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Cassidy Crisswell (19)
Project: YA Novel (Psi High)
Known as: “Cassy”
Real name: Cassidy Crisswell
Group affiliation: The Alphas
Physical description: Cassy is 17 with long blond hair and blue eyes. She works very hard on her appearance (in the gym, clothing store, and vanity). She is attractive but is a bit overdone.
Personality: Cassy is reserved and haughty and is talented at passive-aggressive shade. Secretly she carries a lot of anxiety that she will be uncovered as a fraud. Though a member of the Alphas she feels she is lacking in the power (she is in due to being a rare telepath, but she is not a powerful one), social status, or talent to really deserve to be there. Her biggest fear is to be pushed out of the Alphas and she sees Selena as a threat.
History: Cassy has a few things in common with Selena. Though Electi were not unheard of in her family, she was a surprise telepath. When this was revealed, her life took a left turn. From a more blue-collar family, Cassy grew up liking sports, rough-and-tumble games, and exploring. She was never a great student, so a non-physical gift challenged her self-image.
At first, she thought attending Coldwater would give her an opportunity to redefine herself. Instead it was like she put on a disguise that she couldn’t take off. Spinning herself as a confident, high-class beauty creates a great deal of stress. The main way she deals with the anxiety is by reassuring herself that, as long as she is an Alpha, the deception is working. Her greatest fear, then, is losing this status.
She therefore chooses her friends, activities, and nearly everything based upon what she thinks will help her stay an Alpha. She has sustained this for enough years that she is now challenged to even know what she, herself, wants. This is exacerbated by her telepathy. Though she is relatively weak, it is still a strong empath and good at reading other people. This places still more demands on her to try to behave in a way that the Alphas react to in a positive way, while she also feels guilty for the way she sometimes makes others feel to meet that demand.
When Selena, another telepath, joins the school Cassy immediately perceives a threat. Worse still, her telepathy gives her a sense of Selena’s underlying confidence which alarms her still more. Finally, when it is clear that Selena might be one of the most gifted telepaths to come to the school, Cassy becomes downright worried. Cassy undertakes a mission to undermine and limit Selena. This results in still more guilt, as she instinctively knows Selena is a good person and has a similar background to her own.
Role in the narrative: Cassy is the frenemy. One common aspect of high school is how confusing your peers can be. Enemies become friends and vice versa sometimes on a daily basis. You can’t always be sure of someone’s sincerity (are they asking me out to make someone else jealous?). Given in high school we also aren’t sure of ourselves, it’s all a pretty volatile mix.
The thing I like about the Selena/Cassy dynamic is that Cassy will be overtly the mean girl. At the same time, Selena’s telepathy will suggest a mismatch between Cassy’s actions and her underlying feelings. It will be mystifying for Selena to know how to react to Cassy. I hope ultimately they end up friends some “evil” people just need some help and understanding.
Abilities: Cassy is a telepath, but not a strong one. It is very difficult for her to pick up specific thoughts, and she has shown fairly little advancement across the years of school. Still, with focus she is extremely good at reading people. It is hard to lie to her, and she senses the motivations behind people’s actions.
Inspirations: The mean girl with secret insecurities is an archetype (or even a trope). As a result it is in a million things (I think the most recent instance for me was a Netflix movie maybe “Sierra is a loser” or something).
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