[CHAR] Setbacks - Story of a High School Mafia

[Blubaron45]

Hillcrest High School Student Identification

Name: Daniel Esteban Rivas
Gender: Male.
Date of Birth: February 23, 1989
GPA: 4.2
Year: Sophomore

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Additional Information
Height: 5'10"
Eye Color: Blue
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic/White
Hobbies: Reading, studying, jiu jistu, wrestling, programming, playing the piano, going on the internet.
Personality:
Daniel Esteban Rivas not just distinguishes himself from other students academically, but also by his appearance. Being of the few Hispanic kids at his high school, Daniel is also an academic all-star at his school with what most can say that he has a bright future ahead of him. Though despite this enduring academic stoicism and prowess to achieve more with his life, Daniel is rather the type to not find contentment with the day-to-day routine of what most could say a picture-perfect student. He finds repetitiveness and routine rather tedious as he spends time often thinking of doing things differently each way. Many can say that this act of wanting to think in different ways to have contributed to his creativity, as it as often benefited him getting out of certain situations.

Often, he is seen sleeping most of the day when he can. One could say he is rather lazy, though he is more of a bored high school student, wishing to spend the rest of his days as a trouble-making adolescence doing the dumbest and most dastard things he could pull before going to adulthood. This is one of the personality traits he often hides the most, using his innocent looks to often get away with the things he usually does that many seem as low, though he's not quite as a apathetic criminal as you'd think. Daniel possibly has more of a conscious than most people, often knowing when to draw the line morally between what's crossing that boundary and was shouldn't. Though despite this "consciousness", Daniel could be regarded as being arrogant at times, as he takes pride in being better than most other people.

Short Biography:
Daniel Esteban Rivas was born the second son of Mexican-American Carlos Alfredo Rivas and Irish-American Marcella MacArthur, both who come from a background of social injustice and peril and often wanting to show that to their children. Together they both had Michael Bartley Rivas, Daniel Esteban Rivas, and their young three-year old Maeve Lluvia Rivas. Daniel looks more like his father, Carlos, with the same similar Hispanic appearance as well as the curly hair he gets from his grandmother on his mom's side and the radiant blue eyes of his forefathers. Growing up young, Daniel was noted for being intelligent like his siblings though the most socially engaging out of all the Rivas children, mostly being ahead in his verbal skills.

Growing past toddler-hood, Daniel became close friends with his cousin, Alfredo Zapien, a noted trouble-maker since birth as his parents would say, who would often taking part in petty crime and later partying hard as he grew older. Though not nearly as good as a student as Daniel, Alfredo still has the grades to get into a half-decent school, but not really quite being motivated to do so. Alfredo was, however, everything Daniel wanted to be socially, a cool and notoriously feared person at school, picking fights with fellow students who talked trash. "These white boys can't fight", he would say after getting out of one, a fight he typically won against middle-class "white boys" as he called him. Despite being a bad boy, Alfredo often confides with his cousin, often lecturing him about not doing the same mistakes he made.

Taking some heed of his advice, Daniel realized the importance of studying and staying avid in his approach towards his education, striving to be that academic all-star he is today. His life could be explained almost the same way as any other teenager growing up in suburbia from there on, not knowing what to do with his leftover time of what diligence had yielded to his seemingly life of perfection. It was at this point in his sophomore year of high school at Hillcrest, would he choose to take a life as a young and petty underworld criminal.

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Hillcrest High School Student Identification

Name: Alfredo Zapien
Gender: Male.
Date of Birth: March 11, 1987
GPA: 3.2
Year: Senior

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Additional Information
Height: 5'11"
Eye Color: Brown
Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic
Hobbies: Driving in his 1995 Toyota Tacoma, hanging out with friends, partying, soccer, baseball, amateur boxing.
Personality:
Those who know Alfredo will say that he's a pretty laid-back and relaxed individual, though not unless you piss him off is he going to explode. Being known for getting into fights and winning them, Alfredo is also known for his decent boxing skills as he is an amateur boxer with an impressive record of 11-0, most of his wins by knockout and is about to enter the state competition of boxing. Though despite his physical prowess, Alfredo is surprisingly quite modest in his abilities to beat people in fights. "The funny thing about learning how to fight," he told his cousin Daniel, "is so that you don't have to." Carlos is not quite known for being heated often, in fact, during confrontations he usually takes a rather humorous approach, sometimes even provoking others to attack him. Carlos is the type of individual who ends a fight rather than starting one.

