Leighton Murray

**Leighton Murray** is an affluent legacy student from New York City.

## History

### Childhood

Leighton and her brother Nico, were largely raised by an au pair from Marseille named Camille.

### Arrival at Essex

Leighton's father dropped her off at Essex. She was eager to room with Esme Schaffer and Francesca Bromley, her friends from high school, though he worried about her not branching out to meet new friends as he didn't think Esme and Francesca were very nice. When she arrived, she was shocked to find herself rooming with Bela Malhotra, Whitney Chase, and Kimberly Finkle instead and went to find Esme and Francesca. They said they showed up and were assigned Siddhartha as a roommate. Leighton promised to fix it, but went back to her assigned dorm for the night.

The next morning, Leighton went to check on the housing situation and found out that Esme and Francesca had specifically said not to put them with Leighton. She confronted them about this and they said they never felt like they really got to know her because she was so closed off, which she denied. She went back to her assigned room and hid in her bed until her brother, Nico, pulled her out and consoled her. He encouraged her to get to know her new roommates and show them she could be a good roommate despite how she'd treated them. She bought each of them an iPad as an apology.

Nico tried to hook Leighton up with his friend, Cory, and invited her and her roommates to a frat party. They all got dressed up, but after getting them into the party, Leighton pretended she left her phone in the room and left. She went to a bar, then used an app to meet and hook up with Jillian. The next morning, Jillian texted her, saying they should meet up again, so Leighton blocked her.

### Start of Classes

Leighton's father called to wish her luck on the first day of classes. She went to her first class and saw Esme in the class with Siddhartha. Esme asked her how she was doing and Leighton said she loved her new roommates and pretended to have made many friends. After an assessment on the first day of class, Professor Tocchini approached Leighton and said she'd gotten the highest score in the class and invited her to join his seminar. She agreed only on the condition that he announced this change in front of the whole class, including Esme.

Meanwhile, Leighton continued to meet and hook up with women using an app. One of these women was Chloe, who realized Leighton wasn't out when Leighton panicked over Chloe seeing her keychain and putting together that she was a student at Essex. Leighton defended her decision not to come out to anyone, but left before they had sex.

While on her way back to her dorm, Leighton ran into her brother, who was surprised to see her alone on a Friday night. She learned that he had told his friends about her high school friends refusing to room with her at Essex, which humiliated her. Later that evening, Chloe called Leighton to check in on her, telling her it gets better, which only served to frustrated Leighton further. In her frustration, she threw an empty liquor bottle at the statue of the school's founder and ended up fleeing from the campus police.

### Community Service

As a consequence for her actions, Leighton had to meet with President Lacey. She apologized profusely and gave him a check for $2000, though her mother had authorized her going up to $10,000. He told Leighton she couldn't bribe her way out of trouble. She'd damaged the statue and berated campus police. He assigned her to 100 hours of community service at the women's center on campus. Leighton tried to get out of it, but he refused, so she told him her family wouldn't be donating to Essex anymore. He said he didn't care.

Leighton returned home to find a smell coming from the fridge in their dorm. She asked the other girls and they agreed that they'd figure out who was responsible for the smell and that person would be cleaning the fridge.

Leighton went to the women's center, where she met Ginger, Lindsay, Alicia, and Tova. Alicia, who was in charge of volunteers, told Leighton she'd be helping with their feminist poetry group the following evening for five hours. Leighton tried again to get out of her community service, only to be shot down again.

At the poetry event, Leighton drank and filmed the poets until Alicia told her to stop filming people without their consent. She also questioned Leighton getting drunk at an event she was working because she got caught getting drunk. When Leighton left the room laughing when one of the poets started singing, Alicia said she wouldn't sign off on any of her hours for the night. She also later told Leighton that she knew the poets weren't any good, but it was still rude to act like Leighton had.

### Kappa Pre-Rush

Leighton received an invitation to Kappa's pre-rush brunch. She was shocked that Whitney was also invited. On their way to the brunch, Leighton suggested to Whitney that she go home and change. Whitney insisted what she was wearing was fine, as the invitation said to dress casually. She was shocked to see everyone there much more dressed up than her jeans and sneakers. Despite this, Whitney easily charmed several Kappa members while Leighton put people off by revealing how much she knew about them. As she went to leave, Quinn stopped her and invited her inside. She told Leighton that everyone was as excited as she was about Kappa, but the others hid it better. She also asked if Leighton knew Cory and if she was into him. When Leighton said she was, Quinn went to text him. Leighton set up a date with Cory, but when he asked what was up with her playing hot and cold, she decided to sleep with him.

