ROLE
your parents' favorite topic
NAME
calvin alexander brown
NICKNAMES
cal— many people call him cal, but he'd say the most frequent users would have to be his bros. they often tend to call him cal as shorthand, as they typically have to call out his name rather quickly to grab his attention over the forty other people attempting to grasp it at the same time.
sunshine— okay, this one is primarily used by his mother. calvin tend to cringe at it at times, but it used to make him feel quite good. sometimes he feels bad that it doesn't anymore.
vinnie— caleb, who he supposes is his best friend by nature of being the only friend he was ever real with, even if it was by accident, calls him vinnie. calvin doesn't mind this too much. however, caleb is the only one allowed to do it.
the dumb one— one of delilah's friends, or at least, that's who he thinks it was, once called him that in high school, referring less, he thinks, to his grades or intelligence, but to his lack of drive to study and lack of... well, general "nerdiness." he hated it. it cut deeply, and has affected many of his actions ever since. it is how he feels, though. the dumb one. the lazy one. the one who had everything gifted to him. silver spoon. that's what he calls himself sometimes.
AGE
seventeen
BIRTHDAY
december 15th
— calvin never had to worry about not getting enough gifts, as his birthday was rather close to christmas. being his parents' favorite, he got more than enough gifts. as he got older, he started disliking getting them. he didn't really deserve them, did he? not like delilah did.
GENDER
male
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
bisexual
— calvin isn't out to his parents, of course. maybe he had a crush on one of delilah's friends growing up, sure. but he'd never tell them that. he never even told delilah that. the only person who knows is caleb. not even the rest of the boys know about this. after all, every prom and every homecoming (he was homecoming and prom king both years, don't you know?) he accompanied what michelle would deem "a nice young lady." that was the way it was supposed to be. the perfect golden son would find the perfect golden girlfriend.
MIDDLE SCHOOL
chill and funny. those are the two words most students at his middle school would choose to describe him. well, that and insanely infuriating because of how often his parents and perhaps even your parents would bring him up. he was a handsome little guy, as his mother would always describe him, with perfectly straight teeth (he never needed braces) and clear skin (he didn't even moisturize and he didn't spend a day on accutane). he was tall for his age, too, with a bright, easy smile. he was thin, tall and lithe, with a golden tan at all times, not just in the summer. big blue eyes, that sometimes looked green (they were teal, some people said. typically girls who looked too closely). he had curly brown (it was dark, back then, before he learned the art of highlighting) hair, and he let it grow wild in those days. long and shiny (he never even conditioned it), and curly, and bouncy. he's often felt a tug on the back of it in class by girls. he wore hoodies (typically branded for some sports team his dad likes) everywhere. he begged for ripped jeans and then tore his own. he liked converse and vans. he hated formalwear and only wore it for necessary occasions. which was often. middle school girls always tried to ask him to the dances or slip valentine's day cards or "do you like me" notes into his locker. his mother would chuckle at his horde of suitors. he was a nice guy. he used to offer to help people frequently at his extracurriculars. he loved his twin, and they were rather close, although beginning to drift. he had bad asthma, just as he does now, and carried an inhaler around everywhere and often had to use it, gaining exemptions from certain things in gym class. he was confident, easily convincing teachers of his maturity. he had an easy laugh, and a witty sense of humor, particularly for his age. he could make anyone feel comfortable anywhere. he was calm and always relaxed anywhere, and he exuded that energy. he was confident always. a leader at birth. but that wasn't the key trait everyone was hooked on. everyone was hooked on this idea of calvin as a prodigy. he was a prodigy at the piano and at violin, both facts which drew breaths away among parents. he was fantastic at sports, highly talented and skilled, particularly for his age. he was amazing at spelling. his grades were spectacular. he scored lead roles at acting all the time. and he didn't even have to /try./ that's what being a prodigy meant, after all. people were often jealous of him. often to a toxic degree.
RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS
michelle— clearly her favorite child, where he once used to crave her love and approval, he cringes at it now. she's always loved him and cared for him more tenderly than his sister, and praised him more effusively. she brags about everything he does. she doesn't seem to care that it's all natural. in fact, she seems proud of that too. prodigy, he's heard her utter a million times. my little prodigy. he's come to hate it and crave it all at once, like a drug. he believes he's undeserving of it, especially when there's delilah there, and yet he's winning this competition. but it's a hollow victory, because he really shouldn't be. he's like a show pony to her. enter this, enter that. a gumball machine that's filled with medals and trophies. he doesn't feel like michelle really knows him. she doesn't know what he gets into at parties (technically speaking). she doesn't know his sexuality. she doesn't know the reality of his friends. she doesn't know the reality of his relationship with his twin. she doesn't know his heart. his lack of passion for anything he's doing. his fear for the future. his jealousy. his hatred of himself for it all. she only sees a perfectly projected facade she created for him. and nothing more. /that/ is her favorite child. not him.
darrell— his father's favorite too. he didn't even have to try. his father particularly appreciates his son's affinity towards sports, and at least calvin thinks he's funny at times. he likes his old stories. he joined up the sports teams to make his father happy, and kept them up for the same reason— and because they're easy. like everything else. they're too easy. why not keep up with them if it makes him happy? things got obscured over time. sports didn't make calvin happy. he got tired of his father always talking with him about them. he got tired of the trophies and the compliments... and everything.... when he was a child, his father kept trying to foist delilah's male friends onto him. what, he kept thinking sarcastically, wasn't he /banned/ from so much as seeing them? he was, as it turned out, but he did still see them when darrel's way won out. unbeknownst to his father, this was how he had his bisexual awakening... but never mind that. he and his father get along great on a surface level. but much like his mother, he feels like he doesn't know him. he feels guilty for gaining his love (especially over delilah) at times. he wishes he could open up. but his being a show pony makes his father so happy too... and he doesn't even know who he'd be without it. it's much easier to grin and provide some sort of commentary on the swim match that just happened, just to make his dad happy.
SIBLINGS
delilah— they used to be inseparable. after all, they had their own language (calvin still remembers, even if it was basic and he laughs at his poor language-creation skills to this day). they pretended to be each other. calvin let her explain whatever she wanted to him, and he'd sit back and take it all in. things are different now. she's always working hard. she has a goal, and he doesn't. she works hard, and he doesn't (how he is he supposed to work hard, exactly, when everything is just so easy?) her life seems to have a meaning. his doesn't. he's jealous of her drive. her ambition. her nerdiness, as it were, and it became the exact thing he'd pretend to make fun of her for. it was never pure vitriol. it was only ever misdirected jealousy. that was all the competitiveness was too. signing up for competitions whenever grades would be coming out, just to ensure his would be the name on his mothers' lips. bragging to delilah, making his achievements seem grander and better than her own. he did it all. things are different now. he doesn't know any of her friends. she doesn't know any of his, not really. and why is that? they used to share everything, until she pushed him out from her middle school friends. for some reason he couldn't have those? it stung. it really, really stung, more than he expressed back then or even now. maybe that was when the drift started. maybe it started long before then. he misses her. part of him wants to tell her everything. that the competition is a facade. that she's competing against a fraud. a man with nothing who pretends to have something. a directionless, ambitionless freak whose only purpose is to be gawked at. part of him shudders in fear that she may ever find out. or perhaps she already knows. yes, he misses her. he wishes everything could be like it used to. when he says that he wishes she would work less, and that she should "chill" and "get a life," he means it. maybe that would help. maybe she should get a life, and he should get a purpose, and then they'd both be okay. he doesn't know. he's too caught up in this hideous cycle of competition to ever break free, he thinks. even when he's groaning at another piano recital or dreads another basketball game, he can never break free from what he hates. he's trapped with it. he's chained to every activity he hates. he's miserable. and delilah? delilah works hard (too hard, sure) to become an astronaut. something she actually wants to achieve. she's already won the competition. she just doesn't know it yet.