Short Biography:
Alfredo Zapien is a full blooded Mexican-American, being raised in East LA before moving into the suburbs when his father got a job as a Union worker when the young Alfredo was eleven. Alfredo was raised pretty rough, probably more so than any other family member as has been in Juvenile Hall at the age of nine for three months for assault and drug possession and got into quite a few fights growing up. Though pretending not to care about school, he is actually somewhat studious, maintaining a decent GPA and able to get into a pretty good school. Though following a life as an intellectual isn't as much as a dream to him as his younger half-Irish and Mexican cousin, Daniel, who he likes to lecture and give advice to as they are both close friends.

Alredo is the third youngest born to Bacilia and Lorenzo Zapien, a hard-working family who just barely married, had their first son, Lorenzo Jr. before waiting five years to have Javier, and another two to have Carlos. Bacilia is Carlos Riva's oldest sibling who was born in Mexico and raised there longer than Daniel's father, and Lorenzo Zapien was also the same. Lorenzo is a hard-working union man, often coming from late and tired from work and is also a lover of trucks due to his work. All three brothers in the Zapien family were quite close to one another until becoming adults to live their own lives as separated.

Carlos always looked up to his brothers and essentially grew up to be similarly as he himself became a teenager though where there paths broke apart in a deviant way was when Carlos became acquainted with his intimate social circles whom his parents disapproved of. Those who have siblings know that the oldest are often the wisest, though the same cannot necessarily be same towards the Zapien family as they are a strange family. Carlos had been younger than his brother Lorenzo by seven years, and younger than his brother Javier by another two. Javier was probably the only one in the family who was bright enough to get into a decent school like Berkeley where he is today succeeding in getting a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Lorenzo Jr. is currently serving his time in Iraq as a Marine in what occurred after the 9/11 attacks in New York. Both brothers, now living to get their lives squared as they begin their journey into true adulthood with Carlos preparing, though not really knowing what to do with his own life.

All Carlos can do at the moment is perhaps give college a try and in the meanwhile, rely on his social circles to fill his days of boredom with partying and drinking before he officially 'grows up'. Rumors in his privileged high school circle around that he is a Cholo though only being partly true. To this day, Carlos often hangs out with his old friends he'd known since a child, the ones his parents warned him to stay away from. They were actual cholos. Although he does nothing too immoral in his behaviors, many speculate that what he does is quite unorthodox and sketchy as not even Daniel quite knows what he does with his spare time other than hearing rumors of him being a party animal. Despite this, Carlos is considered by Daniel to be wise, often lecturing and giving him advice on life, giving a hint to Daniel that he's been through quite a bit - though what, he doesn't specifically know.

[Chai]

ＨＯＢＢＩＥＳ ::

Chemistry, biology, color-coding and organizing notes, riddles and logic puzzles, playing Xbox, texting, mixing home substances to make chemical concoctions (just ask her about the time with nail polish remover and bleach!).

ＰＥＲＳＯＮＡＬＩＴＹ ::

At first impression, Stella seems like a quiet, bookish Asian girl. That isn't to say she's reclusive; she actually prefers to be in the company of friends and loves meeting new people. She cares more about her social life than she lets on, though most students seem to like and accept her friendliness. While never desiring to be the center of attention, she does like recognition for her accomplishments, and this makes her incredibly competitive. This competitive nature mainly manifests in her academics--evident by her spot in the top ten students of her class--but it can also be found in her romantic life, as well as in some hobbies, such as violin and theatre.

