Bridgit has strong Bonham features – tapered eyes, an elfish nose, and a wide smile. In fact she fits in so well with her father’s side of the family that she could very well be an immediate descendant of her grandfather. Whenever the Bonhams visit Bridgit’s mother, however, she looks like the ugly duckling. Pretty much the only thing she has in common with the Wharton side is the honey-brown color of her hair. As the girls have aged, however, and dying has become fashionable, there’s little to connect her to her maternal lineage.

The bones of her body are delicate, bird-like and stand out against her sun-kissed skin. The structure of her face, though, remains hidden by baby fat which refuses to budge (and which Bridgit refuses to think of as teenage fat). It hides her cheekbones, blunts her chin. She’s caught somewhere between a round and heart-shaped face. She keeps her eyebrows in a wicked curve, plucking morning and night to do so. They help to define her eyes, one of her least favorite features. The upper lid is too large, too endless, and the lower almost nonexistent. It makes applying eyeliner very difficult. She uses her bangs to her advantage, to make her eyes seem bigger as they hide behind a sheath of blonde.

She caught off her hair at the start of the last hunger games, and it’s slowly grown out since. Bridgit is meticulous about maintaining the ends, cutting it herself weekly between professional stylings. For all her persnicketiness about her hair, Bridgit is fairly immune to the fashions dictated by the Capitol. Sure, she likes to look and dress a certain way, but it is her style, her flare that makes it important.

She usually chooses bright patterns in the summer, and layers of solid color in the winter. Of course she’ll throw in a rainbow scarf in December or her military boots in July, just to be spontaneous. Her clothes can tell you a lot about how Bridgit is feeling. If she’s having a particular syncopatic week, she’ll wear sturdier stuff, jackets with padding and thicker socks, even if it’s the middle of summer. If things are going smoothly, you might find her in a bikini in the snow.

Of course she is particularly fond of her family’s jewelry, even if some of the other District One denizens think it’s tacky. She has a few favorite pieces, ranging from globe earrings to an emerald-cut necklace, all crystals, of course. You’ll hardly ever see Bridgit without some Bonham adornment.

Bridgit is sunshine on a winter’s day. She meets life head-on, greets him as her kin. There’s nothing in the day-to-day world that scares her, except time itself.

You see, Bridgit is a girl whose moments have been stolen. It’s easier not fear the smack of someone’s hand, the distance between you and the ground, the calling of your name, if time is ever racing away from you, and each experience is precious, even the ones that wound. She was officially diagnosed with syncopy shortly before her fourteenth birthday, but it’s an incomplete diagnosis. Bridgit knows it, but she can’t seem to convince the doctors that there’s more going on than a simple fainting condition. Although she does faint. Feels the blackness drawing close, the numbness in her ears. And then she wakes up twisted and vulnerable. She’ll never be able to operate machinery (not that she would), or participate in extended physical activities, like running or track. The syncopy defines her.

Which is why she tries so hard to live her life to the fullest, when not being dragged to the ground by her own body. Bridgit spends her days singing and laughing, sewing and re-sewing her clothes into the perfect shape for her body, picking flowers in her family’s garden, climbing trees, getting into trouble and apologizing with freshly baked brownies. There is nothing she won’t try once.

The syncopy won’t kill her, but Bridgit won’t forgive those stolen moments. She wants to lick the clouds, hum with the bees, dive beneath waves. Her sense of adventure is a heady thing, and it has won and lost her friends. Who could compete with such passion, with such limitless energy? And she can be exhausting herself, always wanting to uncover a new sight, a new hobby.
She has very little patience for others’ bullshit, and has made an enemy of the more popular folks in District One. Not that she had much of a chance, as a Bonham, of doing otherwise. But Bridgit will tell it like it is, although quite possibly in the most polite way possible. She doesn’t want to steal anyone else’s moments, after all, and the gut wrench of guilt is as bad a thief as any.

There is a selfish quality about Bridgit, one that she can’t quite admit to herself. She frets constantly about the next episode, even if she won’t talk about it, to anyone. The doctor’s visits she hates become a source of conversation, a complaint, and if she isn’t careful, it turns into The Bridgit Show. She’s learning, or rather it’s dawning on her, that not everyone else always wants to tune in. This is maturity. And while it may take several more years for it to fully set in, Bridgit is well on her way to becoming a young lady.

Bridgit was born the last of three daughters to the Bonham Crystaliers. Her sisters, Bevin (19) and Becca (22) made her life relatively comfortable, even if Bridgit didn’t realize it at the time. They left her the best outfits, dealt with the worst bullies, and best of all, made a name for themselves independent of their embarrassing family.
And their family is truly a disappointment in the glory of District One. While other families fashion jewels from rubies and pink diamonds, the Bonhams create crystals, cheap plastic things that mimic and mock the spoils of the rich district. They are honest about their trade since Bridgit’s father took over. But her grandfather made quite a living off poor suckers in the Capitol, and was executed before Bridgit was born.

But the need for crystals, for a cheaper alternative, is ever greater. The family business was allowed to continue after a few years of disruption. They do an honest business, but it is still not a respectable business. Not in District One. Perhaps not anywhere. Certainly the Bonham girls have suffered, and it was a miracle their father ever married at all. The Wharton name has helped them some, given them a quiet refuge in which to retreat. But they are not a wealthy family by One’s standards, although infinitely more respected. Both Bevin and Becca relied on this good name to make it through school, and by the time Bridgit joined them, the teasing was almost tolerable.

You may not recognize Bridgit, if you knew her before the syncopy truly set in. As a child she embodied the youngest sibling – selfish, always looking for the limelight. She could throw a tantrum with the best of them. And she was exhausting, always on the go, constantly needing fresh entertainment. Her parents hardly knew what to do with her.

The first time she fainted, she was eight years old. They blamed it on the heat. When she fainted again two years later, they blamed it on lack of food. And when it happened over and over again the first year of teenagedom, they finally couldn’t ignore it. It was doctors, and tests, and a half dozen episodes before they declared syncopy the cause. And the solution? Time. Something she never had. Hideous socks that gripped her calves, encouraging blood flow. Pills that made her dizzy.

No, these were distractions. It took Bridgit a long time to realize that. The syncopy was better, smarter than the doctors, and she was better, smarter than to blunt the attacks. The quiet strength she gained as she neared the middle of her teenage years brought out a new person. A better one, who could see the bored look in her mother’s eyes when she complained about fainting at school. Who could see that her sisters had turned out alright, despite the stigma of the crystal business.

And finally she is growing into her own. That energy remains, ceaseless and pressing, a catalyst for all actions. But she is finally opening up her eyes to world, and realizing that she doesn’t want to navigate it alone any more. The faints can take her time, but they cannot take her passion, her love of life.

Let me know if anything needs changing ^^