BRENTLEY, michael

[Michael Brentley]

( Michael James Brentley ! )

Image here, please do not stretch the board!

Name: Michael James Brentley
Nicknames: Mike
Age: 26
Date of Birth: Character's Birthday
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Played by: Matt Damon

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( You see I've got this american love ! )

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Height: 5’10”
Weight: 182
Physical Description: *Body Shape/Tone: Michael has always found time to keep himself in good shape. His upper body is well-built, but isn’t disgustingly overly muscular. He has an overall great body and keeps himself in the best condition he can manage. It’s a little strange, considering he is now a teacher, but his health and fitness is important to him and he’ll never miss a chance to play a game of pick-up at the nearest gym or basketball court and will visit a fitness center as often as possible when he’d not lifting weights and doing exercises in his own home.

*Overall Appearance:
General: Mike has an evenly proportioned physique. His light tan and build are what people notice first of his general physique and though he can be fairly modest about it, he knows he looks good and tries his best to keep it that way, but isn’t obsessive about it. He just enjoys the fact that he can wake up in the morning and look decent without much work.

Eyes: One look into his dark blue eyes can really stop you in your tracks. Michael definitely hides his emotions in his eyes, so if you pay attention, it isn't too difficult to read him. They are a good source for figuring out if he’s lying, mad, or depressed, but you’ll have to get to know him a bit before you can make such a distinction, of course

Hair: Nothing special, really. It’s short, black and nearly always combed through to a certain extent, though there are cases in which he might spike it up a bit or try more of a rugged look. It doesn’t really matter because he looks good with it. There were times in which he grew it out more and died it blond, but frankly, that just didn’t work for him.

Smile: By far one of his best features. His smile is the source for much of his attractive qualities. It’s sort of the icing on the cake, so to speak. It’s a great lure, but he doesn’t mean for it to be any sort of boost in his overall appearance.
Physical Flaws:
--small eyes (made smaller when smiling or laughing)
--ears are a bit large
--big forehead

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( A brand new black hole in the solar system ! )

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Likes:

Dislikes:

Overall Personality: There is a variety of different traits that make Mike an overall respectable, hard-working person, but far from dull and isolated. He loves talking to people, no matter what personality type they are or how they choose to present themselves. This is especially true in the classroom. He treats all of his students with the same respect, even if they choose not to pay attention in class or if they happen to be one of those annoying suck-ups. His motivation for teaching is derived from enjoying the variety of personalities he gets to speak with and endure every single day. Students like him because he’s young and tries to make himself appear more at their level, rather than condescending and unfair. He makes sure to put himself in their shoes a lot of the time and thinks in a way that’s fair to both him and the students that still benefits them educationally.

Michael is fairly extroverted and extremely friendly, but there are a lot of things that he finds rather annoying. He won’t tell anybody about them except for close friends because he hardly wants to go around offending anybody. Some of these things come from student behavior, but most of it, ironically, comes from the parents. They speak to him as if he’s a child, rather than a teacher. It’s not easy being a teacher at his age, he is well aware of that and it really bugs him how little respect he receives from the parents, despite the fact that they never seem to have complaints over his teaching methods. It’s always something miniscule that has little to do with him, such as the textbooks and curriculum. Nonetheless, he handles everything professionally and speaks to them respectfully without losing his head, even though he has come close in the past.

Yes, he’s a teacher, but who says teachers can’t have fun? He enjoys the nightlife and is a pretty good dancer, but he doesn’t overdo it. He’s nothing near a player, despite being able to have a bit of fun with a woman every once and a while, but it rarely leads to sex. He won’t let it. A past relationship has really forced him to realize that sex wasn’t something that should be casual and meaningless. It was so much better if it actually meant something to you and the person you’re with, otherwise, what’s the point? One night of worthless pleasure just didn’t sound appealing to him anymore. And yes, he did sleep around a slight bit in high school, but he had grown past that now. Despite that, he is still a lot of fun to be around and will never let an evening go dull.

Mike has a great sense of humor. He can always make someone laugh, even in the toughest of situations. He isn’t into sick humor, but his light-hearted jokes are still quite amusing. Sometimes it’s even the downfall of a joke that will make you laugh, simply because he makes sure you know that he knows it’s terrible.

One thing many don’t expect about Mike is that he has been known to lose his temper. He’s really sweet and sensitive most of the time, but when something happens that really pushes his nerve, he will throw a huge tantrum and it often scares the hell out of people because it’s so rare for him. Luckily, there isn’t a whole lot of things in this world that can truly make him lose it, but be sure to not provoke it in any way because his temper really is nasty when it lacks control.

