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"So if I get full marks on the bio quiz and I do the extra assignment in calc, that should give my average the 0.3% I need to get to the next percentile, but just in case I'll ask Mrs. Teller if there's any extra work I can do..."

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ROLE

The Perfect Student

NAME

 Delilah Elizabeth Brown

NICKNAMES

Dellie- a childhood nickname, what everyone called her when she was in middle school- stemming first from her parent's imagination, imitated by her twin and then all the kids they interacted with. It would probably be what her friends called her, if she really had any.

Dels- what her twin calls her when they're getting along

little miss perfect/brownnose- what her twin calls her when they aren't getting along

try-hard/know-it-all/calvin's sister- what people around school call her, usually behind her back, sometimes to her face

pretty brown eyes- yes, after the song by Cody Simpson (Hey There Delilah is right there, but that was kind of overdone anyway). During grade eleven she had something like a flirtationship with a guy named Nik (not 'Nicholas,' he was a cool kid) who would lean up against her locker and tilt his head to the side so his artistically styled hair would fall into his eyes. Delilah thought he was kind of ridiculous and a little bit full of himself, but the attention thrilled her and she began to look forward to the days when he'd ask her to hang out with him after school (she always said no) or steal half of the precarious tower of textbooks in her arms to help her carry them to class. Delilah ended things before they could even really start, when she noticed her new tendency to zone out when she was supposed to be studying, drawing lazy hearts in the margins of her notes and smiling like a fool. It was for the best.

AGE

17

BIRTHDAY

December 15

- during her brief interest in astrology around grade 7 she got herself a Sagittarius bracelet, more for the aesthetic than any true belief in that spiritual star-aligned nonsense. For the record- they're in an orbit, the Earth rotates on it's axis, and the point during that rotation on which you were born means precisely nothing.

GENDER/PRONOUNS

Female- she/her

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Heterosexual, as far as she knows. It's not like she's spent a lot of time questioning it.

BACKGROUND

MIDDLE SCHOOL

"Nerrddddddd"

Teacher's pet, annoying, that girl who wants to be an astronaut, the one with a twin- that's mainly how Dellie was known in middle school. She was chatty, hyper in a bouncy, excitable way, and would speak to you even if you were giving her clear 'leave me alone' signals (which she was aware of by the way, she was just sure she could change your mind). Friendly without prejudice or appropriate middle school self-preservation, Dellie was the kind of kid who would see someone sitting alone and invite them to hang out with her (because she knew how it felt), and was also the kind who usually managed to drive them away into sitting with someone else after a week. Ouch. She was optimistic and peppy, always excited to help others, but she could also come on too strong- she was an acquired taste, always trying way too hard and showing too much of herself at once.

Not to mention she hit every kid's 'avoid at all costs unless you want to risk social suicide' bingo card. Dellie's favourite topic was what they were learning in school, she knew the custodian by name (founder of- the only member of- the Recycling Club), she hung out with the teachers way too much (but they were just so nice! And they'd let her watch Bill Nye episodes during recess sometimes), and occasionally she would would actually gasp out loud in lessons when the teachers revealed some wisdom of the world that she thought was really cool- which everyone definitely thought was a cry for attention, or at least, further cemented her place as a teacher's pet. Her hand was constantly up in class, and she was kind of controlling in group projects (she tried to hear everyone out, but when her partner suggests making a pneumatic system out of macaroni, she has to speak up). Dellie ended up on the outside of things a lot, and never heard of the cha cha slide until it came up at the eighth grade dance and she famously stumbled into everyone around her (how did everyone suddenly know what to do?? They all knew the next step, everyone was so in sync, her brother was laughing his ass off, this is still a nightmare she has). The only thing semi-cool about her was her brother, who still talked to her in public at that point, and who even invited her to hang out with his friends when she looked particularly lonely. But Dellie would always turn him down because she still had her pride, and did not want any pity friends. She could make them on her own, she was sure.