BACKSTORY
while his sister may more thematically place their story's beginning at the development of their ancestral line and the meeting of their parents, all calvin has to say about his origin was that he was beat out of the womb, and upon this defeat, decided that he would never be bested ever again. of course, that drive remains latent for the beginning part of his youth, only to kick in later, when he'd most expect it. no, his story doesn't continue with endless competition and frustration and the drive to never, never lose to his twin sister, his basis for comparison, always. it continues with love. calvin spoke his first words before his sister. calvin took his first steps before his sister. competition, but he didn't realize it. back then, he wanted to catch up to where she was when he lagged. and when she lagged, he merely wanted her to catch up, so that they could be the same. so that they could be friends and share in everything. when he was a child, he supposed, that was what he wanted. when he could walk and she couldn't, he would reach for her hand to attempt to drag her up with him. that was the sort of child he was back then. when someone wasn't on pace with him, he'd lift them up until they were. he'd giggle passively at tv shows, pick up his favorite stuffed animal— a green frog— and grab at delilah's hand when he grew scared at stories. he was especially helpful and calm when it was his sister. it was them against the world, at least for a little while. she pretended to be him, and he pretended to be her, and everyone laughed because he had those big blue eyes, and she didn't. he came up with crucial pieces of their new language. he played school with her, even though she always had to be the teacher, and he always had to be the student, and maybe it would have been nice for once to not have to be the one learning all the time. after all, he thought, he had plenty he could teach too. but he was fine with it. he was chill. cal was chill with everything, of course. always. then they started school. calvin was well-liked immediately. a laid-back attitude, a certain calmness around him always tended to relax the more high-strung children, and provided reassurance. other moms gushed over him. he was such a handsome young boy, they said too, with his big blue eyes, his pretty curly hair, and his perfectly straight teeth, with just a couple missing that only made him cuter. he was confident, even if he was gluing pages the wrong way like delilah told him he was. he believed he knew what to do and when to do it. others believed that too. he made things fun, precisely because he was so relaxed. one could be confident that if he was leading a game of dinosaurs, they were playing dinosaurs correctly. and anyone else who said otherwise would be lying. students had been known to reschedule their birthday parties if calvin couldn't attend. they wanted him there so badly. he almost always sat right next to the birthday child too. he was popular. he was happy. his parents loved him, almost too much, almost to where he felt suffocated by it, even at the start. but they'd coddle him and say yes, he was such a handsome boy, wasn't he? he was such a good friend to his classmates, such a good leader, and so smart too! but then there was his sister, who he shared all of his friends with. every last one of them, of course! who else would he want that with? he liked having her around. there she was with her gold star, and her name on the board, and her drawings with all the colors in the lines posted on the fridge... calvin's mind began to churn. he felt sick every time his twin was rewarded and he wasn't. his parents' approval was like a drug. he wasn't sure why he felt this way when it was taken away... but he did. she never reached down to pull him up like he'd done for her so long ago. this is where his sense for competition welled up and spilled over. he wanted to win. everything. he wanted to win everything. he entered the spelling bee and won, moving onto district, and winning that. it was only later that he found out some kids had to stay up all night to study for weeks to even get third or second. huh. weird. when his mother talked about it, the cute little boy all of six who could rattle off letters like no other, he felt pride swell in his chest. but it was a delicate beast— difficult to keep around for very long. but he was relaxed. he was relaxed. he laughed and told his classmates that spelling was just some dumb nerd thing his mom cared about, and that he barely even had to study at all. everything came to him naturally. he was like a genius in that way. calvin began to study the piano when he was only six. he began to play soccer as well. when he was seven, his mother added the violin, as his piano teacher had excitedly called him a prodigy. tickets to his recitals were sent out to family members and family friends far and wide. he was a prodigy, his parents said, thrilled. he could play this complicated piece and that part from that symphony. calvin never grew much of a love for the