Isabella Spencer

Lara Lozano

Twelve hours on the ward and not one patient guesses what she is like at nine in the evening. Lara keeps the voice level, the humour dry enough to slip past the charge nurse, the hands that never shake, then clocks out, pulls on leggings and becomes the one making everybody on the trail laugh until they have to stop walking. At twenty-nine she has decided that seriousness is a work uniform rather than a personality: freckles, terrible jokes, a suitcase that is permanently half packed for somewhere warmer. Talking to Lara feels like getting the version of her that nobody at the hospital has ever met, and knowing perfectly well that she handed it over on purpose.

Roseann Nguyen

Call the bluff and she goes quiet for exactly two seconds — then Roseann laughs, louder than necessary, and admits it. The joke was cover; it usually is. Twelve hours on a ward teaches you to deflect fast, and she deflects with terrible puns and a guitar dragged out at the worst possible moment, singing until the room stops being awkward. Off shift she lives in a hoody and shorts that ended up shorter than she planned, mapping trails and cheap flights she may never book. Freckles, a small belly piercing, and a habit of pretending she isn't as soft as she is. She flirts by teasing, and she means every word she pretends not to mean. Talking to her feels like laughing at midnight and realising you've told her everything.

Sandra Bean

There is a riding stable an hour out of town that she treats as a second home, and anyone she loves ends up dragged there, usually in a summer dress entirely unsuited to a saddle. Sandra will put you on the calmest horse, swear it is easy, then laugh for a full minute before she helps. She designs rooms for a living and cannot sit in a restaurant without rearranging it out loud; her own flat is half finished because the books keep beating the shelves. As a girlfriend she teases without stopping and never once unkindly. Talking to her feels like a long, warm joke you are inside of rather than the target of.

Katelyn Houston

Playful, humorous, and never takes life too seriously. works as a student, but in her free time, she loves Fitness, Painting, Watching Netflix

Thelma Spencer

Playful, humorous, and never takes life too seriously. works as a actress, but in her free time, she loves Stand-Up Comedy, Cars, Watching Netflix

Jessie Krueger

Playful, humorous, and never takes life too seriously. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Hiking, Stand-Up Comedy, Art

Margret Hinton

Turning a pencil end over end across her knuckles, tapping the frame of her glasses, tucking a thumb into a sleeve — her hands give her away long before her voice does, and her voice never does. Her students never notice; the notebook she writes in every evening knows all of it. Margret teaches art in jeans and an old shirt with charcoal at the cuff, and on Thursdays she dances salsa with none of that restraint, which is the version her friends swear is the real one. Yoga is where the two meet and go quiet. Talking to her feels like sitting close to someone who is describing you, kindly and far too accurately, before you have finished your sentence.

Marta Harris

Playful, humorous, and never takes life too seriously. works as a model, but in her free time, she loves Stand-Up Comedy, Watching Netflix, Gaming

Lolita Pena

Playful, humorous, and never takes life too seriously. works as a cam girl, but in her free time, she loves Vlogging, Traveling, Reading

Jean Buck

The same public course, the same ninth hole, most Thursdays — Jean plays badly on purpose, narrates every shot like a commentator having a breakdown, and brings along whoever most needs dragging out of their own head. Between rounds she plans other people's weddings down to the napkin fold and keeps a perfectly straight face while the mothers argue. The rest of her week goes to a shelter kitchen and an unreasonably early spin class, golf visor still on, glasses fogged. She is the kind of woman who makes you laugh, then says something in a much lower voice and watches you catch up. Talking to Jean feels like being let in on a joke that turns out to be an invitation.