Once upon a time, she did have interests outside of school. She loved all things science (doesn't count as school since it's a facet of the world, and also magical), escape rooms, star-gazing (or as her brother called it, 'star-splaining,' since she would skip the usual peaceful quiet to enthusiastically point out all the star systems and constellations she could see), hide and seek (she was really good at it), playing the piano (this was before her twin began to play and surpassed her in a matter of weeks), jumping up and down and waving when she saw herself in the security cameras at the entrance of supermarkets, making cards for her family member's birthdays/mother's days/Christmases (she knew exactly how much glitter was the right amount of glitter), and wrestling/play-fighting with her brother (this was before biology gave him an unfair advantage). Though she didn't really have any friends (or at least, none that stuck), everyone knew she wanted to be an astronaut when she grew up- because she would tell pretty much anyone who would listen.

Dellie could always be found with these silver sparkling clips in her hair, two crossed over each other and clipped into the hair by her temple. Her hair was darker then, closer to black, and the silver gems reminded her of stars in an inky sky. Dellie was tall at that point, taller than most of the boys (and most importantly, her brother), but also beanpole skinny- yet that didn't stop her from grabbing as many chairs as possible at once when a teacher would ask a group of 'strong boys' to help him move them. Back before kids had tact (some still don't) a lot would ask her 'what' exactly she was- by which they meant her somewhat ambiguous ethnicity. Her mother is half Indian and her father is all melting-pot white, so she has light brown skin, dark eyes, and a strong nose, the latter of which she had yet to grow into, and which was a point of insecurity for her back then.

PARENT'S PERSONALITIES

Michelle Brown, nee Khatri- the one who asks after her friend's kids just so they'll ask after hers. Michelle never passes up an opportunity to brag about her kids and their numerous achievements, always in some sly way that everyone around her can definitely see through, but she can't seem to help herself. She'll say things like 'I've no idea where they get it, my two little prodigies' and also 'I never drank or took anything when I was pregnant with them, not even a painkiller. Kept my two little darlings intact so they could dazzle the world.' As competitive as her children, she feels as if the trophies and achievements of her children are her own and will mentally pit them against the other kids in town, determined to have them come out on top. She sounds very unpleasant to be around, but the secret to actually enjoying her company is to steer the conversation away from her kids or any topic that she can turn back onto them (of which she has a talent for). Michelle is charismatic and is able to easily command the attention of a room with a dazzling smile and a funny story (and her English accent probably helps a bit too). She owns her own flower shop and likes to gift her friends beautiful bouquets, and is one of the parents who organizes meet ups and hosts meticulously planned parties.

Darrell Brown- quiet in most situations, Darrell is content in letting his talkative wife speak for him. He's a steady presence beside his enthusiastic and sparkling better half, eyes zoning out as she babbles on about most things. He's not very present, and maybe that has to do with his job as a lawyer, which he doesn't really care for- but it allowed his wife to open the flower store she always dreamed of, which is finally in the past year turning a profit. It's usually his friends that have him snapping back to the present and to himself- and in the process, supremely impairing Darrell's maturity. After only a few beers he'll be jumping off the roof into a pool or showing off the towing capabilities of his truck by tying it to a tree- just like he's a high school kid again. He's great fun for all his buddies, the ridiculous friend that does the stupid thing no one else will do to get a laugh out of everyone- but only among the friends he's comfortable with. He's been jailed before- for small infractions- but it's a good thing he's a lawyer. He always manages to get himself out of the stupid situations he puts himself in, but not without first being chewed out by Michelle.

RELATIONSHIP WITH PARENTS

Michelle- fairly strained, but only on one side. Michelle thinks they're doing great- Delilah has phenomenal marks, is so well-behaved, and never complains. But Dellie isn't ever really comfortable in the same room as her mother anymore- even when she doesn't need to study, she'll pretend she needs to just to escape up to her room. Michelle only seems to want to talk about her marks anymore, what her average was, if she had a plan for making up for the quiz she got an 85% in. Dellie knows she means well, but it can be suffocating- her mother only seems to compliment her on her marks, and she feels very one-dimensional around her. Not to mention how much it hurts when Michelle gushes over her twin far more and for far longer than her- a clear favourite, they get along better.