piano itself. he loved how it made him feel. the compliments he got. but again, he laughed and told everyone that he barely even had to practice, and he could win all these recitals, but it wasn't like he /cared/ or anything. they believed him. his parents bragged about him, and on one side, it made him feel sick with embarrassment, and on the other side, it made him practically high with pride. meanwhile his sister was doing better and better at school, surpassing him. he got all As, sure, but he didn't get such coveted comments as she did. his papers weren't legendary. he wasn't the best student they'd had in years. still, he wanted to be happy for her. he forced himself to be. he teased her for being a 'nerd,' sure, but it was only with childish laughter and a return to his own domain of nerdiness— the violin and the piano. he played joke pieces for delilah on the piano sometimes when he was supposed to be practicing (the indiana jones theme song and the pop goes the weasel song were favorites, although his mom would fuss over him and tell him to get back to work). he was nine when he was diagnosed with asthma. he hadn't been liking soccer as much for a couple months leading up to it, and he hadn't been as good. he thought that he was failing. there weren't as many MVP trophies to put in his special trophy shelf, and he thought his dad was disappointed in him. no, he was sure his dad was disappointed in him. he liked sports. he liked having a son he could talk about sports with. and here he was, failing out on the field. he felt sick. he was failing again. his sister's tests and report cards remained hung up on the fridge. his trophies for soccer were nowhere to be found— never mind that he was still winning for piano and violin. he wanted more. calvin has always wanted more. he couldn't tell delilah why he was upset. he just forced himself to smile and say that he knew she'd get that A+, what a nerd, with an affectionate, sheepish smile. it wasn't like he cared about soccer, anyway, he said. he was just good at it. it wasn't like he tried or anything. he tried to tell people that he wasn't breathing right, but most people took that to mean he was "out of shape." that was until he had his first asthma attack on the field. it was pretty scary, for him, and for his parents and onlookers. he had been running one second, and the next, he was unable to breathe at all, feeling like he was drowning, choking, all in the middle of the field with everyone watching. he'd had to be taken to the hospital, his family by his side as he got breathing treatments, an asthma diagnosis, and an inhaler. it didn't seem to get much better from there, and he grew frustrated with it. he was on medications to control his asthma, combined with a stupid nebulizer, and he had to carry the stupid inhaler with him everywhere from now on. he's been hospitalized a couple more times for it, for pretty serious attacks, and he's gotten passes on things for gym class because of it— and even, although he hated it, he'd have to slip out of gym or sports practice or even just normal events to take a puff of his inhaler. whatever. whatever. who cared? he wouldn't let it stop him. although the more he moved on, and the more he took on, the more meaningless it all felt. he was great at soccer. he was the best violinist and pianist his teacher had ever taught. he was superb at spelling. and he didn't even have to try. none of it mattered to him. none of it mattered. it was all just a stupid game he was playing to make other people happy. and yet he needed to make other people happy. it was in middle school where he met his gang of best friends that he unequivocally led. delilah had found some kids she didn't want him hanging around. why not? he would have shared his friends. fine, cal figured. it could be like that. he didn't realize that she'd only done that because all their friends had liked cal better. she was afraid that would happen again and wanted some to herself. fine. cal tried to move on without too much curiosity about what they were doing. somehow, he attracted some of the most popular boys in the grade to become his bro gang (yet he was still jealous of delilah and her friends...) sure, he met girls along the way, and sure, some of their girlfriends drifted in and out of some social gatherings. but the bros were permanent. they'd always be there for each other. there could be no altering the core group: every weekend, it seemed, they had some event, scheduled around calvin's piano practice, his baseball practice (he ended up being a hell of a pitcher) or soccer practice (he couldn't get off the horse, after all, even if he pushed himself too hard with that one sometimes), or basketball practice, or even volleyball which he did for a couple years, or that one theatre show he was doing, or that soup kitchen he was serving at on the weekends... there was a lot of stuff to schedule around. but he never made it seem like there was, because he'd always just laugh and brush it off, and give them a time that worked best for