Fashion & Beauty

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

BECCA ELENA BATTINO

Wannabe cheerleader who enjoys making funny faces at herself in the mirror and considers herself an “old soul”

Age: 16

Hood: Bayside, Queens

School: Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, class of ’09

Music: Muse, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd. “Emo def is taking over, yuck. Bring back The Beatles!” “I go on LimeWire. My iPod broke. I hate technology. They’re coming up with all these cool things, and they break and they suck.”

Movies: “A Bronx Tale,” “Forrest Gump,” “A Night at the Roxbury.” “Movies are so cheesy compared to the way movies used to be. Every movie has to have that one sex scene. Like in ‘300.’ And with the prices today, I’d rather wait for it to come out on DVD. It’s $10 to see a movie, and I’m not the kid who gets money from her parents. That’s gas money.”

Wearing: American Eagle jeans with Rainbow flats and a T-shirt with no label that she borrowed from her sister. “I don’t have a favorite designer. I don’t care about wearing a name. I shop at H&M, Forever 21, Target.”

Tech: “I love having my AIM. I am always on. I really like the Sidekick because you can talk to your friends and text as much as you want.”

School supply: “The North Face book bag is totally cool. I wanted it, but I’m not going to spend $80 on something that might get stolen. Instead, I have a huge bag that used to be my grandma’s. I think it’s pleather, deep brownish purple. People are always telling me that I can fit in there. I guess big bags are in fashion today so it works.”

Cigarettes: “Any kid smoking a cigarette has no idea why they are smoking it, and they look completely retarded. I’m not into cigarettes. They smell.”

Drugs: “A lot of kids are getting more into it. I’m not going to sit there and preach to them how bad it is. That’s retarded. If I had a friend that was on drugs as serious as Lindsay [Lohan] was, like cocaine, I wouldn’t talk to her. That’s major trouble.”

Trash talking: “[Calling someone] ‘slut’ and ‘whore’ seem to be strangely popular these days.”

Nightlife: “I would only go to a club to dance. The clubbers, it’s a clique of girls who will do anything or have any excuse to dress like a whore. They’re all obsessed with the Gotti boy image. It should be about dancing and having fun. Instead, it’s all about the followers and the sluts.”

Sex: “I haven’t met anyone who has sex unprotected. Our school does a good job of getting it across. We have the SPARK (Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids) program and a lot of kids are into spreading knowledge about HIV.”

School trend: “We have a really big Gay Street Alliance and we have a lot more gay and bisexual people than you would think. It’s everywhere now, my school and Bayside High School. When gay people talk about how their parents won’t accept it, I feel pretty bad. My mother would never do that to me.”

Post-high school plans: “I’m thinking about going to Israel with Birthright. Or maybe SUNY-Albany to be with my boyfriend.”

KEVIN KEENAN

Wide receiver for the Xavier Knights who has kept his grades so high that he has won the same Public Athletic League scholarship for the past 12 years

Age: 16, turning 17

Hood: Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan

School: Xavier High School, class of ’08

Music: Chris Daughtry, Linkin Park, Minutes to Midnight. “I use LimeWire, or buy CDs and upload them onto my computer. Then, I just throw it into the back of my closet. They collect dust.”

Movies: “Miracle,” “A Night at the Roxbury,” “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.”

Tech: “A Verizon camera phone with a case that I always lock to my pants. I hate Sidekicks because if you have a friend that has one, they are constantly on that. It’s very rude, and those are the type of phones you get robbed on the train with.”

Wearing: Abercrombie cargos, his Xavier Knights jersey, and his Nike Huarache 2K4s. Always wears his Irish Claddagh ring.

School supplies: “Not really. Last year, I got through the entire year with one notebook. A lot of our school is done online, on your e-mail; it’s all computers and essays, nothing is handwritten. We have online quizzes. In my physics class, we have a quiz online and all we need is a calculator.”

Excited for school? “I’m not into going back to school, but I’m excited for football. I also play hockey.”

Summer job: “I worked as an usher at ‘Legally Blonde.’ It was cool because I would be able to get into Broadway shows for nothing, since I had the uniform. I’ve also been doing touristy things, like going to the Museum of Natural History, Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, Chelsea Piers, the South Street Seaport.”