Darrell- distant but comfortable, it had always kind of been that way. They don't see much of each other- Darrell works long days and Dellie studies long nights, and her father had never been great at making time for his family, even when she was a kid. He's the parent she finds the most in common with, and will come to him for advice over her mother or twin- but she'll often have to wait a while, until they're both free. Will avoid him at all costs when he's hanging out with his buddies because his spurts of midlife crisis are so embarrassing.

SIBLINGS

Calvin- at one point, they'd been inseparable. The yin to her yang, they used to stay up so that Dellie could drag him outside to look at the stars, he'd tease her when she danced through the kitchen in excitement about a mark she got back, and they'd insisted on being in the same classes. She's not sure when, but something happened between then and now, where she silently watches him master anything he put his mind to with envy while his teasing about her obsession with marks turned snarkier and more bitter over the years. Their differences now chafe at each other, and they can't stand being in the same room for long without finding something to fight over.

BACKSTORY

The story of two extraordinary children must of course begin with their parents, attributed as they are with their success. Michelle Kahtri had been born in York, England to Mary Khatri (nee Desmond) and Kahaan Khatri. When she was fourteen, they moved from the city of cathedral castles and Roman architecture to an American town of dull paint and broken traffic lights. It was boring, it was drab, and Michelle determined herself to be the most interesting thing there- and those around her certainly agreed (her exotic York accent certainly helped). She met Darrell Brown in high school, a boy who made her more interesting by comparison, and so she kept around. They began to get along as Darrell broke out of his shell, acting out thanks to a military father and a long dead mother, in his particular brand of crazy that intrigued Michelle. They became high school sweethearts- eventually the prom queen and enthusiastic audience member. Both of them had average grades, were good at one or two things that collected a few trophies- but nothing near what their children would eventually earn for them. Michelle got a bachelor's in general business, and they waited until Darrell got his law degree (which took him three extra years) to get married. They had their twins the next year.

Delilah was born only two minutes ahead of her brother, who followed right on her heels. Her first victory over him, in the messy rivalry that their relationship would grow into. She learned to crawl first- he said his first word before her. She learned to stand before him, but he took his first steps first. Back then they were blissfully unaware that they were competing, yet were still always head to head. They were each other's best friend when they were kids, cheering each other on. They did all the cliché twin things- invented their own language, pretended to be each other (Dellie cut her own hair to really commit, and once her frantic mother took her to the hairstylist to fix the six year old's approximation of a haircut, they had a few months before her hair grew back where they continued their swapping antics). Her brother was chill and funny, and she was hyper and enthusiastic- she came up with wild games and he would entertain them, even when she wanted to 'play school', pretending to be the teacher that taught him something new she learned in a book somewhere (or made up, with complete confidence). Any fights they had were quickly forgotten (though usually it centered around boys being better than girls, or vise versa), it was them against the world.

When Delilah was a little girl she had the mistake of telling her parents that she wanted to be an astronaut- on the basis that she imagined flying up to the moon and getting to hang out with the monkeys they sent up there too- not to mention zero gravity, which sounded to her like flying. What her ambitious mother understood was that she wanted to become an astrophysicist, which Dellie had no idea was at the time. But she was already on track, considering Delilah was already doing so well in school- no matter she was still at the finger-paint and nap-time level, excelling was still excelling. Dellie did well in school at first more because she really did like to learn, and because she was silently very competitive- just as much as her twin, who was louder about it. There was once a reading log assignment where the student who read the most pages off of school time would get a gold star and their name on the board- Dellie stayed up night after night reading to earn that gold star and all the bragging rights attributed, simply because she wanted her name up there in glorious whiteboard marker. She wasn't even that big a fan of books.

Her parents never /really/ pressured her into anything. They planted the idea, but Delilah was a very reasonable child who also knew her parents knew better than her, so their reasoning checked out. She had to do well in school if she wanted to do well in life, and she was good at it too, so it was easy and fun to do. 

