Laughlin, Nevada is a relatively small city; there are just a little over eight thousand people who call this city their home. As far as reputations go, Laughlin doesn’t have a very bad one. It’s the second most popular gambling destination in the state, but doesn’t have the notoriety for glamour, glitz, and sin, like Las Vegas, the most popular. In addition to the eight thousand people who live there, there are constantly visitors surrounding the town, and since Laughlin is pretty family-friendly, visitors often bring their children. This was probably the part of Laughlin that six-year-old Isabelle Stratton loved the most. When Isabelle’s parents would take Isabelle and her two older siblings five-minutes up the road to the casinos, and into the arcades on the weekends (just one of the perks in living in a city that caters to children just as much as adults), there were also a surplus of children Isabelle’s age to play with. Then, they would have to leave their vacation a day or two later, and Isabelle would find a new kid to play with. And, since a portion of the Colorado River ran alongside Laughlin, on warmer days there was always a beach to go to. Isabelle loved Laughlin, and so she didn’t quite understand what was going on, when her parents told her that they were moving. Isabelle’s mother, Susan, had gotten a job in Bullhead City, Arizona, which was literally just over the bridge from Laughlin. Many people traveled daily from Laughlin to Bullhead City and back, and Isabelle couldn’t understand why her mother couldn’t do the same, too. But there was always so much traffic, and Susan always got extremely nervous in traffic, making it impossible for her to commute. Isabelle’s father, Jack, had a job in Laughlin, but he was perfectly fine with commuting daily. Bullhead City had many houses that were inexpensive. The problem was, the areas that they were located in weren’t very good. Jack wouldn’t have that for his family. Then, he remembered Oatman, Arizona. Oatman was a forty-minute drive from Laughlin, and he didn’t mind that. There was also a twenty-minute road that went through the mountains, connecting the town to Bullhead City. There was virtually no traffic, and Susan wouldn’t have a problem driving that. So it was settled, and Jack, Susan, Isabelle, and Isabelle’s two older siblings, Parker (age 10), and Ashley (age 7) packed up and headed to Oatman.

A mining town in the early 1800s, Oatman was a historical and pretty nice place to visit. Isabelle just wasn’t sure if it was a nice place to live. On the day that the Stratton family arrived, Jack and Susan let the kids go explore while the adults unpacked. Parker, Ashley, and Izzy, as her family called her, headed into town to check out the “tourist trap,” as Izzy had once heard someone call the town. Route 66 ran through the center of the town (in fact, it was the main street), and the whole place had an Old Western vibe to it. Actually, if you headed down Route 66, you’d be driving through the mountains with a breathtaking view below. The historic road would take you to some of the old gold mines, where you could take tours through them. But Izzy and her siblings didn’t care about the gold mines, they just wanted to see what was going on in their new town. It was pretty small, and the streets (minus the main road) weren’t paved, so unless they were walking on the “sidewalks” (covered wooden walkways on either side of the street that were in front of the stores), you were walking on desert sand. Burros freely roamed the streets, descendants of the burros that lived there when the small town was still a booming gold mining town. The burros slept in the nearby hills, and walked in to Oatman in the mornings and stayed there for the whole day, looking for food. Shopkeepers sold carrots and pellets to feed the burros. Right before sundown, the burros left the town, just as Izzy wished she could do. For a young girl who was used to living in the fun-filled city of Laughlin, this Western town just wasn’t going to cut it. The only thing that slightly impressed her was the Oatman Hotel, established in the early 1900s. You could walk through the old rooms that were no longer open for sale; there were the original beds, closets with a toilet and shower inside of them, and it was really laid-back. There was even a rumored ghost named Oatie, the remnants of a drunkard who passed out and died outside the hotel. Yes, the hotel was impressive, but Izzy still would have preferred any of the nine Laughlin hotels. On her very first day in the strange, new town, Izzy had already made up her mind and decided that she would not like this place.