him, paired with a totally awesome suggestion— like didn't everyone want to play laser tag? and over time, he'd just skip practices to make room for his friends. his mother loved his friends. mostly rich, mostly coming from successful parents, mostly receiving great grades... they were everything she could have asked for! of course, he was influencing them excellently, she was sure. his father did too, getting excited when they would come over to share his old stories, offer to let them toss the pigskin around in the back, or let them watch a scary movie with some popcorn. calvin was shining and amazing. he was so handsome, all the girls asked him to the middle school dance, and more than one cried in the bathroom when he said he could only accept one proposal. he was so good at sports, that the coach put him on the varsity team and always played him first. cal just shrugged. after all, it wasn't like he /cared./ he was still the piano and violin prodigy. his grades were still good. and every weekend, he was with friends, playing laser tag and eating pizza. and then soon, every weekday too. he pushed on to test limits— not in an ambitious way. he skipped practices and still started on the team. he didn't practice the piano at home as much and still won competitions. none of it mattered. none of it. he envied his sister for her ambition. for her goals. for how hard she worked. for how meaningful it all seemed, whereas even when his parents complimented him, it felt empty and made him sick. but he still needed it. his life seemed perfect from the outside. there was his sister. smarter than him. when he entered high school, it was the first time one of her dumb nerd friends had called him "the dumb one." he'd been in shock. it weeded itself deep within his stomach, nestling and creating something ugly. he started to brush off her achievements like he'd done before (of course you got an A+) but with less playfulness and more harsh brevity. if it wasn't already unhealthy, the competition became more unhealthy for him. he entered more clubs in high school that were even more meaningless. he was on the debate team, theatre, he won student council, he played some volleyball, soccer, basketball, some baseball, swim, he was in the school orchestra and had his own recitals and his own competitions for his instruments, and some days he'd show up late to any of that, and he'd laugh this off too, telling people that he'd just stopped by to grab some sonic with his bros, and lost track of time. he started going to parties in high school. big ones. he was invited to every single one, and he almost always went. he started drinking and smoking weed on occasion (actually, recently, he had a bad asthma attack from it, but successfully concealed it from his parents. that one was close. he does still want to remain the favorite, after all). calvin was taking on a lot, it seemed from the outside. for the average person, his parents may say. but for calvin the prodigy? it was easy. they were right. he'd take his iced coffee (yeah, he sort of has an iced coffee and bang addiction. it's okay?) to class and snapchat his boys pictures of him just hanging out, and his parents would make him afterschool snacks, and always ask him how the boys were doing, and ask how practice was, and tell him how impressed their neighbor was when they showed them the video of him playing that new piece on the violin. cal would shrug. in high school, he's starred in the school play, played varsity sports and lettered, played first seat in the orchestra, won a debate championship, and won a spot in the student council. he got drunk once at a party and snapped at caleb when he said he was jealous of everything that he achieved, calling it all meaningless and saying that he had nothing. he hadn't worked for anything. he deserved nothing. he was a fraud. he'd be found out any second. the compliments he hated and needed would stop. everything would stop. his identity would end. he couldn't stop. but he couldn't continue like this. ("what even am i? do i even have a personality? do you even know who i am, caleb? and don't bring up the damn instruments or the sports or any of it.") caleb never brought it up again, and the next time he saw calvin, he was grinning, biting a medal in a pose after winning a medal at a swim meet. his eyes looked empty. he misses his twin. when he tells her that he thinks she should calm down and slow down a little, maybe subconsciously, the advice is directed at the both of them. maybe if they both calmed down, they could be friends again. maybe calvin could find something that matters like she has. maybe she could find everything else besides that (friends, fun, parties), like he has. calvin misses her. he hates the ugly feelings that pop up when he thinks of her. he hates the competitiveness and the drive and the arguments they have where he feels like he has to make himself feel like less of the dumb one. he misses being kids again with delilah explaining all the stars to him, and where he didn't even feel inferior for it.
