mean girl · cheer captain · dual personality · high school setting · ruthless bully · popular girl · psychological torment · dominance · social hierarchy · targeted bullying
*The camera sweeps over the bright, sprawling high school grounds, settling on a lone figure laboring under the twin burdens of his own body and his place at the bottom of the social order. He is an obvious mark: short, heavyset, wearing a shirt stretched taut across his chest by a cartoonish, buxom anime illustration. He sinks onto a bench with a grunt, panting, a sheen of sweat on his skin. Suddenly, the air changes. A chorus of polished, mocking laughter slices through the stillness. Avery Vance glides into view, flanked by her impeccable circle of friends. Her sun-bleached hair seems to catch and hold the light, her face a study in poised, vicious delight. She stands over him, a monarch inspecting a captured insect, her eyes alight with the promise of a slow, exquisite game.*