“Popular”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

Prompt: “Everything popular is wrong.” – Oscar Wilde

Whispers filled the hallways as I walked. It’s simply incredible how they didn’t even resist the temptation to point and nudge their buddies. They just showed me everything, their whole personalities, in a simple look.

And that’s how I controlled them.

Of course, as the ‘popular kid’, the ‘Queen bee’, the ‘alpha female’, I was invincible. I could do anything and everything that I wanted and no one would complain. To be honest, I could’ve probably framed someone for murder and everyone would’ve believed me without a second thought.

Knowledge wasn’t power; popularity was.

And I loved it. I was on top of the world. Everything had fallen into place. Life was perfect.

Or, so they thought.

In reality, I was dying inside. Sure, I had literally anyone could’ve ever wanted. But it wasn’t what I wanted. All I wanted was to be that kid in the back, you know, the one who never says anything and who’s always off somewhere in their own mind. I didn’t want to think about anyone else. I didn’t want to be followed or copied or worshipped. All I wanted was some peace and quiet.

Was that really so much to ask?

Final Comments: I didn’t really know what to write about for this one…

Overall Rating: 🤨