Erica Farmer

Erica grew up in the south side of Teal Cove, Texas. She's what the richer kids from the newer areas call a "townie". A townie is a derogatory term the rival Teal Cove High school came up with a few years ago to identify the poor kids. Up until a few years ago, Teal Cove was a small rural unincorporated community with the "small-town" American feel to it from which the term is derived. As the area has grown and gained recognition as an official township, a second high school was added. The older Renier High School now had an official in-town rival in the expanding north end with bigger and newer homes.

Most of the transplants to the area arrived in the past decade and are better off than the original families. As a result, the new kids in the area look down on those country bumpkins whose families have been in the area for several generations. At the same time, those with roots in the area resent the interlopers and their privileged upbringing. It wasn't long before a fierce and rather nasty rivalry between the north and south ends of town and their respective high schools developed. That rivalry has now reached the boiling point as resentment has grown on both sides in recent years and what started off as friendly competition quickly turned into a mean-spirited war.

Erica Farmer has never known anything but Teal Cove. Born and raised in the small town, she watched the area grow up with her. Her grandparents, Otis and Irene Wilbur, were poor and inherited the double-wide they live in from their parents. Erica's father was a drunk that died before she was old enough to have any memories of him. Her mother worked as a waitress and has been in and out of jail since she was a girl and had multiple boyfriends over the years. She never made enough to get her and her daughter a place of their own, and so Mammaw and Pappaw's trailer is all she's really known. It wasn't uncommon for Erica's mother to move out for a few months with her current boyfriend, leaving Erica with her parents.

Around age 10, Erica's mother was dating an older man that was selling "grass". He had a pot farm just beyond Teal Cove on the other side of the tracks. He was arrested for selling drugs and Erica's mother was unfortunately ensnared in the situation. She's currently serving a twenty-year sentence. Allegedly, she's in a prison in Dallas, but Erica isn't sure. She hasn't been allowed to visit her since her incarceration began but does get letters and an occasional phone call.

Erica has been in and out of trouble since elementary school. She wasn't very smart and because of the constant turmoil at home, she had very low self-esteem and was a bit of a bully. She was also held back a year in 5th grade, about the time her mother went to prison. Erica will finally be starting high school in the fall, although she is at least a grade behind in her reading, writing, and math skills and takes special remedial courses.

Erica is easily manipulated and desperate to fit in. Instead of taking PE, she signed up for Pepsquad, a pre-requisite for those girls that want to go on and join the cheerleading squad their sophomore year. Erica has befriended some of the older girls that are already on the squad who have promised to show her the ropes and help her get an edge on getting picked at the end of next year. Of course, all of this comes at a price including helping them do a few things to prove her loyalty.