Bernice Halper

**Bernice Halper** is a character that appears in *Luann*. She is best friends with Luann, and the first character to appear in a strip besides Luann.

## Personality

Bernice is very intelligent, well-spoken, and trustworthy girl. She is normally the voice of reason, a trait most of her friends don't always appreciate. She is also an excellent judge of character.

## Biography

In earlier strips, Bernice is usually hanging out with Delta or Luann and a common theme is people in her class cheating off her because she's smart.

In her first storyline, she meets a senior named Derek, whom she instantly falls for. He flirts with her, asking to keep his gym bag in her locker. Eventually, she finds out that the gym bag contains baggies of marijuana. Just as she's about to tell everyone, he kisses her on the lips, and asks her out on a date. During their date, he shows up high, offers her drugs, and nearly gets them killed in a car accident. Bernice leaves the car, pouring out the stockpile of drugs in Derek's car down a sewer drain. After she returns to school, she is taken to Miss Phelps office, where her and Officer Tyler commend her for her actions.

Months after the incident with Derek, Bernice meets him at the mall where she debates whether or not she should date him. She sends tells him her phone number in hopes to have a date with him. After several days of no calls, she decides to visit him at the mall where he announces that he has gotten a new job and won't know when he'll see her again. Bernice becomes heartbroken and upset for a while after.

On the April 16, 1989 strip, Luann, along with Bernice, got their ears pierced, something they wanted have done for years.

In the May 08, 1989 strip, Bernice receives a post card from Derek, saying he's coming home. However, when Derek arrives, he goes straight to flirting with Delta, completing ignoring Bernice. During his time away, he sent a poster of himself, flowers, and chocolates to Delta, saying she is the one he was love, and him and Bernice were only friends.

In the February 24, 1992 strip, Tiffany tells Bernice she decided to use her for her modeling class project where she has to do a makeover on something dull and drab. Tiffany goes over Bernice's house with all her make-up and completely makeovers her hair, face, and wardrobe. When Bernice goes to school the next day, her friends don't even recognize her at first. The male students take a liking to her new look, but this terrifies Bernice because the boys only like her for how she looks and not for herself. She then decides to ditch the makeup, but keep the hair the same.

During a volleyball game in the May 13, 1992 strip, Tiffany and Bernice accidently crash into each other, causing Bernice to hit her head really hard on the floor and be knocked unconscious. Luann successfully preforms CPR on her as the paramedics arrive and take her to the hospital. When Delta and Luann visit, it turns out Bernice has suffered a minor linear skull fracture and they want her kept at the hospital for a few days. She thanks Luann for saving her life, but Luann is just grateful that Bernice is still alive.

In the July 13, 1992 strip, Luann and Bernice discover Luke Perry is making an appearance at the mall, so they force Frank into taking them. Unfortunately, they arrive late, and the line to meet him seems never-ending, his manager announces that Luke Perry will be leaving. As the crowd disperses, Luke and his manager attempt to sneak out through the ice cream shop by putting an employee hat on, but are stopped by Luann and Bernice because they think he's a real employee. Luke serves them and talks to them for a few minutes, although Bernice and Luann insult him and acted rude. An article about Luke Perry's appearance is in the newspaper, and Brad reads about how Luke served two girls at the ice cream shop after signing autographs, and they didn't know who he was, leaving Luann and Bernice in shock.

In the October 28, 1992 strip, Bernice decides to run for student council against Tiffany. She would lose the election against Tiffany, but only by 32 votes.

After Luann gets her braces off, Bernice becomes jealous when Luann decides to spend lunch talking to Aaron Hill, who just got braces himself. The two girls get into a huge argument and do not speak or interact with each other for awhile. Bernice attempts to make Luann jealous by hanging out with Gunther, but all Luann does it support their "relationship" with a thumbs up. Gunther and Bernice decide not to be mad at Luann anymore, and the three make up with Luann hugging and exclaiming "I have the best friends in the whole world!"

In the storyline that started on May 12, 1997 strip, Gunther tells Luann that him and Bernice are currently dating, causing Luann to get jealous and confront Bernice about it. Luann accuses her of "stealing" Gunther, even though they are not officially an item. When Gunther officially asks Bernice out, she declines, but mentions that Luann is still available and apologetic for how she treated him. Bernice and Luann make up, and include Gunther in a group hug.

## Relationships

### Luann Degroot

Bernice met Luann in third grade, and they have been best friends ever since. Luann was concerned for Bernice when she got mixed up with Derek, and was relieved when he left so she could have her friend back.

### Delta James

Bernice met Delta in third grade, and they have been best friends ever since. When Delta met Derek, she thought he was extremely good looking, but has a very bad personality. When he returns from Alaska, he begins flirting with Delta and blows him off, saying it was wrong of him to use Bernice.

### Derek

One of Bernice's first crushes and first kiss. She dated him for a very short period of time, but he was only interested in getting her hooked on drugs and stashing his marijuana in her locker. After he gets released from rehab, Bernice and Delta see him at the mall, where he has seemingly turned his life around. Bernice has conflicting feelings about continuing a relationship with him. She gives him her phone number, but after days of no interaction, she decides to visit him at the mall, where he announces that he's leaving for good and that he got a job as road manager of a female mud wrestling team, leaving Bernice devastated.

## Trivia

* She is only three days older than Luann. They were also born in the same hospital.