### Theta Party

While she was volunteering at the center, Leighton was invited to a drag show. She declined, saying she was going to a party at her brother's frat. The others said that frat parties didn't have a great reputation but she said they were forming a judgment without having attended one. They decided to attend the party and see for themselves, so Leighton went to her brother to tell him she needed to bring additional people. When she told him they were from the women's center, he said to keep them away as they were already on thin ice with the administration and didn't want to get shut down. She tried to discourage them from going, but couldn't.

At the party, Leighton ended up talking to Alicia. While they were talking, a member of the frat came and started urinating near them. Alicia asked him if he could not do that right next to them. He said if she didn't like it, she could leave, and called her a dyke. Alicia tackled him, knocking him to the ground, and began kicking him. Leighton pulled her off and Alicia angrily asked her whose side she was on. Leighton followed Alicia out of the party and they argued for a minute. Alicia said Leighton was just a typical straight girl. Leighton told her she was wrong and to prove it, kissed Alicia. Alicia admitted she was wrong about Leighton. They went back to Alicia's place and had sex. Leighton got dressed to leave afterward, saying it was late. Alicia said she could sit back down and they could order food. Leighton agreed to stay and got back into the bed.

### Parents Weekend

In preparation for their parents arriving for the weekend, the residents of the dorm met up to talk about it. Bela suggested they all share the lies they'd told their parents that they wanted each other to corroborate, which everyone else agreed was a good idea. Leighton told her dad that all their books came from Net-a-Porter to explain the charges from there.

Leighton's father insisted on them doing a family photoshoot with the four of them in Essex sweatshirts, using fake leaves.

At the dinner, Leighton asked Henry not to attack Whitney's mother. He said he wouldn't, but when he found out Whitney's dad wasn't coming, he made a comment to his wife and rolled his eyes, so Whitney's mom called him out, forcing him to apologize. After the dinner, Leighton went to see Alicia and told her she liked her more than anyone else knew knew.

### Maya's Visit

Leighton continued seeing Alicia and they established that they were girlfriends. Once evening, Alicia noticed Leighton getting a call from someone named Maya and asked her about it. Leighton said that Maya wasn't a threat to her, that she was Nico's girlfriend who was coming into town for a visit.

### Nico's Birthday Party

Leighton came to Whitney's soccer game, but said she'd have to leave early because she had to plan her brother's surprise birthday party. Despite this, she stayed to the end of the game.

The next morning, she finished her final community service hours at the women's center. While she continued planning Nico's party, Alicia asked if she was invited. She realized that Leighton didn't want people to figure out they were together.

At Nico's party, Leighton learned that Kimberly and Nico were sleeping together when she saw Kimberly's reaction to Nico's girlfriend showing up at the party. Later at the party, she saw Bela sitting alone, so she asked her what was wrong. Bela told her that the co-editor of The Catullan had assaulted both her and another writer and she didn't know what to do. Leighton had Alicia meet them at the Women's Center, where she told them they were safe and she was there to help.

### Weekend Away

Wanting to make things right with Alicia, Leighton suggested they go away for the weekend. Alicia found a B&B run by a local beekeeper, but on the way, Leighton changed their plans to a hotel. While they were discussing options for what to do, Alicia took a picture of herself in the hotel robe and posted it. Leighton saw this and asked her to take it down because her purse was in the background and she was worried people would recognize it and find out they were together. Alicia deleted the picture, but then told Leighton they needed to end things because she couldn't date someone so closeted. Angry, Leighton went to Maya, Nico's girlfriend, and told her he'd repeatedly cheated on her.

### Coming Out

Nico was angry with Leighton for telling Maya, but she shrugged off his anger. After attending Theta's Anything But Clothes party, Leighton went to see Alicia, saying she missed her. Alicia admitted she missed Leighton, too, but she wanted to move forward instead of backward. The next morning, Leighton stayed in her bed crying much later than normal, so Kimberly went to check on her. Leighton said she'd been seeing someone and messed it up. When Kimberly said he wasn't worth it, Leighton corrected that it was a she, because she's gay. She cried, telling Kimberly she was scared and didn't want her whole life to change. Kimberly said the only way she could be happy was by being herself.

After Thanksgiving break, Leighton returned to school with the news that Nico had been expelled, along with some other Theta seniors, for their part in the cheating. The remaining Thetas resented them and banned Kimberly and her suitemates from the property. When they went to the Snow Run and then a frat party, Leighton met and flirted with a girl, but backed off when she noticed other people were watching them. At the party, one of the Thetas found them and told them they weren't allowed at any future parties at any frat houses and told the residents of the house who they were.

The next morning, with Kimberly's support, Leighton decided to come out to Bela and Whitney. They encouraged her to reach out to the girl from the party. She did so and they ended up hooking up.