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( I'll dig my grave but I just can't stand to step inside ! )

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Family: Just whatever part of their family that makes a difference in their life
Pets: Molly – female mutt
Boggart – Summer’s White Shepherd Cross
Home Town: Rochester, New York Where was your character born? Rochester, New York
Job: High School History Teacher
History: Michael grew up in a fairly sound home. His family wasn’t out of the ordinary in any bad way, but it definitely was a fun bunch of people. His family lived in Rochester, New York for much of his life. He shared the home with his two little sisters, Jennie and Tanisha. He was good at the role of older brother and was protective and caring of both of his sisters. He was always there to console them about their problems and it really helped them get through the tough times. Their mother had usually been the one to play the comforting role, but when she went back to work when the girls were old enough, she never really had enough time. Their father was a busy man as well, but didn’t hold the best job in the world. He was a construction worker while their mom worked as a car insurance agent. Fortunately, their parents were very smart financially and easily made it so that money was never a problem.

Mike was fairly popular in school, mostly due to his good looks, but also because of his great personality. He had a great amount of friends and no one ever really spoke badly about him because he was never rude to anybody. His mother had taught him good manners and he practiced them everyday, which was why all of his teachers simply adored him. When others were acting up, he was reading quietly at his desk or taking notes and doing work when he was supposed to be.

Late in junior high and through high school, he began being somewhat of a troublemaker. He found the wrong group of friends and he nearly tried drugs before his conscience kicked in and told him ‘no’. He had been in detention quite a bit until his junior year of high school, which is when his maturity started to set in and he took things more seriously. He had dated numerous girls throughout high school and slept with most of them, but after a while, he slowed it down. This was after he had met Jessica. She was an amazing girl with a similar personality. She played volleyball and had had a crush on him since their freshman year, but Michael had never suspected it. She was part of a different clique, if you will, so he didn’t talk to her a whole lot, but when he did, he realized he had feelings for her and she really was a great person to talk to and simply to be around.

After a while, they began dating and, of course, rumors started and several people talked shit about them, including their own friends. Mike didn’t seem to care. He had pushed her for sex at one time, but once she refused, all he could do was respect her wishes and every time she said ‘no’, he learned that you just didn’t need sex to have a good relationship and came to the realization that if it didn’t mean a whole lot to you, what did it matter? In the beginning, she didn’t mean enough to him for it to be truly special, but when it did happen, it was like his first time all over again.

Their relationship didn’t last past high school, unfortunately. It was a mutual breakup after they attended separate universities and had grown apart somewhat before then, but he thanked her for teaching him so much about life in general and he takes those lessons with him today. He has his priorities straight and treats each day as if it were his last.

Michael pursued a career in teaching, which is something he was very passionate about every since a young age, even though he never really shared it with anybody unless they asked him, but he lacked approval from others, though he didn’t really care. He worked hard in school and graduated near the top of his class. It’s interesting that he managed that despite his troubles during his first two years of high school, but he had secretly kept his studies a priority and would make up some other excuse for his friends as to why he couldn’t hang out, because he knew they’d make fun of him. He was extremely proud of his accomplishments, though. He attended the University of Southern California and earned his Masters in higher level education.

Michael's parents never seemed to be very supportive of his desire to pursue a teaching career. It was their dream for their son to become a doctor or do something more "prestigious", they would say. Clearly, he still didn't care and though it was hard without the support of his parents, he got through it. His parents are still a bit skeptical when it comes to Michael. They hadn't approved of his relationship in high school and always seemed to want more out of him. However, they seemed to be there when he really needed them for something, even if there was always that slight hint of condescending attitude towards him whenever he brought up his ambitions or school in general.

Mike had always been fond of the town of San Francisco for whatever reason, so his pursuit of a position as an English/History teacher began there. He was lucky to receive a job at Faith Academy, which had an amazing reputation in academia. He had been skeptical about his chances, due to his young age, but fortunately, they had been in dire need of a history teacher and hired him within a few weeks.

Michael taught at Faith for nearly a full school year. During this time he became rather fond of a student in his class, Summer Jackson. They often chatted after class and ended up getting to know a lot about one another as the months went by. In the meantime, Mike was subconsciously developing feelings for Summer and he eventually told her how he felt and it turns out that she miraculously felt the same. They dated for several months, but they had to keep it a secret for the academy had very strict rules set in place against teacher-student relationships. Unfortunately, they couldn’t hide it forever and were eventually caught and Michael was terminated from his teaching position at Faith.

