Sarah Hampton and Bobby Lane were only fifteen years old when they found themselves pregnant, and despite the begging and pleading from all four of their parents to just "take care" of the situation, Logan Lane was born just after Sarah's sixteenth birthday. With little money and even less support, the two struggled to finish high school at the same time as raising a baby. Eventually, Bobby's parents melted at little Logan's bright blue eyes and allowed the family to move into their basement, providing them with a place to live and a set of built-in babysitters. Sarah's extremely religious parents never bothered to speak to her again, having been deeply disgraced by what they considered foolish choices and literal blasphemy.
Somehow, Sarah and Bobby both managed to graduate and were looking forward to the next step in their lives. The Lane family owned a restaurant and Bobby started work immediately, whereas Sarah was more than ready to start taking night classes at the local community college. Instead, she greeted her boyfriend at the door one night with a toddler on her hip and a positive pregnancy test in her hand.
Not wanting another out-of-wedlock baby on the books, the Lanes threw Bobby and Sarah a shotgun wedding (in plenty of time for the pictures to get taken before she was starting to show, of course.) Lark Penelope was born just before Logan's third birthday, and Sarah officially gave up the decision to go to college. Bobby started working double shifts to make ends meet while she stayed home with the kids.
When Lark was two and Logan was almost five, Lorna Lane came screaming into the world. It was then that Bobby, barely old enough to drink, decided to go ahead and get a vasectomy since traditional birth control methods seemed non-functional between him and his high school sweetheart. When asked if he was ready to make such a huge decision at such a young age, he had just smiled and told the doctor his life was already filled with everyone he'd ever need.
For another two years, things were quiet and relatively perfect in the Lane household. Everyone got along as best they could for a family with three young children living in their in-law's basement. Every night, Bobby's parents would cook dinner and all seven of them would sit around the table together. Sarah would clean, bake, teach, and occasionally work on quilting projects for extra money. Bobby went to the restaurant every day with his father and poured everything he had into supporting his family and his wife, who he loved just as much as he had at fifteen.
For a long time, life was good. The children grew up and began coming into their own interests and personalities. Bobby and Sarah saved up enough money to get their own place (though the girls shared a bedroom, much to Lorna's chagrin), and Sarah even began to contemplate going back to school. There was still too much to do at home, however, so she shelved the idea once again.
Logan was a genius, spending all of his time with his nose buried in a history textbook or working math problems for fun. Lorna was a dancer, twirling her hours away in a ballet studio and spending her nights rubbing ointment on her aching feet. And Lark...well, Lark could never quite figure out what exactly her niche was, not until she hit middle school and one of her art teachers urged her to take the constant doodles in her notebook more seriously.
Suddenly, there was an entirely new world ahead of Lark. She experimented with a hundred different mediums and styles (sculpting, jewelry making, charcoal, pencils, palette knives, oils, and more) and fell in love with them all. Her studies fell by the wayside as she began to dive headfirst into her paintings. It frustrated her parents, who had hoped to get at least one well-rounded kid from the bunch, but all three Lane siblings were fairly single-minded when it came to their passions.
Unfortunately, Lark's teenage self-esteem teetered on a knife's edge, and it only took one summer on a lake with some friends at fourteen to push it right over. God Lark, looking a little pudgy there, aren't you? Caught between the awkwardness of melting baby fat and hitting puberty, Lark became obsessed with her appearance and her weight. That one comment managed to unravel a thousand insecurities inside the girl.
She wasn't as smart as Logan, and she sure as hell wasn't as graceful as Lorna. Yeah, she could paint, but did that really mean much when there was Photoshop? And god, was she fat? It started slowly, picking at her dinner and skipping breakfast in a rush to leave the house, spending her nights looking at her naked body in the mirror and pinching rolls of supposed fat. The pounds melted off until you could see the bones in Lark's body, pressing against the thin skin at her hips and collar and wrists.
