If movies were real life, we’d all walk into school with perfect hair, dramatic background music, and a locker that somehow represents our entire personality. Every hallway would be filled with slow-motion stares, and every lunch table would belong to a “clique.”
But real high school? It’s more like rushing to finish homework on the bus, dodging hallway traffic, and hoping your Chromebook doesn’t die before the second period.
Pop culture has tried to capture the “high school experience” for decades—Mean Girls, Euphoria, Outer Banks, you name it. But somehow, it always ends up a little too glamorous or dramatic. The “popular crowd” isn’t just football players anymore—it might be the robotics team that went viral on TikTok. And the so-called “quiet kid” might secretly run a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers. Even the “mean girls” who supposedly run the school aren’t as self-entitled as they’re made out to be.
Shows like Never Have I Ever or Sex Education come closer to reality, showing the awkward, funny, and stressful parts of teenage life. But for every relatable moment, there’s another scene that makes us think, “That would never happen here.” Like in Never Have I Ever, Devi makes constant references to being a smart student in multiple AP classes, but all we ever see is her chaotic social life with no mention of the hard work that goes in to being in multiple APs.
Maybe that’s because real high school doesn’t fit neatly into a script. It’s messy, unpredictable, and full of weird little stories that no camera could ever capture.
So the next time you see a perfectly lit prom scene on TV, just remember: our lives might not have special effects—but we’re definitely living the better story.