APPEARANCE
with a golden tan granting him a healthy and almost beachy appearance, one could say that calvin grew into his looks— although he'd always been called handsome, even when he was just a little baby. with those baby blues still popping, standing out from his golden tan and his dark, curly brown hair. he put highlights into his hair, because a couple of his friends told him it would look good. he still leaves it long, past his ears, and with swooping bangs that cover his forehead from his middle part. calvin has full, pink lips, and he's always been known for having perfect, straight white teeth (he doesn't even floss, but the dentist praises him every time he goes anyways). he has two dimples, although placed slightly unevenly. that's the charm in them, girls have told him. it's given him a gorgeous bright smile that graces many photographs around the house of him at competitions or with his medals. it seems to come so easily to him. he has a natural pink flush to his cheeks. not a single blemish on his clear skin. not a trace of a dark circle (all nighters are for non-prodigies). without any piercings or tattoos, because that would jeopardize his favorite child status, he thinks, and he can't hand delilah such an easy victory. he has a dark silvery watch he wears everywhere. no, it's not a fancy step-counting watch. it's just a normal watch. it was a gift from one of his grandparents a while ago. calvin kept it around. he's still built slender, not having large muscle mass. standing at 5'10", he isn't particularly gangly or particularly bulky. he merely looks thin for his height, also visible in his face with his defined cheekbones. he dresses classier these days. a button-down open over a plain white t-shirt with khakis, jeans, or slacks is his typical look, unless he's coming or going from practice, in which case it's adidas track pants or basketball shorts. he still rather likes hoodies, although not the old sports ones, and often wears flannel over them when it's cold, and sometimes even when it isn't. his clothes are always clean and never wrinkled, and also never torn.
PERSONALITY
calvin's a calm guy. he never seems to work himself up too much over anything. why should he, when he just doesn't have to? he's lazy. he calls himself lazy in his own mind all the time. what could motivate him out of it? he can't lose. it really seems like he can't lose and only could if he tried hard in the opposite direction. he doesn't try hard in any direction. he's not there after practice, pushing himself harder. he's not working on piano in the late nights or early mornings. calvin just does his best in competition. that's all. he's a deep thinker, which most people don't know. he reflects on things a lot, and takes a long time to fall asleep because he always needs to process the day he's just lived through. he muses on things, often spacing out. he wishes he could stop. it's what leads to a lot of his worries and a lot of his self-hatred. he's funny. people love that about him. he has an easygoing, good natured sense of humor, where he can take almost every jab in stride. which is lucky, because his friends take a lot of jabs at him— and even people who aren't his friends— because calvin is perfect anyways, so he can handle a little bit of teasing. he can. but sometimes it gets to him a little bit. he doesn't even take pride in being perfect, and yet it opens him up to this teasing in a special way he never asked for. he's even learned to be extra self-deprecating so that no one thinks he's too full of himself. people sometimes still do, even as he ruthlessly mocks himself in front of others and with others. calvin loves his iced coffee and long drives and most of all, parties. his friends throw the best ones, and he's been to every north kid's parents' cabin, lake house, beach house, and ski lodge, it feels like. he has fun. he's relaxed. he's a chill, cool guy, and he has chill, cool fun with his friends. he seems humble to most people, always saying that he doesn't even work for it. but those who hate him or are jealous of him, don't like him for that too. even his humility is tainted in pride. he doesn't work for it because he doesn't have to. cal is directionless. what does he want to do in the future? who does he want to be? he's lost. he could be anything and it wouldn't require any work at all. he could be anyone. but here he is. and he's no one. delilah has a drive, a singular aim, and he has none. he's panicked about that, wishing he had an ambition, a path forward in life. calvin is miserable. and yet he never tells anyone. that bright smile can cover up a lot. he feels like he's wasting his life. he feels like he doesn't deserve these talents. he feels like a complete and utter fraud. he hates himself. he really, truly does. he hates his jealousy (god, he burns with jealousy sometimes) and his competitiveness that he just can't turn off (sometimes he feels like he's trapped in his own body while it rambles on to his parents in front of delilah about his accomplishments and he just wants to scream to be let out). calvin wants more out of his life. he's always longing for more, and yet he never knows how to obtain it. he has a huge friend group, and he loves them, but sometimes he even feels lonely there. he can feel lonely even in a huge party. sometimes he worries that no one truly knows him anymore.
