Merissa Lovato- Mexican (mother); Italian (father); Merissa Lovato is a manipulative, sadistic, and sociopathic girl at Mia Vasquez-Rivera's high school who makes every attempt at spiting and ridiculing her. Selfish, narcissistic, and greedy, she is best described as a tomboyish girl who loves bangers and mash, serving as a bit of a "lad-ette" among her male counterparts and coming across as mischievous and cynical. The resident school bully, she is often described as having a very prickly personality and is known for being sassy, dark, grouchy, and sarcastic to those around her. She is defined by being jealous, usually irrationally so, insatiably mean to her peers, and needlessly rude to many people. Merissa currently lives with her mother, stepfather and older sisters, meanwhile her biological father Joel suffered a stroke several years ago and was placed in a rehabilitation facility. Her childhood best friend was Cade Zimmermann, a quiet boy whom participated in karate lessons with her and attended her same middle school. She is an adrenaline junkie whom enjoys keeping herself active, although she has a girlier side to her demeanor that shows in her desire to become a model. She has a good singing voice and is skilled at playing the cello, in addition to supporting the Los Angeles Lakers and having a fascination with Teen Titans and Minecraft. Merissa sometimes shows authority and control among her classmates, often yelling at them after being peeved and even using physical force at times. Often defiant and ill-tempered, she is rebellious and filled with a lot of anger and hatred mostly as a result of her dysfunctional home life. She tends to be snarky, direct, and opinionated when around others and does not consider herself a people person. She can be incredibly sharp-tongued and frequently places her own desires, needs, and reputation above everything else in life.
Merissa can occasionally be outspoken and confrontational as well, as she will openly be vocal about her opinions and concerns about a subject matter or event she disapproves of. This includes calling out her math teacher for "wasting her time" with class assignments when she would have much rather spent time texting on her phone. Although she can be kind when she wants to be, she also has a slight envious streak and is known for her competitiveness and sometimes selfish and cynical attitude, which she uses as her personal shield and a defense mechanism. She is ultimately a lonely, sad, and broken soul whom after years of having been ostracized or hurt by others, simply tries to push them away first in her own fear of rejection and humiliation upon showing her more vulnerable side to others. Merissa is considered to be very attractive to the opposite sex and has several followers on Facebook and Instagram, and she mentions that she is a fan of the 90s and Logan Paul. She has also seen the anime Death Note and nearly all of Adam's Sandler's movies and is familiar with Super Smash Bros, and she considers her favorite candy to be Sour Patch kids. Despite this, among the most hurtful words Merissa ever received included a dismissive comment from a male classmate named Rick Dorado who remarked that he would "never have considered even being her friend due to how ugly she was". She previously experienced a bit of an awkward phase in her early high school years during which he poked fun of different aspects of her appearance while under the influence of marijuana as the two sat in his car during a date to a local Sonic in Valley Stream. Merissa also had a notorious habit of lacking boundaries when approached by boys after allowing Rick to touch her in uncomfortable ways on different occasions due to her own lack of self-esteem. She also decided to sext an older boy one summer in her desperation to keep his attention, despite her unease with the situation.
Underneath it all however, she is simply an insecure girl who is trying to figure out who she really is. Despite her sarcastic exterior, she suffers from self-doubt and tends to second-guess herself frequently, bringing her difficulty in appearing resolute or acting decisively in certain circumstances. Although she seems tough and scary at times, Merissa has been proven to only be very intimidating due to the negative aura she radiates, as she has shown herself to not be as strong as she appears to be upon breaking down emotionally and being found crying inside the girls' locker room by Mia Vasquez-Rivera over the circumstances of her home life in a rare vulnerable moment. Likewise, she has a very poor track record of actually following through with her threats and only voices them as a means of maintaining control over her circumstances. She can also be a covetous person, which is one of her motivating reasons for repeatedly antagonizing Mia in high school, as she yearns for a loving family and solid support network above anything else in the world. Envying Mia's closeness to her mother by contrast to her own dysfunctional relationship with her parents, she often took advantage of Mia's vulnerability and naivety and placed her in compromising positions as a means of destroying her reputation. Merissa most notably created false rumors alleging Mia had assaulted her best friend, a benignly deceitful adopted girl of Chinese descent named Karen Roberts with equally manipulative tendencies of her own. The two of them are frequently referred to as the "terrible two", with their problematic natures and penchants for creating drama and stirring conflict. She also envies Mia's writing talent and academic prowess, feeling embarrassed by her own struggles with her schoolwork with her placement in remedial algebra.
