CHARACTER INFORMATION
face claim: Lucy Hale
full name: Caroline Rose Lawrence
nickname(s): Cece, Ollie, Ro
pronouns & gender: she/her, cis woman
sexuality: bisexual
birth date: November 20th, 1989
birth place: Asheville, North Carolina
time in town: Two years
housing: Downtown
occupation: Reporter at Merrock Times
family: Adopted brother Spencer, Adopted sister Hazel, + potential for one more adopted sibling
personality: An adventurous soul, Caroline has always loved throwing herself into things and hoping for the best. Not always the most organized unless when it comes to her job. One to constantly procrastinate when it comes to the everyday aspects of life or things she doesn’t want to do. Despite her need for space, she is very open and loving when it comes to those she lets in her life. They might tell you she is temperamental and even she will admit when she’s angry you will know it.
BACKGROUND / BIO
Caroline was born to two people passionately in love, they didn’t hate kids but children were never in the cards for them. They were both in their mid-twenties, had successful careers, and seemed to be the ideal couple for starting a family. Except they didn’t ever want kids and it was one of the first things they both agreed on. Despite them taking every measure not to conceive they ended up doing it and felt like they had no other choice but to put the baby up for adoption. Although she didn’t learn that story until years later from her adoptive parents it made a big impact on her life. She spent the first three years of her life in and out of foster care. She was always pretty lucky when it came to the families she ended up with as they all gave her the love she needed. Sadly most of them didn’t feel a strong enough connection to adopt her which led to her ending up in a group home. Which she now knows was the perfect place for her to end up as it’s where her parents first saw her. They always had a knack for knowing the right child for them and she was no different.
From that moment on she has never stopped being loved by her family. Even though she was well taken care of, Caroline ended up being angry quite a bit growing up. Sometimes she wasn’t even sure what she was so angry about which left her just as confused as those around her. At least she couldn’t figure it out until her parents made her go to therapy, which she hated at first. It ended up being one of the best decisions made for her as it helped bring out a much better and less angry side of her. With the help of her therapist, she realized she was upset and hurt that her parents didn’t want anything to do with her. Not even an open adoption so they could see how she was in life. It pained her that the two people that created her, didn’t care about her at all. At least that’s how she had felt for years, that she was unlovable and not good enough.
Once she realized that her birth parents made the right choice for them and her, huge pressure was lifted off her shoulders. She finally understood that if they hadn’t given her up, they would have spent the rest of their lives resenting her. She may not have been loved in the ways that she needed and she wouldn’t have gotten the family that she did. The day that realization hit she walked home from that therapy session and hugged her parents. She thanked them for everything they do for their family and how they loved her through every moment she directed her anger at them.
One thing about Caroline is she often struggled with finding her path in life, even after she started therapy. She couldn’t seem to figure out the direction she wanted her life to go in. Though school usually came easy to her, she couldn’t seem to land on a career. At least not like her peers seemed to be doing and she couldn’t bring herself to settle for just anything. After going to college at Southern Connecticut State University and just taking core classes she finally found a passion. She realized just how much she liked telling stories, especially other people’s, and switched to a Journalism degree. If she hadn’t joined the school’s newspaper in her first year she isn’t sure she would have ever found her passion.
After college, she did her years of grunt work before landing a sought-after job at a local Connecticut newspaper. She did amazing at the job and became one of the top reporters there. Until it felt like her career was at a standpoint, no good stories or at least ones she felt passion for. About two years ago she found herself thinking about the town her brother moved to and the one they spent summers in. It was also a fond place for their family and it sounded like the change she needed, plus it didn’t hurt that her older brother was already there. It took her a while but she finally landed a job at the Merrock Times.
