What happens when the peace of the school is disrupted by an unknown that cannot be traced?

What does a school, known for its perfect reputation and fine breeding of good girls that produced top marks do when a video goes around about their golden girl talking shit about all her best friends? What do they do when all their students are gossiping about something regarding their own school- the perfect school that is not supposed to have any drama?

What exactly does Rifton Girls' High do?

They organise another assembly talk. Like, duh, what else?

It was a common thing for Rifton Girls' High to have discipline talks every now and then, just to keep us all in line and conforming to the rules like they wanted in their draconian fashion. But not as frequently as having two in the span of three weeks. No, this was because of a certain faker being exposed and her true colours shining through. The normally docile sub-cliques had swiftly emerged as avid gossipers, busily discussing what had gone down and filling in absentees.

But the hottest topic would remain to be Natalie's drastic follower drop.

had lost about four hundred followers in the span of one weekend. It was crazy. Just a few weeks ago, her follower count was increasing steadily and almost saw potential in reaching 2k. It was funny, seeing how her seemingly unshakable empire had crumbled to dust in such a short span of time.

Yet, there was one thing that was rather interesting that I noticed as I walked through the halls, tugging at my bag straps. I watched as Julie gave Gillian - who had to bend down since the smarty-pants brunette was rather short - a hug. "Take care, okay?"

"Thanks, Jules," Gillian responded with an almost-sad smile as the Intellectuals began to walk off behind their leader and the Populars behind Gillian - and Lisa who was avidly trying to walk aside her.

Only a short while after a dethronement and a new queen's up and ruling already? Must've missed the coronation. And honestly, Gillian didn't look all that upset that her 'best friend' had really hated her - in fact, she seemed all ready to fit into her new role. And given the fact that Julie hugged her and not Lisa...

Why was secondary school all full of politics and underlying drama? Why couldn't I just go back to primary school, where people were more sincere about their behaviour instead of spending their time trying to rise in the hierarchy? Back then, it was totally normal for me to storm up to anyone who was being mean and just ask them what their problem was. After that, we'd talk or yell it all out. Problem solved, just like that. Of course, since we were teenagers now, we couldn't be brutally honest with each other. We had to go to the backstabbing, rumour-spreading, fake-smiling route every damn time because it obviously made everyone seem more refined.

As I was about to head to my locker, I felt a tap on my shoulder - only to see Rianne Clifford.

Crap.

Not only was she in the running for a high position in the central committee of the school's prefectorial board, Rianne boasted both leadership and grades - the exact thing that Rifton wanted besides more trophy earners to help fill their golden cabinets. She was probably just as much of a teacher's pet as Julie, but better since she boasted a striped blue-and-white tie with small block letters of 'PREFECT' sewn onto the blue part. The kid seemed to like her job and took great pride in spotting any slightest form of misdemeanour to record in a booking card that slowly filled up with names of students - mostly mine. After all, I was just a loner - pissing me off would do nothing to her social status. I knew for one that she'd never touch a powerful clique member - biased idiot.

"Please clip up your hair." She said, gesturing at the long side-fringe that hang lazily over the side of my head. In my defense, it wasn't even that messy.

"Oh! Sorry, I can do it now - "

"Unfortunately, I still have to book you since I already told you last week when... sorry," Rianne smiled sheepishly (or at least, she looked sheepish) as she whipped out the blue card that she kept in her pocket.

More like sorry not sorry, I thought grudgingly as she scribbled down my name.

The only reason why one could possibly enjoy school assemblies was that it wasn't an actual class. It was mostly a pleasant escape from schoolwork if everyone got there on time, looked neat in school attire and kept their mouths shut. Of course, that couldn't always happen - and when it didn't, shit hit the fan without fail.

Why? Because the students not arriving on time quietly and orderly obviously meant that the reputation of the school would be tarnished - what a sin!

"Girls, you were all already told that there is assembly today, yet so many of you turned up late!" Mdm Lorenzo said furiously, her expression filled with pure disdain at the obviously terrible behaviour that we had somehow allowed to happen. "I want you girls to know that this tardiness is unacceptable. You are the students of Rifton Girls' High School, the brightest minds among all students in the city; the cream of the crop! If the boys in Hawthorn Institution can have perfect decorum, I am sure all Rifton girls can do it thrice as well."

Only a small fraction of the student body was late - yet they were kicking up some huge din about it and comparing us to the students in our brother school? Real nice, school.

"... now, we will begin today's assembly talk," Lorenzo spoke, her voice suddenly going from how-dare-you-ruin-the-good-name-of-our-school to that of let's-have-a-lovely-talk. "It will focus on the topic of cyberwellness."

Instantly, the entire student body began to whisper- only to be shut up by Lorenzo. But I managed to catch a snippet here and there. "It's because that Natalie girl was badmouthing... such a terrible girl... shouldn't be allowed to stay in Rifton... she won't be expelled, her mother is on the board... "

Slides were projected onto the screen and she began her talk- and boy, was it totally irrelevant. I had always disliked these kinds of talks - where the teachers told you to be good people and 'say no to bullying' and 'tell a trusted adult'. Had they not figured out that this kind of teaching with slides and all did not work in real life? Real bullies, in my opinion, didn't punch you in the face. Real bullies destroy you subtly, dropping slight hints here and there that lead to the domino effect of your life falling apart. Real bullies analyse you, then find the right places to hit home so that you never see the light of day after.

Real bullies hid behind perfect facades and got away, leaving their victims to look pathetic and weak.

It was wrong - so, so wrong. Not that I could ever say a thing about that, considering that I was powerless and the powerless were all obliged to keep their mouths shut, suppressing their injustices to save themselves from an even worse fate.

I turned and located Natalie Kingsley a few rows in front of the Populars, unnoticeable as she sat with her expression unusually solemn and formal, no one around her speaking to her - only some occasionally rude staring by other students.

How's the loner life treating you, Natalie? I thought as I smirked internally, turning back to face the screen as I adjusted my blazer.

About time Selene Chan started making some of her own rules on a chessboard full of them.