Jess Keegan
Full name: Jessalee Quinn Keegan
Nickname(s): Jess, which is what people usually call her unless they want to be smacked.
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Appearance: Jess has dark, red-brown hair, which she inherited from her mother. Her large eyes are a dark green that is almost hazel, giving her a distinctive look. Her forehead is somewhat wide, but side swept bangs and her large eyes more than make up for it. She has a narrow, square chin and a wide, genuine smile. Whenever she smiles, her whole face seems to light up, and she is known to wear a silly expression to make a point or to tease. She is often smiling in some form, but it can easily seem forced. Jess stands at about 5'3, and has a pretty average figure.
Though she often wears her pajamas all day when left to her own devices, her wardrobe is fairly diverse, with everything from jeans and ragged t-shirts, to dresses and heels. However, she usually wears a nice shirt with some simple, straight cut colored jeans and sneakers or flats, depending on how active she is going to be. She does not really enjoy being restricted by fancy clothing all the time, but she also cares about her appearance. Still, she tends to lean toward comfort rather than style.
She is highly stubborn, and will not give ground if she thinks she is in the right. However, this also translates to her loyalty. Jess will never abandon anyone who has given her their friendship, no matter the circumstances. She will go out of her way to let the people she cares about know she cares about them. With this, Jess mostly thinks before speaking.
Jess hates dealing with dramatic change to the point that it sometimes makes her panic. This is not necessarily a hysteric panic, but rather a state of mind where her instinct is to run rather than deal with the situation. It makes her irritable and always leaves her overwhelmed at first, and she dreads that feeling. It is not uncommon for her to lash out in anger when she is feeling panicked, not physically, but with cynicism and insults, but she always ends up regretting it.
However, even in the worst of situations, her moments of panic are just that: moments. They never last long and she is soon ready to face the change with her typical stubborn attitude. Still, it takes much longer to get rid of the niggling fear that she will make the wrong decision, and she is not immune to relapsing into self-doubt, though she would never admit it. For her, it is important to stay strong and take control of her situation, both to take care of those she cares about and because she dislikes her own uncertainty.
*People who appreciate her humor
*The ocean
*Old things
*Wandering
*Sarcasm
*Music
*Maps
*Feeling overwhelmed
*Anger, even her own.
*Rigid rules
*Arrogance
*Peppers
*Reptiles
*Uncertainty or rapid change
*Snakes
*Heights
*Playing the guitar
*Antiquing
*Singing
*Hiking
Her first problem came when Nora, being almost ten years older, moved out to go to college out of state. Since Jess was only eight and was very close to Nora, it was hard to adjust to, and she ended up unhappy and snappy most of the time. Though it took a long time, she finally adjusted, but there was a new edge to her young personality. She began taking on aspects of her father’s sarcastic humor. This further increased when her mother’s job required them to move to Woodbury, South Carolina a few years later. This move was a bit much for young Jess, who had a natural stubborn streak from a young age. She threw many fits and rebelled in whatever ways she could, even hiding in the woods on the day they moved, delaying their departure. However,
She, of course, took her time adjusting as she tried to cope with feeling overwhelmed. At her first day of middle school there, she panicked and ran away. It took her frightened parents until the next day to find her. Though her mother, especially, tried to force her to go to school, she couldn’t. Thus, for that year, Jess was homeschooled. She was able to meet some friends in her neighborhood, and that helped her transition better into the middle school the next year. Since then, she has had few major problems or huge worries, until now…
