When Cady Heron is sixteen, her family moves to the United States from Africa, where her parents have been conducting research. Cady is thrust into the tangled social hierarchy of high school life and is taken under the wing of classmates Damian and Janis. Cady has no previous experience with such a competitive nuanced social atmosphere, but her new friends are quick to help her get the hang of high school life. They explain the hierarchy of social groups and how they are connected, with one group of wealthy, stylish girls- the Plastics- at the top. Janis used to be a member of the friend group which constitutes the Plastics but was betrayed by the leader, Regina. In order to get back at Regina, Janis manipulates Cady into befriending and attacking her from the inside.
As I mentioned, Cady has no previous experience with this kind of social life. She desperately wants to fit in and feel a part of the group, so she is happy to play Janis' game in order to win her approval. For some time, Cady successfully retains her down-to-earth, math geek identity while playing a part-time Plastic to gather information on Regina. After a while, she begins to truly enjoy the attention and company of the other Plastic girls and the power they are afforded in their lives. Cady feels a little guilty for talking behind her new friends' backs but is quickly swept up into the glamour of their lives and begins to forget who she is deep down. Eventually, Cady begins to spend more time and identify more with the Plastic girls than her original friends, Janis and Damian.
Cady is caught up in the conflict of wanting two contrasting things out of her new life. She wants to be herself and be accepted- something she gets from Janis and Damien but not many others at school. She also wants the power and perceived happiness that the Plastics can offer her. Unfortunately, becoming a Plastic means betraying herself and distancing from her true identity. When Cady develops a crush on Regina's ex-boyfriend Aaron, her motivations for sabotaging Regina shift from her alliance to Janis to a desire to be preferable in comparison to Regina. Regina quickly notices and becomes jealous of the attention Aaron shows Cady, so she reasserts her dominance by getting back into a relationship with him. After this betrayal, Cady commits to Janis' plan and begins to make attempts at sabotaging Regina.
At first, Cady makes several somewhat reluctant attempts to make Regina less socially powerful, and we can sense that she isn't entirely confident in doing so. When Cady hands over a jar of foot cream for Regina's face, or fills her in on the "weight-loss benefits" of Swedish protein bars, she comes across as nervous- as though she may be called out at any moment. Soon, she begins to do poorly in math class so that Aaron will spend time with her, in private, as a tutor. With Aaron isolated, Cady has the opportunity to work on getting what she wants- to replace Regina as "queen bee" and Aaron's girlfriend- even if it means faking that she is bad at math. Cady feels guilty for betraying herself and her teacher, one of the few people who really saw her in her first days at school.
Later, Cady has the opportunity to throw a party while her parents are out of town. She is much more confident, having successfully pushed Regina out of the Plastic social circle, but she reveals through her actions that she is not fully comfortable embodying her new role. In a very quick interaction, we see Cady rescuing a vase two boys are throwing like a football- she is protecting her family's valuables and values. In a way, she is protecting an intimate part of her true identity. Cady has agreed to throwing a part as a way of impressing Aaron, and she spends most of the evening trying to calm her nerves with alcohol while waiting anxiously for him to arrive. When Cady and Aaron do meet in her bedroom, we are confronted with the stark contrast between the character she is playing as a Plastic and her true nature, exemplified by her bedroom decor. Aaron is pleased to see that Cady has such a down-to-earth personal space, but she blows the opportunity by maintaining her Plastic facade because she believes it is what Aaron wants to see.
This conflict really comes to a head when Regina fights back by publicizing the "Burn Book" at school. Cady is framed as the author of the book and is cut off from both of her friend groups. She must then decide who she really is- Plastic or "freak-" by choosing between going to the school dance or the mathematics competition. Cady decides it is more important to be true to herself and go to the mathematics competition, because even if nobody else wants to be her friend, she can be confident in doing what she truly enjoys.
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