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( Big hearts are for breaking ! )

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Name:Hayley
Age: 21
Experience: 8 years (at least)
Other Accounts: Michael Brentley, Cindy Melandez, Jerry Tylen, Trey Livingston
Role Play Sample:

Michael planned to have a discussion with Summer about finances at some point. He was just a little unsure of how to voice his concerns to her. He knew she could only be understanding, which is one of the things he absolutely loved about her, but he was a little worried about what she might tell him. It was entirely her choice to come and live with him, but what if she started to have second thoughts after visiting her parents for the first time since they moved in together? Right then he wanted to smack himself in the head for thinking such a thing. It simply wouldn’t be like her to do something like that and knowing how much she cared about him, he was sure she’d be offended if he actually believed that could be a possibility. It was hard knowing that his standard of living was nowhere near her parents’ and he wasn’t sure if that was at all important to her or not. They weren’t on a super tight budget or anything and Michael was excellent with handling finances, but having a stable in the backyard is something he knew he’d never be able to achieve.

When he stopped to think about it all, his concerns seemed rather foolish. Summer would have told him if she really had a problem living with him instead of in her parents’ huge estate, right? However, there was also the possibility that she hadn’t mentioned anything because she didn’t want to offend him or whatever else. He finally was able to shake away these thoughts as she responded about the hotel. He nodded and smiled towards her, now feeling quite a bit better about his choice in hotel. It was no comparison to her parents’ house, of course, but he was glad she wasn’t at all picky about where they stayed. The fact that money didn’t play much of a role in their relationship had to be a good thing. Summer seemed to trust him with most of the financial decisions and she certainly didn’t ask too much of him when it came to spending it. He was usually the one to take the initiative of buying her expensive gifts every once and a while, but she never requested them which made it all the more satisfying to see the look on her face when she received one of those gifts such as when he gave her a pair of diamond earrings for their anniversary.

Michael understood that there was a possibility he’d have to sleep on the couch at some point during their stay and he was completely fine with it. He knew there could be times in which Summer simply wasn’t comfortable sleeping in the same bed with any man no matter who he was. At first he was a little offended by the fact, thinking she didn’t trust him, but he had since then realized that that wasn’t the case at all. He would do anything she asked of him throughout the trial in an effort to make sure she was as comfortable as possible. There was a variety of things that could happen and he had to be prepared to handle them and be there for her no matter what.

It was extremely rare that Mike would ever get drunk. It hadn’t happened since he started dating Summer, but if it ever did he’d make sure to isolate himself and not come home until he was sober again. Michael wasn’t sure exactly what he was capable of doing when he was drunk, but he didn’t want to risk it around Summer. He would never be able to forgive himself if he was at all aggressive towards her or whatever else due to having impaired judgment with the help of alcohol. He wasn’t fully aware of Summer’s jealousy, but it was a natural thing in most relationships. Fortunately Michael hadn’t done anything stupid enough to make Summer question the way he acts around other women and the same went for the way Summer acted around other men. It had never really been an issue between them and he hoped that would continue to be the case.

After Maggie spoke, Michael looked over at Summer in time to hear her give a response. It seemed as though her mother was a bit impressed by his degree and if so that was definitely good news. Michael wasn’t sure what her parents thought of him at this point, but having higher degree had to help earn him a bit of respect, right? He was also glad her parents hadn’t chose to ask any further questions about his family. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with the subject just yet after what had occurred over the past few months and he wouldn’t really want to discuss his parents either way. He was a bit concerned about the day that their parents would meet. He decided they would either team up against Summer and his relationship or they wouldn’t get along at all. Michael wasn’t exactly looking forward to either scenario.

It was obvious that the subject of the trial would come up a lot during the next few days, but Michael hadn’t quite expected it to be brought up during dinner. He looked at Summer as she gave an answer and smiled towards her and gave a nod when she finished speaking. Michael glanced to Maggie when she agreed with her daughter’s comment, which was a little surprising, he had to admit. Perhaps her parents had some confidence in him after all. He really wanted to let them know how much he cared about Summer and how well she was treated when she was with him. It looked like he was making some progress in that area, which would help make things a bit easier in the coming weeks.

Michael wasn’t expecting Maggie’s next question. He hadn’t talked about Faith Academy for a while and he hardly wanted to revisit the subject, but right now he had little choice. He gave Summer a quick glance before thinking of a response, hoping the topic would end up being harmless rather than turning into a harsh interrogation. “Yes, it was. It was a good place to start, but I’m really happy with where I teach now,” he replied, hoping that Victor wouldn’t attempt to twist his words, but he knew it was a possibility no matter what he happened to say. He looked between her parents and then back at Summer as he waited for some type of response. He didn’t want to elaborate too much on the subject for fear that it would turn into a discussion that had most feared would take place while they were visiting.

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( Now there's no turning back ! )

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This template was made by boxing the STARS ! of Caution 2.0. Feel free to change colors and sizes but please do not steal! Lyrics are credited to the amazing band Jack's Mannequin. You shouldn't steal those, either. o:

[Craig Blackwood]

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