Most adults, including her parents and teachers, would likely describe her as studious, ambitious, respectful, and cheerful. However, just bubbling underneath that front is a more mischievous side. Stella's attention to detail and her observation skills make her excellent at analysis, and she always seems up to date on the school gossip. She also uses her air of innocence and acting experience to her advantage in the form of manipulation. Not that she's ever had to use it extensively, but she's been known to get away with turning in a late assignment once or twice.

ＢＩＯＧＲＡＰＨＹ ::

Stella was born in Houston, Texas, although her family relocated to KoreaTown in LA, California. She spent her early childhood years growing up in the busy LA area, until her parents decided to settle down in one of the SoCal suburbs. As the daughter of immigrant parents (a Korean father and a Filipino mother), they had always instilled in her the value of hard work and education, just as they taught much of the same to her older siblings. Growing up, they tried to force her to attend various after-school academic extracurricular activities, although she stubbornly refused. In the end, she found enjoyment in music and theatre, activities that her parents hadn't quite approved of until they saw her perform for the first time. By the time of her freshman year of high school, she had established herself as a bright, promising student. She was well-known among the teaching staff due to possessing the same academic prowess as her older brothers, both of whom had also attended Hillcrest High School.

The first time she was exposed to petty crime was the summer after freshman year when she and her friends were at a Victoria's Secret store, and one of them tried to steal some lip gloss and a small perfume bottle. Her friend was caught by store sales associates, but ever since then, the act of theft had been in Stella's mind. If only her friend had been as observant about camera placement and the sales staff as she was, maybe she would have gotten away with it. There was only one way to test that theory, and much to Stella's delight, she was able to walk out of the very same Victoria's Secret store the next weekend with a purse full of stolen goodies.

Despite having deep roots in Asian heritage, and Southern California being home to a large Asian-American population, Stella identifies heavily with American culture. While she can understand both Korean and Tagalog (the Filipino language) and can read Hangul (Korean writing), she lacks the ability to speak both languages aside from simple conversational phrases.

ＦＡＭＩＬＹ ＭＥＭＢＥＲＳ ::

Young-jin Kim - father; one of the directors of research at a small biotechnology company
Rosemarie Kim - mother; the owner of a clothing boutique
Brian Min-ho Kim - brother; 3rd year college student at Rice University in Houston, Texas
Aaron Min-chul Kim - brother; 1st year college student at UCLA in LA, California

[Venus]

J.C. Radley

Hillcrest High School Student Identification

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Gender: Male
Date of Birth: November 13, 1987
GPA: 3.84
Year: Senior

Additional Information

Height: 6’4”

Eye Color: Brown

Race/Ethnicity: Jewish / Caucasian

Personality: The first impression you get from JC is that he’s a quiet, easygoing boy- and it’s not a wrong one. Jameson is a pretty chill guy, with a quick sense of humor that can show up in a smile or smirk, and maybe even a loud laugh if it’s good enough. He’s very structured and meticulous when it comes to his ‘business’ and studies, not leaving anything up to chance and carefully planning his every step. He’s loyal to the core, and upfront about anything. The female population would describe him as charming and flirtatious, but this part of him is saved exclusively for the women he wants to sleep with. Fun fact: he is said to be a passionate, intense and unforgettable lover by the long list of girls he’s been intimate with.

However, things are not often what they seem, and this also holds true for Jay. Behind his chill exterior hides a deceitful young man that’s highly sarcastic and hot-headed, which sometimes causes him to say or do things out of anger. Because of situations that have happened in his past, JC is emotionally closed off, and harbors deep trust and commitment issues. JC is also a person you wouldn’t want to cross- much less betray-, as he can hold grudges forever. He can also become violent and confrontational, but only if you really push him over the edge or cause any harm to his family. He’s also not one to have many friends, as he prefers quality over quantity, and doesn’t allow just anyone inside his walls.

