Alora. A school full of teenagers of all sorts. Some are extremely rowdy, to which it seems their disrespectful nature knows no bounds. Some truly aren't troubled at all, their families judgement of their child's lifestyle is what got them placed in...
Name: Keighlynn Zhao Age: 16 Ethnicity: Chinese Sexuality: Unlabeled
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Background:
Her parents fled to America for 3 things. 1. So that their baby girl could have a good life. 2. To escape her mother's abusive family. 3. For a fresh start and a new identity.
These reasons may seem cliché, yes, but they are really the actual reasons as to why Keighlynn's parents came to America. Her father, Qiang Zhao, works in an office for a basic but powerful company. He loves his job. He loves his cubicle where he can hang up as many pictures of his wife and kids as he wants. He loves the free, perfectly brewed coffee made for the employees in the morning. Most of all? He loves how easily he can get lost in his piles of paperwork. The average American man would hate to work a 9-5 job where he'd have to spend hours filling out paperwork in a claustrophobic, grey cubicle.. but not Mr. Zhao.
Back in Kunming, he spent at least 11 hours each day (with only Sundays off) slaving away in a factory that his father also worked in. They both went in to the sweaty place to be able to provide money for Qiang's mother, so that she could go to town and buy ingredients for dinner every week, along with treats for her husband and son. The family wasn't living in luxury at all.. but they were getting by. Qiang's mother had him at the young age of 17. She met his father (who was 16 at the time) when she was 15 and they were in school together. Even though she had Qiang right after she graduated, she still got a job, and pursued an education while her lover stayed home caring for his son and teaching him responsibilities early on.
The couple, Li Mei Zhu and Bao Zhao, worked hard for Qiang to have a nice childhood. They were both very present in his life. As Qiang got older, he became more eager to help his mother and father. At the age of 16, he began working at the same factory as his father. One day while he was on a Sunday stroll, he noticed a girl at a vendor's stand trying to buy Xi'An pancakes. She didn't have enough money though. Qiang went to her, asking her how much they costed, and when she told him, he payed the rest of the price for her. She expressed her gratitude by offering a couple of her pancakes and he happily accepted them. From that day forward, they met (almost) every Sunday to eat street foods together.
Her name was Chu Hua Liu.
Chu Hua grew up in a noble family. She was the youngest of 4 sisters. Being the youngest, her sisters resented her for how much attention she got from their parents. Her older sisters were all one year apart from each other, but Chu Hua was the odd ball. She was born 5 years after the last of her 3 older sisters. When she was 12.. her mother left. She never knew why.. but after it happened, her father began to show a strong hatred for the little girl. Her sisters started treating her even worse than they already did. Since the family's social status was high, they put on a facade in front of everyone. They had to keep their perfect image. The father lied.. telling the public that his "wife" went overseas to care for her mother who was living in the United Kingdom to do duties for the royal family. That was a lie.
Chu Hua got pregnant with Keighlynn when she was 22. By that time, Qiang was 23 and the two had kept their relationship a secret from Li Mei's father.. up until the 3rd month of her pregnancy. Qiang's parents were supportive of the relationship and had no resentment toward Chu Hua because of her social status. She was a kind soul to them and treated their son well. After her father found out about the baby, he was not happy. He was already angry enough that his daughter was "friends" with a poor worker boy from the country.. but after he found out that not only was she dating Qiang butwas also baring his child.. it sent him over the edge. Qiang and Chu Hua spent a lot of time on the run after that. Qiang's parents assisted them in getting passports so that they could flee to America. Chu Hua sold some of her most expensive pieces of jewelry (that she snagged from her room before running away), and sold them for money so that she could buy plane tickets for her and Qiang. They fled to America with no money, and without the ability to speak one lick of English. They found a Buddhist temple with members that spoke Mandarin. The Lama (leader of the temple) allowed them to stay in the temple until they could get on their feet. They both found jobs and worked hard until they found an apartment. After moving in and finding a mattress and some other pieces of furniture, they started living comfortably. Not too soon after they settled into their place, Keighlynn was born. They chose that name for her because they didn't want her to deal with people questioning her about her ethnicity or culture in regards to her name. Keighlynn was a name that Chu Hua saw in a list of "American" names for girls in a magazine. They couldn't afford to make a nursery or even a crib for her.. so Qiang slept on the floor while Li Mei slept on the mattress with Keighlynn.
5 years had passed since they fled. Chu Hua was in modeling school after working hard to bring up her status, her being an immigrant and all. Qiang was in training to work for a large company. They had finally purchased their own house and permanently settled in. Keighlynn was in kindergarten and was a very sweet girl. Although she didn't learn things as fast as the other kids, she still tried her hardest to get good grades to make her parents proud. They lived in a predominantly white area in Maine. Keighlynn brought traditional foods from home.. the other kids weren't used to that. They'd look at her funnily and sit away from her at the table because her food smelled "weird". She got used to it after a few months.
1 year later, Chu Hua was a model, but was on maternity leave because she was pregnant with Keighlynn's brother, Matthew. Qiang was officially working for the company, but since he had just started, he had to earn his respect with the other employees (considering how even though he was fluent in English by that time, he still had a noticeable accent).
Now to the present. Keighlynn is currently 16 with her parents being 39 and 40, and her brother being 10. Her father decided that he wanted to move his parents to America so that they could meet Keighlynn officially and bond with her and her brother. After saving a lot 0f money, he flew back to his home town in China, helped his parents pack their important belongings, shipped their things to America, got them both passports, and brought them to America. They moved in with their son and his family and got comfortable very soon. Li Mei helped cook and clean around the house, while Bao did yard work and had started a garden in the back. It was a peaceful and loving home for everyone.
Keighlynn was bullied all throughout middle school. Her parents didn't know what to do besides showing her more affection than often. She was seen as the weird kid. Maybe it was because of her food.. maybe it was because she was always alone.. maybe it was because deep down, everyone knew she was on the brink of breaking down from the mental abuse that she faced daily, and that she was extremely close to a violent mental breakdown.
By the time middle school was over, she was very mentally ill. Of course she was still sweet and caring to others but internally, she was in shambles. She started self harming. She made violent drawings. She'd scream into her pillow at night while everyone was asleep. She was paranoid. She had anxiety. Because of all of these things, her parents thought it'd be best that they enrolled her in Alora, High School for the Troubled.
A/N!!!
Hi everyone, it's Marie! As I said in the description, this is my first story so please give me constructive but not mean criticism in the comments! I would love for y'all to help me out because tbh I'm hella scared after uploading this 😭🏃🏾♀️ but yeah just leave some pointers for me!!
P.S. // I have 4 more introductions to go, and after those, that's when I'm gonna start the actual story 😀👍🏾
