Once or twice about every month, our principal would ask a different person, who are the popular kids in this school? We all knew what he wanted to hear, "I have no idea." That's what I said, that's what everyone says. We know that if we tell the truth the popular kids will hate us. So, we lie. We all lie, forever wallowing in self pity and wondering what would have happened if we told the truth.

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Everyone at the Center for Performing and Fine Arts knows who the popular kids are. They don't talk to the new kids, they don't eat lunch with the new kids, hey, they don't even look at the new kids! Are there cliques in this school? Heck yeah there are! Nobody wants to admit it because they all know that things will just get worse for them. I was once new in that school. I know what it's like to be awkwardly standing around waiting for someone to acknowledge that you're there while you see all of the old-timers shrieking and hugging each other. You sit with all the other new kids watching everyone catch up with each other. The new kids are silent, they wish they could disappear. Everyone is aware of this awkward feeling in the room, yet no one acknowledges it. So we, the new kids, are forced to sit there, wondering if anyone will come up to us, praying that at least one kind person will say hello. No one does.

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Then there's lunch time. Of course, the one time of the day everyone in the whole school is together and you have to decide where to sit, who to sit with, and what to say. God forbid you sit at the wrong table, or talk to the wrong person. You could be labeled for life because of one word you said, one place you sat. Even harmless sentences become hazards and you are forced to wait seconds to answer a question just to come up with an answer. Then people think your shy or you have a brain problem and can't process things quickly, and they go back to there old friends whispering about what just happened. Soon, you are labled as the shy girl with brain tumor. It is a lose, lose situation. Yet no one does anything about it.

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Who are the popular kids?

"I have no idea."

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Then there's lunch time. Of course, the one time of the day everyone in the whole school is together and you have to decide where to sit, who to sit with, and what to say. God forbid you sit at the wrong table, or talk to the wrong person. You could be labeled for life because of one word you said, one place you sat. Yet no one does anything about it.

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Who are the popular kids?

"I have no idea."