Nicole Halloway

Nicole Halloway is a fictitious character in the Dreams to Reality continuity that has been a major player in all three incarnations of the series. Originally not intended to develop superpowers, it would be revealed in the web series that Nicole had the same superpowers that her best friend Michael Bennett developed. In the web series, her powers begin to manifest themselves around the same time as Michael, but in the novel series, it will be made clear that Nicole's powers developed quite some time before Michael's, by as much as seven months before him. Her family history has been extensively developed, with her father, Don Halloway and younger brother, Jason Halloway, had both died of unrelated causes within the span of one month several years prior to the beginning of the series, and now lives alone with her mother, Sharon Halloway, in Eagle Creek, Ohio. She begins the web series as Josh Poncek's girlfriend, but had broken up with Jarrid Harlen prior to the beginning of the series. In the novel series, she begins the series as Jarrid's girlfriend. At this time, it is planned for Jarrid and Nicole to break up several installments into the series due to the machinations of Melinda Flint, in a storyline that will play out as a live storyline in the novels instead of being presented as part of a back story.

Love Triangle with Jarrid Harlen, Josh Poncek, and Melinda Flint
Before the beginning of the events depicted at the start of the web series, Nicole had been in a relationship with Jarrid Harlen until October 30, 1999. Despite having been in a relationship with Jarrid for some time, Nicole went out on a date with Josh Poncek, despite his own relationship at the time with Melinda Flint. On their date, Josh and Nicole went to the elevated Boardwalk above the river behind downtown Eagle Creek. Unbeknownst to them at the time, Josh's girlfriend Melinda spotted the two of them kissing. The next day, on October 31 (Nicole's 14th birthday), a livid Nicole arrived at Melinda's house to confront her about why Melinda told Jarrid that she had gone on a date with Josh and that she had sex with him. Melinda called it a birthday present to her, and pointed out that Nicole was trying to ruin her life by dating Josh, so Melinda planned to ruin Nicole's life by telling Jarrid everything, even though Josh and Nicole never actually had sex. Jarrid would break up with Nicole, believing Melinda's story that she walked in on Josh and Nicole in bed with together. After a Halloween party incident that involved Melinda brushing the lining of Nicole's witch mask with super glue in an apparent attempt to glue the mask to Nicole's face, Josh would break up with Melinda after learning about what she told Jarrid about him and Nicole. With Jarrid and Nicole's relationship ended despite her attempts to explain to Jarrid what really happened, Nicole would then very quickly begin dating Josh on a permanent basis, much to Melinda's fury, and Melinda had repeatedly tried to break Josh and Nicole's relationship up for several months, even though Josh had since made it clear to her that he wanted nothing further to do with her and was very happy with Nicole. (DtRW #1)

