The Perfectionists (or simply Perfectionists) is a nickname for the five girls - Mackenzie Wright, Ava Jalali, Caitlin Martell-Lewis, Parker Duval, and Julie Redding. The nickname was given to them by students, teachers, and the press.
Group Members
- Mackenzie Wright - A talented and shy musician with only a select few friends. She was used by Nolan Hotchkiss and since then, wanted to get her revenge... Her love life is strikingly complicated, due to her growing feelings for her best friend Blake. But Blake's relationship with Mackenzie's musical competition, Claire, makes her envious. Mackenzie strives for perfection, but when her secrets and past mistakes surface, they threaten to shatter her perfect world.
- Ava Jalali - A stunningly beautiful interracial young woman, Ava's good looks often got her through school even when her grades didn't. Before her mother died, Mrs. Jalali told Ava that she was smart and could do better than modeling gigs. After the death of her mother, Ava threw herself into her studies and started dating Nolan. When they broke up, his vicious retaliation was to spread a wicked rumor around school that almost ruined her.
- Caitlin Martell-Lewis - A star soccer athlete with her eye on a soccer scholarship, Caitlin is the adopted daughter of Sibyl and Mary-Ann. Her goal to become a soccer player and her strive for perfection makes her vulnerable to drugs, love, and pain.
- Julie Redding - The once-popular, friendly Queen Bee, Julie was friends with almost everyone -- except Nolan Hotchkiss. Originally viewed and believed to be the perfect girl with tons of friends and a fierce protectiveness over her friends, Julie's darkness eventually consumed her.
- Parker Duval - Heiring from a broken and abusive home, Parker was friends with Nolan before his murder. She strived to perfect and had every guy after her. She also had a level of sophistication and invincibility to her, even though her home life was in tatters. Parker was only a member of the perfectionists through Julie's delusions and hallucinations of her.
Allies
History
The four girls first met in Mr. Granger's film studies class at Beacon Heights High. The girls were assigned to a group project based on Agatha Christie's, "And Then There Were None". While the girls originally didn't seem to have anything in common, other than their mutual drive for perfection, they soon learned that they each hated Nolan Hotchkiss, the school's resident it-boy and bully.
They started talking about how they wanted him dead, how they would do it, and even planned to attack Nolan at one of his infamous parties that night. At Nolan's party, they worked together to drug him with OxyContin, and then each wrote incriminating words on his face in sharpie. They then took pictures of him and posted them online with a long description of what a horrible person Nolan was, exposing his worst traits. Later that night, Nolan was found dead and his death was ruled a homicide.
The girls banded together, each claiming not to have killed Nolan, with alibis to back up their claims. They joined forces to find Nolan's real killer, and before long, everyone they put on their "wouldn't mind dead" list began to die - all having been brutally murdered. The girls are put on the top of the police's suspect list and try to figure out who is behind Nolan's death. They each uncover incriminating evidence against several of their students, love interests, and teachers. When people continue to die, the girls each begin to think of where they were the night's people were murdered. It wasn't until Julie stated that she was with Parker that they figured out the truth.
After Parker had been brutally attacked by her father, she didn't survive with scars and become a social outcast. She was actually murdered by her father and Julie was so racked with guilt that she assumed Parker's personality, and became Parker. While Julie was "Parker" she murdered Nolan and everyone else on the girls' "wouldn't mind dead" lists. The remaining three perfectionists went to the police with their theories and Julie was quickly arrested with murder. Soon after, Julie was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder and placed in a mental institution.
Months later, Julie escaped the institution and ran away to a different city. The remaining perfectionists presumably stayed friends and finished out their last year at Beacon Heights High, before moving on with their adult lives.
Quotes
With perfection comes pressure. Students here are some of the best in the country, and sometimes, they have to let off a little steam. What five girls don’t know, though, is that steam can scald just as badly as an open flame. - Excerpt from The Perfectionists |
I mean, that's where you're going with this, aren't you? Just because we rattled off some names doesn't mean we have any control over them dying or going missing or whatever. - Caitlin to The Perfectionists in The Good Girls |
You want to throw your life away for some stupid conversation we had? Like we're the first people ever who talk about people we want dead. -"The Perfectionists" |