#truscott

Stella Montgomery » 17 » Truscott Hall » Junior » FC: Erica Dasher » Open

Next to her trusty partner, Poppy Wellington, Stella was always the girl to stand behind her friends, to be there to support them whenever they needed it. Her whole life, Stella grew in the shadows of someone else. Whether it be winning vice president instead of president of her middle school or taking the blame for someone else while they took advantage of it. In summary, Stella was never one to have stood up for herself. She always had trouble talking back to people, or rather, that was how her parents raised her. They ended up abusing her, actually. Every scar on her body was a different story as to how Stella fought against her parents.

Now nearly traumatized, Stella learned to never fight for herself, that everything she did was done for the good of others before herself. Her parents made sure of that. Being the second child in her family, her brother having learned his ‘mistakes’ much earlier than she, the girl was always compared to her older brother. Their parents cherished him more because he never talked back to them and they thought of their daughter as a brat who never learned her lesson.

No matter how many scars they gave her, Stella stood strong until she was about twelve years old, when her brother died in a plane crash. He was just coming home from a summer program overseas when they received the heartbreaking news. Of course her parents were upset; they had lost their prodigy child and were now stuck having a single daughter who caused trouble. She, however, thought of her brother as more than that. The only reason she had been fighting back all these years was because of him and how he never had the guts to, but now that he was gone, all her willpower and strength had seemed to go with him.

After the incident, Stella's parents decided to send her to Greenwood so they didn’t have to spend the whole year with her. She actually didn’t mind it though; if it meant getting away from them, she was more than fine with it. Once she got to Greenwood, she met Poppy and the two instantly bonded. They both took up cheerleading and stuck with it for the rest of high school. Now being juniors, they basically knew the school like the back of their hand.

Ethan Sanders » 17 » Truscott Hall » Junior » FC: Adam Hicks » Open

Ethan wasn’t exactly the hot man candy that every girl fell for. In fact, he was much more on the sweeter side. He genuinely cared about girls’ feelings and would do anything to see anything other than a hurt face. Even though Ethan was one of those who could walk into a room like they owned it, he still had his insecurities. Of course, he never let them show, but Ethan actually hated social activity. He hated talking with others, feeling the need to go to every party to at least hold up some dignity, and expressing feeling through words.

Growing up, Ethan developed a stutter. This was something he was not proud of at all and did everything he could to try to stop it. It even affected his learning, for his parents decided to send him in to school a year later than the rest of the people in his class. This was really the main reason Ethan felt the insecurities that he did. Throughout his elementary and middle school years, all he felt was neglect and outcast. Coming into Greenwood, Ethan expected it to be different. He expected people to accept him for who he was. Times had definitely changed but Ethan didn’t think older and more mature people would shun him from society because he grew up to be who he was.

His parents having had Ethan during their teenage years had always told him to be who he was and that other people shouldn’t be allowed to make opinions that would influence the way he acted. Of course, he didn’t follow his parents’ advice. Everything about Ethan's social life ate him up and he just wished he could overcome all his insecurities. Starting his freshman year, he changed everything he could about himself. He changed his look, his hair, and his clothes. He was incredibly determined to just fit in with everyone else and be accepted for once, something he hadn’t experienced since kindergarten, when the most harm one could do was not share their crayons.

Deep down, Ethan had that confidence, though. Somewhere inside him, he needed to just uncover the layers of awkward that covered him up, or rather, he needed someone else to help him realize his true self, the person who’s been dying to break free this whole time. His parents, realizing this early in his preteen years, decided to send him to Greenwood, apart from all public schools, to get some change in his life.

Lyla Weaver » 18 » Truscott Hall » Senior » FC: Shailene Woodley » Open

Growing up, Lyla Weaver was always strong and independent. She didn’t take help from anybody to figure out who she was and where she was taking her life. Lyla set high ambitions for herself and always strived to reach them, even if it meant having to make some serious sacrifices. Never wanting any help from her acquaintances, Lyla rocked to her own beat, rarely using her friends for support. It wasn’t that her friends didn’t care about her, but that Lyla just refused their assistance in reaching toward her goals.

It was ambiguous in how Lyla had obtained such ambitious traits considering both of her parents were incredibly lazy. They could barely afford living in Santa Monica and had just enough money to support their one and only daughter. Working hard to get into Greenwood Prep, Lyla studied harder than anyone she knew, knowing it would be good to get away from her old life back in California. It was supposed that Lyla didn’t want to have to be living on just scraps when she grew up, making a promise to herself that she would do anything for her children.

She didn’t exactly think this promise would have to come so quickly. In her sophomore year at Greenwood Prep when Lyla was just sixteen years old, she found out she was pregnant. His name is Ethan and they had known each other for only barely a year, considering he was a year younger than her. This child threw Lyla off her incredibly focused and ambitious plan of getting through high school with straight A’s. After she gave birth to her daughter, Kerri, Lyla's grades began to drop as she had higher priorities than school. Of course, her parents found out, but unlike any other normal set of parents, they supported Lyla in all her troubles, and even offered to take little Kerri off of her hands, but being the person she was, she denied their offer and brought her daughter back to school with her every year, to prove to everyone that she was no weak being.

Chelsea Bickham » 18 » Truscott Hall » Senior » FC: Ellen Wong » Open

Chelsea Bickham was basically the poster child of Greenwood Prep. Her father, owning the biggest oil company on the east coast, Chelsea was brought up getting anything she ever wanted. However, “anything she ever wanted” never turned out to be a lot of stuff. Chelsea was, in fact, quite humble and she stayed very focused on her school work, no matter how tempting partying with her friends turned out to be. Not only was she good at school, and she didn’t party too hard, but she was also one of the most popular seniors at Greenwood Prep. Everyone knew who she was and she basically seemed like the girl everyone wanted to be. Chelsea knew this, of course, but she didn’t let this get to her head.

Having a father who was really busy with his work and his company, she never really had a strong relationship with him. Sure, he came home for all the major holidays, including her birthday, and he gave her gifts every time he did come home, but Chelsea wasn’t satisfied with these efforts. She just missed the days when she was younger when her, her younger sister, her mom, and her dad all spent family quality time together. They hadn’t had it in years and whenever Chelsea saw teenagers getting picked up by their parents at the end of each school year for the summer, her heart broke in two since she knew that would never happen with her and her parents.

Throughout the school year, however, Chelsea never let this side of her show. She was always strong in matters like these and never let her guard down, just to show people how she could really be in matters like these.