TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Carrie: Awakening

Go To

Carrie: Awakening is an unfinished 2013 fanfiction retelling of the Carrie franchise, with more Worldbuilding and Character Development as telekinetic outcast Carrie grows up and interacts with so many people who hate or fail to understand her for a mixture of good and bad (often the latter) reasons, as their destinies converge toward a fateful prom night. The story also contains many references to characters, locations, and organizations from other Stephen King novels.

The story has been on hiatus since 2015 and is probably dead.

The story can be found here, at fanfiction.net.

Tropes in the storynote :

  • Abhorrent Admirer: Unusually for the trope, Billy Preston is Vicky Hanscome's long-term date for social events and gatherings rather than someone she openly rejects, but she only dates him to please their friends Chris and Billy Nolan and finds his delinquent behavior, habit of petting her, and choice of romantic language disgusting. She almost skips prom rather than go as his date, but Chris and Tina talk her out of it.
  • Academic Athlete:
    • Erika Gogan is a good student (her dad is a college professor) and very sporty.
    • Heather reads a lot and was athletic enough to be a cheerleader before quitting when it hurt her grades.
  • Accent Relapse: Rhonda Simard has a Quebecois accent that only comes out when she is startled.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Brief bits of backstory from the book like Carrie being laughed at for praying in first grade and having a Celebrity Crush lambasted by Margaret are the subject of full chapters.
  • Adaptational Sympathy: The family backgrounds, school activities, friendships, and assorted perspectives of Carrie and her various bullies, such as Chris's Girl Posse of "Ultras," are used to humanize all of them at least a little (while still making it clear that none of what they did to Carrie was right).
  • Adrenaline Junkie: Alpha Bitch Chris likes fast cars (although, unlike her boyfriend, she does wear a seatbelt), fast horses, scary movies, breaking school rules, and sketchy boyfriends.
  • Affectionate Nickname:
    • Tina's father used to call her Tiny Tina, which her elementary school friends shortened to Teeny (although it was sometimes used tauntingly back then, like by Jessica) and still use in an endearing way.
    • The other Ultras occasionally call Vicky Red.
  • Alcoholic Parent: Billy is the son of an abusive drunk and a worn-down mother who stayed sober while his dad was around but fell off the wagon after he deserted them and left behind his debts.
  • All Girls Like Ponies: Chris and Donna bonded partially over Donna introducing Chris to horseback riding when they were younger.
  • Amicable Exes: Jeanne Gault's parents divorced without a fight and share custody without any tension.
  • Ascended Extra: Practically every student to get a name in the novel or any of the adaptations receives a good amount of backstory, characterization, or both, even girls whose previous appearances are limited to being called out during the gym class roll call.
  • All There in the Manual: Various details from many of the character bios at the end of most chapters are never brought up in the main story.
  • The Atoner:
    • Several girls involved in the shower bullying besides Sue also want to give Carrie a happy prom to make up for what they once did.
    • While Donna Kellogg urges the media to give Chris a more nuanced portrayal after the Black Prom tragedy, she also accepts that she and Chris have some responsibility for pushing Carrie to the point where she carried out the massacre and later becomes a social worker specializing in bullying victims.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: A lot of the Ultras became True Companions with Chris due to moments of loyalty and understanding she has shown them (defending Tina from bullying and being one of the few people to tell the Wilson twins apart and not treat them as The Dividual, etc.). Unfortunately, since Chris is the Big Bad and constantly terrorizes misfit students for fun or due to disproportionate grudges, this has a more negative effect than usual and leads to Chris having some unintentional The Corruptor moments.
  • Black and Nerdy: Rachel Spies is black, a good student without much luck in other parts of her life, and wears braces.
  • Blaming the Victim: Chris amped up her clique's bullying of Carrie because her best friend Donna Kellogg was expelled for hitting Carrie once, and tragically hangs onto this grudge even after Donna becomes a Reformed Bully at her new school.
  • Book Dumb: Rhonda is smart but does badly in her school courses.
  • Brilliant, but Lazy: Vicky Hanscome gets good math and science grades when she studies, but that isn't often, and her friends Chris, Lila, and Donna are equally uninterested in realizing their surprisingly high potential.
  • Bring Help Back: Vic Mooney goes to both get far away from Carrie and bring back emergency services for the victims of her rampage after slipping past her through the locker rooms.
