Ely Caldwell

- Played By Alice -

Nickname(s): Calvin, which was the fake last name he came up with for himself in the beginning of Junior year – when he was first admitted – so people wouldn’t associate his name with the Principal’s. As he came to explain afterwards, he did it just for cakes. One way or the other, he still insists on using game uniforms with ‘Calvin’ marked as his name on the back – he calls it his ‘court pseudonym’, though some coaches might dislike the idea. The guys also call him Cald, Cad, Cad-Bone and variations of that - all coming from his true last name.

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

Birthday: Oct 18th

Appearance: Ely's hair is dark brown and short, running somewhat in waves down to the middle of his ears and beginning of his nape. Although short, it’s quite thick, and he’s got a great deal of disoriented locks on his head, in particular this one heavy lock which falls to his forehead all the time, causing him to always be setting it messily up, or to the side. That one forelock is quite his appeal honestly, and people dig the wild hair look, so he’s been keeping the style for a few good years now. Everyone talks about his smile, which always brings him to say that it’s what good maternal genes do for you. He inherited his dark blue eyes from his father however, as well as his fairly high sized height - standing 6'2 tall - and physical structure in general, being the slender yet muscular kid he is from playing sports like swimming and basketball.

Within the jock circle, Ely is certainly the most laid back when it comes to dressing, being one out of few that aren’t labeled as preppies, though his vanity comes off in a different way. He likes his Calvin & Hobbes (the comic book characters) tees more than everything – which is from where he got his pseudonym idea – and occasionally can be seen with a button-up short-sleeved shirt and a wife beater underneath it. His jeans and shorts are loose, looking (and dating) from many, many years ago, and most of the time used with these old sandals his mother got him from Peru, and which his dad claims that look like priest sandals – that only makes him love them more, of course. Around Richmond High grounds, this whole athlete + wild hair + Latin-American sandals composition is pretty much pulled off by Ely and Ely alone – of course, he knows it, likes it, and believes he’s much superior over it.

He refuses to wear brand-new looking clothes, having never really appreciated shopping-mall-showered looking people, though nowadays he’s begun to forget all about that one political view, seeing as a great part of his friends ARE shopping-mall-showered looking. However it still brings a few disagreement moments to his life, this ‘in-versatility’ of his. For once, he was not allowed into the previous year’s Senior Prom until he conformed to putting real shoes and an actual shirt on, with long sleeves and no missing buttons. Most of this annoying insistence is just for show, evidently – of course he wouldn’t mind a new pair of pants every once in a while, if it weren’t for his need to affirm himself in the course of every two minutes.

 Ever since Ely has started his dealing business (read more further), he has actually been lenient enough to 'reward' himself with some new material things such as a new mobile phone, shoes, clothes and so on. To be honest, this side money has piled up to an ammount so undiscloseable that it has put him in a position where he could afford much more than just that - but that would only give things away to his family, and that he cannot risk.

Personality: For some it might be hard to believe, but Ely wasn’t always one of the most arrogant jocks one has ever stumbled across in Richmond High. When first moving to Ridgefield, there was a time when he just played basketball, and was just a nice down-to-earth kind of guy, friendly with just about anyone. Unfortunately, that must have lasted about four months at most, because four months were what took him to pick up the unspoken rules on how to actually be noted. Once he got them figured out, Ely climbed up the social steps admiringly fast, being cruel enough to desert old friends that by then weren’t deserving of his company anymore. Yes, reaching the in-circle definitely drove him over his head and taught the Principal’s only son how to be everything he is today.

For one thing, Ely takes this whole school hierarchy thing very seriously. In the presence of those socially below him, he feels he’s more than entitled to impose himself, either would it be in terms of having everyone listen to his loud speeches in the hallways, or in terms of bullying geeks, freaks and outcasts who seriously need a wake-up call. To those, Ely doesn’t manner his language, his cockiness or his cruel jokes. He wouldn’t hesitate on thrashing the scum either if he were pissed off by them, though he’d more likely have someone do the dirty work in his place, seeing as the Principal has one big eye on him.

Among his popular peers, Ely’s got an entirely different way to carry himself out. Perhaps not entirely different when it comes to the gals, because putting up a superior attitude can be quite a magnet to them and he wouldn’t oppose being surrounded by chicks, at least just for shows. However, within the guys circle, Ely is probably the closest you’ll get from his real self. He’s actually nice and loyal to them. He’s the outgoing, always widely grinning one – the one who’s constantly joking and that’s not afraid to lay down his antics in front of the whole school just for the laughter’s sake. Sure, he knows his limits, but that didn’t stop him from being thrown out of classrooms last year as a result of smart-mouthing too much.

