very hard for a student to transfer from one group to another. Only the populars could move a student up or down the ladder but they hardly ever moved anyone up. That's why they were able to maintain that pattern.

Another funny thing was, the unpopolars didn't realize they were the ones making the populars popular. So most of them would do anything, give anything even, just to join the popular crowd.

The bell went off for the first class. I quickened my pace. Being late to class was one of the ways to be noticed at SGH. I had woken up pretty early today to avoid this situation but apparently, my plan flopped.

I was more than happy to see that the door to my first class was only a few feet away, so I went faster. But then things had to go wrong.

All the students in the students in the halls scrambled for the walls. This was bad news for me, but I walked very close to the walls. It aided my low-key profile.

I stared in confusion as all the paths to the door were blocked by human beings who were scrambling away from something I didn't know about. Then I sighed in frustration.

I was late already, I couldn't do anything about it. I decided to skip class and hide in the library. The librarian was a friend of mine so she wouldn't mind.

Small whispers erupted from the crowd created. A sweat broke out on my forehead.

How was I supposed to get out of this now? Every single path in sight was blocked!

I peeked through the spaces in-between people's necks and heads trying to get a view of what caused the commotion.

Things like this only happened when there was a fight happening, or that one time the principal slipped in the halls and his wig came off (that was hilarious). The only other situation that could cause such pandemonium was...

As if on cue, my thoughts were brought to a halt as I saw the reason.

The Prime Empire.

The students had shifted and created a path for them to walk through. I stepped back cautiously.

Of course it would be them, why didn't I think of this earlier?

The Prime Empire was a group of the most popular students in the whole of the school. One of them was the heir to a car company. Another was getting ready to take over his father's gym.

Tyler, Taylor, Lydia, Hazel, Reece and Kayden. Six of the most powerful and influential teenagers ever known at Stanley.

I felt like crap. A negligible like me wasn't even deemed worthy to behold them. They radiated too much power. Everyone feared them just as much as they adored them. They were the mighty among the mighty. Anyone who dared come in their way was never able to tell the story. They were hunters who never lost. They never could lose.

I needed to get out of here. No other negligible could be seen from my point of vision. I was trapped. I was alone. If I didn't escape this, if I got noticed...I was doomed.

My heart slammed inside my chest. Then just as suddenly as the entire drama had begun, it came to an end. The Prime had passed so the students rushed to their classes.

I adjusted my hoodie, ducked my head and headed to the library like nothing happened.