  • Bros Before Hoes:
    • Discussed but regrettably left untested with Chris and Donna. Donna Kellogg (like most if not all of their friends) knows that Billy Nolan is an awful person who doesn't really love Chris and makes her bad qualities even worse, but Cannot Spit It Out to Chris because she is afraid voicing this opinion would ruin their friendship. According to the author, Chris respects Donna's opinion enough that she would have listened and maintained the friendship, but since it never happens, Chris stays with Billy and keeps going down darker paths.
    • Several of the girls spend more time with each other than their prom dates at the dance, such as when Jessica breaks away from her boyfriend for a while to talk to Vicky after seeing something (the sliminess of her date and confusion and fear about the odd signs Chris is up to something and left her Locked Out of the Loop) has her overwhelmed.
  • Bully Hunter:
    • Jeanie Gault usually stands up for Carrie (and occasionally Freddy Holt) when they get picked on by the other Ultras, rather than joining in.
    • Soapbox Sadie Myra Crewes often defends outcast students from bullying when it happens around her, but since she doesn't share many classes with Carrie, Carrie rarely benefits from this except when she loses a tooth in a hockey game (and then Myra is more focused on trying to calm her down and see if the tooth is salvable), and the Black Prom, when Myra turns on Emily Bourne for taunting Carrie over the prank.
    • While Katie O'Shea was one of Carrie's bullies in the shower incident, she stands up to those who laugh at Carrie over the bucket of blood.
  • The Cameo: An article by Julia Shumway from Under the Dome appears in a Scrapbook Story excerpt at the beginning of one chapter.
  • Camera Shy: Vicky hates being photographed, and doubts anything short of having her Cool Big Bro home will get her to smile for her graduation photo.
  • Caught on Tape: Freddy Holt and his date Holly Marshall keep filming the aftermath of the prank, such as how Tommy was hurt and who is laughing, mainly to have evidence to turn over to the police once they start investigating (although the subsequent massacre makes that a moot point) and then to record proof that telekinesis is real.
  • Class Princess: Sandra Stenfield isn't the head of the popular clique (and is occasionally bullied by its leader) but otherwise counts as a downplayed example. She is a cheerleader and gymnast who likes cute clothes and pink fake nails, hangs with the popular crowd, is nice to everyone, even Carrie, (but lacks the courage to defend bullying victims outright), and both claps for Carrie when she becomes prom queen and is horrified by the prank (and Carrie losing a tooth in an earlier bullying incident). She also tries to drag an injured Heather to safety during the Black Prom massacre and shields Heather from a falling light with her own body, leading to her Uncertain Doom fate before the hiatus.
  • Condescending Compassion: In a more sympathetic instance than usual, Norma doesn't personally like Carrie prior to the prom campaign but does feel sorry for her and once tried to help "socialize" Carrie when they were younger.
  • Cruel Cheerleader: Vicky and Jessica are both cheerleaders with prominent roles in their clique and a propensity for bullying (even their fellow cheerleader Sandra avoids them), although both gradually change for the better in the final act.
  • Cute and Psycho: "Psycho" is too strong a word, but Tina is a loving daughter and sister who collects dolls, loves poetry, and talks to her pet rabbit while also being a regular and unrepentant instigator of serious bullying.
  • Daddy's Girl: Helen Shyres loves her dad but argues with her mom a lot.
  • Damsel in Distress: Girls are put at higher risk of danger than guys during the early minutes of the prom massacres, leading to some efforts by a few boys to save them.
    • When Carrie uses her powers to squeeze a door shut while Cindy Yang is trapped in the middle, Cindy's date Trevor and his friend Dave (and her friend Katie) vainly try to pull Cindy out before she is crushed.
    • When Heather gets flung headfirst into a door, her date Don Farnham goes racing to try and help her, only to quickly be killed or knocked unconscious himself, while another girl, Sandra, ends up helping Heather.
    • Billy Delois pulls his date Monica Roux away from the collapsing bleachers after Carrie interferes with their attempts to use them to escape out the windows.
  • Dark and Troubled Past:
    • Tina Blake has a heart condition, was bullied for being small and sickly as a child (with Chris having been her friend back then, leading to Tina's Moral Myopia Undying Loyalty to her), is afraid of fire after nearly being burned in a house fire, and her mother was hurt in a car accident when she was young. However, all of this drives her to be one of the cattiest bullies, even without Chris being around (especially to those who remind her of her old self, like Carrie), to be like Chris and Never Be Hurt Again.