Interests: “The Jets are my pride and joy. Usually I am at the Jets game. I eat, sleep and breathe Jets football. Half of my bedroom is Jets memorabilia and the other half is N.Y. Rangers.”

Sex: “[Safe sex] is always in the back of everyone’s mind. I’ve always practiced safe sex. I’ve had situations where friends have gotten friends pregnant. It can ruin your whole future.”

Drugs: “I have never touched any of that stuff. In the hood I live in, I see the kids on the corner dealing drugs, and they’ll end up in jail. I have no sympathy for any of them. A lot of people I know do weed or E. No one else messes with serious drugs and the only time they use E is to enhance their sexual experiences.”

Clubs: “I’m not into that. All my friends are into it. Even my girlfriend is into it. She does ballroom dancing. And goes out to a club called ‘Celebrate Life’ in Brooklyn.”

School trend: “The way you look. Everyone cares how you look. It’s about being unique. Everyone wants to stick out and be their own person, so they copy other people but put their own style into it. Now, everyone is wearing fitted clothes and fitted jeans, and everything is skintight. It used to be Ecko and Sean John. Now, it’s Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister and Lacoste.”

Post-high school plans: “I narrowed it down to Northeastern or Syracuse. I want to study psychology. Then, I’m going to join the FBI. I haven’t applied yet, but I’m going to visit them very soon, at the end of the month.”

RACHEL RESNIK

Vaudeville actress who has been doing stand-up since she was 8, but is also a pro at finding designer knockoff bags

Age: 16

Hood: Manhattan

School: Bronx High School of Science, Class of ’09

Movies: Anything with Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn. ‘Knocked Up’: I thought it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Tech: An iPod nano. A Nokia 6300: “It’s supposed to play music, but I don’t know how to make that happen.” An Apple iBook. “You have the ability to go on the computer and check if someone is online and it eliminates face-to-face contact. A lot of preteens, they can get really bitchy online.”

Wearing: Denim miniskirt, purple tank top, fake Chanel sunglasses, fake Dior bracelet, fake Tiffany necklace and her puppet Dusty. “Canal Street is awesome. I have secret places that have better stuff than anywhere else in the city. I have a Chanel bag knockoff. Every piece of Tiffany jewelry I own is a knockoff. Everything I have is a knockoff. I am very proud of my shopping skills.”

School supplies: “I have a LeSportsac tote bag that I throw my stuff in that I can throw around. I recently got a new bag, one of those ‘I’m not a plastic bag’ bags.”

She admires: “I really like Patti LuPone. I saw her in ‘Gypsy’ recently, and she’s really funny. I like Amanda Bynes a lot. She did stand-up at a young age and she’s in the same boat as me. She’s not getting drunk every night at a club. She’s respectable, and I like that.”

Drugs: “There’s nobody really wild at dorky schools like mine, so everyone follows the rules. I know that people drink and they do a lot of drugs and people are so stressed sometimes that’s what they turn to. I’ve heard of kids taking pills and acid tabs and stuff like that. Or a lot of kids will smoke pot even at school.”

Web sites: “I’ll go on YouTube and type in random words. Or Yahoo! games. I play things that are really dumb to unwind. I go on AddictingGames.com. I have a Nintendo 64, and my sister has a Game Boy DS, so I steal that.”

Post-high school plans: “I started a club called ‘For Teens by Teens Stand-up Comedy,’ and we practice and perform at the Broadway Comedy Club. I talk about what I know. My dad is a clown, my parents have a mixed marriage. [Her mom’s Catholic and her dad is Jewish.] [But] there’s not enough money in acting. It is whatever pays the bills next. There’s so many talented people in New York City alone.”

JUSTIN BLACK

The private-school kid from Queens who buys hats to match his sneakers, can’t wait to get his license and is a huge Vikings fan

Age: 16

Hood: Little Neck, Queens

School: St. Francis Preparatory High School, class of ’08

Music: NAS, Eminem.

Movies: ‘300.’ The war scenes were cool.”

Wearing: A striped shirt from Foot Locker, red, black and white Jordan 5s, Epic denim shorts and an Atlanta Braves baseball cap from Lids. “I go to a Catholic school so its different, because all of the rich kids wear Abercrombie, and I go to Foot Locker and get five T-shirts for $10. I still like baggy clothes. I get my kicks at Modell’s or Champs.”

