No, this isn’t some quiz or some kind of meme. Lately, I’ve been reuniting with a lot of people who I knew way back when I was in High School. This got me to thinking about all the friends I hung out with, who I knew, and well basically about all my friends during the impressionable years.

At first, I wasn’t really sure what my clique was. I didn’t hang out with the jocks, I was anathema to sports. I tried to play them, but really, I was never meant for such things. I was definitely not in the “popular” crowd. If anything, I stayed away from the popular crowd most of the time, I believe. I also don’t really think I hung out with the “brains” either. I wasn’t really all that smart, and I have failed many a class. I’m not your stereotypical “Braniac” Asian. I didn’t belong in the “druggee” group either. I didn’t do any of that, and if anything, I was really turned off by it. So where did that really leave me? Tonight, I figured it out.

I was an Igor.

I know what you’re thinking. What clique was that? Well, it’s not really a clique. It’s more of an “invisible” clique. So it exists, but it doesn’t really. Are you getting it yet? Yes, when I say Igor, I mean that assistant of any number of “evil” doctors or scientists or counts. Igor is the one who does everything but doesn’t have to think about what to do.

Now I really know what you’re thinking. The Igors of this world must be dumb. But alas, no. Have you seen that movie Igor with John Cusack in it? (see John Cusack is in my head!) Igor was not so dumb. In fact, he was pretty smart and invented stuff. Anyways, while he was still the guy that (normally) turned on stuff and pulled all the levers, but he was also in the background coming up with ideas. Scheming might be a word that comes to mind. Regardless, that’s what I did during High School.

I shut my mouth, I listened, and I thought.

You see, I learned from a young age that listening was a skill. You really had to work at it to become a really good listener. Listening got you stuff. You learned things you normally wouldn’t. If you listened, you could learn things that would later become very useful and you could (if you wanted to – I never did) exploit those things. Being an Igor also got you another side benefit:

You were seen, but often ignored.

It was almost like you were invisible. Like being a fly on the wall. You could almost call yourself a ghost. That’s what I wanted. I think I learned so much about people. I would watch people and see the stupid (or not so stupid) things they did. I wish I could say it was enjoyable, but it wasn’t always so.

Anyway, I just followed my friends, what few I had, and had some great times with them. In the end though, I would always concede to their ideas (unless it was stupid of course) and end up doing what they wanted to do. I had an opinion of course, but I was just content on doing what everyone else wanted to do. I know Meesh would agree that I don’t like making decisions on what to do, what to eat and so on. Now I know where that comes from. I’m an Igor.

So if you’re still with me, what High School clique did you belong to?