I’m a ‘mean’ girl

By BERNARD RIVERA
MV Teen Reporter

In the box-office hit “Mean Girls,” Lindsay Lohan’s character struggles from being a new girl to being a “mean”, popular girl in high school.
The movie seems to show that in the depth of every girl, there lies a wild beast (even in the sweetest-looking girls, don’t let the face fool you).
With having any boy they want, acquiring money when it is needed, and countless friends, it would seem that these “it” girls have it all.
But there is more than meets the eye, say popular girls Heather Arriola from Kagman High School and Tiana Sablan Palacios from Marianas High School. As pop star Britney Spears once said, “You think you know, but you have no idea.”
Perfection
“Mean” girls strive to be perfect. From wearing the latest fashions or creating their own look, to having good grades and groups of amazing friends.
But with perfection stamped on their foreheads, popular girls sometimes crave freedom.
“It’s like how I was raised, you know. I am expected to be perfect, to be correct. With my parents it’s like, if it’s not perfect, then at least it’s your best,” Palacios says. “Perfection in my life is a must. Failure doesn’t exist in my life. I hate failure, and when failure does appear in my life, I get it perfected.”
For Arriola, perfection is not a word in her vocabulary. “I think that to become perfect is to become God. That word only belongs to Him and Him only. I think no one can be perfect. People can only become good. At least somewhere near good. Perfection doesn’t exist within anyone.”
But for both girls, respect is standard.
“That is number one on my life list. I think respect is a priority. I mean it’s as simple as that. If someone doesn’t respect me, why should I respect him or her?” said Palacios. “You see, I look up to my dad. He raised us to look at the world and to never, never, never give up.”
“I really, really admire Angelina Jolie and how she’s an ambassador for the United Nations and how she helps people. Just like her, you have to earn respect,” said Arriola.
Image
In the hyped world of celebrities that many teens look up to, icons such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie keep getting thinner.
For “mean” girls, looks are everything, but it is not worth it to have eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia to achieve such thin looks.
“I am totally against that. I think it’s just disgusting. To tell you the truth, so many people think that I am either one or both. I admit it, I am skinny, but the thing is, I eat a lot,” said Palacios. “You only live once—be happy with your body and just be yourself.”
Arriola is concerned about her friends’ obsession with weight. “All my friends are jealous about how my body is. I am never fat. It’s like, what am I supposed to do, this is how I was born,” she says.
“When my friends act like that and make fun of my body, I just laugh. But sometimes it hurts. They say ‘Man I hate you, I just wish I had your body,’ and all I can think about is ‘How dare you, you look just fine and beautiful. Love yourself and be confident, you know,” she added.
Arriola had a friend struggling with weight.
“I had this friend and we went out to lunch at this restaurant one time. After, we were all planning to go out and drive around. Well, she says to hold on, so we waited for like 20 minutes and then she came back. All of us were wondering what the heck happened,” said Arriola. “All she said was she went to spit. After that, it just kept on happening. All my friends are trying to tell her to stop, but it’s just, I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Attitude
“Mean” girls are the center of attention, so they have to develop a thick skin when it comes to their social lives.
“A lot of people think that I’m stuck-up and mean…mainly those regular ‘haters’ in school. I just leave that aside and let it drift,” says Palacios.
“I have other stuff to think about. I mean, so many people try to control my life. My family wants me to be this perfect girl because I’m in this perfect family. Then there are my friends, telling me how to run my life…who to date, what I should wear. It just keeps going on and on. And right now, I’m controlling my life. I just flick those people off that try to do that and tell them to leave me alone. This is my life, not theirs.”
Arriola says people should not judge her based on her looks.
“When I went to MHS recently for the Americorp event, I got so many weird looks from a lot of people,” said Arriola.
“I knew some people there and they were all so cool, but one thing happened that shocked me. When I was walking in the hallway, this guy bumped into me. When I looked at him and said ‘excuse me’, he just gave me the cold shoulder and rolled his eyes at me. All I could think of was, what in the world did I do to you…you don’t even know me,” she said.
“What ever people say about me, or how I look, does not reflect on who I really am,” she added.
All in all, Palacios and Arriola face the same fears and challenges their peers do, just with a little more attention and with the pressure to be perfect.
“My friends and I talk about school and how we want our lives to be, and of course, we talk about boys,” Arriola laughs.
Palacios says, “Family and friendships, from my perspective, are super sacred. That bond between people is really important to me. It is something that I will fight for, and something that I do not want to lose—and that is just plainly, bluntly, perfectly ‘me’.”

Pep rally craze

By Jacqueline Dela Cruz
MV Teen Reporter

Seniors & Freshmen rock MHS

The Marianas High School Dolphins decided to share the love during last week’s Valentine’s Day themed Pep Rally by pairing up classes for the competition.
MHS pairs up classes at least once a year for pep rallies to promote teamwork and school spirit—and this year, the seniors and freshmen finished first.
Juniors and sophomores came in second, though what drove the crowd insanely wild was the moment Roy Gonzalez, a junior, came from the middle of the audience and shocked the crowd with his “oh-so-stellar moves,” says Carrie Espinosa, a senior.
MHS also held “club challenges,” which included the Music Club, Refalawasch Cultural Club, and Equal Fusion, with each club giving original performances. The RCC club made the crowd roar with laughter with their comedic performance, and Equal Fusion came up with an exciting, modern dance.
The “Class Challenge” was a “Hoola-sack-tish hoop” game that the seniors won.
The game involves a combination of doing a “worm turn-around” with a hoola-hoop, a sack race, and a partnered tied rope run. The sophomores finished second, with the juniors and freshmen following.

Seniors rule KHS

Kagman High School gave their Valentine Pep Rally last Wednesday the royal treatment with the classes’ kings and queens parading around the gym.
Seniors won the pep rally by doing “poetry reading” cheers and dancing their version of the Tango.
With the rally in full swing, and the crowd going wild, the Ayuyu family gave way to infamous senior “cupids” and watched the Student Council leaders do their first performance.
The KHS pep rally was pure entertainment with sensational lyrics either being beautifully spoken, rapped, or sung.
The juniors even sang a symphony for the freshmen: “Freshmen, you’ll always be in our hearts.”
The sophomores rapped their hearts out and the cheer competition was fantastic.
Though each class worked hard on their parts in the competition, it was the seniors that showed the most originality and determination, with the juniors right on their tail.
“In every pep rally, it is usually between the seniors and the juniors,” said Jennifer Mendiola, a Math teacher and judge of last week’s pep rally.
“We are hardworking and dedicated, and put imagination into our work, because we want to win,” said Heather Arriola, president of the junior class.
“We also act like Britney Spears and Beyonce to give some attitude and a lot of sass,” she laughs.

Juniors dominate at SSHS

Saipan Southen High School knows how to be creative in their pep rallies.
Juniors won the pep rally by doing a hip hop dance, followed by the freshmen, sophomores, then seniors.
The Manta Rays were the only ones to hold an eating contest, with participants racing to be the first to eat a whole “Balut” (A Filipino word for fertilized duck egg) with chocolate last Friday.
The juniors proved they can handle anything and won the eating contest.
Classes also competed in singing, dancing and a water game, which juniors also won followed by the seniors, sophomores, and then the freshmen.