The characters in The Beaumont Egalitarian Society are funny, sweet, arrogant, bitter, jealous, competitive, kind, and utterly unique in their personalities, so much so that it’s a wonder Beaumont Academy is still standing. It’s hard not to love them, though—or hate them.
AISLING O’CONNOR
“There’s truly no better invention than the camera.”
Age: 17
Nationality/ cultural background: Irish Australian
Hobbies: Photography, dancing
Dislikes: Reiji Youkai, pretentious snobs, favouritism
Budding photographer Aisling O’Connor wants nothing more than to complete her final two years of high school at St Mary’s Catholic College. Unfortunately, her perfect and popular older sister has disappeared, leaving her guilty conscience with no choice but to re-enrol in the prestigious Beaumont Academy.
Not blessed with her sister’s good looks and no longer friends with Simone Thompson, the school’s newest Queen Bee, Aisling quickly finds herself an outcast. Stubbornness, determination, and a competitive spirit are on her side, though, as she takes on the handsome yet arrogant Reiji Youkai and the BES.
REIJI YOUKAI
“Your pictures don’t capture their souls, who they are inside.”
Age: 17
Nationality/ cultural background: Japanese Australian
Hobbies: Photography, soccer
Dislikes: Team work, wasting time, his father
Reiji Youkai is tired of the nonsense at Beaumont Academy. He couldn’t care less about helping his peers, let alone what the BES is doing or what his father would like him to do. All he wants is to get on with his own goals and protect his twin brother, and no interfering redhead will stand in his way.
A master of photography and MVP of the school soccer team, Reiji has a long way to go when it comes to learning teamwork, but perhaps that is for the best with the dark secret he hides.
REN YOUKAI
“I pulled apart my father’s old radio, got in trouble, put it back together again. Same old, same old.”
Age: 17
Nationality/ cultural background: Japanese Australian
Hobbies: Inventing, pulling things apart and rebuilding them
Dislikes: Favouritism, hypocrisy, neanderthal classmates
Ren Youkai may have shared the womb with Reiji, but when it comes to personality, he is nothing like his brother. Kind, sweet, and always getting into trouble, there is nothing he wouldn’t do to help his friends… even if his actions may need better execution. Whilst he’s not opposed to taking a photograph or two, he prefers to get down to the nitty gritty of how things work; no laptop, phone, camera, or any other electronic device is safe at Beaumont Academy.
Whilst he’s almost never without a smile, there is one thing Ren would like above all else: winning his father’s approval. He commiserates with Aisling’s lack of Golden Child status, knowing the pain of never being truly good enough.
AUGUSTINA CÁCERES
“I hope you’re prepared for us to become great friends, Aisling.”
Age: 17
Nationality/ cultural background: Argentinian Australian
Hobbies: Creating makeup tutorials, cross stitching, collecting plush animals
Dislikes: School work, pretentious snobs, rejection
Augustina Cáceres is renowned at Beaumont Academy for not only being sweet, but for her ever-changing hair colours. Pink, blue, green, purple: the bolder the better. There’s no pastel she won’t try, even if it’ll only last a week or stain the furniture. Whilst she hopes to one day turn her make-up skills into a lucrative online career, filming in her dorm (let alone calling her abeula) can prove difficult. When it comes to cleaning up the litter of clothes, cosmetics, books, shoes, and plush animals covering the floor, she is a master of procrastination.
Unfortunately, not everyone can see Augustina’s value, and she often finds herself the target of her peers’ ridicule (including the torment of long-time jock crush, Lachlan). Plagued by strange habits and rituals, her OCD makes fitting in difficult—especially when she tries to hide it. When Aisling becomes her new dormmate for their senior years, Augustina’s life finally starts to look up at the prospect of making a true friend.