FRIENDS
beckett hayes— one of the wealthiest students at north. his parents are both high-powered lawyers. he's legacy at yale. always throws the best parties when they're gone. has a cool car and drives the boys around in it. has crazy birthday parties. on the swim team with calvin. complains that he'll never be as good.
caleb chapman— calvin's best friend. his father is a dentist. quarterback on the football team. the quietest out of all of them. rather sensitive. has a long-term relationship with his middle school sweetheart that has been going for several years now. designated driver at parties. the only one calvin has ever opened up to. it was when he was drunk though.
miles wood— class clown. everyone cannot shut up laughing when he chooses to speak. sometimes gets detention for these outbursts. gets very good grades. on the debate team with calvin. his father is the principal of the school. he brings the er,,, materials to the party.
liam butler— another wealthy student. every spring break, the boys go and join his family at their private lakehouse. calvin has even been to his ski lodge. he is on the student council as well, and also plays basketball (although he's not too good). he teases the boys mercilessly, and as such, gets teased mercilessly in return.
connor sherwood— comes up with the best ideas for what to do. always has a new girlfriend every time you see him. the loudest, hyena laugh you've ever heard. plays as catcher on the baseball team. horrible at flirting, but it's somehow endearing. has two frustrating helicopter parents. they both work at nasa.
REPUTATION
calvin is known as the perfect prodigy. everyone hates him or loves him. girls want to date him. boys want to be him. sometimes there is some mix-up of these two things. generally, there's a lot of conflicting options about calvin. people think he's full of himself. he's arrogant. people think he's humble, that he puts himself down and laughs and has a good time. he makes people comfortable around him. he makes people uncomfortable by nature of his accomplishments, his achievements, his appearance, who he is. he's talented. he's too talented. people wish their parents would stop comparing them to him. sometimes people wish calvin would just go away. other times, people want him around all the time, inviting him to every party (and he can party hard! he's great fun at a party, unless he finds himself alone somehow...), voting him onto the student council, prom king, homecoming king, every popularity contest, he's won. without campaigning. people love him. girls flock to his locker, dropping love notes in and proposals to the sadie hawkins dance months before it happens. they've been known to cry when he has to reject them. he holds several records for north high school. he's the best swimmer to ever swim for them. the best musician to ever play on their orchestra. the best debater to ever represent north high school. how many times do your parents have to repeat it? he's just like you, but better.
SCHOOL
north
yes. he is this popular in such a large school. that makes it extra impressive, people say.
OTHER
— he has a white fluffy dog named samoa who was given to him as a gift after he won some award in the seventh grade. she was a puppy then, and now she's five years old. she's the love of his life.
— his parents got him a black audi car for his sixteenth birthday. he's driven it ever since. he's only been in one fender bender where another person hit his parked car. repairs were done.
— he is a black belt at taekwondo and karate, having attained both of these achievements when he was a kid. he doesn't really practice either as much, although a couple summers in middle school and high school, he was a karate/taekwondo teacher for a kid's summer camp.
— he has a fantastic memory. he can remember things from when he was just a little kid very vividly.
— he has won the school an award for 'best leading actor in a musical/play.' congrats, north.
— he has so many followers on his snapchat specifically. his instagram, sure, but everyone seems terribly interested in his snapchat. he has over 100 streaks going and he refuses to let any of them drop, and get nervous when that gets close to happening.
— he already has several possible athletic deals with universities. top universities too, including several ivy leagues. right now, he guesses he likes dartmouth the best? how is he supposed to evaluate this when he doesn't even know what he wants to do or why he'd even be in college other than that his parents want him there?
— he's always preferred drinks over food. when he goes to sonic with his buddies, sometimes he'll just get the slushie. iced coffee is a breakfast item. protein shakes are meal replacements.
—he has never broken a bone before. it must be from drinking all of that milk as a child!
— his favorite ice cream flavor is 100% rocky road.
— he perhaps has one other (middle school friend) crush throughout his life. his juliet?
— the other crushes were either forgettable or he forced himself to treat them as forgettable. he couldn't be dating his friends. he couldn't be dating his sisters' friends. he couldn't... after a while, he couldn't see through the haze of everyone wanting him. it all became trite. what was the purpose in desire if it was never prolonged?
— he was always the kid who got up during sleepovers to get a cup of water and unintentionally scared everyone else. he was also one of the only ones along with caleb who didn't want to play with a ouija board because he was scared.
— sometimes he avoids the things he loves (amusement parks, slushees, various other things), because he feels so badly about himself and feels he doesn't deserve them.
— he writes poetry for the literary magazine too. it's rather good. english teachers love him for it. somehow a lot more people started submitting poetry after he did.