“You dumb wh*#e!” echoes through the parking lot as she walks to her class. She continues, hearing a girl she wasn’t even close with, defend her to the boy who had yelled it. Eyes stared at her after such a vulgar comment. Why would someone say that?
April 1st, 2026, five students at Arcata High plotted a ranchy mess for not one, but all. The main culprits splattered ranch on any car they could, hoping to get them all. The ring of the bell sent the students out of their classrooms to their new car decorations. Most thought it was funny, but some didn’t take it that way; retaliation was coming.
“I saw it coming and was waiting for the tsunami to hit,” a friend of the enraged boys said.
Four of the girls had to clean the cars as rain poured down on them, and they were suspended for the rest of the day. After being yelled at by some angry students and having to wash their mess, three of the girls hopped into one of their cars to leave. Noticing the seats and middle console were soaked with water, they laughed at the get-back, but as they continued down the road, lights flashed behind the wheel. A friend of the retaliators called and informed them of flat tires and water in the car.
A few students whose cars were hit with rocks felt particularly vengeful and inspired many kids in the school to push the two main ranch culprits in the hallways and call them names. Some boys attempted to pour water into one’s exhaust pipe, tried to pour oil from their own car onto her car, threw apple sauce at another’s car, and chucked a hard-boiled egg at another one of the girls.
At the same time, in the Senior Assassin group chat, many people, girls and guys, ranched and not ranched, bullied and made terrible comments towards one of the ranch girls. This went on for far too long, as many watched it continue, and chose not to speak up. Once a few started calling out the people, saying things such as, “Literally no one in this school likes you besides your hobo *** friends,” “ew stfu…nobody likes you actually,” and “If you’re a bitch you get treated like one, common sense.” People in the chat attempted to help, but in the end, she quit Senior Assassin.
Seemingly harmless bullying can affect others, whether shown or not. When people stand by and watch, not only does it continue, but it also empowers bullies to believe it’s acceptable.
In this case, it involved sexual rumors and comments towards girls, which is so common in this society that people tend to brush it off and don’t bother to take the time to stand up for another person. A rumor spread, which has been proven untrue, that involved one of the girls and her sexual relations with a boy whom she’d hardly ever spoken to.
The culinary teacher holds the majority of both groups in one class, and also had a car covered in ranch, “They did put a heart on my window though.” He believes the incident to be just a way for the boys to play victim. “You’re gonna cost someone $500 of damage over some ranch?” Although he found the girls’ prank funny, he said it was inevitable for retaliation. A prank typically ends up being a way of starting a friendly war; this isn’t uncommon, but the brutality may have brought it past friendly war. Anger does strange things to people, but the community this school is part of should have acted sooner than it did.
Both parties in this food fight were hit and hit back, but it is very noteworthy to discuss the commentary directed at the girls who partook. Although pranking each other back is to be expected, many times through texting or in person, girls were called sluts, whores, and rumors of their sexual lives were spread.
This is a much larger issue than some food. It also took too long for people to stand up for those girls. This not only targets their personal lives but also women as a whole. Women have been judged for their sexual relations as a way to suppress them for hundreds of years. Do you want to be a part of a school community that supports this behavior? Or will you be brave enough to stand up to the mistreatment of others?