For the next few years, Izzy's life was pretty ineventful. She soared through middle school and high school, and didn’t really have any mishaps. She grew up nicely and matured into a young lady, often turning boys’ heads, but Izzy didn’t pay much attention. During her freshman year of high school, her sister Ashley was a sophomore and had already been dating for a few months. When questioned, Izzy said that she’d rather concentrate on school, because boys would be there for awhile. Less than a month later, though, she got a boyfriend. His name was Jacob, and he’d been in her social circle since sixth grade. Until then, though, she hadn’t paid much attention. She’d fallen for Jacob, and by some miracle he’d fallen for Izzy, too. At the tender age of fourteen, Izzy picked up a guitar for the first time. It was Jacob's guitar, actually, and he had decided to instruct her on how to play an instrument. The girl fell in love with it, and saved up enough money to buy her own guitar, eventually getting better. By her sophomore year, Izzy was completely head over heels for Jacob. They were still together their junior year, and Izzy believed that everything was completely perfect. He would do basically anything to make her happy. On weekends, Jacob would drive Izzy back to Laughlin, because it was still her favorite place. He encouraged Izzy's musical tendencies, and told her that she should start up a band. She seriously considered this idea, and ended up passing out fliers. By the end of junior year, she managed to successfully get a band together. Izzy was nominated lead singer of the band, simply named Unconformity. The two were in love, and many thought they were great together. But for some reason, Izzy couldn’t bring herself to sleep with him. She hadn’t slept with anyone, and even though they’d been together for three years, something just seemed to stop her.

Izzy knew that Jacob was getting anxious, and that he wanted to “do it”, but she just didn’t feel ready. Two weeks before her graduation, Izzy decided that she was ready. She wanted to surprise Jacob, so she went in the bedroom she shared with her sister Ashley (who thankfully wasn’t home at the time), and locked the door. Izzy stripped down into her lingerie, and took a few pictures. She uploaded the photos to her computer, but decided that they weren’t risqué enough for the actual purpose for the photos. She stood back up and took her clothes off, taking pictures of her nude body in some compromising positions. Izzy wasn’t a slut by any means. She was just sixteen and in love, and she wanted to show her boyfriend a part of her he hadn’t exactly seen before. She also scrawled “I’m ready” on to a piece of paper, and applied some lipstick and gave the paper a kiss. She took a picture of the paper, and uploaded the rest of the photos to her computer. Then, she uploaded them to her personal Photobucket. She e-mailed the link of her Photobucket to Jacob, and then left her own house. She wanted to go to his house to surprise him, direct him to his e-mail, and watch as he opened it and let things go from there. She left her house and walked two streets over, where Jacob resided. She knocked, and he answered. He looked surprised to see her there. “I was just about to call and ask you over,” he started, and then proceeded to tell her that they needed to talk. He said he was sick of waiting, and he didn’t believe she’d ever be ready. Izzy was dumped by the boy she’d been in love with for three years because she hadn’t put out. Completely shocked, she forgot to tell him what she had just come there for. She walked home in tears, and fell asleep in her room. When she hopped on her computer later that night, she had several Instant Messages from her friends. They linked her to a website, where Jacob had posted her nudes. He probably didn’t check the time the e-mail was sent, and instead assumed that Izzy took them after he broke up with her, in some kind of whorish attempt to win him back. Izzy angrily e-mailed the webmaster, saying she was sixteen, and asked him to take it off, but she never received a response back. News in a small town spreads fast, and soon, word got out to her parents. They were extremely pissed, and told her that they would let her stay there until the end of the year, but afterwards, she was getting kicked out.

Izzy was extremely freaked out at the news that she was getting kicked out. She felt like she had absolutely nowhere to go. With only a week until the end of her junior year, she knew she had to get her ass into gear and get her affairs in order. The first thing she did was break the news to her band members; needless to say, the band broke up. Izzy had no plans for college (that was part of the reason her parents were kicking her out: they felt she should do something with her life, but she couldn’t see herself spending additional years in school that she deemed useless), so she really didn’t know what to do. Then, she remembered that her cousin lived in Rochester, New York. Sure, she hadn’t spoken to her cousin in years, but they were still family, so her cousin should be nice and let her stay there when she called to ask, right? Right. The day after school got out, Isabelle hopped on a plane with two suitcases, a carry-on, and the promise that her family would ship her the rest of her belongings. A few days after she moved in, Izzy went out to look for a job so that she could help pay with rent. She found a job at a bakery, and absolutely loathed it. Her cousin worked full time, so when she wasn’t at the bakery, Izzy was extremely lonely. She decided to get a pet tabby kitten, and she did, naming her Molly. Molly, however, didn’t fill the music-less void that was in Izzy’s life. Izzy decided to quit the job once school started, and reinvent herself. She promised herself she'd never compromise her morals for a boy, but furthermore, she resolutes that she's going to go to college and make a better life for herself.


·Her full name is Isabelle Harley Stratton. She was given her middle name in tribute to her grandmothers Harriet (maternal) and Lee (paternal).
·She'll respond to Isabelle, Izzy, or even Iz/Is.
·Upon moving into her New York City apartment, she bought a tabby kitten and named her Molly. She takes Molly on tour with her, because she would miss her baby too much if she wasn't there.
·Her favorite treat ever is red licorice, and she will go crazy with happiness if anyone ever gives her some.
+more coming soon!