The Clique, a series of middle-school novels by Lisi Harrison, revolves around the lives of the Pretty Committee: Massie Block, Claire Lyons, Dylan Marvil, Alicia Rivera, and Kristen Gregory. These spoiled seventh-graders (later eighth-graders) consider themselves the experts of fashions of Octavian Country Day School, and aren't afraid to let other students know what they think of them. In a nutshell, a series in which the Alpha Bitch and her Girl Posse are the protagonists.The books are bestsellers, and a direct-to-DVD adaptation of the first book was released in fall 2008.Drinking game here. Canonically, the series is as follows:
Adaptation Decay: The Movie tries to make Claire seem much more on top of everything than she really is (Especially with Glambition). It also makes her nicer (Actually stopping Massie from embarrassing herself with Chris Abeley instead of sitting around and watching) and changes the ending entirely.
Adults Are Useless: Alicia actually depends on this, pretending to be sweet when around adults and downright ruthless when they aren't present.
Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Dylan decides to gossip about the stars of "Dial L for Losers" in the bathroom of the set of The Daily Grind. The problem? The co-host's mic was on, so the audience (and the stars of DLFL) heard everything.
Berserk Button: Do not mess with Massie's Clique, or her friends.
Big Fancy House: Massie, Alicia. To a less emphasized degree, Dylan.
Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Literally addressed in "Best Friends for Never" when the girls present various "uniforms" for different colorations (the blonde role being split between Kristen's dark and Claire's light, brunette as Massie, and redhead as Dylan.)
Fauxreigner: Alicia's dad (Mr. Rivers) isn't Spanish, but pretended to be so that he could marry his spanish supermodel wife, he then changed his surname to Rivera.
Four-Girl Ensemble: Before Claire's arrival there's the sanguine one (Dylan), the choleric one (Kristen), the melancholic one (Alicia), and the phlegmatic one (Massie)
Genius Ditz: Massie is amazingly proficient with History and Sociology (Even going so far as to nicknaming Julius Caesar J.C. which causes some issues) but still doesn't see that the Pretty Comittee is kind of just holding her back from doing something important and/or worthwhile.
Girl Posse: Kristen, Alicia, Dylan, and Claire make up Massie's Girl Posse.
For multiple times throughout the series, Alicia forms her own girl posses, one of them even includes boys.
High School Dance: Middle school dance, actually. Nina goes to the Love Struck dance at Octavian Country Day School dance with Derrington, who is Massie's crush.
In Universe Nickname: Massiechists (People who are obsessed with Massie and wish she liked them.)
Leesh for Alicia and Kris, Dyl and Mass for... Kristen, Dylan and Massie.
Derrington for Derrick.
Claire is called "Kuh-laire" in the first couple of books.
Jerkass: Alicia is undisputably one, Massie goes between this and The Power of Friendship, Kristen is only one when provoked, Dylan is never this and Claire only when she wants something.
Karma Houdini: The Pretty Committee get away with a lot of things, but Alicia is always forgiven no matter what she does to the committee.
Pastimes Prove Personality: Horse-riding Massie is a rich snob. Various other rich and spoiled characters play tennis, golf, squash, etc.
Perspective Flip: The series focuses on a group of nasty middle-schoolers, making it a sort of 'Flip on middle-school and high-school fiction in general.
The Power of Friendship: Suprisingly, the series actually runs on this, but it can be seen as a Deconstruction as well (Massie is aware of this trope and uses it to control not only her friends but the school.
Product Placement: It's almost impossible to list all the clothing brands that appear in the series.
Series Continuity Error: Cam's dark hair randomly becomes golden-brown. The dress code for Briarwood seemingly changes from the first book to the second.
Alicia's father is Antonio in the first two books and Len in every book after Revenge of the Wannabes, though this might be due to the fact that everybody knows where he's actually from after that book.
Brownie the Horse manages to change from a brown mare, to a white stallion, and then back to a female again. Albeit this time a brown and white one.
Spoiled Brat: Massie sometimes acts like one to convince her father to do what she wants.
The Starscream: Alicia frequently tries to either take over Massie's clique or start her own.
Status Quo Is God: Lampshaded in Dial L for Loser with Claire: "No matter how much fun the girls had together, she would wake up the next morning and need to impress them all over again. It was as if their leave-in conditioners seeped into their hair follicles whiles they slept, permanently erasing 'cool Claire' from their memories."
Written Sound Effect: In P.S. I Loathe You, a pigeon calls, "Hehhhhhhhhhh, hoooooooooo. Hehhhhhhhhhhhh, hooooooooooo. Heeeeeeeee, Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" as it poops on the Pretty Committee.
Xanatos Speed Chess: A toned down 'tween' version between Massie and Alicia (And hence the Pretty Committee and eventually the Soul-M8s)
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