Comments (45)

1. I guess the main group I hung out with would consider themselves nerds/geeks, but I can’t say I ever had a real group that I always hung out with. I had a few friends in several different cliques. Mostly nerds, yes, but mix in some outcasts, goths, band geeks, athletes, and plain ol’ regular people as well. I tended to change groups with a change in schedule–depended on who I had class and lunch with at the time.

   posted by nutmeag on 6-3-2009 at 8:20 am

2. I’m a category B person – you’re not old enough to enjoy life until you’re out of high school.

   I am a nerd, but I didn’t know it back then. Being in orchestra should have tipped me off but, I’m glad since it shaped who I am today. I hung out with all sorts of people from different clicks – mostly hippies and musicians. I wasn’t part of one myself, but I wasn’t a loner. I didn’t feel like I could fit in anywhere. My tolerance for all the immaturity didn’t exist, so I associated with my older sister and her older friends.

   I did end up marrying a nerd – band geek at that. Best decision I’ve ever made! =)

   posted by Christina on 6-3-2009 at 8:38 am

3. Hmm. I just graduated a week and a half ago, and I guess I’m a category B. It’s weird, though. On the one hand, everybody liked me all right–I hung out with the drama nerds and the smart kids, but everybody invited me to the parties and asked me for homework help. On the other hand, I’ve been looking forward to graduation since I started high school!

   reCaptcha: 55-52 destiny.

   posted by Allison on 6-3-2009 at 8:50 am

4. My school was so small that we all had to do double or triple duty. I was both a druggie and an overachiever (if you can believe that). I also played in the marching band. I was a loner and nerd in the elementary grades, and rather popular in the upper classes. With a graduating class of 26, we were all pretty close.

   posted by Miss Cellania on 6-3-2009 at 9:15 am

5. Oh yeah, there were exactly 0 computer nerds in my class. We had no computers!

   posted by Miss Cellania on 6-3-2009 at 9:19 am

6. Definitely a Cat B! A band geek in school who hung out with some stoners and some jocks. Often the same kids. Lovin’ life over 30 years later!

   posted by Hyacinth on 6-3-2009 at 9:39 am

7. Actually, now, with the advent of Facebook, I have been able to see pics of the ‘Drama Nerds’ – a clique I now really wish of which I’d been able to be a part.

   I have great frustration at not having any discernible talent in singing/acting/composing (my ‘dream’ job would be to be the next Sondheim.

   posted by Anon Emous on 6-3-2009 at 9:42 am

8. THere were 3 main groups at my school: the freaks, the plastic freaks and the greasers. The freaks actually did illegal things with illegal substances, the plastic freaks wanted everyone to think they did (but everyone knew they really didn’t), the greasers were into cars and things like that.

   posted by harold on 6-3-2009 at 9:43 am

9. Hmm. The nerdiest thing I ever did…. that would be a tie between Spelling Bee, Chess Club, Science Olympiad, any and all AP classes, and yearbook staff. Oh, and band, but I don’t think band is nerdy because it requires some skill. ;-)

   I don’t think I belonged to any one clique – I don’t think anyone did. The band kids were also the popular kids who were also the smart kids who were also the druggies who were also the jocks… we all kind of rolled in a few loosely-defined groups with rather porous boundaries.

   High school wasn’t the greatest time of my life, but it’s not something that gives me nightmares when I look back on it. I wouldn’t do it again, though. Between early-90′s clothes and my hair (my GOD, the hair)… we’re all better off now.

   posted by Rachel on 6-3-2009 at 10:04 am

10. Sadly, at my very small high school there were not enough of any odd subgroup to form a clique. I would have been a drama nerd (had we had drama), computer geek (had we computers), and a smart kid (I was but there were only a few others). I was in band, a fairly large group (1/3 of the high school enrollement), but I did not fit into any of the band sub-cliques.