### Fundraiser

With the frats all angry with them, the girls decided to throw their own party, but when no one came, they realized they needed to make things right with the frat. Leighton went with Bela to talk to them directly and suggested that they throw a fundraiser about something Essex cares about to get back in good standing. They decided to put on a Magic Mike Live show to raise money for climate change. Dean Miller showed up and tried to shut them down until she learned they'd raised $11,000 and Jackson appealed to her directly, explaining how climate change had forced him to transfer when his dorm was destroyed by a storm. The show went forward as planned and was extremely successful.

### Fit Video and Dating

Leighton had to record a fit video as part of her pledging Kappa. At the same time, she finally added a picture of her face to her dating profile, which led to her matching with many other users. She decided to take advantage of being out and sleep with as many women as possible. This backfired when she noticed pain while urinating. She went to the clinic, where she was diagnosed with chlamydia. Despite being told she should contact all her recent partners, Leighton decided to keep the news to herself, rationalizing that one of them had given it to her and hadn't contacted her.

While treating her chlamydia, Leighton was also busy preparing for the final rush week. At the rush party, she was confronted by Natalie, whom she had given chlamydia. Wanting to save face, Leighton planted seeds with some of the Kappas that Natalie wasn't Kappa material. But when it was Natalie's turn in the secret seat, she told everyone that Leighton had given her chlamydia. Leighton implied that she was lying, but later called Quinn to admit it was the truth. Despite this, Leighton was invited to join Kappa.

### Hack-a-Thon

When Kimberly started taking her hormone shots to sell her eggs, Leighton got roped into helping her as Kimberly struggled to inject herself. When the shots were complete, Leighton learned that Kimberly was planning to have Travis drive her to Boston for the retrieval, so she offered to call a call service and go with her instead. On the way there, she watched the feed of the Hack-a-Thon, an event thrown by the math department where they tried to solve a PhD level equation. When they arrived, Leighton noticed Kimberly's hesitance while filling out the forms, and Kimberly asked if she'd ever been under anesthesia before. Leighton said she had once before, to have her wisdom teeth removed and she was worried she would accidentally come out afterward. Once the procedure was over, Leighton told Kimberly she did great and they rode home. Once back in their dorm, Leighton got Kimberly set up on the couch to recover and planned to stay with her. But Kimberly could tell she wanted to go to the Hack-a-thon and told her she would be okay by herself. At the end of the Hack-a-Thon, Leighton's team got second place.

### Dating Tatum

While leaving the Hack-a-Thon, Leighton was nearly run over by a girl in a Mercedes. As the girl got out of the car, Leighton saw that the girl strongly resembled her and noted that she was hot. Desperate to find out who the girl was, Leighton took a picture from a distance and asked Willow of she knew her. Willow looked and said it was Tatum, a junior on the tennis team. Willow agreed to hook them up. At the tennis court, Willow introduced them and Leighton mentioned she might go to the Dan O'Connell show and asked if Tatum was going. Tatum said no because she wasn't into campus-sponsored events. Leighton said she was only going to make fun of it, trying to save face, but Tatum wasn't fooled. Later, at a party, Leighton went to talk to Tatum and manage to impress her. They exchanged contact information.

Desperate to stay on top, Leighton pretended to have plans when Tatum asked her out. She admitted to Whitney that she'd done it because she thought Tatum might be cooler than her and she wanted to make herself seem cooler than she was. She had never dated up before and struggled with it. Leighton and Tatum met up for coffee between classes and Leighton pretended to be much busier than she actually was and told Tatum she'd just gotten into Kappa. Tatum wasn't impressed as Leighton had expected because Greek wasn't her thing. Leighton said she had a couple different social groups she floated between. She mentioned she was going to a party with her party friends and Tatum said she was free and asked if she could join. Now trapped, Leighton went to Jocelyn and asked for a hookup with an exclusive party. Jocelyn told her about a party an art gallery. She agreed to try to get Leighton in. Leighton took Tatum to the party and pretended she knew the person who was throwing it, but when Tatum actually did know the person who was throwing it, Leighton was forced to admit she made it up to seem cooler. Tatum assured Leighton that she didn't have to impress her, that she had asked her out because she already liked Leighton.

