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PAIGE WALKER
Played by Renee Ellwood
When we meet Paige she's in her mid-teens and having to deal with bizzare changes in her parents lives. At first Paige thinks she preferred it when her parents were normal, Type-A, career-minded individuals who left her to her own devices. She cringes whenever her dad tries to talk about his new life, and feels awkward when Melissa starts trying to be her "friend".
An only child who knows she was an "accident" conceived out of wedlock, she is nothing if not resilient. Having no siblings, few close friends and parents who work like bastards all the time, Paige is used to making her own fun. She is clearly very bright, but at school she expends a lot of energy trying to get one over her teachers.
The issues that Paige feels passionate about aren't likely to be sweat-shops or military intervention in Afghanistan (although she does get involved in an animal rights campaign). Paige's real concerns are likely to be much closer to home: the right to bring a same sex partner to the school ball; or how to tackle a dishonest teacher. This gets her in the limelight at her new school, and Paige starts to bond with a slightly different crowd. Nice squeaky clean Josh, Paige's boyfriend, gets a bit confused by all this and Paige uses the affections of a female foreign exchange student as an excuse to make a clean break with Josh.
Paige's hectic school life doesn't stop her worrying about her mother's love life, or missing ‘the old' Adam, or engaging in a running battle with one of her ex-teachers, now incredibly one of her mother's employees. And into the midst of all this arrives Douglas, (see below) a charming con man who Paige becomes convinced understands her better than anybody. Their close relationship causes tension between Paige and Mel, and seems destined to end in disaster.
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