    • Vicky Hanscome lost her mother to a drunk driver and secretly blames her existence for her brother not being able to afford college, joining the military, and spending months at risk overseas before being transferred off the front lines.
  • Decomposite Character: Adaptation-specific characters who fill the same role as book characters but have different names (Heather/Helen, the Thibodeau/Wilson twins, etc.) are generally split into separate characters, with the Bit Character Thibodeaus from the book picking up some of the 1976 Wilson’s’ implied characterization as an ultimately nice pair of fraternal twins who only bully Carrie out of peer pressure. The Wilsons combine this trope with also being Composite Characters with the Watson twins from the 2013 film: having their general personalities and first names since Rhonda and Cora were the first names of separate book characters before being given to the Wilson girls in the 1976 film and leaving Nikki and Lizzi with their original last name would have been confusing in an adaptation featuring Norma Watson.
  • Dissonant Laughter:
    • Helen Shyres has a habit of breaking into inappropriate and uncontrollable laughter. In addition to her Black Prom reaction, she is also shaking with laughter even while seeming genuinely concerned about whether Carrie needs to go to the nurse's office after Vicky knocks out one of Carrie's teeth.
    • Erika and Heather find themselves briefly laughing more out of shock than anything else after the blood prank and Erika in particular feels a quick feeling of self-loathing about having done something like that twice in a row now after the shower incident to someone who (relative to how most people treat Carrie) she always got along with.
  • Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Vicky is slight of stature but athletic enough that her friendly hugs can leave people in pain and what she meant as a mean-spirited but light cheap shot in field hockey leaves Carrie with a missing tooth.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Heather has flunked her last two road tests in driver's ed.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Sandra Stenchfield, a Bit Character from the book, is Retconned into being named Sandra Stenfield, with Stenchfield being an unwanted leftover nickname from elementary school.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Billy Nolan may be the worst person in the story (albeit mainly in an Off Stage Villainy way), but still loves his mother (a feeling he also gives his car, but no other living people).
  • Every Scar Has a Story: Freida has a scar on her arm where a dog bit her: that she still likes dogs despite the showcase her kind nature.
  • Extracurricular Enthusiast: Norma Watson is into anti-bullying campaigns, student government, and volunteer work for various projects, using them as an outlet for her OCD.
  • Females Are More Innocent: Zigzagged. Most of the bullying is done or instigated by girls (aside from Danny Patrick, The Dreaded and Billy Nolan's gang, although they rarely single out Carrie before the prank except when Jackie Talbot convinces her the Crimson King is after her in fourth grade) but a lot of them change for the better, while few of the male bullies besides Billy Nolan ever get a P.O.V. scene and even fewer have their conduct at the prom described except in a negative sense, so they get less Adaptational Sympathy than the girls.
  • Fiery Redhead: Vicky has ginger hair, is competitive in sports, and is willing to hold grudges, although she is ultimately more introspective than a lot of her friends.
  • Flawless Token: Cindy Yang, the only explicitly Asian student, seems like a Nice Girl and is part of the bullying awareness movement Norma starts, the Jewish Frieda is practically an All-Loving Hero, and the Hispanic Fern Acosta, Black Rachel Spies and Erika Gogan (both of whom are hard workers and good students, with Erika showing bravery and a cool head during the Black Prom and Rachel being one of the few local kids to pass her driver's test the first try) have some lesser flaws but don’t belong to the Ultras clique and are either uninvolved with or quickly remorseful for the worst bullying incidents.
  • Give Geeks a Chance: The athletic George Dawson is a male example, as his girlfriend Frieda is studious, unfashionable, and often a bullying victim, but he is committed to their relationship. She reflects that without him by her side she would have been too scared of being bullied by Chris or Emily to go to prom and stayed home to watch TV.
  • Glomp: Vicky Hanscom likes to hug her friends, which is a problem since she is stronger than she realizes from the effort she puts into cheerleading and dance class.
  • Gossipy Hens: Rhonda is an impulsive gossip spreader who lacks the introspection to reflect if the gossip is likely true or will hurt anyone.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • Emily Bourne hates Sue (and possibly Carrie) partially for dating Tommy when she always wanted to.