### Coming Out to Her Dad

Leighton learned that her dad was bringing her cousin to Essex for Pre-Frosh Weekend and decided she was going to come out to him while he was there. When her dad arrived, he told her that he and her mom were going through a hard time with Nico being expelled and her charity being investigated by the DA, so she decided not to come out to him after all. She and her dad went out to dinner and were surprised to run into Tatum and George, an old friend of Henry's and Tatum's dad. They ended up having dinner together and Leighton privately told Tatum that she wasn't out to her dad. Tatum told her that was fine. When Henry saw George and Tatum discussing Tatum's dating life, he mentioned that Leighton never told him anything about hers. Leighton said that was because she was gay. Henry excused himself from the table after a few moments. Leighton followed him out and apologized, but he said not to because he was just shocked that he didn't see this coming. He asked if she was happy and she said in terms of who she was and her sexuality, yes. He told her he was happy for her and liked Tatum with her because he saw that Tatum made her smile widely. Leighton brought Tatum to the party Bela threw in their dorm and then they slept together in Leighton's bed. While they were having sex, Alicia texted Leighton saying she'd been thinking about her and asked if they could meet up.

After seeing the text, Leighton went to Kimberly, Bela, and Whitney and asked them what they thought she should do. They were surprised she asked them for advice as she never had before. Kimberly suggested telling Tatum about it so she wouldn't be going behind Tatum's back. Leighton said she'd do that. While at a pilates class, Leighton asked Tatum if it was weird that they hadn't talked about their past relationships. Tatum didn't find it odd, especially since Leighton was closeted before her. Leighton told her that Alicia had texted and Tatum said she was close with all her exes, including their instructor, so she was fine with Leighton seeing Alicia.

Leighton went to the women's center to see Alicia, who said she didn't have a real reason why she wanted to see Leighton. She just wanted to catch up. She invited Leighton to help put together care packages and Leighton agreed. While they worked, Leighton admitted she missed the Women's Center. Alicia said she'd heard that Leighton came out in a prolific way. She heard this from several of her friends, whom Leighton had hooked up with. Alicia said the Women's Center was struggling financially, so they were holding a fundraiser. It was a costume party where they were all dressing as queer icons. Leighton agreed to come and asked if she could bring a guest because she was seeing someone. Alicia was surprised she was going out in public with a girl and said it was fine to bring her.

For the party, Leighton dressed as Carol from the movie Carol, a reference Tatum didn't get. Tatum refused to dress up, as she said she only followed the theme at the met gala. Leighton introduced Tatum to the others and was surprised to hear Tatum indicate they'd be leaving early, before the winners of the silent auction were announced. As Leighton looked over the auction items, Tatum used their code word to indicate that she wanted to leave. Leighton wanted to bid on something first, though Leighton said what they were auctioning off was garbage. She offended a pinch pot Ginger had made and Leighton put in an overly large bid to buy it. Then she told Tatum she was being an asshole and had upset Ginger. She disliked Tatum being so judgmental, even though they'd initially bonded over both of them being judgmental. Leighton realized she wanted to change the things they had in common. Tatum left and Leighton said she wanted to stay and have a good time.

### Quitting Kappa

Leighton was excited to be named Kappa's social chair for the next school year. This meant she was moving to Kappa for her sophomore year. When Leighton returned to the Women's Center on her way to the Kappa Spring Festival, Alicia told her the college had cut their funding in half, which would put them under. Leighton then went to meet her parents, who had come to Essex for the Kappa Spring Festival. As the festival, Leighton and her mother mingled and Leighton got caught in the crossfire when an alumna complained about another chapter banning the word sisterhood. Leighton said she agreed with that, because it made it more inclusive, but Ash'lie warned her not to ruffle feathers, because they were looking to get donations. Feeling out of place, Leighton told her mother she didn't want to be in Kappa anymore. Mimi assured Leighton that she just wanted her to be happy.

At the last party of the year, Leighton told Alicia she quit Kappa and wanted to spend more time at the Women's Center with people she actually likes. She also gave Alicia a donation check for the Women's Center. Her mother was going to give it to Kappa, but Leighton told her where it would do better things. Alicia said it would save them and kissed Leighton. She apologized, but Leighton said it was good. She said she'd ended things with Tatum. The next day, she told her suitemates that she and Alicia were back together and she was happy about that. She also said she was willing to keep rooming with them as she wasn't going to be living at Kappa.

## Relationships

### Friendships

Kimberly Finkle

Bela Malhotra

Whitney Chase

## Notes and Trivia

* Her father also went to Essex.
* She always plans her brother's birthday parties.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cheating
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Le Tuteur
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Welcome to Essex
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Naked Party
5. ↑ Kappa
6. ↑ That Comment Tho
7. ↑ Parents Weekend
8. ↑ I Think I'm a Sex Addict
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Surprise Party
10. ↑ The Truth
11. ↑ Winter is Coming
12. ↑ Frat Problems
13. ↑ The Short King
14. ↑ Will You Be My Girlfriend?
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Taking Shots
16. ↑ Doppelbanger
17. ↑ The Essex College Food Workers Strike
18. ↑ Pre-Frosh Weekend
19. ↑ Sex & Basketball
20. ↑ The Rooming Lottery