What's in a Name?

Micah Drury

Micah Drury- English/ Scotch-Irish ancestry; Micah Drury is an unpopular male student at the high school whom develops an attraction for Mia Vasquez-Rivera and is frequently ridiculed by his classmates due to his appearance. According to the student body, he is considered to be "bad friend stock", which causes him to be frequently avoided both in person and through social media. He went six months on Twitter without receiving a single follower request, which has led him to develop a multitude of mental health problems, most notably severe depression. He has since developed an unusual fascination with clowns, collecting several images related to them that he keeps within his bedroom, along with a lamp by his desk that according to his classmates "even looks sad". Micah has loving, supportive parents who seek out what is best for their only son, having a close relationship with his father, although he was born with abnormalities due to his mother's heavy drinking during her pregnancy with him, causing him to have fetal alcohol syndrome. As such, he suffers from a mild intellectual disability and is slightly older than his classmates, having been placed in remedial classes that will help cater to his special needs and repeating his freshman year. He enjoys playing trading card games in his spare time and shows a particular fascination with Yu-gi-oh and Pokémon, in addition to spending time playing video games and watching the anime Sword Art Online. He likes to imagine himself with a strong muscular body, leading him to cut out photos of bodybuilders and place his head on top in order to emulate them. Micah is considered one of the poorest kids at the school and is best friends with Ashley Simmons, whom refers to herself as the "Queen of the Sticks". He will rarely be seen without his gameboy console, which he carries everywhere and spends most of his summers with his uncle in Oregon. 

He is an individual with good intentions who desperately wants to fit in but struggles to do so, and he seems to not be fully aware of how this behavior affects people. He is forthcoming and not very subtle, as he is seen as having a voice that is too loud and a child's innocent stare, and his tendency to speak in non sequiturs often confuses his peers. As the family nerd, Micah is an avid fancier of Fortnite, manga, arm wrestling, NASCAR, dinosaurs, Legos, and Harry Potter, which are typical interests for a boy his age. He has brown eyes, a thin face and lips, and a pinched-in nose, as well as stringy long, blonde hair, which repels Mia when she notices his poor hygiene. He approaches her one day during art class however when he notices her creating a portrait of a girl dancing near a waterfall and is instantly smitten. While she is shy and apprehensive at first, she treats him with kindness and sympathizes with his struggles, particularly when he is transferred to her history class and decides to sit next to her. Micah and Mia bond over a shared love for western animation and joke about the melodramatic soap operas that their mother's watch, and she gradually realizes that he is a smart and funny person in his own way. This leads his feelings to intensify as a lonely Mia spends her school's eighth grade end of the year pool party by herself due to her best friend Hannah Quigley being sick at home that day. The student body quickly assumes that the two are dating due to Micah's persistence in trying to woo her and spending every second with her during the event, which brings Mia some discomfort. He often has angry outbursts at school and can potentially become violet, as he is temperamental and tends to lack self-control. Micah takes lithium in order to ease his symptoms and was once seen seated on the floor of the cafeteria shaking due to the negative side effects of his medication. 

He is loyal to the few people who accept him into their lives however and tends to be very considerate of those he cares about, whether it be a family member or a friend. He is interested in photography and admits that he is better at taking pictures of people than things, as his first subject is his best friend, who really likes the two serious shots he took of her. He is seen as very passionate, as he is the kind of guy who is "in love with love" and tends to devote himself instantaneously to those he pursues. Micah jumps into things headfirst and is easily swayed by fads, which can potentially make him susceptible to manipulation. He also gets along with and sometimes hangs out with other kids, but the rest of his social life has not been fully explored, and other kids can tease him depending on the circumstance. He later joins JROTC during his freshman year of high school under his father's encouragement, after which he comes to school with a buzz cut that Mia notices. He proceeds to provide Mia with a handwritten declaration of love at lunch that shocks her, as she doesn't reciprocate his feelings and turns to her older sister Mandy for advice. Although he is largely offended by Mia's refusal to pursue him romantically, which strains their connection, Mandy tells her that sometimes it is better to simply be honest with people in a polite, but firm way in order to avoid such misunderstandings. This leads to her avoiding Micah for the remainder of the school year until he approaches her one day in front of the school steps and makes a cold, offhand remark assuming that she "would have been popular by then". Mia's mother encourages her to see people for their inner beauty and helps her realize that even those we consider beneath us deserve to be treated with compassion. She begins to reconsider her actions and becomes aware of her own implicit biases, which makes her understand that even if she would never feel the same way about Micah, she could still offer to be his friend.