Brynleigh Pasternack

Badger(Adopted brother)

Bruce/Adam(Adopted brother)

Brynleigh Pasternack is a former classmate and frenemy of Holiday Anders. She is described in the beginning of Six Minutes as a "snarky, mean, popular girl". She is known for bullying her classmates, especially Holiday (and previously, Cyrus), and also is a perfectionist. She is especially good at playing the oboe. She runs a podcast and a YouTube channel, both of which are titled "Braineigh Brynleigh". It is also implied that she runs a semi-popular TikTok account as a microinfluencer. She is voiced by Ava DeMary.

### Early Life

Her mom, Kadence Cavendish, left her when she was six and her dad used to work at the Oil Rig in Juneau for months at a time, hence she has been lonely most of her life. She learned to read at three, and has been hunting and driving her whole life (due to her independent lifestyle and absent parents.)

### Season 1

She has two absent parents, and because of this loneliness, she adopts Badger Bruce (Badger who lost his memory) when she finds him lost in the woods as a brother. However, Badger finds out the truth about Brynleigh and leaves her for the Anders. She was believed to be Flashcard when the Anders kids found the note in Badger's pocket. Her house was also burned down by Magnus. She goes on the run with the Anders family when they escape Juneau as she knew about Holiday's situation (because Holiday came clean to her), and would be a threat to them if she stayed in Juneau, according to Monica. She also didn't have a house or present parents, so its assumed that the Anders didn't want to leave her in Juneau homeless and fending for herself.

### Season 2

In Season 2, she shows a soft side of herself to Cyrus. She says she can only count on herself in this world, because people always leave. She says that the reason why she wants to be good at everything is to show her mom she could be the best without her. She develops a close friendship with Cyrus due to them bonding through each other's trauma, and eventually falls in love with him.

### Personality

Brynleigh is a snarky girl who has multiple talents and almost always strives for perfection. She considers herself an "all around it girl" and believes that she can do anything. Her talents and accomplishments include being captain of the debate team, captain of the swim team for 6 years in a row, the high jump record holder at her school, a mathlete, a prodigy at oboe, a genius, and an avid hunter. She is self-centered most of the time, although she has a major character arc and takes a turn to become more selfless as she connects more and more with the Anders family and the others when she's on the run with them.

In the first season, Brynleigh is a very traditional bully; she's rude and has a variety of insults for anyone at the ready. In the later seasons, she is revealed to be more kind and caring, especially towards the Anders and Badger. Even in the first season, though, she admits that she's very lonely, which is why she takes Badger in when he's lost in the woods without his memories during season one.

Brynleigh is a naturally curious and nosy person, when Holiday first arrives at Whittier Middle School, she is the first to talk to her and won't stop asking questions about where she came from and why she doesn't remember anything. This pushy-ness throughout the season triggers Holiday to question herself and what her family is telling her more and more. In her spin-off season, Six Minutes: Out Of Time, she is equally nosy about the mysterious Elixir Academy and the secrets Doctor Solstis and Jude are keeping from her. This curiosity most likely stems from the lack of knowing in her home life, seeing as she never knew what happened to her mom, or when/if her dad would be home. This curiosity puts her in many tough situations, like having to run away and having her house burned down in season one, ending up in jail with Cyrus in season two, and being trapped at Elixir Academy in season three.

Throughout season two, Brynleigh keeps her bully behavior going strong, continuing to insult almost everybody, but eventually she develops relationships with the Anders (varying in strength), and even develops a truce with Holiday on her birthday. She begins to see James and Monica as parental figures and becomes protective over Cyrus when they develop crushes on each other while trying to rescue Casey. This causes her to show a more vulnurable side, opening up about her abandonment issues and perfectionism. She also starts becoming more selfless, which is shown when she volunteers to help Cyrus find Casey even though she herself had a crush on him and hated Casey, and later in the season when she almost risks her life and breaks the rules of her partnership with Adam to warn Cyrus about him, despite having a fight with Cyrus earlier that night. Her relationship with Cyrus brings out a new, caring and altruistic side of her as it grows, but she continues to retain the snarky, sarcastic side of herself as well and forms a balance between the two sides of her character as she continues to get older.