Kenneth Harrison*

[jerk*]

Name: Kenneth Harrison
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Grade: 12
School: Aurora High School
Hobbies and interests: Muay Thai, heavy metal, playing guitar, academics, writing

Appearance: Kenneth stands at 6'3" and weighs 155 pounds, making him look skinny and gangly, though recently he has begun to fill out and develop more muscles due to taking up Muay Thai. His hair is dark blonde, greasy and shoulder-length - he has been trying to grow it long for months, but much to his frustration, it won't grow any more. Instead, it just gets messy and curls out everywhere, not helped by the fact that he rarely remembers to brush it, let alone style it. His facial hair is thin, wispy and a very light blonde, only visible in strong sunlight. His eyes are squinty and greyish-blue, and have large dark rings under them, making him look as if he hasn't slept in months. His skin is pale from spending so much time indoors, and his face is covered in spots which he can never be bothered to clean up. He has thin lips and a long, aquiline nose, and large, sticking-out ears.

Kenneth almost exclusively wears old, soiled T-shirts, jeans and shorts - he hates wearing new clothes, finding them uncomfortable and disliking spending his money on clothes (he believes that fashion and personal appearance are ephemeral things that he shouldn't have to worry about). You'd be hard pressed to find something in his wardrobe that isn't ripped to hell and covered in mysterious stains. He is rarely seen without an item of apparal known to him as his battlejacket, but known to everyone else as "that worn out denim vest with way too many patches on it". His mother takes notice, and tries to make him wear nicer clothes, but he always changes at school.

Biography: Kenneth was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Andrew and Claire Harrison. Though not exactly rich, the family was comfortably well-off - his father worked in the oil business, and his mother worked as an accountant. He and his parents have their differences, of course - Kenneth never particularly looked up to them as role models - he is at least thankful that they took the time to raise him, and he does care about them. His sisters Emma and Rebecca (twins, two years younger than him), not so much.

As a young boy, it soon came to his parents' notice that Kenneth was somewhat odd. He kept to himself most of the time, and could happily sit for hours in a corner lining cars up or putting things in and out of boxes. He carried one particular pencil around with him everywhere, even in the bath. He would repeat things that he'd heard on television or in movies to himself out loud and laugh crazily, just because he liked the way they sounded. While he was never diagnosed with anything - the doctors said these were just odd habits, and not symptoms of any kind of mental disorder - but Kenneth knew, even from that age, that these marked him out as different

From the beginning, he was doing extremely well in school. Having learned to read at a very early age, Kenneth had proceeded to devour all the books his parents bought him, and thus by the time he was in 1st grade, he was well ahead of everyone academically. He wasn't a perfect student by any means, but he breezed through school comfortably without having to work very hard, and was frequently bored in class because he was at least a grade above the material. The problem was, he didn't have a lot of friends. Not because he didn't want to make friends, but because he couldn't - he alienated them with his odd speech patterns and occasional bizarre habits. Because of this, Kenneth ended up taking refuge in academics, dedicating himself to them to try and make up for the social wasteland he'd found himself in.

Over the next few years, Kenneth's father had to move around a lot because of his job. Until Kenneth came to Aurora High School, he'd been in four different schools, and he wasn't particularly happy in any of them. He continued to slide further and one in particular, when he lived in Portland, Oregon, was an utter nightmare. The student body was rahter. The teachers were absolutely useless, having no passion whatsoever for the subjects they taught and refusing to engage the students at all. But most of all, there were four particular boys who took delight in tormenting Kenneth every way they could. He'd never forget the day when one of them pushed him off the top of the climbing frame, and he hit his head on a bar on the way down. Kenneth was in the hospital with a concussion for quite a while. The school followed up on this, naturally, and the boy was expelled, but Kenneth never forgot it. During his two years at that school, Kenneth never made one real friend.

On top of this, there were some issues in his family. His parents would clash frequently over the most minor of issues, as both of them had quite different outlooks on life - his father had a relaxed attitude towards rearing his children, while his mother was a rather uptight and strict parent who was of the opinion that children needed discipline. They constantly fought over this, always seeming on the brink of divorce but never actually following through. Moreover, there were some issues with his sisters. Once, they had idolised their brother, but as they grew and became more socially astute, they drifted apart. Emma suffered from scoliosis, and needed to wear a back brace much of the time. Kenneth was prepared to sympathise with her - after all, he saw that is was quite painful and potentially embarrassing - but he hated the way that she refused to wear it and lied to their parents about it, despite knowing the health consequences it would have if she didn't. They got into a huge argument about it, Kenneth accusing Emma of being selfish and Emma wanting him to butt out of her personal business. Rebecca, as always, stood by her twin out of a sense of loyalty, though Kenneth always suspected that she only did it through obligation.

Despite all this, he wasn't totally unhappy. Kenneth had always loved music. His father was a music lover too - he played the saxophone in a few local jazz bands, and would play Kenneth selections from his extensive collection of vinyl whenever he could. Kenneth originally learned to play piano, but in 5th grade, he traded his piano in for an electric guitar, feeling bored with the instrument he had chosen. He practiced as much as he could, and soon became excellent at it. He dedicated himself to his guitar the same way he dedicated himself to academics, or, indeed, to anything that caught his interest, whether that was Dungeons and Dragons, toy collecting or video game programming. Most of these interests came and went, but guitar and academics were the two constants in his life. He liked that - after all, all he wanted was to have something constant in his life of moving around.