Melinda's Vendetta Endangers Nicole's Life
By late May 2000, Jarrid still hadn't gotten over Nicole's betrayal and seemed to actively hate her, despite Nicole's repeated claims that she never had sex with Josh and that Melinda had lied to him about that. Nicole would overhear him telling Jack Brock, Dustin Finley, and Mandy Marin that if he and Nicole were meant to be together, they would be together, and that Nicole is with Josh now, anyway. Nicole would tell Jarrid that the only reason why she's with Josh now is because Jarrid had dumped her. Jarrid would tell her that she wouldn't have gone out on a date with Josh to begin with if she really wanted to be with him, but Nicole would again insist that she didn't have sex with Josh that night. Mandy would attempt to play devil's advocate, only for Nicole to tell her to back off, and Jack, Dustin, and Mandy to soon leave Jarrid and Nicole to argue with each other in private. Jarrid told Nicole that going out with Josh was a big mistake, which Nicole admits to making, but insists once again that Melinda was lying when she told him that she walked in on her in bed with Josh, and added that Jarrid knows she wouldn't do that. Jarrid simply replied that right now he doesn't know anything about her and walked away from her. Nicole would go to her next class, only to be confronted outside the classroom by Melinda, who antagonized Nicole by telling her that it was too bad that her lies to Jarrid didn't work, and wondered how Josh would like it if he knew she was trying to get her ex-boyfriend back. Melinda considered telling Josh about this, and Nicole snapped at her to shut up and to "buzz off," accused Melinda of screwing up her life enough for one lifetime. Melinda said that Nicole has screwed up her life as well, but Nicole claimed no responsibility for helping Melinda "look like the bitch you are." Melinda accused Nicole of taking Josh away from her, but Nicole felt that she didn't take anyone away from anyone and pointed out that if Melinda's performance with Josh had been better, he wouldn't have asked her out on a date, prompting Melinda to attempt to slap Nicole, but Nicole caught Melinda's arm in mid-swing. In their science class together, where they are assigned to sit at the same table with each other as well as Lisa Walker and Christina Davis, Melinda would call Nicole a slut and threaten to bury her if she doesn't stay out of her way. Nicole told Melinda that she is sick of her stupidity, prompting Lisa to tell the two of them to give it a rest and asked how much longer they were planning to "bitch at each other like this." Melinda would snap at Lisa to shut up, but Nicole stuck up for her, saying that she's sure that Lisa and Christina don't like that they have to sit here and listen to the two of them rehash the same thing over and over again and again tells Melinda to shut up. The science teacher, Mrs. Jackson, would warn all four girls to be quiet, before Melinda would continue to antagonize Nicole, saying that she couldn't believe that Josh chose Nicole over her because Nicole is "nothing more than a $2 slut, and he's singing your praises like you're the Virgin Mary!" A furious Nicole slapped Melinda across the face and called her a bitch at this point, prompting Melinda to rear back and punch Nicole in the face, knocking Nicole back into the table behind her. Nicole recovered, jumped on top of Melinda, punching her and pulling her hair, and Melinda would grab a handful of Nicole's hair in retaliation as the two began struggling on the floor of the classroom, much to their classmates' amusement. Mrs. Jackson would quickly rush over and pull Nicole off of Melinda, screaming at the two of them to knock it off right now, but Nicole would try once again to lunge at Melinda and is physically restrained by Mrs. Jackson. Melinda called Nicole a bitch and told her that she just made a big mistake, one that could turn into her lase. Mrs. Jackson would order Nicole and Melinda to the principal's office, and Nicole stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her before Melinda could get out the door. As Nicole climbed up a nearby stairway toward the principal's office, Melinda ran up the stairs behind her and grabbed her hair just as Nicole arrived at the top of the stairway. Melinda reminded Nicole that she told her that she would regret what she just did, and Melinda planned to make sure she did right now. Nicole tried to shove Melinda off of her, asking her what she was going to do. Melinda slapped Nicole, and Nicole returned a slap to Melinda's face in kind. Melinda wrapped her hands around Nicole's neck, so Nicole did the same in return, and the two would struggle at the top of the steps until Melinda was able to drag Nicole over to the top of the steps until she was hanging dangerously close to falling down the stairs. Nicole yelled at Melinda to stop, saying that she was about to go over, but Melinda said that was the idea and shoved Nicole backward down the stairs. Nicole screamed the whole way down the stairs until she landed at the bottom of the stairway and was knocked unconscious. Nicole would not regain consciousness until after she was discovered at the bottom of the stairway (initially by Danielle Grayson, then later by Jack, Jarrid, Mandy, Josh, and Lisa, as well as many other unnamed students) and taken by stretchers into an ambulance. As the ambulance's back doors was closing, Nicole had regained consciousness enough to weakly call out to Josh to stay away from Melinda, but her warning was not clearly heard by Josh and Danielle, who were standing outside the ambulance at the time, but they were relieved to hear that Nicole was at least conscious. Nicole was then taken to Portage General Memorial Hospital. However, as Nicole's ambulance was driving away, no one seemed to notice that a man wearing a skull mask was standing along the side of the school building. The man would hold up a large, metallic fish hook to a photograph of Nicole he had in his coat pocket in a threatening manner, apparently targeting Nicole for some malicious purpose. (DtRW #1)

Jarrid Harlen
For some time prior to October 30, 1999, Nicole was in a relationship with Jarrid Harlen, but despite this, she accepted an invitation to go on a date with Josh Poncek. Josh's then-current girlfriend, Melinda Flint, would spot Josh and Nicole kissing on the Boardwalk while on their date and subsequently went to Jarrid and told him that she just walked in on Josh and Nicole having sex. A furious Jarrid would immediately dump Nicole despite the fact that she did not actually have sex with Josh, but Jarrid was so upset about Nicole going on a date with Josh at all that he couldn't continue the relationship and ended the relationship. Nicole would spend the next several months trying to clear her name when it came to Melinda's allegation that she had sex with Josh on their date, but Jarrid would not entertain such claims, always reminding her that going on a date with Josh in the first place was enough to end their relationship. Despite the bad terms in which the relationship ended, after Jarrid saw Nicole unconscious at the bottom of a stairway at school after Melinda pushed her down the stairs, he was very worried about Nicole's well-being, clearly displaying some lingering feelings for her. (DtRW #1)

