AN: Originally, I came up with this idea in the form of a TV show. But I possess no money and therefore can not make a TV show. So I'm writing it in story form instead.

The Smokers

Prologue

The groups and cliques in schools have never ceased to amaze me, simply because there is always very little similarity between everyone in each group with the exception for one trait.

For example, you have the Preps: the rich kids who like to sit in the field behind the school diner at lunchtime, even though some of them don't actually eat lunch. They're all from wealthy families, but that's pretty much it in terms of likeliness. By that, I don't mean appearances. God no, they're all the same long, wavy, movie-star mermaid hair, designer black boots and mini skirts with the top button of their school blouses undone, and a loose tie. It's their personalities that make them the most confusing clique of all. Some (and by some I mean like two of them) are actually not that bad. I sit next to one, Lauren, in art and design and she's actually pretty nice. I only ever speak to her in art, but I don't blame her for this. She's not one of those who laughed at me in the first three years of secondary school. She's in with a crowd that classifies you as a bitch automatically, but I'd estimate that only sixty-five percent or so of them are bitches. The rest are decent people who are preps, because that's what they were born into. Among them, you have artists, scientists, athletes and some who don't have a particular talent and are pretty well-rounded in abilities. Then, you have a few that can barely do anything about gossip and shop. I never feel particularly bad thinking that when I look at them girlishly shriek at a magazine whilst waiting to go into the next class, because they never had a nice thing to say about me. The nagging and shouts pretty much stop in year ten, people learn to leave each other alone because you think no one is worth any of your time. In all fairness it's probably true.

Then, you have the Sports: the athletes. The tall girls and the muscular boys who get out of wearing normal school uniform and out of the normal school hour, because there's some local mini olympics between the surrounding schools. It's always the talk of the school when they come back with first place. The Sports' faces dominate the school website and newsletter with headings like "Alicia Murray Wins Gold At Cherring Park 100m Sprint" and then Alicia is called up to the front on assemblies on Friday mornings and asked to give a speech about how amazing it feels to be a winner. I imagine that for Alicia it's kind of nice to have that moment, since none of the Sports ever actually realise that with the exception of themselves, no one cares at all. However, if you take into consideration all of the glory the school gives them (such as the already mentioned assembly speeches and dedicated newsletter pages) it's understandable. Last year, a year nine kid won a national science fair, and the only recognition he got from the school was a tiny three sentence article, which was hiding beneath a five paragraph article about how a year eleven was training and dieting in order to help boost his fitness for the school's football team's next game. Not all of the Sports particularly like the attention though, in fact, some are pretty shy. I'm pretty sure the only reason they every took up sports was because running aimlessly around the track all lunch gave them a chance to be themselves. You can also tell they're all different by their sports clothes. You've got some, flashy, neon trainers, professional sportswear that's probably like eighty quid for a pair of trackies. Then, you have the ones in supermarket basic white top, black bottoms and plimsoles. I'm not saying that they should be treated differently because of their financial situation, mind you.

The one last biggest stereotypical clique is the Geeks. The ones who like the quiet, sanctuary of the library and their video game figurines and who class degree level physics as common knowledge. I think the most surprising thing about the Geeks is that some of them aren't even that smart. More than half of the library kids (another name for them) are not going to leave school with anything higher than C grades.

There is of course more cliques than the ones mentioned. There's the musicians; the performers; the boys who wear trousers too low and the group of eight year tens who wear nothing but black and have purple hair. Then, of course, you have the ones who don't belong to a clique. This doesn't mean they're friendless. There's just nothing that stands out between them all. Those are the lucky, unstereotyped ones. The ones I used to want to be.

Looking back on what I've just said, I can see how it can easily be misinterpreted to be a naïve, stereotype based assumption on every person in the entire school. Perhaps I should explain that what I've just said is mostly just what I get from first glance at all the different groups, gangs and gossipers, because I do not know anymore. Why? Because a glance is all I have with everyone apart from my own clique. I'm sure that all of them have a much bigger canvas following their trail, much like everyone in my clique.

The Smokers.

That's who we are. The seven year elevens who sit behind the science block every break and lunch and smoke. Obviously, we're not the only people who smoke in the school (I've seen a few of the Preps smoke outside the school gates after the last session) but because that's the only thing we all have in common, like the Preps, the Sports and the Geeks, we are therefore known as The Smokers. Actually, that's not entirely true. The fact that we smoke is not what joins us together. We are a clique because we all smoke for a reason.

There's seven of us in total.

There's Megan: The Unstable Homelife

Rick: The Bad Grades.

Rhia: The Party Girl.

Chris: The Gay.

Marcia: The Mum.

Jay: The Dad.

And there's me. Jess. I smoke because if I didn't, I wouldn't fit in anywhere. I guess I'm the Outsider. Even though some may argue that we all are.

AN: I hope you enjoyed the prologue!

Reviews would be great!

Nikki~