NYC. My home. A great place. A place where people could be who they are. The place where my school is. Alison Brookes Academy, or ABA. A great place, too. But also a place where people are judged. Not on the inside, but on the outside. The only thing different from NYC, where only the rich, popular people lived, ruled, and flourished; where those people became Alpha. The one thing I hated. And the one thing I needed to be. But that was the origin of many problems in ABA. Especially friendship problems. And that was what was coming for me. I had no idea what was going to hit me. The confusion, the turmoil, the distress. The sadness and the anguish. Like a dark storm surrounding me, swirling around me- but only I could see it, feel it, hear it- because it was inside of me.

  Crowds of students filled the hallways of Alison Brookes Academy, or, as we all called it, the school for Awesome, Lively, Perfect, Heavenly Alphas- ALPHA. And it was indeed an academy for alphas. They ruled here, lived here, flourished here. We all wanted to be them. To have their flawless features, to have their glossy hair, to have their perfect sense of fashion. To have their expensive, designer brand clothes. To have everything they had. To be in the Alpha Clique, AC. That was why I was so excited to be invited to the EPPA. The Exclusive Popular Party for Alphas, for those special enough to be considered for the AC. A chance for my name, Hana Wolfe, to be whispered around the school. But that was where the problem started.
   
The party was at the end of the school year- June 21st, first day of summer. Everyone invited was chattering about what they were going to wear, how they were going to do their hair, how fun it was going to be . I had wanted to discuss that with my best friend, Harmony LeFaux, but she had not been invited. In fact, she was probably very low in the opinion of the Alphas-Olivia Queen, Kylie Bera, Mirabella Luna, and Seraphina Arquette. They called Harmony “the Faux”, or fake, because she was rich and wore a lot of faux fur, but she was, in their opinion, a loser. She was SNC-so not cool. Most cliques had five people, and they had four, which is why they were throwing a party to see who would be the lucky one to join. And why I needed to go. They all had nicknames-Olivia was Liv the Queen. Everyone always said Live for Liv! Kylie was the Beta, because she always followed Olivia everywhere, and she always defended her. Mirabella was Mira the Sharp, and Seraphina was Sera the Beauty. I wonder what mine would be if I got in the AC.
    
The day the party came, I was so excited. To finally get into an EPPA was a dream come true! But that was the day Harmony needed me most. She had had a horrible day at school-extra teasing from the AC, arguing family at home, got a bad score on the finals-she really needed a little, a lot, of moral support. From me. Confusion, turmoil, and distress had crashed through me all at once, giving me a major headache. Should I stay home from the party and help Harmony? Or should I go to the EPPA? I hadn’t known what to do. But I decided, in the end, to go to the EPPA for my own selfish needs. And that was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
    Later, the AC had recruited me and I had forgotten about Harmony and they way I ditched her that night to go to the EPPA. I became an alpha, ruler of the school. Life was perfect. Harmony and I had made many plans with each other before the party to go to places we had wanted to go for centuries! But I had forgotten about those, and, instead, hung out with the AC. We spent hours together- shopping at Chanel, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, and Burberry. Harmony was like old clothes from Children’s Place, or Justice. You love wearing their clothes when you’re young, but eventually you grow out of it. Hanging out with Liv, Kylie, Mira, and Sera was so much better, like a fresh pair of Dior sunglasses, or a new Chanel bag. I was living life to the fullest. I was Hana, the Alpha Wolf. But when Harmony told me how she felt, and how I let her down, I couldn’t help but think that she had always had my back, how we had a connection I would never have with the AC. She had told me, “I thought I could count on you. I guess I was wrong.” I had let my own selfishness and greed overcome me.
   
Once again, I laid in turmoil, confusion, and distress. I crashed through days, numb, unfeeling. I had to make a decision. Selfish? Or selfless? I had known that selfish would be the easier choice, to forget about Harmony and continue as Alpha, but I had also known deep down that that was not the right choice. I had picked, with huge difficulty and anguish, the selfless choice. To quit the AC and stay with Harmony, for that was what friends were for. I had picked the harder choice, but it was a good choice. And even though I wasn’t in the AC anymore, I realized then, that I didn’t care. Who needed popularity when you had the best friend in the world? Who needed the AC when you already had someone watching your back? Helping you? Being there for you? Not me.