Josh Poncek
Nicole's relationship with Josh began right around Nicole's 14th birthday in October 1999, after he asked her on a date and she accepted. However, he was dating Melinda Flint at the time, and she was dating Jarrid Harlen. Melinda would spot Josh and Nicole kissing on the Boardwalk during their date, but rather than confronting the two, Melinda went to Jarrid and told him that she saw Josh and Nicole having sex. Melinda would later try to super-glue a witch mask to Nicole's face during a Halloween party, so upon learning about Melinda's role in Jarrid breaking up with Nicole and the super-glue incident, Josh dumped Melinda and immediately began dating Nicole exclusively. Since then, the two have repeatedly had to deal with interference from Melinda, who has repeatedly tried, to no avail, to break Josh and Nicole up and win Josh back. Josh was extremely upset upon seeing Nicole unconscious after Melinda pushed Nicole down the stairs, and was furious when he heard from Lisa Walker and Brandon Danber that Melinda was responsible. (DtR #1)

Background & Trivia

 * In all incarnations of the series, Nicole's birthday has always been October 31, or Halloween. The year of her birth has changed with each shift in the series' timeline in all three continuities. In the novellas, she was born on October 31, 1983 and was thus 14 and a half years old during the novella series. In the web series, her birthday was October 31, 1985, with her 14th birthday occurring on October 31, 1999. In the new novel series, she will again be born on October 31, but in the year 1991, which would put her at 16 years old at the start of the novel series' timeline.
 * In the very beginning stages of creating Dreams to Reality, Nicole's name was always "Nikki" in the novella series, a nickname that would be carried over on a limited basis in the web series (especially in earlier episodes), but really only used by people in her close personal circle of friends. In the novel series, she will continue be be known as Nicole, but likely will be called "Nikki" on more than one occasion by one or more characters.
 * Nicole was not originally supposed to have superpowers in the web series, but eventually gained the powers and is said to have had them for quite some time before they are seen for the first time in the web series. The reason for Nicole suddenly gaining the powers that Michael was supposedly just beginning to develop is because it had been intended (in the web series continuity) that the powers would begin manifesting themselves on the person's 14th birthday. With Nicole having been 14 for several months prior to the storyline that brought Nicole's powers to light in the web series, it was retconned that Nicole had the powers for some time, but hadn't necessarily made them public knowledge. This is all due to the fact that she was not originally supposed to be given the powers. In the novel series, the "14th birthday" stipulation becomes a "16th birthday" stipulation, and she will be developing her psychic powers as soon as the novel series starts, but Michael will not begin to display any conscious superpowers until several installments later.
 * Context clues in the first episode of the web series would lead readers to believe that Jarrid and Nicole had broken up relatively recently, because Dustin, Jack, and Mandy were sympathetic to Jarrid not having a date to the upcoming school date and discussing how he broke up with her because she went on a date with Josh, and Nicole was quick to defend her claim that she didn't have sex with Josh that night on this day as well. However, later in the episode, it's made clear that the break-up occurred nearly seven months prior to the events in the episode, so it seems quite implausible that such conversations would have still been taking place after such a large period of time had elapsed since the break-up. No continuity reason was given for such an irregularity. In reality, what happened was that the date of May 24, 2000 was chosen to begin the series because it was the day after Michael Bennett's birthday, and his superpowers were beginning to emerge at that point, which was what was intended to be the primary storyline at the start of the series. The idea of Melinda super-gluing a Halloween mask to Nicole's face in retaliation for going on a date with Melinda's boyfriend Josh came much later, but that would mean that it would have had to have occurred seven months prior to the start of the series, and no real timeline of events in that storyline was ever really established between October 31, 1999 and May 24, 2000, and the storyline was really just continued without regard to the large span of time in between the events, so it's really no more than poor writing. The situation will be rectified in the novel series' interpretation of the events, especially because the break-ups of Jarrid and Nicole, as well as Josh and Melinda, will be occurring as live storylines, and not flashbacks.

Quotes
(Nicole and Melinda bickering about Josh and Jarrid):
 * Nicole: "Get a life, Melinda. You've already screwed up my life enough for one lifetime, so why don't you just buzz off?"
 * Melinda: "I screwed up your life?! What about what you did to my life?"
 * Nicole: "I didn't need any help making you look like the bitch you are." (DtRW #1)