Having grown up in group teams and feeling absolutely comfortable in them, Ely plays as many sports as he can fit into his schedule, being involved in several other school activities also, taking pride in everything he does really. Sports are the center of his life, though. It’s the foundation of all his status, and that’s enough a reason to push himself to his limits every time he’s out there. He has hopes of getting a scholarship to a couple of colleges for basketball, so he keeps his grades high as an extra incentive.

Ely admires and is continuously molding himself after all the wrong people. He finds that the well-behaved, the strong in character, the mature and well-balanced people have nothing to transmit to him that he hasn’t learned. On the other hand, football jerks, fabulous stuck-up queens and obnoxious riches leave out a subtle taste in the back of his mouth, something that makes him want to learn with them so he could become Jerk King one day. Perhaps it was about time Ely came up to the fact that this blind ambition of wanting to get closer to the top weakens him in more ways than he can imagine.

And talk about weak spots. Some casual comment he hears around about himself may seem like it went by unnoticed, but of course that the truth is different from that. He cares a lot about what other people think of him, especially if that people are his friends. The classic example would have to be the whole pot deal during Junior year, when it began circling around some footballer’s mouths that little Caldwell was perhaps exceeding himself on the pot smoking – it didn’t look nice for a player. It was visibly one exaggerated remark coming from some teammates who’d watched him get stoned at a party, but it made Ely swear to cut down the habit for the rest of his school life. That’s right – one could just assume Ely’s totally full of himself and has confidence pumping him up and down – frankly, it is what people get – but they would be surprised.

Ah, people would be surprised at many things. Many, many, deep entrenched curious facts about the Principal’s son life. Ely felt it coming when he was still a shortie pre-adolescent. He couldn’t get it just right, until he went out on a double date and realized he didn’t feel attracted to his date, but for his basketball pal sitting right in front of him. That wasn’t exactly a nice discovery from his point of view, and therefore he just dug into scoring more, running faster and shooting better in games. Having raging hormones prodding up and down one day put a stop somewhat to that denial situation, and Ely hit the streets to begin going to some clubs that he knew his friends would never attend. Sure he’d date girls, sure he’d make out, and he liked it to a certain extent. Until a Senior male back at Cleveland proved that bisexuality was not Ely’s case, not without wrecking his feelings in the process.

But coming to full terms about being gay isn’t really a priority in his life right now. He might even recognize that he is that… thing… that thing that he wished he wasn’t, but come out of the closet? Hell yeah. Talk about committing social suicide. He’d most likely be murdered by one of his coaches, or by his father, or by one of his homophobe friends. For now, he just prefers maintaining the status quo, thank you very much.

Family: It's been almost a year now since Ely's moved into his father's house, Vincent Caldwell (49), who’s Richmond High’s Principal for the eleventh consecutive year, and his stepmother's, Faye Taylor Caldwell (35), who is a first grade teacher at Richmond Elementary since her 28 years. Although Ely would always go to Ridgefield on his summer vacations and would enjoy spending the holidays at the town (see History), Ely finds it almost unbearable to now live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week along with Vincent. Since the divorce of his parents, his relationship with his dad’s become idiotically strained, given the fact that they stopped connecting in any level, even if it’s just to talk about orange juice. Ely insists on disagreeing with everything Vincent does and speaks, that being the result of one long and boring story of resentment on his part. Mr. Caldwell, to complete the picture, always comes off as an either too permissive or too harsh father, trying hard to learn his way around Ely’s over inflated ego.

Faye got pregnant in April and seems like one more on board into the Caldwell’s home won’t be tying up many loose bonds. Claudia, Ely's actual mother, passed away the previous year at the age of 48, two months after Ely started out his Junior year in Cleveland, Ohio. She taught Sociology at Westfield High, where he was enrolled at. When returning from a research trip to Peru, Claudia started showing off symptoms of a really severe flu, which she said not to mind. When school year began again though, she persisted on not taking care of herself, affirming that she didn’t have the time to think of anything but her students. It came to the fact that Claudia only realized she'd gotten pneumonia when the disease had advanced and she’d been forbidden to leave the hospital bed.

Strangely enough, it was not the pneumonia that killed her, but a hospital infection which was covered up by the doctors until the very last minute. The whole story is still quite masked and full of uncertainties, as to the point that no family member of Ely has ever considered throwing in a lawsuit against the hospital for not having enough evidence. The Caldwells seem to have been past it, which of course only gives Ely one more reason to resent his family, especially Vincent.