Short Biography: Jameson Chandler Radley was born on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of the year, on a rather unusually cold night for the month of November. His parents are Frederick Radley, a prestigious banker at Wall Street, and Olivia Dawson (Nee. Radley), head of the HR department of Dawson Industries (her father’s company). Freddy and Olivia’s story begins at a business convention in Las Vegas approximately two years prior to JC’s birth. They had met at one one of the dinner parties of the convention, and the pair had cliqued instantly. They continued to see each other after that and begin a relationship, with Olivia being clueless to the fact that Freddy was married and with two young daughters. One year after he and Olivia had been dating, the illicit couple found out they were expecting, thus causing Freddy Radley to finally file for divorce and leave his wife and daughters to pursue a life with Olivia. Freddy was ecstatic at learning he would finally be getting the son he always dreamed of, so he was adamant in providing all the commodities in the world for both his lover and his unborn child. JC’s birth strengthened Freddy and Olivia’s relationship, and he proposed to her just moments after their son had been born. They married when JC was a year old, and two and a half years later they welcomed Jasper Xavier into the family. The Radley boys grew up close, with JC being protective of his younger brother from the moment he was placed in his arms at the hospital a day after he’d been born. The two were also a bit spoiled, having been born into an upscale lifestyle, a proud father and a caring mother. It seemed the new Radley family had it all… But more than a decade later, their happily ever after came crashing down unexpectedly.

When JC was thirteen, he came home one night to find his father gone and his mother sobbing in their empty bedroom. Freddy Radley had done it again: started an affair with a younger woman and left his family to pursue a new life. It was that day that JC found out the story behind his conception and about his father’s other family (his mother having learned it just a few years prior and keeping it a secret so as not to cause harm to her boys), and from that day on he began harboring contempt and a hatred for his father. In order to numb himself from the pain and betrayal Freddy had caused him, JC fell into the clutches of the drug world. He started his downward spiral with pot at thirteen, taking it up a notch at fifteen with MDMA and LSD, and eventually at sixteen graduating into selling a variety of ‘party drugs’ and doing a coke line every other day.

The situation with his father brought up more than just a drug addiction. Because he loved Freddy so deeply and saw him as a role model, his actions had left young JC heartbroken in the most delicate of times. From that day, he built walls around himself, keeping people at arm’s length to avoid giving them any sort of power or way to cause him pain and/or suffering. Seeing how much pain loving someone can cause, he is determined not to fall into its clutches again, and is deathly scared of commitment, relationships and falling in love. He also harbors trust issues, because if his own father was able to betray him so badly, anyone else with looser ties to him could do it easily. JC refuses to give anyone a chance to even try.

Though a terrible husband, Freddy continued to be a good father to all of his four children (much to JC’s chagrin), being a provider and present figure on all their important moments. The summer after his leaving, Freddy flew his sons over to his new New York City penthouse. It was there where JC and Jasper met their older half-sisters for the first time: Hannah Marie and Hayley Nichole Radley, both gorgeous and successful. The Radley girls were nothing but sweet to their younger brothers, as they were old enough to know they had no blame to what their father had done in the past years. All of Freddy’s children bonded over a dislike for what he had done to their mothers, and had enjoyed their time together so much they vowed to spend at least a part of their summers together. JC keeps constant contact with the girls, but he’s more attached and close to Hayley than he is to Hannah. On the other hand, the relationship between JC and his father is kept civil and at arm’s length.

At school, JC keeps a record of perfect attendance and a 3.84 GPA, keeping quiet and with excellent behavior to not attract attention to himself and his “job”. Though he hangs out mostly by himself, he low-key looks after his brother viciously, trying to make sure his brilliant baby brother succeeds and not fall into the same destructive path he has. In the past, JC has been suspended a few times for fighting guys who bullied Jasper, teaching everyone that nobody is to mess with either Radley.

[Sadie]

Haven

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• Name

Haven Abigail Michaels

• Gender

Female

• Date of Birth

April 22 1988

• GPA

4.1

• Year

Junior

• Height

5'5

• Eye Color

Blue

• Race/Ethnicity

Caucasian

• Hobbies

Cheerleading, singing, volunteering, painting, babysitting, pick pocketing

• Personality

Haven is your all-around American girl-next-door type. Not only does she always have a bright smile on her face, but she makes it a point to make everyone's day just a little bit brighter. She loves volunteering in soup kitchens, in the school's office, in homeless shelters...name it, she's helped it. Haven is also the go-to babysitter for the kids in her area as she has earned the respect and trust from many of her city's residents. This girl strives for excellence in every area she commits to and rarely does she never succeed. Although she may be all honky-dory and 'love thy neighbor', she does have a bit of a competitive streak. If she wants something, she goes after it and takes it.

