Story: Middle Part ?a
[[Continuity Note: Uh, this goes somewhere...]]
The East Hills High School hierarchy was not the sort that comes out of your average teen fiction novel. It was more along the lines of the sort that people found in your average high school. Of course, there were the groups of students, and well, you could say that some groups were more well liked than others. The hierarchy had basically been settled since the about halfway through year seven. Before that, everyone was too busy trying to find their place in the universe.
But there were the groups, mostly determined by race (no matter how hard anyone tried to say that there was no racism... well there wasn't in a mean way) and to some extent extra-curricular activities. But people from each group participated in whatever they wanted... unless they were in a group characterised by its unwillingness to participate in anything. A lot of groups had formed from things like geographical location (if you spent some time on the same bus it either made you friends or worst enemies) or classes in year seven. But once you were there, you were pretty much there for the rest of your life. Though Alf had heard that once you got to year eleven and twelve stuff like group didn't matter to people as much anymore.
There were about five groups in Alf's year. Some of them had name themselves, but mostly Alf had named them within the confines of his own mind. When referring to a group of people out loud it would always be so-and-so and so-and-so and them. The 'popular' group as Alf thought of them, were a group of mainly very friendly people who were also very active throughout the school and very... white. They had what Alf referred to as a 'token Asian' and a 'token Curry'. It was probably subconscious, but they did, and that Asian and Indian happened to be two of the least Asian and Indian culture-wise in the grade. Alf thought of them as popular as many people liked them. When voting for things, they were automatically the first people you the grade thought of to represent them. Especially since they were nice, and approachable.
Next was the 'cool' group. The cool group were not so much a cool group of people, but a group who thought of themselves as cool. Maybe you might call them something else at a different school. But they were the ones who wagged school, who were known to drink and smoke and party, who were known to be the ones who knew how to get the illicit substances. They were also a largely skip or 'White Australian' group. They were the ones who thought they were the greatest. Who thought they were so smart, and so clever. The ones who rebelled by wearing non-standard pieces of uniform (and were constantly being reprimanded for it). They were the ones who laughed behind their hands whenever anyone else said anything, and who looked at you as though you were so beneath them. They kept to themselves mostly, and Alf always wondered how these people managed to evolve to be so different to everyone else. Amazingly, by some chance, they managed to have a token Asian and Curry, too.
Then there was the 'interesting' group. It was by far the largest group in the grade, encompassing more than twenty people. And because of this, they were known to have a lot of in-fighting and fragmentation. The thing that kept them all together in Alf's mind (because the individual members of the group were bound to imagine different people as part of their group of friends) was the fact that they at some point in time were all together. And the fact that because of the loose ties between them making none of their smaller factions a distinct group they all sat together in the same general area of the quadrangle, on the steps away from the main school building.
There was the 'smart Asian' group. These were the ones perceived to have no life (though sitting next to two of them for most of this year had made Alf realised that this was largely untrue). They were the ones with the immense parental pressure placed upon them. The ones who'd been coached since they were too small to remember. The ones who were determined to succeed, whether for their own benefit, or because it would make their parents feel better.
The 'dumb Asian' group. They weren't so much 'dumb' as more inclined to rebel. A few of them probably thought they were stupid, simply because they weren't living up to their parents' expectations. They were the ones hiding slutty clothing in their wardrobes, and sneaking out of Chinese school on Saturdays. They would also skip school some days, and wear their uniforms a little off kilter, but though they might drink or smoke sometimes, they weren't about to go trying things that were illegal for over-eighteens as well. Alf suspected that some of them were probably a part of some gang or other.
The 'terrorists' were known for being Middle Eastern. A group that had largely ruled the school pre-September 11 was now thrust to the sidelines, marginalised as though the beliefs of other people of their race automatically fell upon them, when they all considered themselves Australian, and nothing else. Alf had named them unkindly, but if one of them did turn out to be a terrorist later on in life, if interviewed, Alf would not be lying if he said that he would have had no idea. Once upon a time, they might have been known as the 'curry' group. A much nicer name that they used themselves.
Then there were the 'wogs'. Those of Mediterranean European descent were known to be good natured people. They were basically normal. Their families had been Australian for so long that no one even remembered why their last name was Russo or Moretti. They were known for having loud voices and big personalities, average marks and average participation.
And then there was Alf and Damien, and the other students who never really sort of seemed to fit anywhere, or wandered around in groups or four or less. Alf had never really fit in. He and Damien had been friends forever. They lived just down the street from each other, the only boys their age on their street. There was Rock, too, but the two year age gap had seemed a huge amount when they were younger. Because of that, it was always the two of them. Even though Damien made other friends, his best friend was Alf. And he knew that Alf wasn't comfortable hanging out with the other boys he made friends with, so he left them as back-up friends, for days when Alf wasn't around.
Alf had never fit in, and now that Damien had left him, it was fairly assured that he never would.
[[End descriptive scene. The last sentence means that it goes some time before Jessica finds Alf, after Damien dumps him.]]
posted by Cedric @ 12:12 pm
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