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Mean Girls
After being homeschooled her entire life and having spent the last twelve years in Africa, 16-year-old Cady Heron begins her first day at North Shore High School. She has trouble making friends and is put down by the teachers on her first day, although she does befriend outcasts Janis Ian and Damian Leigh, who explain the school's various cliques to her, warning her about the "Plastics", a trio of wealthy and mean girls consisting of ruthless queen bee Regina George, insecure gossiper Gretchen Wieners, and bubbly airhead Karen Smith. Regina, Gretchen, and Karen take a shine to Cady and unexpectedly invite her to join the Plastics. Upon realizing this, Janis hatches a plan to infiltrate the group and destroy Regina's reputation.
Cady becomes infatuated with her classmate Aaron Samuels. Karen and Gretchen warn her that, as Regina's ex-boyfriend, he is off-limits, though Regina assures Cady she does not care if Cady and Aaron date. Despite Janis's insistence that Regina is "evil", Cady comes to enjoy hanging out with the group, including writing insulting remarks about their classmates and teachers in a scrapbook called the "Burn Book." However, at a Halloween house party, instead of talking to Aaron on Cady's behalf, Regina kisses him in front of her and resumes their relationship. Feeling betrayed, an enraged Cady fully commits to Janis's plan.
Over the following months, Cady, with Janis and Damian's help, manages to trick Gretchen into revealing her secrets, break up Regina's relationship with Aaron (and spend time with him by pretending to need math tutoring), and cause her to gain weight by giving her high-calorie snack "Kalteen Bars" under the pretense that they are diet food. After violating the Plastics' dress code rules by wearing sweatpants on Monday, due to her weight gain, Regina is kicked out of the group, as Cady becomes the new "queen bee".
While Cady's parents are out of town, she throws a house party, and drunkenly admits to Aaron that she does not actually need math tutoring, and he renounces her for being as manipulative as Regina. Janis and Damian angrily confront Cady for throwing a party instead of attending the former's art show and declare that she has become as plastic as she pretended to be. Meanwhile, Regina becomes enraged when she discovers Cady's sabotage, and inserts fake slander of herself into the Burn Book, hoping to frame the latter and the other Plastics.
Regina spreads the contents of the book throughout the hallways, inciting chaos. Principal Duvall and math teacher Ms. Norbury gather the female junior students in the gym to talk through their social issues. During this, Janis reveals her plan to destroy Regina to her face and openly mocks her, much to the students' excitement. Regina furiously storms out, pursued by an apologetic Cady. While ranting at Cady, Regina is hit by a school bus, fracturing her spine. Rumors circulate that Cady intentionally pushed Regina in front of the bus.
After realizing a comment she wrote in the Burn Book has framed Ms. Norbury as a drug dealer, which has caused the police to come to the school and interrogate her math class, Cady decides to take full responsibility for the book. Regina, Gretchen, and Karen are spared punishment, but Cady becomes a social pariah, resulting in being grounded by her parents. To earn extra credit, Cady joins the school Mathletes, moderated by Ms. Norbury and led by fellow student Kevin Gnapoor. At the state finals, she correctly answers the tiebreaker question, winning the championship. The team arrives at the Spring Fling dance, where Cady is unexpectedly elected queen. She breaks the plastic tiara and distributes the pieces to others in the crowd, makes peace with Janis, Damian, and the Plastics, and shares a slow dance and a kiss with Aaron.
The Plastics disband by the time senior year begins. A fully recovered Regina joins the school's lacrosse team to channel her anger positively, Gretchen joins the "Cool Asians" clique, and Karen becomes the school's weather girl. Cady begins dating Aaron and continues to hang out with Janis and Damian, with the former starting to date Kevin. While reflecting on herself on the relative social peace that has taken over North Shore High, Cady notices a new popular clique in the freshman class and wonders how long the "Junior Plastics" will last, jokingly imagining them being hit by a school bus.