-Principal Vincent Caldwell- Ely's Dad (Bio)	-Faye Taylor-Caldwell- Ely's Step-Mother

-Claudia Caldwell- Ely's Mother (DEC)

History: Ely was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to the parents of Vincent and Claudia Caldwell on the fall morning of Oct 18th. Growing up in a fairly rich neighborhood, Ely's interest for group sports was soon developed and encouraged by his parents and grandparents, who spoiled their only grandchild to the point that he’d feel the most important kid on the city. He grew attached to all of them, especially to his father, since he had no brothers or cousins, and could easily stay home instead of going to play in the park with other kids his age just to be with him. Vincent had always been very found of baseball, and even though basketball had seemed way more appealing to Ely since the early days, his father’s cunning speech made him take a great interest in the sport, under the old man’s strong encouragement. Mr. Caldwell was the Westfield High Psychologist then, but he didn’t hesitate on becoming the baseball coach for the Little League at Ely's grade school when he was offered.

Throughout his childhood, Vincent went on making Ely’s head about every other little thing. He was obsessed about Mathematics, for example, and would always buy puzzles and logic games whether his son would ask for it or not. He strongly believed Ely should be the smartest in class, the fastest in the field and in the pool and the top in everything else, even though Ely’s mother wasn’t pleased with the excessive pushing. The kid on the other hand was too young to think for himself and followed on trying hard, not wanting to let Vincent down. And he became dad’s champ.

Eventually Claudia came to the conclusion that Vincent was an immature, self-absorbed reckless bastard, and eventually Vincent came to realize Claudia was too much like her own mother. For Ely’s sake, they tried marriage counseling and everything, but that turned out to be a huge mistake when all the dirt came out. From then on, staying married didn’t seem like a reasonable solution anymore.

When Ely was almost ten then, Vincent and Claudia divorced for good, and quickly after that Mr. Caldwell went living in Ridgefield. The kid felt betrayed to say the least, but later assumed it could only have been his fault. He didn't play baseball well enough, wasn't a good Math student, wasn’t top of tops. He’d failed the whole thing.

The divorce process was quite civilized, but Ely, even though no one could tell, was a bit revolted for quite a while. In a strange level of consciousness, he began studying harder and soon became the second best student in class. Also, at the baseball field, he went from center fielder to catcher, a very prized position by his team mates. He didn’t leave basketball behind though, and turned out to join the jock squad as soon as he learned how to spell ‘jock squad’ – needless to say that he loved being looked up at, and that the more he bullied, the popular he got.

When the divorce situation stabilized itself, he would go stay with Vincent for the summers and Thanksgiving holidays. His dad was then very focused on the path his career was taking, and didn't have all that time to spend with his son. So Ely would kill time with his newly made Ridgefield friends. He never told his dad off for the way he was now treating him, because it wouldn’t have been of his nature, but resentment did build within. It was like never having had a father, never having been someone’s champ and whatnot.

And then there was Faye. Again, it was like he just wasn't enough. He was there for the marriage, unwillingly, and as years went by, he would make up excuses to spend a few summers with his mother. Claudia had a coolness about herself that couldn’t ever change; hell, she had things that he’d never taken the time to acknowledge, and they grew close with time. She was independent, uncompetitive, trusting and admired as a Sociology High School teacher who'd just gotten her master's degree, and during a short time in his life he was influenced by her image, the one good image he ever admired for that matter.

After she died, Ely went spending a few weeks with his maternal grandparents before moving to Ridgefield, as he wasn’t bearing the loss he’d just suffered and couldn’t even begin thinking about moving into a different town. At the funeral Vincent had pointed out that Ely would be moving in with him, for he was still a minor. He didn’t come willingly and an already rotten bitterness towards that new father of his slowly turned into hatred, and hatred softened along the months into disdain. He was already familiar with a lot of kids from Ridgefield when he was first enrolled at Richmond High and it didn’t take long for him to get along with teachers and coaches.

And the more he got known, the more he’d treat down the Principal. Ely thought and still thinks of it as some sort of payback for all that the man’s got him through, testing his father quite often to check if he’s still in control of him. The provoking began with smart ass answers and an obnoxious demeanor around the house, then it broadened to the type of sport he chose to play – football. So happens that Ely’s grown listening to this big speech about how firmly Vincent believes that the violence on heavy-contact sports has become institutionalized and made a tremendous crack in the American sports culture and blah, blah blah… and that’s exactly why he went for it really, surprisingly taking an enormous like for the entire thing.

