History

Year One

During her time at GW High, Nina Patterson established herself as a forceful personality with a magnetic aura. People were drawn to her and intimidated by her in equal measure. During her freshman year, she cultivated a clique of peers who formed her immediate inner circle. These girls were Stephanie Prince, Giselle Coleman, and Erin Littleton.

As the year went on, Nina ended up embroiled in a series of controversies, many of her own making, resulting in the creation of Lakewood Eyes, a clandestine blackmail ring designed to extort prominent Lakewood residents for cash to protect sensitive information Nina got her hands on. Nina was aided in these efforts by former basketball star Tyler O’Neil, her on-again, off-again boyfriend; and up-and-coming basketball stars Jake Fitzgerald and Will Belmont, all of whom ended up comprising her clique as, for one reason or another, Nina’s original friends fell off.

Stephanie, Giselle, and Erin were gradually replaced by Brooke Maddox, daughter of Lakewood’s mayor and a social climber in her own right; Brooke’s best friend, transfer student Riley Marra; and Emma Duval, an unassuming girl-next-door type who found herself in Nina’s orbit thanks to her budding relationship with Will. By the end of the newcomers’ freshman year, football player Zach Henderson had found his way into the group, less because of a connection with Nina and more because of his friendship with Brooke, Jake, and Riley.

The Video

As one year turned to the next, Brooke continued to flex her muscles in the clique, wanting more and more to step out of Nina’s shadow and establish herself as a big deal in her own right. One of her attempts was Brooke’s Big Beautiful Bash: a house party ostensibly held to celebrate the Harvest Moon, despite its date, October 18th, being almost a month late. The party was disrupted, however, by fallout concerning Nina’s uploading of a video depicting Emma’s childhood best friend Audrey Jensen making out with her then-secret girlfriend Rachel Murray at the Wren Lake Overlook. Nina had recorded the video in front of the rest of the in-crowd the previous day and uploaded it the evening of the party. A furious Audrey, figuring Emma’s new friends were responsible, crashed the party, forcing Brooke to intervene before a fight could break out.¹

Emma was wracked with guilt and felt that Nina had betrayed her by going against her word and uploading the video,² though the others were quick to point out Nina had always done her own thing regardless of what any of them thought.³ Nina didn’t leave the party totally unscathed, however. Audrey’s friend Amanda Steele had followed her to bail her out of trouble and, when confronted by Nina and Tyler, insinuated Nina was being unfaithful with him. Tyler put two and two together and concluded Nina was cheating on him with Jake, overriding Nina’s outraged denials. The guys ended up fighting, derailing the party while Nina took off in the confusion.⁴

The drama continued simmering, even in the wake of the murders of Stacy Winters and Brock Carmichael, which occurred the same night and sent shockwaves through the school. Brooke, Jake, and (to a slightly lesser extent) Zach continued to believe there was nothing any of them could have done to stop Nina from uploading the video, though Riley was less sure, and was worried Emma was avoiding them because of their inaction. In the midst of this, Jake continued to bristle at any insinuation that Amanda’s allegations about him and Nina hooking up again were true.⁵

Emma finally had a chance to give Nina a piece of her mind, when Nina visited her during her shift at the Grindhouse. Emma told her off for uploading the video over her objections. Nina was unsympathetic.⁶

Members

Generation 2

After the events of Lakewood Year One, Nina’s close friends either ditched her, left town, or were otherwise dispatched. By the time of the Lakewood Slashings, Nina’s clique were comprised of a combination of Lakewood Eyes accomplices and other sophomores she’d ‘inherited’ by proximity with them.

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 1 ↩︎
2. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 2 ↩︎
3. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 7 ↩︎
4. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 4 ↩︎
5. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 21 ↩︎
6. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 29 ↩︎