    • Choir star Rhonda Simard dislikes Katie for getting some of the parts she wanted.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: Carrie is her usual kindhearted lifelong victim for most of the story but during the Black Prom she knows what she is doing and is acting in a cold rage rather than a trance or impulsive adrenaline rush, like in the movies, even though, unlike in the book, a large number of her victims explicitly never laughed at her during the prank (she also kills dozens of townspeople outside the gym, like in the book, according to flash forward moments and story notes). Her named classmates, in contrast, almost all contribute at least a little to her harsh and sad All of the Other Reindeer treatment and many of them go further by subjecting her to years of relentless and unjustified humiliation and sometimes even physical abuse, but, due to Adaptational Sympathy, most of them change for the better during or before the prom prank and even the few unrepentant ones like Chris, Billy Nolan, Lizzi, Tina, Rhonda, and Emily have at least a few friends and relatives who they are genuinely nice and caring toward.
  • High Heel Hurt:
    • Miss Desjardin mentally notes at the prom that her heels are starting to hurt.
    • Helen Shyres doesn't like wearing high heels even to prom because she once broke her leg trying to do a dance recital in high heels.
  • Hope Spot:
    • The opening scene shows Carrie winning the prom queen election fairly and, instead of pranking her and provoking a rampage, the Ultras who helped Chris and Billy in past versions sincerely apologize to Carrie for their past misdeeds before Carrie and Tommy leave the gym, happy, un-pranked, and unharmed. Then it turns out that was All Just a Dream and never happened in this version of the King multiverse as a traumatized Ms. Desjardin wakes up several days after the prom bloodbath and sadly reflects on how badly she wishes it had turned out that way instead of the harsh reality of going approximately the same as in past versions of the story.
    • Chris, Sue, and Tina are nice to Carrie when the girls meet for the first day in elementary school and Chris seems like a Bully Hunter the way she defends Tina from being taunted by Jessica. Then they laugh at Carrie saying a prayer in the cafeteria and she runs away from them crying. While Tina and Sue both seem guilty when called out for it by the teacher, Chris resents being called a bully and relations deteriorate from there.
  • Hypocritical Heartwarming: Of Freddy Holt's jock friends, George Dawson and Roy Evarts will sometimes tease him (unlike Tommy) but will defend him against anyone else's teasing.
  • I Want My Mommy!:
    • A flash-forward shows Chris thinking, "Daddy, help me" while trapped in her burning car.
    • Several kids at the prom, like Heather and Rhonda, desperately wish their parents were there as they scramble to try and survive.
  • Indifferent Beauty: Amanda McDermitt is a musician who doesn’t put much thought into her wardrobe, grooming her hair, or applying the right amount of makeup, but still attracts a lot of boys and is tolerated by the Ultras despite not being a member.
  • Jewish and Nerdy: Frieda is bookish, Jewish, overweight, and prefers comfortable clothes over stylish ones.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The author assumes that the readers will be familiar with at least one past version of the story and frequently discusses in the author's notes whether various characters with established fates will live or die like in canon.
  • Left Hanging: The story has been on hiatus for about a decade, dropping off right in the middle of the prom massacre with only a few characters (such as Chris, Tina, Joe Vreck, Freddy, Mr. Fromm, Henry, Teagan, and Rhonda) being unambiguously established as dying and a few more (like Sue, Norma, Ms. Desjardin, Erika, Maureen Cowan, Vic Mooney, Mr. McGovern, and Rachel Spies) established as living, either in that scene or earlier Scrapbook Story excerpts, authors notes, or flash-forwards, while many others are scrambling to survive and people like Jessica, Myra, Cindy Yang, Mr. Morton, George Chizmer, and Pat Tabor have been hurt in ways that make that struggle harder for them, and Sandra, Heather, Kenny, Don Farnham, Jen Petrie, and the Wilson twins may already be dead from their serious injuries but still have some chance of survival.
  • Let Me at Him!: Sue and Vicky have to hold back Chris from attacking a boy named Danny Patrick who shoves Tina to the floor during gym in elementary school.
  • Lonely Among People: Billy Nolan has a lot of cronies and girlfriends, but never lets himself get close to any of them: feeling that car engines can be understood and fixed when they break down, while people are overcomplicated and untrustworthy at best due to his troubled home life.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Jessica Upshaw is probably the most arrogant of the popular girls, but she lacks the malicious interest in seeking out and bullying Carrie that many of her friends have (although she sometimes mocked short, lower-class New England-accented Ultra Katie O'Shea in high school and the then-short and sickly Tina Blake in elementary school) and, despite her own outrage at not being elected prom queen herself, she does find herself feeling good for Carrie after seeing how happy she is and is shocked by the pig's blood prank. She also comforts Vicky over worrying about her friendship with Chris and implies that part of the reason she dislikes Chris is because of how the other girl manipulates her friends rather than out of simple rivalry.
