Corinne Connelly

[Ramshackle*]

Name: Corinne Connelly
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Grade: 12th
School: Bayview Secondary School
Hobbies and Interests: Shopping, television (mostly Lifetime or Cartoon Network), hairdressing and makeovers, knitting

Appearance: Corinne stands at 5’8” and weighs 235 pounds. Her wavy brown hair is long enough to touch the small of her back. She has green eyes, which seem to be set deep in her face due to her doughy cheeks. Her eyelashes are long and her brows are kept meticulously tweezed. Her nose is upturned slightly at the end, and she considers it her prettiest feature. Corinne’s mouth is a bit wide for her face, and deep dimples show whenever she smiles, which is often. Her chin sticks out a bit, and occasionally sprouts a few sparse hairs that she quickly plucks away.

Unlike many of the ‘fat kids’ around, Corinne does not try to hide her body behind large sweatshirts and baggy jeans. Instead, she opts for patterned and flowing skirts or well-fitted slacks; her shirts are usually in eye-catching colors and of interesting cuts – no plain old t-shirts here. Her favorite article of clothing is by far her blue jean jacket; she even wears it in the summer by tying the sleeves around her waist.

Corinne’s hair is very smooth and manageable, since she tends it like a pet. Usually, it’s swept into a fancy updo or neatly braided over one shoulder. She also wears makeup on a daily basis – foundation, mascara, the works. Her favorite color to use on her fair skin is pink, which she applies heavily to her eyelids and lips. The overall effect is quite pretty rather than clownish, and her everyday look is finished off by a gold locket and any pair of her various showy earrings.

Biography: Corinne is the only daughter of Elisa and Mark Connelly. When she was eight years old, Mark left the family after an explosive argument with Elisa, though Corinne did not take this separation very hard. Mark was not a big part of the family when he was around; he’d been her mother’s high school sweetheart, and the marriage had really been one of convenience. He'd spent all of his time away from home, only returning home to eat and sleep. After his departure, Corinne and her mother became closer than ever, and the girl found herself taken to book clubs, holiday parties, and anything else that her mother was involved in. Corinne didn’t mind; she loved being a part of her mother’s life.

Four years after the divorce, Elisa met Preston Chapman, and within a year, the two were married. Again, Corinne took this in stride – if Mark wasn’t going to be her father, well, someone ought to. The downside of the situation only made itself painfully clear over the next year; Elisa gave birth to Hannah Chapman – how odd it was to have a sister with a different last name! – and the combination of the new baby and Preston, a sweet, fun-loving family man, meant that Corinne didn’t get to spend nearly as much time with her mother as she did before. Now, instead of her days being full, Corinne had lots of time to do nothing at all, though she tried at first to be involved in the family. She learned to knit just so she could make a blanket for her sister, and offered to babysit at every opportunity.

By the time Corinne entered high school, it was clear to her that her current social state just wasn’t enough. She longed for the days when she always had something to do! Therefore, she tried to make friends with everyone, just so she’d always have plans, and stayed at home less and less. Almost every one of her meals were snagged on the go, leading to a diet of fast food and unhealthy snacks. When she did eat at home, she was so down about being left alone that she merely sat and watched television, eating all the while. Her weight took a serious upturn when she was about thirteen due to these circumstances. To combat the way her clothes no longer fit, she began to spend lots of time at the mall, searching for new styles (often in a new size) that would look chic on her growing frame. She also invested in a large supply of makeup, and read beauty magazines extensively. Instead of doing something about her weight problem, she chose instead to accentuate what she did have going for her. Exercise, after all, wasn’t a very social activity in her eyes – none of her friends wanted to see her pouring sweat at a gym! Also, how awkward would it be to order a salad when everyone else was having a burger? That would just make her feel insecure.

At Bayview, Corinne carefully molded herself into being a social butterfly, and tended to make friends out of anyone who would give her a chance (even if she had to fib a bit to do it). “Oh, you like Star Wars? So do I!” she would crow, only to rush home and spend the entire night looking up the movies and memorizing facts so that she’d have conversation fodder for the next day. So far, her little lies have held up, though some might suspect her phoniness. Despite that, she is a genuinely sweet girl who is merely afraid that if people don’t find her interesting, she may end up with an empty social calendar once more.

In classes, she works hard but doesn’t really excel, since her attention on her studies dissipates as soon as she leaves school grounds. Her favorite subject is math, since it involves working out a quick answer and moving on – none of that time-consuming essay-writing is involved.

Advantages: Corinne does have a bit of manual dexterity from knitting and hairstyling and such. She can undo knots quickly, for instance, and braid material swiftly. Since she is a proverbial yes-man, people may see her as a pushover or nonthreatening, and therefore underestimate her.
Disadvantages: Being overweight is an obvious flaw here. Corinne can’t handle much physical activity without a rest, and forcing herself to exercise more that she might want can leave her nauseated and dizzy. Corinne is also attached to people in a very unhealthy way; she hates to be alone, and believes that all of the people she knows (virtually, the whole school) are as attached to her as she is to them.