She needed to be tutored in her English courses by Mia, after the two of them were forced together by their teacher, but is capable of making a good analysis of the Beatles song Let it Be. Many of Merissa's classmates tend to dislike her, being repelled by Merissa's cunning ways and outwardly cruel, disingenuous nature. Although she tends to have masculine interests, including gaming and sports, she also cares significantly about her looks and appearance. She often practices judo and parkour, in addition to weightlifting and bodybuilding, to maintain a relatively athletic, toned physique. She is also affiliated with her high school's emo kids, with a preference for wearing dark clothing, most notably her signature black hoodie from Hot Topic. Merissa formerly had a love for death metal and screamo music and could periodically blare her music loudly to annoy others in an obnoxious way, yet she mainly listens to Thirty Seconds to Mars, Mayday Parade and The Maine. While she has a checkered past, she becomes a Christian and tries to establish a connection with Him, attending Community Bible Church with a neighbor. Her most prized possession is an expensive pen, which looks like green marble and writes smoothly and came with a little wire figure in a cap and gown, holding a diploma in one hand, and a beer stein in the other. She is an expert at candle making and frequently eats at Panda Express, where she orders the Chow Mein and orange chicken, although she is recognized as a regular at McDonald's. Despite her attempts at attracting boys, Merissa has been relatively unsuccessful in her pursuit of romance and experienced a series of short-lived relationships due to her unlikable personality. An unusually consistent aspect of her personality however is that despite her seeming cruel and abrasive in group situations, she is often much kinder to certain people when she interacts with them individually.
She can prove herself to be a nicer person and open her heart much more willingly once people have earned her trust or made her feel secure in a social setting, in addition to her having a bit of a soft spot for young kids. Her guarded demeanor and abrasive nature nonetheless causes her to have few close friends beyond Karen, as her own obstinate attitude and unwillingness to mature tends to drive people away. Merissa has black hair that is wavy and worn with a side fringe, light skin, and a long face with a prominent nose. She is known for generally having a sly, sinister smile and a condescending look upon her brown eyes, as well as a sardonic tone to her deep, rolling voice. She mostly spends time occasionally smoking marijuana with her some of the school's goth kids and stoners, much to her mother's concern. Her demeanor softens up somewhat once her parents opts to visit a marriage and family therapist to help resolve the issues within her household, leading her to moves in with her mother shortly after her parent's inevitable divorce to offer her assistance as she struggles with the disabling side effects of depression. Merissa eventually graduates high school alongside Mia and her classmates but doesn't attend college and instead winds up working a job as a crew member at Taco Bell, before deciding to apply for cosmetology school on the side. She also experiences some occasional run-ins with the law, as she is charged at one point with both possession of drug paraphernalia and a DUI. She gets a beer cooking book and attends a fundraiser for St. Jude's research hospital with a few high school friends, and she takes a trip to Myrtle Beach a couple of months later. She last encounters Mia when she tends to her table at the restaurant she works at, having been dining with her mother and some family friends to celebrate Mother's Day. ESTP 7w8
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What's in a Name?
AcakThese are the lives and stories of a series of young people and their experiences as they mature and evolve in the outskirts of Valley Stream, Long Island. Although each comes from a distinctive background and place in life, they learn about the fab...