    posted by So lonely on 6-3-2009 at 10:11 am

11. I was certainly in the geek group, what with the Dungeons & Dragons and comic books. The only problem was that I came from a very small school ( a graduating class of about 40), so the geek community was me and two buddies. It’s hard to be a geek surrounded by that many rednecks!
    Now, as an adult, I teach at the very same school and I’m still one of the geeks!

    posted by Colin on 6-3-2009 at 10:14 am

12. I would fall into category B. During high school I sort of did it all. I was in speech and knowledge bowl. I would have done drama but my high school didn’t have a program. On the other end of things I also participated in three sports, so I really didn’t have a clique that I really latched onto. Now I guess it would be safe to say that I’m a nerd, I’m in college and am majoring in Computer Science.

    posted by Stephen on 6-3-2009 at 10:17 am

13. Definitely a B. I got along ok with most of the people I went to school with, but I could care less if I see any of them again. Funny, how once you get out of high school and real life begins, all the people who didn’t talk to you then suddenly want to be your friend. Don’t believe me? Just try Facebook, lol.

    posted by Joshua on 6-3-2009 at 10:25 am

14. I was in a fairly large high school, about 350 people in my graduating class.
    I got along with just about everyone, but I was definitely punk (there were only a few of us at my school). At the same time, I was also in the Honors program and played football.

    ReCaptcha: daughter flesh.
    Wow, that’s kinda creepy.

    posted by 8rustystaples on 6-3-2009 at 10:28 am

15. My ReCaptcha says it all about my group I hung out with at school:
    Group flakiest..
    lol That recaptcha is smarter than I thought…
    Weird.

    posted by Chrystani on 6-3-2009 at 10:38 am

16. ReCaptcha: deluged revelations

    Just what I was having thinking of high school.

    posted by Jesse on 6-3-2009 at 10:44 am

17. Without a doubt a Drama Geek. I was in the class all four years, did everything you can do in a play (act, lights, props, house crew etc) and was Senior Editor of the video yearbook, created by the drama club. It helped me come out of my shell completely because everyone was so accepting. We were all weird so there really was no way to look down on anyone. I loved being a drama geek.

    posted by Tricia on 6-3-2009 at 11:01 am

18. ReCaptcha is on a roll:
    know members

    I fell into the punk/nerd/skater/band geek category. *shrug* I just hung with all of the people everyone else thought were weird…not surprisingly they are the ones setting the world on fire now. Thanks facebook — living well, revenge, that sort of thing. =)

    posted by Jenn on 6-3-2009 at 11:08 am

19. I was definitely a B as well. I had a fun time in high school but things have been much better since then. Back in the day though, I was a theatre/choir/smart kid type. I had a lot of flannel shirts. It was the mid-90s after all.

    posted by Julia on 6-3-2009 at 11:21 am

20. I’m certainly Category B, right down to using a different name than I did in HS. Back then I actually allowed people to call me Ace. The current me thinks that rather presumptuous. As for the clique… I think my crew was the leftovers. We called ourselves the Strange Brew Crue and took in pretty much anyone who didn’t fit in the other cliques, provided they weren’t also insufferable jerks. Most of us were smart, but our grades didn’t show it, most of us smoked weed and drank, but weren’t quite stoners, most of us were musical, but not in the school bands. Add in that I was militantly nonconformist at the time, and one of the most flamboyant heterosexual men I’ve ever encountered, it was an oddball sort of group.

    posted by Deansinger on 6-3-2009 at 11:25 am

21. I was in a graduating class of 540 people.
    But being the smart jock that I was, I associated with all cliques; Jocks, nerds, slackers, musicians, goths.
    But I think I was more nerd than jock; I was captain of both basketball and football teams but I was also captain of the AcDec, Math Olympiad, and Debate teams.

    posted by El Jefe on 6-3-2009 at 11:26 am

22. To be honest, I loved high school. I didn’t have a problem with it. But I also realized that better things were coming. I couldn’t pick one of those categories because neither of them fit.