SIOBHAN O’CONNOR
“Find the BES…”
Age: 18
Nationality/ cultural background: Irish Australian
Hobbies: Dancing, parties, fashion, curling up with good books
Dislikes: Laziness, lack of ambition, embarrassing and annoying sisters
Siobhan O’Connor is loved by everyone: her peers and teachers adore her, and those who don’t want to be her. Graduating as Dux of Beaumont Academy and a one-way ticket to Australia’s best universities, Siobhan is the apple of her parents’ eyes. Even her younger sister wants to spend time with her, despite their constant bickering and Siobhan’s penchant for choosing horrible friends.
So why would anyone want to hurt her?
Missing for five months, even Siobhan’s stellar reputation can’t save her from police scrutiny. No one can explain where she went on the night of her graduation party, and now time is running out. Dismissed as a runaway, the theory is slightly more bearable than the other possibility: Siobhan has been murdered. Siobhan is clever enough to have left one clue behind, but what does finding the BES have to do with it?
MIRANDA CAMPBELL
“Entrust in me your deepest, darkest secret.”
Age: 18
Nationality/ cultural background: Japanese Australian
Hobbies: Filmmaking, drama club, making voodoo dolls of her enemies (unconfirmed)
Dislikes: Pretentious snobs, Principal Jameson, the BEST, hypocrisy, cancer
With beady black eyes, multiple piercings where piercings have no business being, and a bob that could cut you just by looking at it, Miranda Campbell certainly isn’t what you’d call friendly. Always surrounded by her tight-knit group of black-clad drama fiends and never without a condescending smirk, her return to Beaumont Academy has not been welcomed by the elite. Members of Principal Jameson’s BEST (BES Trackers) ought to be aware: they may have thought Siobhan and her crew were able to get rid of her, but she’s not leaving anytime soon.
Poor Aisling: whilst Miranda can see through each false smile, there’s no crime worse than being Siobhan’s sister, even if they’re nothing alike. As much as she hates hypocrisy, though, she would do anything to be with her own sister.
PRINCIPAL BENJAMIN JAMESON
“Be it known, any student caught sharing, distributing, or in possession of the so-called BES Bulletin will face immediate suspension.”
Age: 45
Nationality/ cultural background: British Australian
Hobbies: Golf, auctioning off antiques, marketing, telling war stories
Dislikes: The BES, entitled parents, empty pockets, work
Benjamin Jameson considers himself a reasonable man. After serving in the Australian Defence Force for over a decade, his early retirement didn’t quite come as soon as he’d hoped. The role of principal at a prestigious boarding school was the next best thing, and boy does he believe he has shaped up. Strict on discipline on wayward students, he gets along well with the top-tier students in sports and academics.
Ben enjoys his time golfing, filling his pockets with kindly parent donations for his hard work, and designing a new office space for when the school board finally agrees to forgo the covenant and let him remodel the ancient Beaumont cottage.
Life would be even more grand if the wretched group calling themselves ‘The BES’ would stop plaguing his school with defamatory pamphlets. A man of ingenuity, he is confident that his new task force, the BES Trackers, will solve this little problem once and for all.
NOVA JOHNSON
“I like to imagine I’m back in the 1800s whenever I walk around here.”
Age: 16
Nationality/ cultural background: Senegal Australian
Hobbies: History, Jane Beaumont, reading, solving mysteries
Dislikes: Bullying, hugs, eating alone
Nobody in Beaumont Academy can rival Nova’s enthusiasm for all things history, not even Ms Larson whose grandmother was a former pupil at the school. She is the biggest fan of the school’s founder, Lady Jane Beaumont, and her niece, Elizabeth, and isn’t afraid to show off her knowledge to anyone who will listen. She lives for the day a time machine is invented to allow her to live in the past, but would settle for the socially acceptable return of long skirts and corsets.
Unfortunately, Nova’s expertise coupled with her autism, has often made her feel isolated. As long as she has her one true friend on her side, Daphne (also an outcast), and the group of sisters and brothers always ready to have her back, there is nothing that will stop her from accomplishing her dreams.
CREDIT: All images used on this page were created via canva.com’s AI program.
Jennifer E. Glynn 