 In high school, reality began to set in- the reality of how many people out of the eight billion on earth actually left the stratosphere, and the chances of her (a mixed girl from a small town) actually being one of them. It involved a lot of risk for the girl who was slowly beginning to fear what failure would mean for her- one stumble and her brother was sure to shoot past, leaving her in the dust. It was safer to go into astrophysics, with her feet remaining on the ground and a nice 401K. But the work was harder, and Delilah began to fear that she wasn't as smart as she or her parents thought. To overcompensate, to maintain her spot at the top, Dellie had to spend more and more time studying, perfecting her answers and cramming every small detail into her brain. She spent less time with friends and family, telling her brother to go on without her when he invited her to take a break and hang out with him and his friends, becoming single-minded and focused. It certainly didn't help that she spent her first year of high school at a different school than her twin for the first time, alone and sticking out among all the rich kids just waiting for her to slip up and prove she didn't belong there.

Studying became stressful, waiting for marks to come back began making her anxious, school lost its glimmer of fun. She'd have the occasional panic attack, and she wouldn't tell anyone about it. Delilah began to resent her brother for how easily all things came to him, how he didn't have to throw everything else in his life away for that same pride and adoration in her parent's eyes (or wait, that's more pride, isn't it? Was she just noticing this, how they had an entire display case for his trophies in the foyer but her report cards spent a week on the fridge before being packed into a box in the attic?). He wasn't even trying, and everyone loved him. Maybe he began to pick up on her resentment or perhaps felt abandoned with how much she was ignoring him and everyone else in favour of her schoolwork (in one particular argument, she got a 'you're just like dad'), because around the same time he stopped talking to her at school. They couldn't spend too long in the same room without their resentment bubbling to the surface in biting words, and her brother's competitive spirit turned haughty whenever he brought a new trophy home. Delilah would just grit her teeth and head back up to her room to continue studying, pretending it doesn't bother her and knowing that her twin knows her far too well to believe it doesn't.

Delilah knows senior year is no time to slack off, and she's already come up with a fifteen-step plan that she must maintain to get into her top school (Caltech) as the state-wide scholarship recipient. With her goal set in stone, there will be nothing that can stop her.

NOW

APPEARANCE

Does Delilah care about fashion? She definitely doesn't have the time to. She doesn't really go shopping, and still has the same haircut she had throughout middle school- straight cut bangs and hair that falls to her mid-back. Dellie has thick (yet well-manicured, thanks mum) eyebrows that sit low over her eyes, which gives her resting face the intense look of someone either glaring at you or puzzling over the meaning of the universe- but such an expression is not very common to see, as even her face doesn't get the chance to rest. She's very animated, with expressive eyes and a face constantly in motion from the moment she wakes up, playing her thoughts and feeling across them for anyone to read. She mouths things to herself when trying to figure out a particularly difficult problem, sometimes muttering her thoughts out loud. Dellie has (what she considers boring and dull) brown eyes to go along with her dark brown hair (lightened from black since middle school) and light brown skin, truly living up to her last name. With a small chin and strong nose, she'd probably be considered cute if not for her somewhat off-putting personality and tendency to wear whatever she finds on her floor that morning (she is still kind of cute though. She's the 'nerd no one liked who grew up into a hot chick and is unaware of it' because I said so). She's around average height at 5'5 (has been since grade 7), and will still tell you how unfair it is that her twin is taller than her just because he's a guy ("more proof that god hates women" **).

** that's a joke, she doesn't believe in god

Her mom still shops for her, if only to put an end to the phase she had where she'd steal from her brother's and father's closets- at the time when she stopped going to a school with a uniform, all her clothes from middle school stopped fitting, and she stubbornly refused to go shopping ('I've got more important things to do.'). Her mother cares far more about her appearance than she does, so Delilah is fine with it along as long as Michelle tries to oblige her request of keeping it 'comfortable.' So Dellie's closet is full of 'academic chic' clothing, trendy sweater vests and plaid skirts with knee-high socks. Everyone would think she was very fashionable if not for her mismatched socks and tendency to wear the same three alternating outfits (she is not organized, nor a morning person, and sets her alarm fifteen minutes before she has to leave. She thinks she's doing pretty well all things considered). On slower days (of which there are few) or ones where she wants to feel a little more like a girl and less like a lifeless robot who's sole purpose is to do schoolwork, she'll line her eyes with kohl or even take the time to pin up her hair. She had her ears pierced as a child, and wears the same gold half-moon earrings every day. Her only form of rebellion comes in temporary tattoos- not really rebellion, more like she just likes how they look, and she hides them from everyone anyway (she ignores the contemptuous voice in her head that tells her she wastes money and time on them for no good reason).

