CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

It’s your basic modern day tale of social redemption.

You’ve got the former high school prom queen and high school metal head who reunite online through their school’s reunion page on Facebook. Requests to become friends are made. E-mails exchanged. A one-on-one get together and then … high school history is made.

Through the years, I have grown completely unfazed to the dramas that come to surface because of MySpace or Facebook. I have dozens of friends who have slept with the prom queen, went on a date with their kindergarten crush or reconnected with their high school girlfriend/boyfriend. There has then been the aftermath of this, which is the MySpace break-up, which really just means you delete someone from your page or you discover you’ve been deleted. Which, truthfully, does sting a bit.

I myself have grappled with angry friends upset that they were not listed as a “top friend.” I’ve had to delete photos of an ex-boyfriend and replace them with pictures of the cat and me, and I discovered a good friend’s surprise pregnancy with a picture of her sonogram on her page.

From the beginning, I feared joining these groups would turn me into a social network snob who would say things like “What’s your MySpace URL?” or “Just Facebook me,” to friends and family.

But it’s hard to avoid when everyone you know is on, and it’s a great way to keep in touch with people who live far away.

After I learned how to pimp my page, add music, upload photos and write witty quips about my hobbies, interests and religious views, I was a believer in just how fun this could be.

In time, though, I began to notice cliques.

There’s the most popular girl, who has a lot of friends and comments on her page.

The hussy/playboy, who collects friends just for the sake of having lots of “friends,” but they don’t even know you.

The happy couple who use their page to showcase their perfect adoring love with photos and slideshows. Which, by the way, just makes the rest of us question our own relationships or ability to love.

And then there are the socialites, people who join thousands of online clubs, even the “I Love Bacon” and “You know you’re from Southern California” clubs.

The sites also come with a certain amount of societal pressure because so many friends and acquaintances are following your life online, which means any changes you make will be brought to their attention.

A friend recently called me out and asked me why I had the wrong city listed in my place of residence.

Another friend has made the personal choice to not post anything about her boyfriend in fear that the minute she does, the relationship will fail.

And my friend Penny changed her relationship status just for privacy and received dozens of e-mails and calls from people wanting to know what had happened.

I just try to have fun, show my school spirit and am staying far away from the former prom king. But, I wonder, what is the president of the high school band up to these days?

CINDY ARORA is a freelance writer for the Independent.