  • Made of Iron: Maureen Cowan, Myra's best friend, somehow makes it out of the gymnasium on her own despite having experienced burns over 45% of her body and severe smoke inhalation to the point where she needs at least two years of physical therapy and skin grafts to live a normal life afterward.
  • Mum Looks Like a Sister: Heather McKenna's mother is treated like an honorary member of her daughter's Girl Posse whenever they come over.
  • My Sister Is Off-Limits: Billy avoids seducing Tina because her brother is a casual friend of his and would take it poorly, although he does sometimes consider doing so anyway For the Evulz.
  • Nerdy Bully: Emily Bourne is an Honor Roll student who wears glasses and speaks Japanese but is one of Carrie's crueler bullies despite not even being an actual Ultra (although she is friends with Chris due to their similar personalities and their dads both being local lawyers who respect each other), with Miss Desjardin even noting how she never would have guessed that from Emily's appearance.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: Frieda, Norma, and Myra starting up the earnest vote for Carrie amongst the regular student body (as opposed to the atoners like Sue who nominated her in the first place and the plotters like Chris) is meant as a nice gesture, but also makes it easier for the prank culprits to get Carrie into the stage, under the bucket of blood.
  • Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Sue is already feeling rotten for how the Ultras treat Carrie (especially after reading Carire's diary lets her know Carrie once looked up to her but now thinks she's a bully) after Vicky knocks out her tooth in gym. Hearing her mother call Sue and her friends "good girls" in a phone call emphasizes this guilt and feeling of unworthiness.
  • Odd Friendship: Some of the closer Ewen High friendships are among the odder ones.
    • Academic Athlete Erika Gogan (an occasional Peer-Pressured Bully at her worst who hates Chris and Vicky) is close friends with Beta Bitch Tina Blake, whose pediatrician was Erika's mother.
    • Fiery Redhead Penny Among Diamonds Vicky (who considers Chris her BFF) and aloof, upper-class Jessica (who barely tolerates Chris) get along well and Vicky is perhaps the only other Ultra to vote for Jessica instead of Carrie for prom queen (even most of the girls not in on the prank do so to be nice to Carrie) and console her over her loss.
    • Nerdy Bully Emily and Peer-Pressured Bully Indifferent Beauty piano and guitar player Amanda (who also have dramatically opposite opinions of and interactions with Alpha Bitch Chris and Beta Bitch Tina: each dislikes one but likes the other) are constant companions.
    • Spiritual Nice Girl and bullying victim Frieda Jason gets along well with Donna Kellog even during Donna's time as a judgmental bully to those who make bad first impressions on her. Frieda is also friends with Jeanie Gault, one of the few popular girls to avoid Chris, and stoic Soapbox Sadie Myra.
    • Rhonda Simard, who is at least initially unsympathetic after seeing Carrie humiliated at the prom, is one of the few Ultras who is nice to anti-bullying Extracurricular Enthusiast Norma.
  • One of the Boys: Jeanie Gault is pretty and popular but prefers hanging out with the boys to the girls (although this may be more to avoid Chris and her clique).
  • Oppose What You Suffered: Frieda Jason and Freddy Holt are among the kids nicest to Carrie, partially due to knowing what it's like to be bullied.
  • Peer-Pressured Bully: The majority of the Ultras bully Carrie due to being caught up in the crowd and/or occasionally emotionally manipulated by Chris rather than out of personal malice, with the author drawing a distinction between the regular instigators (and even most of them have their own moments of this trope in regards to more extreme acts of bullying than usual), the "joiners", and the few who stay out of it altogether with each character profile in the author's notes.
    • Heather McKenna and possibly Helen Shyres only pick on Carrie because they fear the others will turn on them if they goes against the group.
    • Katie O'Shea is sometimes picked on by other Ultras, doesn't follow them out of malice, and is crying as Ms. Desjardin chews out everyone involved in the shower bullying.