PERSONALITY

Kind of wired. Knee always bouncing even as she's laser focused on the textbook in front of her, nodding too quickly when someone speaks to her so that they'll hurry up and finish the conversation, Delilah always gives the impression of someone who's mind is already on the next task she's rushing to. There's a lot of energy tightly bound under the surface of her skin, expelled in short bursts of jumpiness or long-distance runs (the one extra curricular she does- other than various student councils- is track. Totally a coincidence that it's the one thing her twin can't surpass her in). 

How did she survive this long, wound up tightly enough that she needs a night guard and finds rollercoasters cathartic for allowing her a good scream? Well no one could without some kind of mental break, and since she's totally fine and doing great, she must not actually be all that stressed out or anxious. Delilah doesn't need extra accommodations to sit a three hour exam, she never drinks coffee or Redbull (mostly because she's sure it'll foster an addiction), and doesn't take any of those designer pills that the rich kids from Madison Faire took to Chill Out before a big test. She's got focus, she's got drive, she's got a crippling fear of failure- and that's a real winning combo.

Dellie eats deadlines for breakfast- where others might spiral and panic in the final hours, that's when her single-minded focus cuts off any thoughts not related to The Task and pumps out a glimmering essay or studies without break for eight hours straight. The panic attacks and tears come only after everything is completed and neatly handed in. Of course one school's many detriments are how multiple projects and tests are assigned concurrently as others end, so her mental state can alternate between focused confidence and post-submission panic on a whim- but it only really makes an appearance when she's alone. Spiraling is for empty bathrooms and locked bedrooms, where no one can spread the rumor that she isn't as perfect a student as she seems.

She still panics if she gets any mark back that's less than 95%- and she punishes herself for it too. Dellie won't eat and won't sleep until she masters the subject she messed up in, hating herself the whole time for making such stupid mistakes. Her mother says she 'practically raises herself', always chuckling to her friends about what a self-starter she is, so motivated- when she gets a bad mark back, they don't even have to ground her!

High school has definitely been tougher for her than middle school, where good grades were easy and learning was fun. She tries so hard, and it always feels like it's never enough. Whereas it seems like her twin doesn't have to try at all, yet he's clearly their parent's favourite. Dellie has become an envious, somewhat bitter person.

No one can get her to do something she doesn't want to. Actually, let's rephrase- no one can get her to do something she doesn't think will benefit her future. Go to the school dance- what, you mean just for the sake of fun? Raving parties- on a school night? Dellie has become hyper focused on her ambitions and goals, without even a thought to anything else she wants out of life. She has no issue saying no to people, even if it's the offer of friendship middle school Dellie was always so desperate for. But there are more important things now.

Dellie isn't sure how her fear of failure manifested, but it definitely did so after middle school- or at least, it didn't used to be so crippling. She puts everything she has into her academic record. It's a measure of her worth at this point, and anything less than perfect means she could be doing better- that she's a fraud that doesn't deserve the glowing praises from her parents and teachers. Sometimes it feels like she's drowning in all the expectations, with only a brief gasp of air every once and a while to keep her alive- but hey, graduation's soon anyway, so she might as well just keep going.

She's more self-absorbed than she used to be, putting her grades over pretty much everything in her life, including her relationships. Dellie doesn't really notice when the people around her are hurting anymore- at least, not as long as her assignments flood the top of her mind. If her friend were to collapse on the way to their exam, she'd definitely get someone- a teacher or the paramedics- and stay with them until they arrive. But she'd also be thinking about the exam the whole time, anxious and worried about how she'll miss it, feeling guilty that she isn't entirely focused on her friend. When help comes, she'd honestly probably leave her friend with them so she can rush off to write it, soothing her guilt with the promise that she'll return after. Middle school Dellie would be aghast, but senior year Delilah cannot afford to miss a single mark.