    We had “enriched” classes that all of the geeks were in. I was in those. I was also a choir kid and wished that our drama department could have been bigger so I could have been more involved there.

    posted by Shaina on 6-3-2009 at 11:31 am

23. My school had band geeks, drama nerds, jocks, athletes (yes I think there is a difference), ROTCers, rednecks, a few different urban gangs, skaters, druggies, teen moms, nerds, geeks, and churchies.

    I was with the churchies for most of high school, but by senior year, I had become the queen of the nerds. That’s what you get for placing 1st in state academic decathlon and dating 2 consecutive presidents of the chess club.

    posted by Katherine on 6-3-2009 at 12:01 pm

24. Wasn’t really apart of any of the groups/cliques.

    I moved around socially, i was in the AP/Honors classes for science/history, but chose to drop them for english. so depending on time of day was what “clique” i would be in, english, i was with all the short bus kids and skated through, in chem/physics it was a mix of nerds, geeks, jocks, and artsy people.

    And even though i went to church all the time, i avoided the christian clique like the black plague.

    But i do fall into Cat B.

    My current job (wal-mart cashier pitty me, but hey its a job right…) has proven that highschool truly never ends for some people. the popularity contests are still evident in the levels of management, oh highschool how you taught us all how to face the world….

    recaptcha :unwisest test

    posted by Charlie on 6-3-2009 at 12:05 pm

25. Group B all the way. I was in drama as well as competing in Academic Decathalon (medaled in economics) and on the Calculator team. I spanned the geek and drama club nerds, but I also played tennis so I was cool with the jocks, then my brother was in the band so I was friends with the band geeks.

    I realized sophomore year that high school meant nothing in the grand scheme and didn’t worry about popularity anymore. I essentially let my true personality out and stopped pretending to be someone else so people would like me. Turns out everyone liked the real me.

    posted by Rosemary on 6-3-2009 at 12:07 pm

26. “To be honest, I loved high school. I didn’t have a problem with it. But I also realized that better things were coming. I couldn’t pick one of those categories because neither of them fit.”

    I’m the same… I hate the assumption that if you weren’t tourtured in high school, you must be one of those people who peaked in those four years. Had a great experience in high school, went on to have a great experience in college, now having- yes- great experiences in life… You don’t need to be one or the other.

    posted by Cin on 6-3-2009 at 12:21 pm

27. Definitely Category B. But I was the “righteous dude” type, I kind of hung out with everybody.

    posted by Dave on 6-3-2009 at 12:32 pm

28. I was the epitome of a nerd. I was in all advanced classes, was a bit of a kiss up and didn’t have many friends. I was hated by just everyone in my class, except the greatest people you will ever meet… The one, the only, drama freaks! Not just the people in drama, those who took it farther, started randomly singing songs at lunch, loudly, for all to hear. Practiced plays instead of hanging out, made funny inside jokes (Last time I counted, over 100 inside jokes with me and ONE friend) that nobody else got. I was hated but some of those close loser friends and I are STILL best friends, and yes, we still break out in song and dance randomly… Our favorite is “Let’s Hear It for The Boy”, and yes, we all were huge Show Choir people, and I must say, the new show “Glee” is basically a documentary, it’s very accurate.
    I’m a hugely group B member… I wanted so badly to get away from all the stereotypical popular girls…. I went to a private school, so they were all rich, annoying, mean girls. They were the epitome of the movie Mean Girls actually… Anyway, I wanted to get away from them and hopefully meet some REAL people who enjoyed the same things I did. I was successful.

    Recaptcha -My new favorite- Slapdash editor… An editor who makes random changes? Hmm…

    posted by Hannah on 6-3-2009 at 12:33 pm

29. Category C.

    I was a freak, druggie, head, whatever.
    I went to school in order to skip class and hang out.
    Majored in underachievement.
    It’s only been in the past ten years that I’ve come to understand that I’m really a nerd and in different circumstances/environment could have ad a very different high school experience.

