The Granger Girls ✓

One

K A T E

I'VE been called many things over the last four years, by many different people. Some have been true, some have not. Some have been kind, some have been cruel. I've been called intelligent, beautiful, full of potential. Cold, sociopathic, and mean. But there's one thing I've never been called, one thing I crave to be described as: popular. Popular not in the sense of being loved or agreeable; rather, the type of popular used to describe the mean girls in every cliché American teen movie. The mean girls who are adored by some, hated by many, but above all else, are powerful. That's what I want: I want power. 

"Dear Diary," I begin to write on a clean page of my journal. My font is cursive but neat. "I'm feeling villainous..."

A lot of people would think I have everything, and in some ways, I do. I have a wealthy family, the IQ of a genius, a figure worthy of fashion week runways, a face to put most beauty queens to shame, and to top it all off, I attend one of the UK's most prestigious private schools. But it's not enough. Nothing is ever enough for me, because here it seems to make no difference how rich you are, how pretty you are, how many Prada bags or bottles of Chanel perfume you own; no matter what, there will always be someone better. There will always be someone whose daddy is richer, whose house is bigger, and whose face is more beautiful.

But what if there wasn't? What if you were the one at the top, the number one girl? To take that power, you have to exert dominance through fear and intimidation. You have to be able to lie easily, and those lies have to be both bitter enough to poison your enemies, and sweet enough to charm your followers.

"...I have a plan, and it's going to make me popular. The other girls will finally fall at my feet. It will be my parties they'll want to go to, and me they'll desperately try to imitate. The social ladder will be flipped, and I'll be at the top, as I always should have been..."

Hayford Independent Secondary School - the private, all-girls school I've attended since I was eleven years old - is filled with the daughters of London's richest, even some of the world's richest. Most students were born into old-money families, the children of wealthy businessmen or politicians. They are ladies, duchesses, and princesses. It's therefore not surprising that there's a strict social hierarchy, and everyone knows who is at the top and who is at the bottom.
I'm not at the bottom. Even those who despise me – which is, by now, the majority of year eleven students – know that I am too good for that: I'm not one of the tryhards, or teacher's pets, or working-class scholarship students. I am in the middle – average – but average is not good enough. I deserve to be at the top, and soon enough, I will be. 

"...It's going to take some work, though. There are people in my way, and they need to be removed..."

I continue writing. It's one in the morning and I have school tomorrow, but I'm too excited to sleep. My heart is thumping, and a smile spreads across my lips – a sly smile, my signature - as I think of the glory which will soon be mine.

I'll never understand why I ended up in this middling spot of the Hayford hierarchy in the first place, as I have always had everything required to be at the top; I shouldn't have to work for the privilege now. I am beautiful, charismatic, extroverted, and filthy rich, all the things one is judged on when they first arrive at Hayford and the order is determined, when the queens are given their coronations. I should've been one of them all those years ago, but at least now I can correct that injustice. My extreme intelligence and manipulation skills will provide an extra layer to my armoury, giving me a winning edge beyond physical beauty and monetary wealth, an edge lacked by the current rulers. These traits will allow me not only to steal the crown, but to dig my silver claws deep into it, ensuring it will never again be out of my grip.

But I won't work alone in this mission. That would be foolish, especially given the danger of what I'm about to do, and the trouble I'll get into if I'm caught. To pull this off, I'll need an army of unconditional supporters. So far, I have one: Starr Smith, my best friend of two years, someone who is already firmly under my spell. We've been inseparable since we met at the school swimming club back in year nine, and she clings to my every word; easily led and desperate for excitement, she's a weak girl I can mould like clay. 

Starr is the only person I like at school - and one of the few people I like in general - but at Hayford, it's kill or be killed, every girl for herself. Friends stab each other with the heels of their Louboutins, and the loser is finished off with suffocation by high-end perfume, the scent of No5 clinging to the designer clothes of the dead body long after her metaphorical murder.
I will throw Starr away if I have to, destroying her just as I'll destroy everyone else. But to start with she'll be my ally, the first of many.

"...Some will definitely wonder why I would go to such extremes to be popular at a school I'll be graduating from in a maximum of two and a half years' time. But this is a dream I've had since I first stepped foot into those buildings. Power and control, especially over people like Hayford girls, is what I crave more than anything else in this world. I won't deny myself any longer."

Outside the comfort of my pink and black bedroom, a storm is brewing. I can hear the rain hammering against the glass of the window, and begin to imagine what the sky might look like. I decide it's as dark as my hair – almost raven - but lacking the sparkle of any stars. This sky reflects what Hayford will become under my rule: darkness will take over, with every bright light quickly and cruelly destroyed. 

I sigh, then lie down in preparation to sleep, content with my planning and relaxed by the sound of the rain. The final thought to cross my mind is one regarding Starr, and how she and the other girls I'm soon to recruit will help me in this plan, serving me with unending loyalty whether they like it or not. They will obey my every command, propping me up as high as I can go; if they do not submit, they will suffer. Because in this world, popularity is everything. And I will settle for nothing less than queenship...