Tech: The Internet helped people cheating, but my school cracked down on that. MySpace, Facebook, all those are banned. If you go online, they’ll delete your MySpace from it. We’re not allowed to have iPods out in the hallways anymore.” “I have an iPod, and it’s a piece of crap. It broke, then Apple sent me a refurbished one and it doesn’t work. The battery sucks, it freezes all the time, it shuts itself off whenever it feels like it…I want an Xbox 360 that works. And a Sidekick 3. That would be nice.”

Interests: “Sleeping, eating, football, basketball. I usually go to the park by my house and play basketball and chill.”

Web sites: ESPN.com, MySpace, the Minnesota Vikings Web site.

Thoughts on Lindsay, Paris, et al? “I don’t care about them. Paris Hilton is an idiot.”

Trends: “Me and my friends like to wear Jordans, the 11 retro Lows. I guess so. [I have] my 11s and I have two pairs of 5s, red and white, and blue, silver and white.” “I would love the Space Jam 11s in black and red.”

Dating: “I don’t like girlfriends. They are too much of a hassle. I don’t like commitment. I’d rather be with different girls. They always make things more complicated then it needs to be. They just make big deals out of small things.”

Slang: “Hardbody, like ‘He hit him hardbody.’ We call good-looking girls ‘bitties.’ You say, ‘check out those bitties across the street’ or ‘Damn, look at dose bitties.’ ”

Post-high school plans: Probably going to stay in New York and go to a SUNY school.

CECILIA SARA ALCALA

Artsy “Harry Potter” -loving Catholic schoolgirl from Brooklyn who looks forward to learning the diamond stitch

Age: 17

Hood: Brooklyn

School: Bishop Kearney High School, class of ’08

Music: Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, Christina Aguilera. Looking forward to seeing who’s going to outsell whom in the anticipated Kanye West vs. 50 Cent album battle. 50 Cent said that if he loses, he is going to retire. “I think Kanye is going to sell more…I buy music from the record store or iTunes.”

Movies: “Rent,” “Dreamgirls,” “Harry Potter,” “Step Up”

Wearing: Chanel knockoff patent flats from Fox’s in Bay Ridge, skirt and blazer from Pretty Girl, House of Dereon pocketbook and a cross necklace from Macy’s that her father got her when she was 17. “The vest is really in style, paired up with jeans and heels to go to a party. Or a nice buttoned-down jacket with a nice top. A lot of girls will show a lot of skin or cleavage. They just do it for attention. I think wearing less clothes is portraying a bad image of yourself, but they don’t see it that way…The way the clothes fit now, everyone is trying to get to that great size. People are losing weight left and right. The disorders, like bulimia, are still popular.”

Tech: Dell computer. Black video iPod, “but it’s messed up and I really need a new one…I have the Verizon White Chocolate phone, but it does stuff. It calls people by accident, and it just goes crazy sometimes. I really need to take it back.”

Read this summer: “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,” by Kim Edwards, “The Hiding Place,” by Corrie Ten Boom and “Dibs in Search of Self,” by Virginia M. Axline. “Also ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,’ which I love.”

Interests: “I love to make earrings, like the beaded ones that you can get from the arts store and make on your own. My favorite store is called Zelda’s Art World store in Brooklyn. It’s really buried, but there is an entire art studio in the backroom. And I think they have great, unique beads that you don’t see often. I love doing lanyard with beads.”

Difference in being a senior in 2007: “You have a lot more to prove. You have to get involved in your community more, and there are so many opportunities out there. There is so much temptation, and peer pressure is bigger now than it ever has been.”

Role model: “Melinda Gates. I absolutely love her. She does so much work to improve different countries, and her support is amazing. I did a school report on her.”

Web sites: MySpace and Facebook. “I love WireImage. I love seeing what’s going on with the celebrities. I love going to the magazine Web sites, like Seventeen, Ebony and People. I don’t buy them (the magazines) because they’re so expensive. I also go to YouTube and check out performances by stars I like.”

Beauty: “I really like Avon Moisture Therapy body lotion. It’s excellent.”

Post-high school plans: I have a 3.7 GPA. For colleges, I’m looking mainly at the University of Miami, Cornell or Georgetown University. I want to go into the sciences.