Calliope Smith-O'Sullivan

Calliope as she appears in strip #4 with Parinaaz.

Calliope Smith-O'Sullivan is a main protagonist in the Freshmen! comics.

## Background

Calliope was born to lesbian lovers Zerelda (Z) Smith and Hilda O'Sullivan in Dublin Ireland on April 7th, 2003. Hilda was a surrogate mother for her sister, Colleen, as her ovaries were destroyed. Around March 2003, Colleen and her lover, Max, decided that they wanted to abort the baby, but Hilda refused and hid away with the child, eventually meeting Z during a bar fight.

In April 2003, the baby was ready to come, and was scheduled for April 18th, but came early, on the 7th. The two named their child Calliope, after the instrument. The two then got rich, and moved to America, settling in Byoak around 2005 or so.

In 2009, Z and Hilda met Geri Pedrosa, Andrea's (now deceased) mother, who fought in the war. Since then, Andrea and Calliope became best friends, and Andrea formed the Cover Girl Clique, as it was her ambition to become a model. (At the time, the Clique consisted of Andrea, Calliope, and Deidre)

The two were best friends until Calliope broke their friendship in the 3rd grade, becoming best friends with Penni instead.

Around fifth grade, Calliope started dressing more aesthetic-like, and decided on the pastel goth fashion.

Since then, the two were a duo, before Parinaaz came into the picture, and the three rebranded as the Freshmen Trio.

## Appearance

Calliope, in her pastel goth form, has long purple coloured hair with ombre dark teal highlights shaped like fire, or ombre coloured in. Depending on the drawing, her bangs either face right or left. In her 2015 design, they were right facing, but in the Freshmen! animation, they were left facing. She wears lavender eye contacts to mask her real eye color, green. She has consistently tanned skin, which is spray tanned on. Her actual skin color depicts her as pale. She wears a lavender sweater with almost the same ombre effect, just at a lighter extent. The heart on the sweater reads 'DEAD' (originally 'DEAD INSIDE'). She wears black leggings, and in her 2015 design, 3 inch platform heels with golden buckles. She also wears a crystal necklace. The crystal is a healing quartz crystal, and, in some depictions, has a crescent moon charm. Depending on the eye style, she either has butterfly eyelashes or sharp eyelashes. Her signature color is lavender.

## Relationships

### Friends and Family

* Z Smith-O'Sullivan: Zerelda is Calliope's mother, and a bit of a rebel. She inspires Calliope's 'creative' side. While she can congratulate Calliope for thinking outside of the box at times, she can also be stern and put her foot down like Hilda. Z works as a mechanic, and is a bit of a breadwinner and an overachiever.
* Hilda O'Sullivan: Hilda is Calliope's mother, and a preppy kind of woman. She acts as more of a Little Debbie mother figure, due to being a baker. She inspires Calliope's level-headed side, and knows what to do when her wife and daughter don't. Though she loves Calliope, she secretly detests her pastel Goth fashion, and insists she lets her true colors show.
* [Guin|Penelope Guin:] Penni and Calliope have a bond stronger than Gorilla glue. Becoming friends in the third grade, the two had been together forever. When the two initially met, Calliope couldn't understand what Penni was saying, as she wasn't fluent in English, and Andrea was her translator. Andrea lied about what Penni was saying, and Calliope, unlike Deidre, caught on. When the truth was revealed, Andrea was universally loathed, and hated Penni even more. After months of hating Andrea's torturing the Puertoriqqueno girl, she broke off from Andrea and became her best friend for 6 years to come. It was then that in 9th grade the two became best friends with the other new girl, Pari Patel, rebranding as the Freshmen Trio. She and Penni make a dynamic duo.
* Parinaaz 'Pari' Patel: Pari was labeled 'The New Girl' in the school, and for good reason. She literally was the new girl. As Penni was recruited to be Pari's guide, she went in for the kill just as Andrea was doing the same thing. It was during lunch hour that she struck, and got Pari to sit with her and Penni. And from then on, they rebranded as the Freshmen! Trio. Though she jabs at Pari's short stature, she appreciates Pari's companionship. She and Pari make an action duo.
* Theo Kwan: Though Penni and Theo aren't as close, Calliope and Theo could be best friends if they didn't already have them. Calliope and Theo met at a Power-Morphicon when they recognized each other, despite wearing disguises. Since then, they've bonded over their love for the Westernized series, and have teamed up before, creating an action-hype duo. She also hangs around the CKTD at times, along with Penni and Pari as well.
* Ross Greene: Ross is Calliope's best friend from Ireland, and comes to visit America for awhile. He speaks with a thick Irish accent, and brings out Calliope's Irish accent as well. Ross and Penni are on good terms, and it's obvious when they get jealous of each other. Ross uses a lot of Irish slang, often confusing the CKTD, even though they're as diverse as well.