    • Downplayed with Vicky Hanscom, who holds her own grudge over Carrie wrongly calling her promiscuous in her diary and offering to pray for Vicky's dead mother (which Vicky mistook for an implication Mrs. Hanscom is in Hell), but the way she acts on those feelings has a lot to do with seeking Chris's approval and following her example. While she is absent during the shower bullying incident, Ms. Desjardin emphasizes how traumatic the incident was for Carrie and says that she feels certain Vicky would have joined in if she had been there based on her past conduct, words which leave Vicky visibly troubled. She is later uninvolved in pranking Carrie (voting against her for prom queen but being touched a bit by Carrie's joy at winning), is planning to apologize for her past behavior without Chris being around to make her think differently, and is horrified at the realization that her friends may be responsible for the prank.
    • After the Wilson twins, who are often portrayed as one of the worst bullies from the P.OV. of other characters, get their hands on Carrie's diary they eventually feel horrible for invading her privacy and ask Chris not to show their friends, only to falter and let the incident go on due to Lizzi being afraid of being rejected Chris and their combined intimidation making Nikki give in. Later, they take part in the prom prank and laugh at Carrie, but the way that Nikki and Lizzi ask Tina if the prank is still on at the dance and look guilty (or at least afraid) after Carrie spends a while wallowing in misery hints even they could be having second thoughts but are once again unwilling to defy Chris.
    • Holly Marshall, Erika Gogan, and Rachel Spies are usually polite to Carrie but will occasionally laugh at her and/or take part in things like the tampon-throwing incident (which they later regret) when everyone else around is doing so (they also find the bucket of blood prank horrifying rather than funny).
    • Amanda McDermitt finds Carrie weird, will often make fun of her, and doesn’t vote for Carrie to be prom queen when lots of the other more innocent bullies are trying to make amends. Still, she she has no real malice toward Carrie either, is yet another girl who only bullied Carrie while following the lead of her friends (and her only known close friends are Emily-who first befriended Amanda when they were three- and Tina, two of the worst bullies), and seems disgusted, horrified, and sympathetic after witnessing the prom prank even as Emily and Tina gleefully laugh.
    • Jessica is more of a snob than a bully, but will join in on the shower incident and other The Freelance Shame Squad moments instigated by others.
    • Downplayed with Sandra Stenfield and Lila Mary Grace Thibodeau. They are two of the kindest Ultras and are genuinely nice to Carrie when they encounter her on their own but, whenever their friends are around, they may not join in bullying her but rarely have the courage to stand up for her either.
    • Even Chris and Tina separately consider backing out of the prom prank due to Pragmatic Villainy fears of being caught, and, for Chris, disillusionment with Billy and his plan after she hears how he killed a pig to get the blood and he demands some Questionable Consent sex as payment, and she realizes that he will still pull the prank For the Evulz even if the vote-rigging fails and someone besides Carrie wins when Jessica is the only one of the other nominees Chris hates. However, Tina is afraid of losing Chris as a friend and Chris changes her mind due to being afraid of how everyone else in on the prank would know she chickened out (although her hatred for Carrie and refusal to let her win play an even bigger factor when those doubts come back again at the last minute).
  • Penny Among Diamonds: Most of the Ultras are affluent, but Vicky Hanscom comes from a family with money problems and is embarrassed about how she had to rely on her aunts, cousins, and a friend of her brother to get a good prom dress at a department store and style her hair and nails.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Tina often worries about going through with the prank on Carrie, but mainly because it could jeopardize her (and her friends) college and employment prospects and keep her from becoming an English teacher.
  • Related in the Adaptation: The Thibodeau twins are the cousins of Carter and his unseen brother from Under the Dome and rightly worry Carter is going down a bad path.
  • Shipper on Deck: Chris, Heather, and the other Ultras support Sue dating Tommy and tell her to stop dragging her feet about asking him at the start of that relationship.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: Cheerleader Sandra Stenfield and Shrinking Violet artist Holly Marshall are among the most bubbly and dainty (respectively) of the supporting girls and are among the people who like Carrie best at school, but are also among those most afraid to stand up for her for most of the story. But during the Black Prom, both show a particular amount of courage and resolve. Sandra is one of the first people to recognize that Carrie needs help after having blood dumped on her, as many of her classmates are too startled to react (or are enjoying the show) and later tries to drag Heather to safety rather than let her get trampled, and even shields her with her own body, while Holly crawls out of her safe hiding place and navigates various flying objects to get to her friend and date Freddy Holt and check him for signs of life (sadly, she doesn't find any).
