What's in a Name?

Paxton Chen

Paxton Chen- Taiwanese ancestry; Paxton Chen is a caring and mild-mannered boy whom develops a brief attraction to Hannah Quigley during her high school years. Like Hannah, he tends to have an altruistic streak and lives by the motto of wanting to "engoodify" the world through volunteer work in his community. He likes to read and often hangs out in the library, showing an interest in art coffee table books and nature magazines, although he will occasionally allow himself to indulge in the latest travel memoir as well. He will invest a little more energy in her appearance to attract someone he has feelings for, but always brings a spare set of "normal clothes" to change into before coming back home. Paxton's family tends to bond over good food, as he enjoys when his mother makes soup dumplings, although he dislikes it whenever she serves the family "stinky tofu".One of his favorite foods is zongzi, rice and other foods wrapped in bamboo leaves tied with string and he lactose-intolerant, meaning he has to take dairy pills before eating ice cream. His family adheres to Buddhist beliefs, although he has recently converted to Christianity and began attending a the Catholic church. He also speaks a little bit of Mandarin due to being taught by his mother at a young age, although he is not particularly fluent in the language. Much like the rest of his family, Paxton is passionate about ghost hunting, happily revealing it to Hannah when she asks if he believes in ghosts. It has been revealed that he has a sense of obligation to his family, as the reason they are ghost hunters to begin with is due to his father being terrified and traumatized by a specter as a boy, and to that end, he states nobody should live in fear like his dad had, thus leading to him and his sister happily going along with their "ghosts are evil" upbringing. 

He tends to be much more forgiving and open-minded than the rest of his family however and shows a side to himself that is very understanding. He is also a loyal person and has proven to be very protective of his autistic younger sister Nolee, who serves as the technical support in his family's adventures. Paxton is oftentimes more tenderhearted than many of his male counterparts and was generally well-behaved and disciplined as a young boy. As the only child of a mother who is a cardiac care nurse and a father who is a freelance graphic artist, he developed a sense of loneliness throughout his early years due to his lack of companionship. He often resorted to his imagination from a young age and inherited his father's penchant for engaging in wild flights of fantasy. He frequently immersed himself into the stories of his favorite cartoon shows while scheming plotlines for original character creations of his own. Paxton saw his mother as a reliable disciplinarian who held people accountable for their actions and sought what was best for others. He felt annoyed by his father's propensity to be easily manipulated and let his personal interests blind him from reality. He nevertheless shares his father's imaginative tendencies and inherited his compassion and sense of genuine empathy from him. His favorite animated series include classics like Tom and Jerry and more current ones such as Gravity Falls in and Adventure Time. Paxton is considered one of the youngest members of an after school board gamers club that he participates alongside a group of upperclassmen. He also plays on the baseball team in his free time and shows surprising athletic skills when manages to help the team win a game. 

Although his parents generally look out for his well-being and happiness, Paxton's grandfather often lacks patience with him, dismissively pointing out his flaws when his own insecurities and failing career are brought into the spotlight. He first meets Hannah at a Kissing Booth that was sponsored locally by a classmate and mutual friend named Gretel Grant-Palermo. While the two chose to exchange numbers and promise to text shortly after exiting the social gathering, they fail to keep in touch with one another for several weeks as their study and work schedules keep them preoccupied, with Paxton working part time work as a math tutor. He feels pleasantly satisfied upon learning about her quirks and slightly nerdy tendencies, as well as her desire for a similar line of work to his as she considered the possibility of pursuing a master's in school counseling. This led to sparks flying as they engaged in a meaningful conversation one evening just as Hannah was proceeding to leave early with her best friend Mia Vasquez-Rivera. They gradually begin to get to know each other by spending quality time together after going on a few casual dates, although Hannah clarified that she was not interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him. Paxton remains supportive of Hannah however, even as she opts for a different career path and decides to attend art school to study graphic design, and they remain friends from a distance. He also accepts her past upon becoming aware of her turbulent relationship with an ex-boyfriend named Eli Fonseca, which culminated in an unexpected pregnancy. The fact that he is so straightforward has caused many situations to become awkward and discomforting for others, as he is an easily influenced person with a powerful sex drive and minimal social skills. 

He is very considerate however and tends to give most people the benefit of the doubt, having a positive opinion on them until proven otherwise. Paxton is sometimes honest to a fault, as he is the only one who outright stated that he didn't like turnips while the rest of her family pretended to be grateful to receive them as a "welcome to Valley Stream" gift. He also has a sense of mischief on par with his sister's, as he occasionally joins in on her pranks, though it seems to be more-so out of naivety than rebellion on account that she saves her malicious side for ghost hunting and is quieter when he is at school. He can be literal-minded and takes a while to piece together changes in social dynamics in both humans and ghosts, yet has good intentions. He is generally a B average student, although he tends to excel in his mathematics courses and is one of the few students in his grade level to be enrolled in Calculus. Paxton has an irrational fear of spiders that first surfaced when he was 6 years old and also has an aversion to eating red meat due to his moral beliefs. He aspires to become a dietician and was one of the kids involved with helping sneak in a duckling that they found on their way to class at his old school, having not wanted for it to stay outside alone. He was born in upstate New York and used to travel all across the country with his family, having been to Biltmore, North Carolina and the Pine Barrens in New Jersey, as well as Salem, Massachusetts, a lighthouse in Florida, the sight of the Chicago fire, and a haunted mansion in New Orleans. He also hoped to help establish a summer theatre show camp for kids as well, combined with an original finale and an ice cream social to draw in the crowds. 

Paxton is a slender boy of Asian descent who stands at 5 ft 8 in tall and has floppy dark brown hair that looks reddish in the sun, almond-shaped brown eyes, and a light, peachy complexion. He has a growth spurt between 10th and 11th grade and develops more of an average build, and he is often recognized for having a dimple on his left cheek when he smiles. According to his peers, he has smooth skin and has never had a true pimple in his life, despite the processed food he sometimes eats. He also has a subconscious habit of flipping his hair back that some of the young women he has  encountered tend to find attractive. Paxton is currently close friends with Remy Washburn-Cummings, whom he has bonded with other their common interests alongside Scott Tucker, who is originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He does an internship at a nursing home under the supervision of a social worker, helping reunite an African American woman named Ladonna reunite with her long lost love. He organizes a bake sell at his school to raise money by selling cupcakes once a hospital visit momentarily leaves his family broke. He also likes to read books that are high above his grade level, such as A Song of Ice and Fire and listens to M83, in addition to being a fan of the movie Bill and Bob's Excellent Adventure. Paxton ultimately follows his true passions and studies marine biology at UC Davis instead, during which he meets a woman of partial Thai-American ancestry named Britney whom he settles down with. He decides to become a stay-at-home father to their son, a little boy named Darryl, for some time as she works as a doctor at a hospital. INFJ 2w1