What's in a Name?

Phyllis Hatzilakos

Phyllis Hatzilakos- Greek-American ancestry; A close friend of McKenzie Tanner's, Phyllis is often viewed as a clever and intelligent, if shrewd, person with an empathetic streak towards her fellow classmates. Straitlaced and sometimes smug and obtrusively virtuous, she is often nicer than McKenzie and is viewed as being kind, feminine, and liberal in nature. She often takes on advocacy roles for social causes and serves as a moral center to the otherwise flighty McKenzie. She is generally friendly and well-liked at her school and provides a voice of reason to her peers. She tries to be diplomatic and is normally the one who mediates conflict between McKenzie and Courtney, among others. She is very popular and influential, as most of her female peers have approached her at some point to get advice. She is similarly not afraid to confront others for being a bad friend or relationship partner and is willing to call people out when they anger her. Unlike her most frequent female companions, she is unwilling to let her beliefs be compromised by popularity. She usually does not care about what people think and tends to follow her heart as a mean source of guidance rather than the opinions of others. She parallels and resembles her female classmate Myra with their equally strong, opinionated personalities and defined sense of morality. Phyllis is much more likely to support social and humanitarian causes however, meanwhile Myra feels slightly more attuned to and connected to animal rights and environmental issues. Phyllis is very bright and politically aware, being both a feminist and strong advocate against racial and gender discrimination in the work environment. 

She can be quite savage, as she previously compared Kim Kardashian to a "hobbit" and once beat up her obnoxious classmate Daniel Pillar for making fun of breast cancer. She has started and joined many campaigns, groups, and debates over the years and until recently served as class president. As one of the top students in the school, she considers it her duty as class president to mentor and help tutor her peers. Phyllis is the most outspoken of her female classmates and passionately supports breast cancer awareness after her mother's past diagnosis with the disease. She has big dreams and aspires to attend pharmacy school, and she hopes further cancer research is conducted to help people who have endured similar struggles to her mother's. She also identifies as "queer", refusing to put labels upon her sexuality, and supports the LGBTQ community. Her gender is something that she is beginning to consider, although she still feels comfortable using "she/her" pronouns. Phyllis is best described as a mature and intelligent person whose stubbornness and occasional jealousy sometimes get the best of her. Regardless of her usual openness and geniality, she is not immune to periodic bouts of envy towards other girls. She can appear self-contradictory and hypocritical when stressful circumstances cause her to reveal a much meaner streak. This in turn can cause her to appear blunter and more sharp-tongued once she succumbs to her quick temper. During these moments, it can then appear as though she has little control over what comes out of her mouth and can unintentionally offend people with her cruel words and actions. Many people claim that she is the type of person who can either be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on which side of her you choose. 

She is regularly seen as someone who will intentionally play devil's advocate to stir debate and test other people's arguments. Being more moral and grounded than her most frequent female counterparts however, Phyllis is always quick to apologize for her actions and fix any of her wrongdoings. She is described as having straight black hair that she often straightens into a sleek, shoulder-length style, cat-like amber eyes, and a light, creamy complexion, along with a thin, perfectly straight nose. She formerly had long dark hair, yet her cousins cut off a small amount of it as she slept as a "fun" prank during a family visit to Lake Forest, Illinois. She gave herself a pixie cut the next morning and handed the bag of hair to her cousins, allowing her hair to grow out since and donating it to charity. Phyllis is seen as pretty and ladylike, with a somewhat preppy fashion sense and bright amber eyes that appear to almost glow in the right lighting. She plays volleyball for the high school alongside McKenzie and is considered the most powerful spiker on the team. She is also a member of her school's badminton and lacrosse teams, in addition to participating in synchronized swimming competitions. She displays a talent for ice skating, being able to perform a figure-eight, salchow, triple lutz, and twirl endlessly while keeping balance. She has an artsy side to her personality as well, as she enjoys watching foreign movies with her friends and has created a few short films of her own. She once watched a beautifully profound Indie film with Courtney that moved her to tears, leading her to stay up all night researching the film's director in an attempt to determine whether he or she was married or available to fall madly in love with them. 

She is a surprisingly good singer, as she managed to impress her classmates once she and Vivian decided to sing "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls at a party. Her peers described it as legendary and insist that there are many people who would literally pay to have a recording of it. She is a rather poor cook however and decided to drop home economics in favor of wood shop once she started high school, which she was very happy about. She is currently dating Chris Sourelos, much to the surprise of everyone with their opposing personalities, since Chris is somewhat of a nerd meanwhile Phyllis is captain of the debate team and worships Marina and the Diamonds. The two are very much committed to one another, as Phyllis admits to still getting queasy from excitement whenever Chris tries to kiss her. Her boyfriend describes her as "the type of person who scares the hell out of people while simultaneously turning them on." They frequently go on outings to the Valley Stream Pond, which is considered the most romantic location in their town. Phyllis is nevertheless pressured by her well-to-do family, which consist of Princeton University graduates, to follow in their footsteps and continue the family legacy, yet secretly hopes to study biology at a smaller college in Vermont instead. Her family has encountered some financial struggles due to her father's loss of his job and recent struggles with unemployment, an occurrence she has kept secreted from everyone except Courtney and her long-term boyfriend Chris. She works as a hostess at Lo Scoglio, a local high-end Italian restaurant in South Valley Stream, for the time-being to help her family and make ends meet. ESFJ 1w2