Marie Evans

Birthday: Jan. 3
Age: 17
Class of 1983 (Senior)

Marie Elizabeth Evans is a senior and the most popular girl in school. She comes from a well-to-do family who lives in the wealthiest area of Teal Cove; The Oakhill Estates. She is the daughter of Adam & Carol Evans. Her father is an electrical engineer and salesman for a semiconductor company and her mother doesn't work.

Marie is the captain of the cheerleading squad and sees herself as a princess that has ascended her throne. In Marie's mind, she has been groomed for this position from the beginning and that it was her destiny to be the queen bee her senior year. Of course, lots of sucking up, politics and other factors such as her family being close friends with the coach Karen North had a lot to do with Marie's coming to power.

Marie is spoiled and entitled. She's fearlessly loyal to her inner circle as long as her subordinates know their places and stands by her. The way Marie sees it, everyone falls into one of three categories: You're either on her side, by her side or in her way. Marie sees herself above anyone that isn't a senior, isn't popular (basically anyone who isn't a jock or cheerleader- aka "The Preps") or isn't wealthy. She often refers to her circle as "the people that matter".

Anyone not in her clique is beneath her. She and her friends refer to the poorer kids as "Townies". Most of the wealthy families are relatively new to Teal Cove and have little respect for the families at the south end of town who have roots in the community. The term "Townie" refers to the fact that they go back to the days of Teal Cove being a small town. Townie is a backhanded way of politely calling those kids country bumpkins or hicks and initially was used as a slur against those that attended the older Renier High School at the other end of town. The term has spread in recent years also refer to the kids at Teal Cove High who aren't preps or don't live in the Oak Hill Estate subdivision and aren't members at the River Oaks Country Club.

Marie and the seniors don't spend much time worrying about the Townies. They are too focused on the younger members of their own ranks. The first-year cheerleaders are her underlings and expected to follow strict rules. In short, if you want to move up, you have to do whatever Marie tells you or she'll have the other seniors make your life miserable. Freshmen cannot be on the squad and must spend a year on "Pep squad". At the end of the year, they can join the cheerleaders if they pass an audition.

Of course, simply making the team doesn't make you a full-fledged cheerleader. There is a long rite of passage to earning that privilege. The 1st year squad members (sophomores) and any juniors that didn't make it the first time around but passed the audition the second time are treated like privates in the military. They are not allowed to associate with the seniors, call themselves cheerleaders or have any association with the squad until going through the "initiation". This involves a hazing where the first year girls are kidnapped from their house the Saturday before cheer camp begins. They are taken from their beds in their pajamas, blindfolded and publicly humiliated all morning before the older girls take them to breakfast. At that point, they are full members. This tradition began a few years ago in good fun but has gotten nastier with each passing year. Marie plans to show the new girls no mercy.

Once through the initiation, the new members are expected to hang out with all the right people, shun those who aren't socially acceptable and do whatever Marie or the other seniors on the squad tell them. Failure to do so can result in a rather unpleasant school year that is filled with bullying. Eventually, those that "don't get it" either shape up or drop out. Since there are so much pressure and prestige in being on the squad, very few girls drop out. It's just too important to most of them. The Teal Cove cheerleaders have quite the reputation with the rest of the student body and those from rival high schools from surrounding towns, particularly the students at Renier High. Their coach, Karen North, turns a blind eye to all of this.

Marie's creed is simple: "Life is cheerleading and cheerleading is life." There is no room for anything else in the squad members' lives besides passing the rest of their classes in school and maybe a little bit of family time between studying and cheerleading.