### Enemies

* Andrea Pedrosa: Though the two have broken up as far as friendship, Calliope has a crush on Andrea. It's completely one-sided, and stems from when Calliope kissed her under the mistletoe. Andrea absolutely loathes Calliope, and Penni at that, thinking that Penni stole Calliope from her. Though the two are rich, Andrea still purposely stoops down low to get a reaction out of Calliope, mostly anger. When she doesn't get angry, she responds in a way that sounds like flirting, making Andrea become a different shade of pink...red!
* Jessie James: Jessie, purposely hacking into the grading systems, has lowered the trio's grades numerous times, but Calliope actually caught her once during computers class. Because of this, Calliope told the principal, getting Jessie in trouble, and suspending her. Buying her way out of suspension, Jessie fired back by making the sprinkler systems ruin Calliope's makeup and spray tan, thus having Calliope fire back with planting a stink-bomb in her locker. It's a neverending war.
* Kiara Yao: Kiara and Calliope often tussle because of their "tall" statures. While Kiara's tallness is natural, Calliope wears five inch plaform boots, and is actualy the same height as Andrea. Kiara uses this to her advantage and this causes a huge rift between the two.
* Deidre Ramos: Like Penni, Calliope detests Deidre's positivity, but at a higher extent. This extent is to the point where Calliope hisses at Deidre when she gets near Penni or Parinaaz. Due to this, Deidre is the member of the CGC that jabs at Calliope the second-most. (The most is quite obviously Andrea)
* Pepper McMilian: Calliope considers Pepper to be an 'attention-whore', and refuses to read the school newspaper due to it, despite the fact that Penni works on the newspaper. Because of this, Pepper and Calliope also have a rifted relationship, that often results in both Nadia and Penni playing peacemaker. She also has a habit of getting the school newspaper just to throw it away, especially when Pepper is around.
* Aaron Myers: Like Penni, Calliope completely detests Drake. This is because she is somewhat overprotective of Penni. Another reason for why is because Drake sexually harassed Calliope, grabbing her ass and groping her. Most of the harassment came while Penni and Drake were still in a relationship. Because of this, Calliope is very sour near Drake, especially when the CKTD and the Freshmen Trio are hanging out.
* Christopher Adams: The same goes for Christopher. Calliope detests Christopher because he broke Penni's heart with brutal honesty when she had a crush on him. Other than that, Christopher joins in on taunting Calliope with Drake, even when Theo and Kyle insist on them stopping. Despite this, Christopher and Calliope often have to make peace as the respective leaders of their groups. Christopher calls Calliope 'Pancake' due to her small breasts.

## Appearances in Strips and Other Art

* Freshmen! #3: 'Mistletoe'
* Freshmen! #4: 'Censor'
* Freshmen! #8: 'Valentine'

## Trivia

* Calliope is Irish-American.
* In Calliope's original character concept, she and Penni were supposed to endure different adventures, even being ghosts.
* Another fact about Calliope's original design: she originally had very short lavender hair shaven on one side with two thin hair flicks. She was also originally going to carry around a flask full of "candy vodka", a liquor of her own creation.
* In another Calliope design, she is a Gem (from the series Steven Universe). Her Gem is Zircon.
* As the girls have inspirations for their characters, Calliope's main inspiration is Randy Cunningham from Randy Cunningham 9th Grade Ninja. This is because both Randy and Calliope are cocky leads, overconfident, and all-around entertainers. Another inspiration is Corey Riffin from the cartoon Grojband.
* In a sticky-note sketch, Calliope can be seen wearing Feliciano Vargas' outfit from the anime Axis Powers Hetalia.
* Though Calliope had only lived in Dublin for two years, she has frequently gone back and forth with Ireland and America, and developed a thick Irish accent that she masks with an American accent.
* Calliope is a redhead.