But he can’t stand sitting on the bench. He cannot bear being only the Kick Returner, even though it feels nice being the center of attention for a few seconds at every kickoff. He wants to take down that Jake Koosed dude and become Richmond Tiger’s newest Wide Receiver. He’s chosen a hardcore path to achieve that, which most likely won’t let him down. Or so he assumes.

Neighborhood: Kensington

Job: Ely doesn't even consider getting one, because he's always so busy with the school activities he takes part of. Quite frankly, it's not like he needs it.

Vehicle: He used to drive his mom's car at Cleveland even though he didn't have a license yet, and as Claudia died, he bequeathed her Ford Explorer, but Vincent quickly sold it, explaining to Ely they already had too many cars back in Ridgefield. That pissed Ely off a lot, for the car was as though his last connection with his deceased mother, but he didn't say anything out.

Best Friend(s): Ely radically shifted groups in Junior year when he earned an official jock title around campus, leaving behind those that just had to be dropped on the way. However, he did keep up the good friendship with some guys and girls he’d already gotten to know during his previous summers, and who definitely were still worth to be friends with, such as Bryce, Charlie, David, AJ, Trent, Alistar and Alyssa Noble. He does share a bond with Nick Saddler, as they would spend most summers practically glued together since Ely was 11, playing baseball with Nick’s dad, coach Saddler. Along his first school year in Ridgefield, he befriended interesting other people such as Chris Murray, who became one of his closest pals, Madison and Stacey, not to mention the boys from the sports teams like Danny Dixon, Kevin Marris and Corey Tucker. It’s a long list anyway, and Ely’s always adding someone else to it.

He does look up to Dixon a lot, and absorbs as much arrogance as he can from Derek Forseman. Whenever he can, he also observes mastermind Lara Moss and lets her ways sink deep into his mind, to see if he learns anything.

Dating Status: Single and disturbed by it. As expected, Ely doesn’t get on dates as frequently as his friends. Girls expect strong moves and he’s only willing to cooperate to a certain extent, which freaks him out – a lot. He knows people aren’t dumb, especially some gals, so in retrieve he does his best in flirting with them. They call him a big tease and let’s just say that Stephanie Bryant and the not being able to perform situation/utmost secret was not a good Senior year first experience.

Ely knows what Danny Dixon causes him sometimes, keeping the repression strong when those feelings threaten speaking too loud. That’s an issue he’s determined not to think about for the time being, or the time after that.

Social Status: Popular, hanging mostly with the guys from the basketball and football teams. His family isn't rich so to speak, but they've got a good house in Kensington, two cars in the garage and Claudia's life insurance safe in the bank, which was left to Ely. Not to mention they're about to afford another member into the family, Faye's baby.

Class Schedule:

1st Period- World Literature
2nd Period- Philosophy
3rd Period- Honors Geometry
Morning Break
4th Period- Spanish
5th Period- Astronomy
Lunch
6th Period- World History
7th Period- Phys. Ed.
8th Period- Study Hall

Activities:

- Clubs: Student Council (Secretary), Choir, Drama and Speech & Debate.
- Sports: Baseball, Bassketball, Soccer, Football, Swimming (Captain) and Snowboarding.

Other Information:

Likes: People cheering up for his team, lasagna, playing guitar every now and then, videogames, telling jokes, music that no one else likes, horses, Math and every Math related subject.

Dislikes: People that fuss over things, rats, seeing or talking about blood.

Quote: "The invention of basketball was not an accident. It was developed to meet a need. Those boys simply would not play 'Drop the Handkerchief'" --James Naismith, the man credited with inventing basketball.

Any extra-curricular non-school activity: It's been well established since the beginning of Senior year that Ely Caldwell has been doing some drug dealing on the side. His target market are his high school peers and underclassmen, and accordingly, his predominant drug of choice to sell is marijuana, although he has been known to fix some pills in the dark for a couple of 'special' customers. The few people that do know for a fact that he's the primary drug source in Richmond are close to him and tight with the information, but this sort of secret tends to slip. What Ely tends to organize to keep his name clean is to select a Courier, that is, somebody that will do the dirty job of trading the goodies for him.

Ely's fresh top-notch supply is not something he grows himself. His dealer, the original grower, is a student at NMU. Ely and her met whilst still at Richmond High, but it was only till this year that their partnership became official and very much business strict. She is as unsuspected to grow weed as they come, and thus the identity management gets very high maintenance at times. Caldwell has sworn his loyalty and has never dropped her name in a conversation. On the other hand, he has broken a couple of their other rules - such as consuming merchandise
and... keeping a sum of her share of the money. She is nothing but gullible though - things could get nasty very soon.