So, when Kenneth moved to Aurora High School in 9th grade, his knack for making friends was more or less atrophied. He became something of a loner, never sure how to approach people or what to say to them - particularly in group situations, where he just clammed up. At first, he was unhappy with this, but gradually he came to accept his situation as a perpetual loner, knowing that there was little he could do to change it. In fact, he came to prefer it that way. After all, if he came to like someone, he'd end up having to move to another school, if his past experience was any guide.

But that still didn't help him any. The family situation was little better. His sisters were in middle school by now, and tried to distance themselves from Kenneth as much as possible. At the time, Kenneth couldn't understand why, but he later saw that they were tired of always being seen as "the weird kid's sisters", and wanted to forge their own identities, and also that they were slightly embarrassed about him. It manifested at home, with them insulting him for his oddities in a further effort to drive themselves apart from him. Bullying, as ever, was an issue - with his weak physique (Kenneth almost never did exercise, instead focusing on guitar and playing video games) and odd habits, Kenneth seemed to attract it. It was only a matter of time before Kenneth lashed out and tried to stab one of his tormentors with his beloved pencil.

He had to face the consequences, of course, and ended up going to therapy. Gradually, Kenneth began to work through some of his issues - his frustration at being unable to make friends, and the inferiority complex that had developed from being constantly told by fellow students and his sisters that he was a loser and a weirdo and a spaz. He gradually realised that he was partially to blame, never having tried to change his habits or social interaction or made the slightest effort to fit in. Gradually, he began to integrate himself into the social life of the school and rebuild bridges with his family, and while they still fought sometimes, things were generally better. He didn't think he would ever quite forgive his sisters for trying to drive him away, but he could at least see why they did what they did.

Kenneth made a few friends, and stopped being such a loner all the time. They weren't the lifetime companions that everybody else seemed to have, more of a loose aggregation of fellow freaks and geeks, but it was better than nothing. Unfortunately, this wouldn't help him get a girlfriend. By the time he reached 12th grade, he was still a virgin. Worse than that, he'd never had a proper girlfriend, or even kissed a girl. Girls, at that age, were still alien creatures to him. He knew that he shouldn't make as big an issue out of it as he did, but it still worried him - if second-hand word of mouth was anything to go by, everyone was hooking up constantly.

During this time, Kenneth was, mentored by his English teacher Mr. Collins, who encouraged him to use writing as an outlet for his frustrations and fears. He found that he enjoyed it very much, and to the despair of his teachers, he spent most of his time in class jotting down stories or thinking about riffs he was developing rather than doing work. Kenneth's grades began to slip - as he was so far ahead academically before, he'd never had to study much or even do much work, but the curriculum had caught up with his knowledge. It took him some time to adjust his brain to this new way of working, but he soon came around to it. While he wasn't the consistent A+ student he was before, and never would be, he at least got comfortable As and Bs. Despite this, he always had a lingering sense of resentment about the fact that he wasn't particularly exceptional in any way now.

Despite all this, he refused to get depressed about it, having seen from experience that getting depressed will get him nowhere. He instead chose to respond with sarcasm and a bank of sardonic quips, in order to make it seem like a trivial thing, even when it wasn't. His outlook on life could perhaps best be described by the mantra he came up with: "Life sucks. I will die. Get over it."

By 12th grade, Kenneth was relatively stable and had begun to adjust. He'd finally found his social niche, as the lead guitarist and main lyricist of local death metal band Valley of Slaughter (he had developed a passionate interest in death metal in 10th grade, enjoying the powerful sound of the music). They weren't great, and he knew it, but he loved playing with them anyway, just because he'd finally found a group of people who could share his interests, and an outlet for some of his more... colourful writing. He also began to practice Muay Thai, feeling that perhaps doing some form of exercise would give him a social outlet and that improving his fitness would be good for his self-esteem. He was finally coming into his figure, feeling less awkward and gangly than he had previously. He planned to go to an Ivy League university and study History, assuming that Valley of Slaughter never takes off (they've been rejected by 7 different record labels, but they won't give up yet). He knew he would always have some issues to work out, but he is generally hoped that his life will be good in the future.

Advantages: Kenneth has been practicing Muay Thai for one and a half years, and while he does not work out much outside of his lessons (he has been meaning to start for a while but never bothered to get around to it), he can still hold his own in a sparring situation. He is also fairly intelligent and well-read.
Disadvantages: While Kenneth is quite a bit stronger than he was, he still suffers from a lack of stamina, and will get tired easily. He also has a tendency to over-analyse a situation, and is hesitant about actually making a decision - he has a perpetual fear of making a snap decision that he will regret. While his theoretical knowledge is decent enough (though not spectacular), his lack of experience in the real world could cost him, as he has always had a problem actually applying what he learns. Most crippling of all is Kenneth's lack of social skills, which could cost him dearly in the cutthroat game of alliances and relationships.