THE PHYSICAL:

Hair: Straight. Dark blonde. Fairly thin. Long (middle of the back). Has bangs that are uneven (usually tries to cut them herself) and usually wears her hair loose at home—doesn’t care much for hairstyles. When at school, wears a soft cloth headband lined up over her ears.

Eyes: Average set. Average size. Medium brown. Downward-angled fairly thick eyebrows that give her a severe expression most of the time.

Nose: Small and turned up.

Mouth: Thin lips. Teeth are in good condition but a little crooked in the front, in a charming sort of way.

Skin: Lightly tanned and smooth.

Face: Sharp chin. High cheekbones. Pointed ears.

Age: By Book 5, 14 years old.

Height: A bit tall for her age.

Weight: Fairly underweight for her age.

Body: Long arms and legs, a little delicate-looking, just beginning to show signs of normal teenage maturation. Short fingernails. Right-handed.

Ethnicity: Has human parents of indeterminate light-skinned European lineage—she’s an American mutt.

Distinguishing features: Her pointed ears are the feature she gets the most attention for. Otherwise she looks like a vaguely pixie-ish regular human teenager.

Voice: Has a slightly high, cartoon-ish voice but it’s given seriousness by her thick New York City accent. Has a high, cackly laugh that can sound pretty evil.

Gestures: She rolls her eyes a LOT. Uses her hands for emphasis when stating passionate points. Tends to put her hands on her hips. Has a very mischievous smile.

Clothing and style: Not particularly interested in fashion, but tends to wear clothes that help her blend in—is a fan of jeans. Doesn’t like to accentuate her appearance and rarely wears jewelry.

THE PERSONAL:

General mood: Has a sort of insecurity about her that makes her constantly challenge others and take casual comments as attacks. Gets very excited and chatty when she’s with her friends, but doesn’t show this side of her to people at home—likes to be known as a sassy and tough kid.

Talents and abilities: Most obvious talent is her ability to disappear from any location and reappear in a new place—technically called teleportation, she refers to it as “jumping.” That ability goes along with a very intense sense of direction; she has an ability to feel direction and distance, which helps her figure out where to jump to. Has unusually good hearing. Mundanely, she has some technical skills that make her pretty good in some aspects of her math work in school, and she’s fairly creative and tends to be charismatic, attracting attention even when she doesn’t want it. She can swear and insult very creatively, and hold her own in a fist fight.

Weaknesses and shortcomings: Sometimes her suspiciousness toward others makes them think she is snobby (or bratty, if the person in question is much older than her). Very self-conscious. She’s a bad loser and a bad winner (likes to taunt the loser). Has a pride and selfishness about her, but some of that can be attributed to the usual “moody teenager” mode. Is impatient and easily embarrassed.

Interests: Quite shamelessly interested in boys and social events. Likes the usual distractions like music and movies, and learning about the world she’d worked so hard to remove herself from.

Pet peeves: Being alone if she’s in a social mood. Being teased by Ivy. When Ivy puts footprints on her ceiling.

Phobias: No phobias, but afraid of being discovered and rejected by people she’s opened up enough to care about.

Eating habits: Likes hot dogs, french fries, salty food, cheese, and chocolate.

Education: Middle school student, fairly good student.

Language abilities: Vocabulary’s not so good, but thinks quickly and that’s reflected in her speech. Speaks only English.

Occupation: Middle school student.

Political affiliation: Doesn’t really have much conception of the world outside her little bubble.

Religious beliefs: Largely ignorant. Probably if anyone talked to her about it, it would confuse her.

Sexual orientation: Slightly boy-crazy.

Marital status: Single, of course.

Family information: Bailey was left at an orphanage by someone, presumably her parents, when she was a baby. No one knows if her parents are alive or dead, but she has an official identity and a last name.

Friend information: Doesn’t have really a best friend, though one of her close friends is named Maria. Had a boyfriend in the third book who dumped her. Has another chance in Book 5 with a boy named Damon. And, of course, she’s really good friends with Ivy, and later Nina.

Other information: Bailey sometimes wishes she were completely normal, but she can’t deny that she also feels special because of her abilities and wouldn’t want to be like everyone else. She sort of likes having a secret, even though she also wishes no one would ever find it out. She worries about the future a lot and wonders if she’ll ever get to settle down and have a fairly normal lifestyle. When she first got adopted into the house, she liked wearing clothes that didn’t really fit her to remind her of her street roots. Keeps a poster of New York City’s skyline on her wall.

THE STORY:

Bailey was left at an orphanage as a baby and grew up feeling different from other kids, who teased her that she looked like an elf. She beat them up often. She always hid her teleportation powers while at the orphanage, and after a few false starts, decided she could take care of herself and ran away at age twelve.

After she’d been on the streets for the better part of a year, Ivy was sent by Adele and found her right where she was supposed to be: On a playground, in the rain. Ivy was “the first person who mattered,” and after ascertaining that they were not relatives, the two began to construct a sisterly relationship when Bailey moved into Ivy’s house.

Starting in Book 2, Ivy and Bailey spend lots of time playing pranks and trying to outdo each other. As a dig to her ego, at one point Ivy bets Bailey she can’t handle going to school, and when she tries it to save face she ends up actually liking it and being intrigued by being considered one of the girls. She makes some friends and suddenly the human world isn’t something she has to rise above.

She soon trusts some other girls with her secret, in Book 3. Things go haywire and she asks Ivy’s advice in how to put things right. After dealing with being avoided for a while, Bailey confronts her previous friends and wins a few of them back, and builds relationships with others. She’s fairly happy after a while, but always wondering at what point someone is a good enough friend to know about her.

At the end of Book 4, Ivy talks Bailey into joining Handprints, the group for people with extraordinary abilities trying to feel at ease in society. She doesn’t like the mission statement much, because she feels like they will try to make her feel guilty every time she’s not immediately honest about her differences, and later when an obsession of Ivy’s makes the group’s focus turn to helping other people, Bailey gets frustrated and wants out. At this point in the story she just wants to be a normal kid and worry about dances and schoolwork and boys.

FAVORITE BAILEY QUOTES:

“I just like the thunder booming and the lightning flashing, it makes things a helluva lot less boring.” –Book 1, chapter 18

“I’m just having a little fun. What else is there to do around here?” –Book 2, chapter 1

“I’m not little. I’m twelve years old.” --Book 2, chapter 4

“He’s lucky I didn’t drop him in another state.” –Book 2, chapter 9

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s bad to mess with telekinetic people when they’re asleep.” –Book 2, chapter 10

“They’re being shitty to me, and if I tell ’em right to their faces how shitty they are, they’ll have to accept me or admit that they’re shitty.” –Book 3, chapter 29

“‘Handprints’? What kinda goofy name is that?” –Book 4, chapter 43

“Sometimes I even lie to myself.” –Book 4, chapter 43

“And here’s to not being the next X-men, okay?” –Book 4, chapter 45

“Actually I do have a party, but I’ll just go when we’re finished discussing the fate of the world.” –Book 5, chapter 9

“Oh, I get to play superhero too?” –Book 5, chapter 9

“You get a wild hair and all of a sudden we shouldn’t have our lives anymore?” –Book 5, chapter 14

“Yeah, when I speak my mind it’s attitude. When you do it, it’s okay. I think this meeting of Hypocrites Anonymous is over.” –Book 5, chapter 14