Redheaded Jill

If y’all watch any reels or tiktoks or youtube shorts you’ve likely seen the characters people make who they call “pick me girls” or “mean girls”. Juliette Wegg and Hannah Montoya are the two I see most often. They’re pretty hilarious. They’re also insanely accurate.

I went to a small high school, less than 100 kids in each grade. I had classes with a lot of upperclassman my freshmen and sophomore year. (I wasn’t smart, I just liked history so I used extra government classes as my electives.)

I can’t remember this girl’s name, but I want to say it was something like Jordan. She was THE mean girl. Super pretty. Talked with severe vocal fry. Gave off the vibe of complete loathing for everyone and everything.

I was a sophomore when we had to do group work in our government class. (Group work is THE MOST EVIL thing a teacher can legally force upon her students.)

We were talking about Obama because it was an election year. She asked my opinion on gay marriage. I asked her what that had to do with our assignment (the answer was nothing… It had nothing to do with the assignment.) But she said, “Well I just figured you’d be for it considering… ya know… Who you are…”

I don’t know if the floozy was actually calling me a lesbian or if she was just trying to embarrass me in front of the whole class because she’s a wretch. But I gave her my best stink eye and completed my part of the assignment with no further comment. I think we were on opposite sides politically and my comments during the class discussion offended her.

Does this girl live in my head rent free? I guess… even though it’s not something I’d thought about for 10+ years. Somewhere deep in my subconscious her comment hurt me enough that it resurfaced.

Another girl (whose name I DO remember, so I won’t say) was in my class and she hated me and my friends. She was in charge of the year book. Now, I was very self conscious in high school and I never liked getting my picture taken. When all my friends were paying for senior photo sessions I was getting annoyed any time my mom would ask me about it.

One of my good friends had a birthday party and we all got dressed up and went out to eat. Someone took a picture of me and for once I loved it. My hair looked good. I didn’t look too fat. My outfit was cute. It was my favorite picture, so I submitted it for my senior photo.

Fast forward to May and we get our senior yearbooks. (Which I told mom not to even buy because I didn’t want to remember high school.) I went through the book as one does and when it came to my picture my heart broke. There, amidst the glamor shots of all my classmates who hired pros to take their photo, was a picture of me from school picture day.

The girl in charge didn’t ever tell me there was an issue or I needed a better quality photo or anything. She used the school ID photo for my senior picture.

Now there is a chance it was an oversight, but this girl was consistently mean to everyone. My best friend even met someone recently who found out our home town, named that girl by name, and talked about how much he hated her because she’s mean. So I guess she’s didn’t ever grow out of that phase. In her defense, her mom is the same way so it’s definitely a learned behavior. Talk about passing on generational trauma.

These are two silly examples, and I know there are SEVERE cases of bullying in the world. Everyone gets mean things said to them once in a while. I’m not pretending I was a special victim. But it is funny the things you remember when processing trauma. Or the things that people remind you of. Or the memories that comedy videos trigger.

I also feel extremely on edge when dealing with girls who have the mean girl vibe going as a substitute teacher. This is why I avoid teaching at high schools 99% of the time.

Do you remember your sour high school experiences?