LIKES

 award ceremonies (who doesn't enjoy all of their hard work finally coming to fruition?), henna (one Madison Faire girl gifted her a henna kit during a class-wide Christmas exchange, which was definitely racially motivated, but Dellie did end up messing around with it and experimenting with patterns on herself. Just like her temporary tattoos- which came later- no one ever saw them, and she hasn't touched her kit since grade 10), R&B (SZA is sometimes all that stands between her and a mental breakdown), the vast majesty of the universe (she loves the space aesthetic, she once bought a pack of beautiful galaxy-themed pens with sparkly ink from Chapters, and proceeded to never use them since they were too nice to use with her chicken-scratch handwriting).

DISLIKES

Wasting time, agendas (as a chronically disorganized person, she's heard 'you should use an agenda!' enough times in her life to be staunchly against the idea), being unproductive (feels the same as wasting time), flat-earthers (please just look out your window), when people ask her about her marks, when her mother brags about her while she's in the room and she just has to stand there awkwardly while Michelle rattles off her averages, getting second place, herself sometimes, school (its a love-hate relationship), Elon Musk (he is not a real engineer, just some rich guy trying to turn space exploration in a capitalist dream. She hates everything he stands for and all his fanboys).

FRIENDS

She hangs out with other people like her- focused entirely on the academic side of high school, talking scholarships and answers and marks, working on projects together during lunch and for some of them, comparing marks. Dellie doesn't feel like a leader of any kind, not like her mother- but she's the unspoken head of their little clique because her marks are the best of them all (she doesn't really like to tell them her marks, but they are kind of persistent, with wide smiles and hard eyes as they insist she tell them what she got). Of the group there is:

Dexter- has been bringing his Bakugan to school since kindergarten, is always the one trying to convince them to play cards or hang out outside of school for something other than a study session (no one is interested).

Sheila- super involved, and somehow also maintains stellar marks. Athletic, smart, pretty, and somehow also kind, the valedictorian of their grade and probably also prom queen, she has other friend groups she hangs out with more- but she'll come to them to ask questions or study.

Ryan- cleaned house with all the academic awards from his middle school at graduation, he wasn't prepared to not be the smartest in the room in high school. Is constantly asking Dellie about her grades, constantly brings up the few times he outdoes her. Delilah gets the feeling he kind of hates her.

Finn- Ryan's best friend, he extends an offer to hook them up with Adderall before every exam because apparently his older brother is a drug dealer. No one usually takes him up on it- or at least, they don't in front of everyone else.

Genevieve- quiet, brings a different book to school every day and doesn't typically say anything unless asked a question first. Very calm and a good listener, Dellie enjoys her company the most.

Diego- recently moved from Brazil, barely speaks any English. Is model level good-looking, but unfortunately also cripplingly shy, has determined that this group of boring nerds works as the best attention repellant from all the boys and girls that threw themselves at him in his first few weeks there- also given that they're all so absorbed in their schoolwork to be entirely uninterested in him.

REPUTATION

Literally the smartest person in school- or at least, the person with the top marks. Year after year attendants at the school's academic award show would boredly clap as her name is called over and over, as Dellie made a circuit of the stage by walking circles around the other recipients to collect. She's seen as boring, with no hobbies that aren't just volunteering or clubs that will look great on a college application. She's a try-hard, a nerd, or that bitch who thinks she's so much better than anyone else to those who have tried inviting her to anything other than study sessions (some of which she'll still say no to if she think they're using it as a thinly veiled excuse to try and get her to tutor them for free). People don't often think about her much unless they're trying to compete with her marks- and if they are, they'll probably call her some less than nice things, because when it comes to her marks, she's relentless. She won't be pulling back just so someone else has a chance in the spotlight.

SCHOOL

For grade 9 she went to Madison Faire for their superior academics, but it became too expensive in grades 10-12, so she went to North with her brother.