We’ve all seen the movie but do we know what it means? Well, I don’t know how to go on a very academic discussion of a Lindsay Lohan flick (though lovely Tina Fey wrote the script), but it can plainly mean that mean girls really exist and when girls are mean, they also can get really nasty. Perhaps they are bullies if a different kind, but you don’t want to mess with the mean girls in your school. You can try to avoid them every time you see them on the hallway, but it gets tiring and pitiful to just always stay out of their way.

Play nice but don’t be a pushover. If the mean girls play a prank on you the first time, don’t let it pass. Even if you’re mature enough to know that it’s better to be the bigger person, never let them think that it’s okay with you to be the butt of their jokes.

Be better. The typical mean girls are either the richest, or the most glamorous. Either way, the only way you can defeat them is to be better than them. Do they have better legs? Well, hit the gym and work really hard while they booze in their parties and fatten their beer bellies. I bet you can get ahead in schoolwork and achieve straight As while they fail consecutively. In no time, the change is going to be obvious to all. And everyone’s gonna see that the mean girls are really just a bunch of airheads without substance.

Be mean. But don’t pick on your friends. Be mean to the mean girls themselves. Just teach them what it will cost them to mess with you. Practice your hair-pulling techniques and snappy comebacks.