• Biography

The only child to Samuel Michaels and Elizabeth Michaels, Haven has been spoiled from the moment of conception. Her parents had started their own reality business, so her family quickly became the 'go-to' people of their area. Having never been anywhere besides home sweet home, she was raised to believe in finishing her studies, getting her career, finding a good man, and then settling down as a stay-at-home mother to their 2.5 children and family pet in their quiet suburban household.

From the very beginning of her adolescence, Haven was always taught to be a god-fearing young lady. Her parents believed in going to church every Wednesday and Sunday, while Haven also attending bible study before being old enough to teach bible study herself. She was brought up on manners, etiquette, and all around goodness. This was her life until puberty and boys started to loose their 'icky' persona.

When middle school came around, she found that everyone trusted in her and believed she could do no wrong. After all, she was the girl that everyone trusted their kids with and watched her sing in the Sunday church choir. It became incredibly dull. One night while she was babysitting, her eyes took in everything around her. She realized that her neighbors kept some pretty rare and priceless valuables just laying around. She waited until the kids were asleep before quickly storing an item into her purse. The thrill of possibly being caught made her adrenaline skyrocket- nothing at all like what she got from being head cheerleader at school. When morning came and she didn't get reprimanded (she later found out the children were being blamed), she knew that she could continue stealing.

High school soon came around and with it the status of being the head cheerleader for the Varsity team, even during her Freshman year. Haven maintained her studies and extracurriculars and still continued to be loved by all. Her simple stealing had graduated into some rather gutsy and skillful pick pocketing. Her eyes are set on the status of Prom Queen, then onto early admission to Harvard for pre-med.

[Blubaron45]

Hillcrest High School Student Identification

Name: George "Georgy Boy" Kowalewski
Gender: Male.
Date of Birth: June 6, 1989
GPA: 4.4
Year: Sophomore

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Additional Information
Height: 5'11"
Eye Color: Blue
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, Polish-American.
Hobbies: Video games, coding, technology, cross-country running, playing the trombone, wrestling.
Personality:
On the outside, George is your typical honor, completely absent-minded student, who is even more intelligent than he looks - though despite these good attributes can take part in some shady behavior with his close friend, Daniel. Some could say that hanging out with George after a while could easily show his pernicious behavior as he at times look for opportunities to cause trouble and take advantage of the opportunities he has at hand often carelessly. Though looking to cause trouble isn't really something he does recreational in the same way Daniel does. Being a very notable intelligent young man, George's ego is also something that is quite predominant, often coming off as a overly-prideful, pretentious, student who is only ever humble when it comes to his athleticism.

Despite some of his flaws, George is quite a loyal person, often being capable of empathy though often at times being taken advantaged of himself by people. This is what made 'good old Georgy Boy' to be somewhat cynical, believing that most people are often only motivated by self-interest. His frustration and ego can often get the better of him, sometimes backfiring and causing him to do stupid things. It is recently that George began to develop a bad habit of smoking pot and drinking whenever he can, going to the parties that JC and Alfredo often invite him to out of pity. Though intelligent, George is sometimes mistaken for being stupid, usually by his lack of common sense and social norms, and at times saying or doing things out of lack of consciousness.

Short Biography:
George "Georgy Boy" Kowalewski is the second born child of Tyler Kowalewski and Madeline Kowalewski, two intelligent American entrepreneurs with both their own businesses, Tyler being a Software Engineer and Madeline being a Lawyer, and are well-to-do. He was born just three years after his sister, now in college, Courtney Kowalewski, who also shares her father's intellectual prowess as she is currently a Mechanical Engineering major at the University of California Berkeley. At a young age, George was already known for taking a deep interest in technology like his father and took advantage of being raised by a tech-savvy father who nurtured him into what some may call a child prodigy. George's interest in technology could easily be derived from what most could say his father, a Software Engineer who formerly had worked for Oracle. Though this interest could easily have evolved at a much younger age then his father, Tyler, who had only grown to like technology when he entered college who had originally came from a poor Polish-American family in New York City.

