Name: Ophelia Zambrano
Age: 26; 2/14/83
Occupation: Author/Columnist
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Raised: Ontario, CA
Education: BA in Creative Writing, minor in Journalism at CSUSD
Oritentation: Straight
Marital Status: Single
Personality: Ophelia definitely prefers blending in to standing out. She is soft-spoken and more of an observer, unless she is in what she calls 'journalist mode,' in which she asks more questions, is more aggressive, and a bit more charming. Because of a scandal of statutory rape in high school, she avoids discussing her past, even with people that are unaware. There is always a guard up, and she tends to be cautious even if she feels optimistic about something.
Having been an unplanned pregnancy, Ophelia's life began as a bit of a strain on an already broken relationship. Ophelia's Dad split before she was born, leaving her mother Annie to struggle to make ends meet. Jobs came and went for Annie, and when she was able to get help from her sister Crystal, she took night classes at a cosmetology school. Crystal watched Ophelia most days after school, and since Crystal had a daughter of her own, Natalie, she assumed they'd play together and would get along famously. It didn't happen. Natalie was much more of a Tom Boy and liked playing with boys much more than with her cousin. Ophelia was definitely a girly girl and getting her hands dirty wasn't her style. They learned to tolerate each other, but most times Ophelia found herself playing Barbies alone. Work began to pick up and more money began to come in when Ophelia was twelve, and she finally was able to stay home after school rather than at her aunt's.
Annie was never a permanent fixture in Ophelia's life, and she was much more a workaholic than Ophelia let on. Sex talks were left to teachers and friends at school, sometimes from her Aunt Crystal. Ophelia grew up fairly well, but when she went into high school she didn't have any idea what to do with the opposite sex until she was asked out freshman year. She had a close-knit group of friends that were considered popular, though she had one friend, a boy named Andy, that she was closest to from about fifth grade. When they were thirteen, Andy confessed to having a crush on Ophelia. Ophelia didn't feel the same and let him down as gently as he could, which created a brief strain on their friendship, but they went back to normal eventually. Every once in a while when Andy got a crush on some other girl or asked one out, Ophelia felt pangs of jealousy, but she never fessed up. For a while one of them was Ophelia's cousin Natalie, but she turned Andy down.
Three boyfriends came and went and as soon as she felt too pressured to have sex, she'd break up with them. Finally she had a more extended relationship with a boy Ryan, who was considered the heart throb of her grade. They were together for a year before she lost her virginity to him. Two years later, she caught him cheating on her with her cousin Natalie. It was spread throughout their school that Ryan had been bored sexually and that he found what he needed in Natalie.
Senior year, a new teacher named Wesley McCabe, who was 26 and very attractive took over for AP English. When Natalie and Ryan became an "item," she was caught crying in class, but he didn't approach her with it until after the rest of the students had cleared out. Since it was the last class of the day for Ophelia, they were able to have an extended discussion of what was troubling her. The discussion was carried on for days, and Ophelia ended up staying after school for a few weeks. A crush developed and she only really told Andy about it, and when he freaked out on her, she was stone silent and alienated him out of defensiveness. Mr. McCabe drove Ophelia home one day when it was raining and Ophelia had no car or ride, and they sat in the car for a while talking. When Ophelia kissed Mr. McCabe, he was caught off-guard. Ophelia was mortified once she wasn't kissed back, and she bolted from the car. While she fumbled for keys, Wes followed her to her door, and kissed her back. It went further once they went into the house, and though they were terrified of what might happen if they were found out, an affair began.
They were found out after three months, when another teacher walked in on them kissing a few hours after school had ended in May of Ophelia's senior year. Word spread like wildfire and despite the fact that she was 17 at the time, he was still arrested for and convicted of statutory rape. Once the trial begun, there were 14 student witnesses that came forward. Wesley was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Anyone who remembered Ophelia from their childhood associated her with the scandal for years after it happened. The trial was publicized and despite the efforts to keep Ophelia's identity a secret, the rumor persisted and her acceptance into UCLA was withdrawn. She was able to go to a community college, but there were plenty of people who felt it right to torment her. It faded away after a year and a half, but she kept walls up as well as her guard.
Once she got general education out of the way, she was accepted by San Diego State University, where Andy had been going for two years. They hadn't spoken much since before the affair, but they were able to find strength in their friendship again after a month or so. Having always been a writer of short stories, Ophelia was going for a degree in creative writing, and one day as an off-handed comment, it was suggested that she write a book about the scandal. It was written as her dissertation, which a favored professor passed along to an editor. After two years, it was published.
While she had been waiting on the book to become published, Ophelia had moved back to Los Angeles and was working as an editor's assistant at Los Angeles Times. She didn't have notoriety, so she didn't mind not writing with the exception of a few pieces here and there for the paper. When her book published she was brought into a spotlight, and she gained some credibility, and was approached for a position as a columnist for a teen girls' magazine. She accepted and managed to find some positive in a situation she had anticipated would put her in a negative light for the rest of her life.
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