By: CNJ
PG-13
7: Group Dynamics
Kristy:
"...interesting, the group
dynamics in school," Claudia finished as we munched on a huge bag of chips
and sipped mint- topped chocolate that first Friday night in early January
at our monthly sleepover, which was at Mary Anne's place this time. We
had been playing Uno and talking about different things from world events,
to eye shadow, to books, to school. With the topic of school, the talk
had drifted over to the various groups kids seemed to divide themselves
into at Stoneybrook High.
"There's about five or so
groups," I put in. "You have the top group, the In crowd that a lot of
kids try to butter up, then you have the athletes, then the student government,
then next on down is the average kids that hardly anyone notices, then
the kids considered outcasts."
"It's a hierarchy, then,"
Stacey sipped her chocolate.
"Like a strata, a social
strata," Abby added. "That's why the snobby kids try to butter up the In
group."
"And where are we in this?"
Claudia asked.
"I don't know...we're definitely
not in the In group," Mary Anne lay back, crossing her legs backward.
"No one here's with the
government yet," I shuffled the Uno cards, dropping some.
"You and I are on soccer,
but we really don't hang out with the 'jocks,'" Abby pointed out to me.
"Most of them are football guys anyway and some of them are into sexist
humor." She made a face.
"We're not really into any
group," Abby's twin sister Anna, leaned back on her hands. "The BSC's I
guess a group of our own, a small one, but a group all the same."
"Looks like it," Mary Anne
nodded.
"I wonder where we are on
the strata," Claudia wondered.
"Who knows?" Stacey shrugged.
"We're not at the top, but we're not exactly outcasts either."
"I wonder if it's any valid
reason why some kids are outcasted," Mary Anne ran her fingers through
her bangs. "Is it just because they're considered weird?" We were all quiet
a minute. Most of the "outcasts" were actually a motley crew, but they
hung around the fringes. Once or twice, I'd heard other kids making fun
of them. Some of those kids did have a valid reason for being at the bottom,
like being obnoxious or troublemakers, but some were mostly withdrawn and
stood on the sidelines. Those could even blend in with the "averages."
The "average" kids were by far the largest group at SHS. They mostly just
blend in with the crowd, rarely standing out in any way. They're not necessarily
quiet and they are involved in some activities, but mostly...it's hard
to explain, I guess it's just they're like mainstream society, or what
mainstream society expects "typical" teenagers to be.
"We're more or less friendly
with most of them," I munched on another chip.
"Except the troublemakers,"
Anna put in.
"And the In crowd," Abby
added. "I notice we kind of keep our distance from them."
"Could it be because everyone
knows they kind of run a lot of things at school?" Stacey asked.
"I think that's probably
it," I nodded. We thought about the group deal in our school.
"Well, I'm glad to be in
THIS group," Abby sat up. "I'd rather be here than any other."
"Me too..." "Yeah..." we
all chimed in, then started another round of Uno.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stacey:
"Think we'll get more snow
by this weekend?" Claud asked me Monday morning as we headed to homeroom
and sat.
"I don't know," I shrugged.
"It's been below freezing since Saturday. We might." I knew Claudia was
hoping for time off school, since school, especially English class is not
one of her favorite things. Kids slowly tricked in and I could see some
kids were still sleepy on this cold Monday morning. Maybe they should open
high schools later, I thought smiling softly as I remembered an article
Mom and I had both read in Time magazine about high schools and
that some officials think high school should open later since teens actually
sleep more than young kids. I then heard a loud snicker and Randy Greenhold
booked past my desk with a smaller kid after him.
"Hey, hey, come on..." the
short boy pleaded. "Give it back, it isn't funny anymore..."
"No...you don't want the
world to see your little birthday gift your sweet mommy gave you?" Randy
smirked, leaning on the board and holding the notebook high out of the
boy's reach.
"C'mon, it's private..."
"Ohhhh, it's private,"
Randy jeered and he an another guy laughed. "It's so dear, you don't want
anyone to see iiiit!" By then several kids were looking over and the poor
guy looked so humiliated.
"Hey, leave him alone,"
I stood some.
"Why should we?" Randy turned
and sneered at me. "We're having fun. Wanna join in?"
"No," I stated. "Just leave
him alone."
"Ohhh, leave him alone..."
the other chanted. "Then if we should leave him alone, stay out of our
business," he snarled. Just then, Ms. Zarroto came in and Randy dropped
the notebook and the guy grabbed it and scooted to his seat. Randy glowered
at me, then the short guy, then we all sat. Randy's part of the In clique
here, I thought. I got the feeling that lately the In crowd were doing
little things like that to other kids and seemed to be everywhere, despite
the fact that they're not a big group...maybe around ten or twelve of them.
What next, I worried. I hoped it wouldn't spread to more kids either joining
them or being picked on.
