JESSICA EVELISSE MURTAGH

Height:5'6

Eyes:Dark Brown

Hair: Brown

Growing up the bilingual daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and an Irish father who could barely afford to pay the tuition for the Catholic school she attended, Jess endured her share of taunts and insults from her mostly white classmates. Her secondhand school uniform and Hispanic heritage often drove her to tears of frustration. As soon as she was old enough, she got a part time job and while most of her friends were taking money from their parents, Jess earned hers to pay for trendy clothes and shoes.

By the time she went on to a public high school, Jessica was the envy of every girl in the neighborhood. With stunning good looks, a bright smile, and a sharp (though at the time, hidden) intelligence, she was the model of popularity. A cheerleader and member of the dance team, her curvy athleticism assured she was never wanting for attention from boys.

Maybe because she understood them better, Jess was more sympathetic than many in her high school clique to the outsiders and unpopular students. Though acting aloof around him, Jess long harbored a secret attraction to Curt Hawk, drawn to his intensity and willingness to speak his mind. After Curt stood up to her then boyfriend, George Bradly, for making racial slurs about his girlfriend, Jess became more openly friendly with him. Eventually, they exchanged phone numbers.

In college, Jess went through the rude awakening of going from the most popular girl in school to a freshman nobody at the U of Minnesota. Not having anyone else to really talk to, her popular friends all having moved on, Jess began calling Curt regularly. They began a relationship, visiting each other on weekends until Jess actually moved to small town North Dakota where Curt was attending college.

Like most relationships, though, theirs didn’t last. Angered by Curt’s lack of direction, and frustrated by his liberal views, the last straw came when he quit school. Exchanging words, the two parted, though a lingering attraction remained.

After Curt’s suicide, Jess felt her once perfect life slipping even further into the mud. Blaming herself for having a hand in his tragic end, and truly believing that she could have saved him, she lives with guilt every day. Now, battling with a weight problem as well as a creeping depression, Jess struggles every day to keep an upbeat and positive attitude.

Friendly and outgoing, Jess is quick with a smile and a kind word. Though she has body image issues thanks to her fluctuating weight, Jess is proud of her heritage and faith. A political conservative, mostly due to her religious upbringing, Jess still has a soft spot for the underdog. She places a great deal of value on the physical and can come off a bit shallow at first. However, as her friends know, she is a loving person and a good friend. Despite an air of self absorption, Jess would do anything to help a friend.

Essential Strips