    Since I finally started taking college courses I’ve been obsessed with getting A’s.

    posted by BassMan on 6-3-2009 at 12:46 pm

30. The group I spent the most time with were the D&D dorks. But I was friendly to everyone who was not hostile to me. We were a pretty small place where everyone knew everyone else’s business and most of the adults tried to meddle in it.

    I was sad after graduating high school. I look back now realizing how nice it was to have a bit of insulation between me and reality. However, I wouldn’t go back for all the money in the world! I was a complete idiot prone to embarrassing myself regularly.

    posted by Laura. on 6-3-2009 at 12:58 pm

31. Don’t feel bad. I was a BIG geek. I did Brain Bowl, United States Academic Decathalon, I was in Marching Band (Percussion, Quints) from 6th Grade until my Junior year in College, I did Theatre for 7 years and worked in one for 3, Chess Club, Writer’s Club, Journalism, and Planned Parenthood’s Teen Theatre (we went around to middle schools and did hilarious skits about sexuality, self esteem issues, bullies… ect)… I was even involved in a Japanese Culture Club at lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays for extra credit in my Japanese class. My older brothers always knew I was a little different.

    posted by Kate on 6-3-2009 at 1:09 pm

32. My friends would pass notes to my in class and I used to correct their spelling.

    posted by kat on 6-3-2009 at 1:16 pm

33. Thank you Mean Girls for putting my high school clique in the spotlight: Art Freaks. My friends and I used to sing in Latin in the hallways, go to see whatever plays/dance troupes/art shows were touring in our area over the weekends and sometimes we’d do art project just for fun – like jewelry or pottery or that time we built a pirate ship out of garbage. There was a lot of intermingling with the Band Geeks (I dated a trombonist!) While my high school experience wasn’t the things legends and teen comedies are made of, I really enjoyed myself because I had such a great group of wonderful (albeit eccentric) friends :)

    God, I miss our annual Shakespeare in the Park trip.

    posted by Lynn on 6-3-2009 at 1:18 pm

34. I actually started high school as a jock being team captain of the basketball team then I became a theater nerd (a lot more fun).

    I remember thinking how weird it was how quickly my peers redefined my identity from the Basketball Guy to the Theater Guy.

    I’m now one year out of college still figuring out who this Nate Guy is.

    posted by NateJ on 6-3-2009 at 1:52 pm

35. I was in category B, yet I was also the A-typical cheerleader. *Sigh…

    I couldn’t wait to go to college. While in college I discovered something wonderful. I was a full blown nerd! I majored in biology and helped my roomie expand her pez collection. I am dating a total trekie and became one myself… I even had a uniform made for me for halloween.

    I think for me I was afraid to be myself in highschool. I had to fit in somewhere, and I ended up a cheerleader snob. But now, hooray I am a nerd!

    posted by Sarah on 6-3-2009 at 2:13 pm

36. I couldnt wait to get out of high school! I hated every minute of it. All of my friends we at least 2 years older than me so I was mostly a loner. I Took every diffrent art class they offered and spent the rest of my time in smokers alley or in detention for constantly showing up 30 mintutes late in the morning. I was being the only kid that came with a cup of coffee.

    posted by Tawnya on 6-3-2009 at 2:34 pm

37. I absolutely loved high school but couldn’t wait to get out and start my life — maybe a mixture of A and B?

    I was definitely part of the drama kids…but we were the cool drama kids. There are cool drama kids that do other things (sports, student gov’t, leadership camps, etc) and then *THOSE* drama kids. THOSE drama kids were the ones that walked around the school wearing garbage bag skirts or pretending to sword fight in the hallway. Loud and very attention-seeking.