  • Sins of Our Fathers: Nikki and Lizzi hate Carrie because her mother confronted and humiliated them and their family in public over an initially-one-off argument they got into Carrie with in class about their feminist beliefs versus her Fundamentalist ones.
  • Skewed Priorities:
    • When a fundraiser selling candy bars to promote anti-bullying and raise money for a trip does poorly, Danielle Thibodeau is more concerned about the trip than the sentiment, with Norma sadly noting that those who have never been bullied at Ewen can have empathy difficulties even when not real bullies themselves.
    • Downplayed with Heather. While horrified by the prank on Carrie (both because of its meanness and how her friendship with the obvious culprits could get her wrongly accused of being an accomplice), she feels slightly offended when she realizes Chris was the culprit and never trusted her enough to ask for help even if the answer would have probably been no.
  • Skipping School: Fern Acosta has cut three gym classes in the last semester, although she is honest about it when confronted by Ms. Desjardin, and since her third absence is the class where Carrie gets bullied in the shower and everyone present gets detention, getting caught being absent for that class works in Fern's favor.
  • Soapbox Sadie: Myra Crewes is into social and political issues, doesn't care much about clothes or makeup (but does have a chic style many of her classmates consider attractive), has some minor Bully Hunter tendencies and finds prom royalty antiquated enough to be offended at her own nomination (which she mainly got due to being in a steady relationship with a prom king nominee) but she does enthusiastically campaign for Carrie and encourage her supporters to vote for her after seeing how much it would mean for the other girl.
  • Spoiled Brat: Donna and Jessica have rich, loving parents who are nonetheless bad at disciplining bad behavior, although both grow out of it to varying degrees by their senior years of high school.
  • Stepford Smiler: Downplayed, but Freida Jason and Katie O'Shea are among the most constantly upbeat and friendly students, something that many people appreciate, but both are frequent bullying victims (and Katie will sometimes join in due to peer pressure) and not to an extent they can ignore.
  • Shrinking Violet: Her fashion sense and acne make Holly Marshall a bullying target who is withdrawn and quiet as a result, and she spends most of her time working on art or sewing.
  • The Stoic: Myra Crewes is a serious, conscientious, goal-oriented girl who works as a part-time tutor, and some of her classmates have never seen her smile. She has some Not So Stoic moments campaigning for Carrie, getting upset after the prank, and yelling for help after being hurt.
  • Token Religious Teammate: A few of the Ultras are explicitly religious.
    • The Thibodeau Twins are Catholic and implicitly view bothering Carrie over her beliefs as off-limits.
    • Donna is implied to be Jewish, as she attends a bat mitzvah for Frieda Jason and is hostile over how Carrie (parroting her mother) says people with beliefs contrary to Christianity go to Hell.
  • Trophy Child: In contrast to most of her friends, Chris has an unhappy home life with parents who view her as a status symbol, never set boundaries for her, and are generous but distant when she behaves and focused but harshly judgmental whenever she embarrasses them (which she sometimes does just for attention).
  • Twin Telepathy: Identical twin sisters Nikki and Lizzi often have long nonverbal conversations.
  • When You Coming Home, Dad?: Rhonda has issues with her dad, who is often gone for work, and Chris dislikes how how of her parents are focused on their careers.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Amanda McDermitt is afraid of blood, which may be why she is one of the people most horrified by the prank on Carrie right from the start.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy:
    • Jessica Upshaw, the only Ultra more popular than Chris, rarely deems it worth the effort to bully Carrie and spends more time viewing high school as a Mean Girls-esque story where she and Chris are passive-aggressively competing for the role of Alpha Bitch and act like friends rather than experience the chaos and inconvenience of an outright competition. When Carrie is voted prom queen as a prank, Jessica, the previous favorite, is Locked Out of the Loop about Chris and Carrie's feud but can tell it was a fix and initially thinks Chris helped Carrie win just to humiliate Jessica.
    • In addition to some genuine guilt, Heather is also one of the more reluctant bullies due to knowing Carrie's father owned a gun and that Carrie comes from the kind of background that can turn bullied kids into school shooters. Right idea, wrong weapon, given Carrie's telekinesis.
    • In the aftermath of the massacre, at least one pundit is convinced that Carrie is a Living Weapon created by The Shop as part of a Government Conspiracy rather than just a hereditary psychic.
  • You Are Fat: Norma, Fredia, and Helen often get teased for being slightly overweight.

Top