Grace Jackson

## Personality:

Grace is one of those people you can trust-- no matter what. Whether or not it's her caring nature or the fact that she tries her hardest not to judge others. She's the type of person who's easy to connect to, and overall the person who would still be there when you needed it most. Her selfless attitude is only what you see on the outside, on the inside... Grace is an over thinker, a worrier about everything and everyone that's moderately close to her. You'd have a hard time finding Grace trying to relax, there's always a time where she's cramming for a test weeks away, or wallowing over some terrible thing someone said to her five years ago.

She's there and nurturing to everyone else, but behind closed doors, Grace has always been hard on herself. Everything had to be perfect. The way she looked, smiled, talked, most of those things isn't typically what people would focus on-- if you weren't extremely insecure. She's a perfectionist almost as much as she's a child at heart. Much like children, they dwell too much on the lighter side of things. And while it seems Grace is always on the greener side of the grass, she'll never get that voice in her head to fully convince her that everything's going to be okay.

## Background:

It was only Grace and her mother throughout her life. It wasn't the worst life, but it wasn't always easy with Kate Jackson as your mother. She was always pushed to be the best and sometimes that obscured Kate's view of seeing her as a human being other than a successful daughter. Maybe Kate had gotten obsessed with perfection and just didn't want Grace to have the life she did, falling for the wrong man multiple times only to leave her in the end. So, Grace didn't hate her mom, it all came from good intentions.

But the point was, Grace never really had a say in who she was. She was raised to be the idea of a perfect daughter. Good grades, be respectful and focus on Christianity-- and she believed that whole facade. She truly thought that she was this popular cheerleader that everyone loved, that her boyfriend cherished, it's like looking at yourself in a mirror, you think you look terrible but everyone's trying to convince you otherwise, but in this case it wasn't about how she looked, it was how she felt. And Grace didn't feel like herself.

All of that suddenly started to become clear when her boyfriend had decided he wanted to take it a step further and she couldn't go through with it. She used her religion as an excuse, and naturally he broke up at her. Antonio was never a stand up guy, and while it hurt-- Grace was better off for it. As much as she wanted believe she wasn't ready for a relationship, she just wasn't ready for one with *him*. It never felt right between them, and that could've been her insecurity talking, but sophomore year is when she realized the truth.

There was this girl in her class, she was the classic stereotype bully, and it went on for years, nothing big, just the few insults occasionally, the whole back and forth between the two got Grace frustrated, so she confronted her. Asked her why she hated her-- turns out she didn't and Lia was just showing her buried affection through insults, and no, of course a girl like that wouldn't admit that to her face-- so she kissed her. And nothing was the same after that.There wasn't any jumping through hoops to try and become this perfect girlfriend, or this pressure to take their relationship further, no more games.

Grace wasn't sure if it was love, or just a casual fling, she just knew that for the first time in a long time-- she was happy.

That was until her mother found out, it wasn't a good scene. Arguments ensued and Grace... tried to lie it was a misunderstanding because she was so afraid of becoming this disappointment. And it worked for a little while, Grace had told Lia they were over, it was done. But Lia didn't listen-- and it wasn't all her fault. Grace gave in, Kate did snooping and found out they were talking again. And then that was it, Grace was forced to continue her junior year at boarding school.