    Though I do remember wearing a Hawaiian shirt every so often just to be different…

    posted by Jenny on 6-3-2009 at 2:41 pm

38. I was definitely in Group B, although I got along with most everyone in my class. Everyone except the stereotypical jocks. we wanted nothing to do with them and they wanted nothing more than to make our lives miserable. There weren’t that many of them, as most of the jocks were semi-human, but the few idiots made it feel like an army against us. I hung out with punk/hardcore/skater kids for the most part. Most of them were older than me, though, and most didn’t go to my school. I was a smart kid, in mostly AP classes, so besides my *unique* style of dress, I seemed pretty nerdy. But once the bell rang I had a whole other life that most of my classmates were oblivious to. I think the highlight of my high school career was walking into the prom with a ridiculously gorgeous musical prodigy on my arm. It was one of those John Hughes moments where everyone stopped to see. I think the music even stopped. Well, maybe my memory has distorted the facts a tiny bit. :)

    posted by Mrs. Peel on 6-3-2009 at 5:05 pm

39. I’m probably a category B… I consider myself a ‘bridge’ during high school – I was an overachiever and head girl (the New Zealand equivalent to Class President) who played in the school orchestra and was in the debating team, but in my formative years I was friends with the kids who turned out to be the popular girls as we grew up – although they never denounced me
    (I got invited to all the parties and had an older sister to thank for wearing fashionable clothing) and I ended up having a wide circle of friends, bridging the gap between the geeks and the popular kids.

    posted by dangermouse on 6-3-2009 at 5:46 pm

40. Definitely Cat B.

    I would call myself a member of the jock-wannabe group. I was a gym rat, but I was not a very good athlete compared to the rest of the jock group.

    I don’t know that this is a group, but I was an over-acheiving slacker. I got good grades w/out really pushing myself, and several incompletes at midterms for not doing assignments (mostly cuz I felt they were busy work, and I had already learned the subject matter).

    posted by Jonny on 6-3-2009 at 6:21 pm

41. I was a druggie/ over achiever in high school. I often went to my (AP) classes stoned off something or another. I got along and socialized with pretty much everyone except the cult like church kids. They just didn’t understand me lol. I don’t think my teachers really knew what to make of me.

    posted by Megan on 6-3-2009 at 8:40 pm

42. So, the group I was in was generally referred to as The Front Steps, as we hung out there instead of where all the preppies did: in the quad. We were a collection of nerds, dweebs, druggies, geeks, and general weirdos who hated preppies and jocks with a fiery passion. It was small at first, mostly people who liked RPGs and fantasy novels, the occasional cyberpunk nut, etc. Then there were Wiccans (I was one of them), and people who were into old-school gaming. We continued morphing and becoming more mainstream even after I left to do homeschool in junior year, but I was there all the time anyway. More than half of the group ended up at the local community college (including me) and the overachievers went to the prosh university. I’m still in touch with about half of them. :)

    posted by Laurel R on 6-3-2009 at 10:53 pm

43. Recaptcha lessees you

    I was a nomad, people I didn’t know knew me.
    I feel bad because in a few instances I was told how I had helped someone in a big way but it was passing for me because I was always mingling with everyone.
    My class was about 850 or so. Gotta love Piper High!!!

    I agree with Joshua, the few people that weren’t fond of me tracked me down and its almost like we’ve been friends forever.

    posted by kokopeli420 on 6-4-2009 at 12:56 am

44. Sorry to be the one who brings down this barrage of Geekdom, but the Ferris Bueller line actually goes :”Oh, he’s very popular, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads- they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.”

    posted by nobodyhome on 6-6-2009 at 4:17 am

45. In high school, I was a basket case and never saw myself as ‘cool’ enough to fit in anywhere. Not even with the band geeks (sorry band geeks!). I had plenty of friends, but made sure I steered clear of the ‘cool’ parties and most of the hotspots where the ‘cool’ kids hung out. I was afraid of being laughed out of every place I went.

    Fast forward 15 years, and I’m now actually casual acquaintences, if not friends with several of those folks I deemed ‘too cool’ for me. A decade and a half later, none of it matters, and when talk of high school days come up, they wondered why I never hung out more back then.

    You are not at all who you think you are in high school, and no one else is who you thought they were either.

    posted by Isaac on 6-8-2009 at 4:28 pm

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