However, this wasn't George's only interest, like many other kids growing up, "Georgy Boy" had a relatively normal life growing up, having a couple of a few close friends with Daniel Esteban Rivas and his older, much cooler cousin, Alfredo Zapien. Both were noted as being the "high achieving" kids of their schools, being the some of the top students almost every year. Originally meeting in kindergarten, Daniel and George consider themselves to be brothers more than just friends, often being seen as inseparable. Many also consider the two of them to be mischievous, their math teacher who would later also subtlety take part of their 'underworld', Mr. Clarke, referring to the both of them as being "as quick as thieves".

Their petty criminal life first started in the seventh grade at a party which they were not invited to. It was the party of a friend of Daniel's older brother Michael Bartley Rivas, who had partied so hard, had to be taken home to whereupon George and Daniel entered in order to experience the life of high school partying beforehand. George considers it to be a joyful moment, being the first time going to a real party of a spoiled teenager. It was everything George imagined for a party at a large mansion to be like, much like the parties seen in cliché films about teenagers. There was: drinking, good-looking women, drugs, games, and a host of many desperate teenagers, hungry for excitement. So many, that nobody would notice a couple of seventh grades in the crowd of drunken and absentminded teenagers at the height of a hardcore party. It was at one moment that George and Daniel came across a bag of marijuana left behind by a group of passed out, nameless high schoolers that they would sell to a group of similarly aged students near their neighborhood.

It was there that their life of petty criminality would take off, often taking part of selling stolen items, racking up as much money as they could. After a while, their reputation at school became somewhat known, though they themselves are not quite popular at school, nor do they want to be. Being secretive is something Daniel knew was important to their little underworld, though it is today that their reputation at school would soon skyrocket to communal fame.

[Kingfisher]

Hillcrest High School Student Identification

Name:

Christopher “Chris” Teach

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

27th December 1988

GPA:

3.5

Year:

Sophomore

Additional Information

Height:

5’7

Eye Color:

Hazel Brown

Race/Ethnicity:

Caucasian (Quarter Irish, three quarters english)

Personality:

An outgoing sort, Chris is something of a joker, with an easy charisma, and good sense of humour. Regardless of what’s going on internally, Chris seems to always be in a happy mood, with a smile on his lips and a skip in his step. The driving force behind most of his actions is simply to have a good time, regardless of legality and ethics, which often results in him ending up in trouble. Easily his worst trait is his dark temper, which rarely flares up, but pushes him into a hulk-like rage when he’s in a bad mood; hence why he tends to repress his emotions, and give the outward appearance of a happy-go-lucky thrill seeker.

Short Biography:

Born in Leeds, England, Chris was left on the doorstep of an orphanage at birth, and never met his real parents. He was adopted by Bryan and Jasmine Teach, a pair of fairly well off artists, who’d had their work featured in a few notable galleries throughout their respective careers.

Despite being mostly well provided for, Chris was a troubled youth, and often found himself at odds with other children growing up. He developed an addiction to smoking at a young age, and soon learned to stomach his alcohol. After being expelled from two separate state schools, Chris was eventually sent to a private school in Surrey, with his father forcing him to join the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) in an attempt to instill some discipline in him.

Regardless of the occasional standoff with his adoptive father, Chris and Bryan always got along well, which made it even harder for him when his dad died from a heart attack at the age of fifty two. After that, Chris spiralled further and further into a life of acting out; gaining something of a craving for cocaine and MDMA.

In a last ditch attempt to sort her adopted son out, Jasmine sent Chris to live with her sister Rebecca in Southern California.

Enrolling in high school, Chris has tried to keep his head down, for his mum’s sake more than anything else, but still finds himself winding up in trouble more often than he’d like.