Mean Girls is proof that high school never really ends.

Ten years ago today, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) went from "home-schooled jungle freak" to "regulation hottie" shortly after she began her junior year at North Shore High School. She befriended outcasts Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese) before being recruited by The Plastics: Regina George (Rachel McAdams), Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) and Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried).

Since its theatrical release on Apr. 30, 2004, Mean Girls has become a cult classic. To date, it has made $121 million at the worldwide box office. To honor of the film's legacy, several of its stars—including screenwriter Tina Fey, who played Ms. Sharon Norbury—shared their stories with The New York Times.

"I revisited high school behaviors of my own—futile, poisonous, bitter behaviors that served no purpose," Fey said of the script, inspired by Rosalind Wiseman's book Queen Bees and Wannabes. "That thing of someone saying, 'You're really pretty,' and then, when the other person thanks them, saying, 'Oh, so you agree? You think you're pretty?' That happened in my school. That was a bear trap."