cw: abandonment
Kerensa " Keren " Grace McCullough (20) is another one of Kelsey’s detractors, granted it’s more through association, given she’s one of Jade’s closest friends. While it didn’t exactly surprise her, given the absolute nightmare her friend endured growing up, Keren had tried to be a little more optimistic for Jade’s sake, and the disappointment was palpable once the shock of the incident had receded. She’s not a stranger to being let down herself - Keren’s parents were teenagers when they had her, and she subsequently grew up constantly waiting on a father who barely attended agreed visits and missed child support payments whenever possible. He was around enough briefly to conceive Keren’s younger sister - who’s in her first year of high school and greatly admires Haru for getting Florence Yang’s abusice ex to back off - but responsibility caused him to abscond again. This is arguably where her pessimistic streak stems from, but Keren’s tried her best to let go, as she wants her mom to feel proud for how much she did for her daughters, including facing lots of stigma and chiding from those around her, simply for putting faith in the wrong guy.
Unlike Tama, Keren - aka Crackhead 2 - is absolutely not someone you’d call timid. Although she isn’t particularly loud or outspoken, Keren carries herself with an aura of authority, and her quiet confidence is always present. Based on how people treated her mom, she’s good at dismissing opinions of no importance, but can be a little cagey: distrusting a teacher who offered her support for quite some time as she loathes the idea of being pitied or looked down on. She was always the sister more suspicious of social services and any outsiders to the family unit, partly as her mom grew up in foster homes and became estranged from her siblings due to the courts splitting them up for placements; leading to a fear in Keren that this would be considered for her family. This isn’t something she’s that open about with many people, only Crackhead 4 has the full picture of her past concerns and anxieties, as they’re adopted and subsequently know more about the system Keren feared so much herself; allowing comfort and understanding on a level she very much appreciates.
Seeing Jade with Ace is something that makes Keren incredibly happy though, and she’s also involved in artistry. Currently, she’s doing an apprenticeship in special effects based makeup and also regularly takes commissions for street art or personalised murals; using both spray paint and more traditional materials to get these works completed. Keren likes keeping herself busy and always has a book or podcast on the go, as well as a fascination with etymology that keeps her busy when she’s not with her friends. She’s more academic than her low effort approach to school implied, passing classes but sometimes scraping by when she didn’t have an interest, effort was never a guarantee. The one thing Keren wouldn’t allow is for anyone to blame her mom though: who worked two cleaning jobs to support the family and was often exhausted on an evening, in spite of trying to do ‘normal’ mom things with her daughters. Arguably she’s the route of Keren’s success, as she wants to make her proud in a way others will appreciate, as she’s very aware people will consider her achievements being ‘in spite of her background’ instead of crediting her mom for everything she’s done for her.
Coffee is her favourite thing - to drink or eat in cake - and her friends joke about how if caffeine were to be banned, Keren would rise up in rebellion to dismantle the powers that be herself. She doesn’t correct this assumption and arguably isn’t the sort of person to unferestimate when it comes to retribution [as someone who spread rumours about her once learned in the form of a terrifying passive aggressive confrontation]. Also never call her Karen without it being an honest mistake or you’ll have a while before she considers forgiveness.
Florence is credited to yours truly