Busy with their own lives, the Lane family didn't much notice Lark's blooming anorexia. This lasted until the day of an art competition towards the end of her sophomore year. When she was 15, Lark passed out in front of the entire school and ended up in the hospital. Her parents were heartbroken that they'd missed all the signs, and quickly checked Lark into a rehab facility until she was deemed healthy enough to be released.
After that, Lark struggled to find herself. Therapy and treatment had helped her see some of her own self worth, but it was something she wasn't 100% comfortable with yet. Instead of focusing on what she couldn't control, since her diet was now carefully monitored by her worried father and brother, she looked to other outlets. When she wasn't entirely focused on her painting, she struggled with the fact that she still wanted to kiss girls more than boys. She dyed her hair outrageous colors, pierced her own ears with a needle and an ice cube, and patched her old clothes with bright colored fabrics and a hot glue gun. She wasn't exactly happy with herself entirely, but she was trying.
Slowly, things went back to normal. Though set in their ways, the Lane siblings were good at what they did. Logan competed in quiz bowl tournaments and won academic awards, Lark painted, Lorna danced, and Sarah and Bobby somehow managed to stay blissfully in love. And then, when Lark was eighteen years old, her father was hit by a distracted driver and died instantly.
And just like that, as things had finally come together for the Lane family, they fell apart again. No one knew what to do without Bobby and each coping method seemed worse than the last. Sarah's drinking got worse, Logan took his full Ivy League scholarship to Princeton and threw himself into his studies, and Lorna begged to be allowed into a boarding school for dancers and shut everyone out. Only Lark was left behind, numb and lost and without anyone stable to lean on.
So she left, too. One day in September, Lark climbed into the car her brother had loaned her while he was at school and started to drive to cover her shift at the coffee shop inside the local bookstore. But instead of getting off at her exit, she keep driving straight through all the tolls until she suddenly found herself in the middle of New York City.
Willing to do anything to get rid of the feeling of numbness inside of her, Lark spent a whirlwind three months experimenting with drugs, sex, and other big city debauchery until she felt both physically and emotionally raw. Living off the kindness of strangers and pocket cash she made selling caricatures wasn't easy, though, and eventually her brother started demanding she come home. It was only when Lark woke up one morning and realized she had literally no idea where she was or who she was with that she decided maybe he was right.
Tail between her legs, Lark slunk back to Connecticut. She tried to do something productive with her time but found it impossible. Connecticut reminded her too much of her father and everything that was suddenly missing from her life. Though her time in New York had been destructive, she missed the bright lights and the vibrant culture of the city. After applying to Brooklyn College and getting accepted, Lark headed back to New York - this time with a plan and a couple of scholarships.
Finally, she started school with a clean slate. No one had to know about her past, her eating disorder or her dead father or her perfect siblings or her drunk mother. Instead, she reinvented herself as Lark, the painter, instead of Lark, the kid everyone in school pitied. Things started to look up for her and eventually, she began opening up again and letting her friends and lovers see more of her real self.
Lark lived in New York for seven years, working as a bartender, a nanny, and a gallery coordinator as she struggled to figure out what to do with her life. She struggled with relapsing into her disorder and maintaining her familial relationships, but things continued to improve for her and the rest of the Lane family. After an almost-engagement and a bad breakup in the summer of 2017, Lark moved back home to Conneticut. Currently, she works at Mohegan Sun Casino as a bartender and lives with her mother.
Somehow, Sarah and Bobby both managed to graduate and were looking forward to the next step in their lives. The Lane family owned a restaurant and Bobby started work immediately, whereas Sarah was more than ready to start taking night classes at the local community college. Instead, she greeted her boyfriend at the door one night with a toddler on her hip and a positive pregnancy test in her hand.
Not wanting another out-of-wedlock baby on the books, the Lanes threw Bobby and Sarah a shotgun wedding (in plenty of time for the pictures to get taken before she was starting to show, of course.) Lark Penelope was born just before Logan's third birthday, and Sarah officially gave up the decision to go to college. Bobby started working double shifts to make ends meet while she stayed home with the kids.
When Lark was two and Logan was almost five, Lorna Lane came screaming into the world. It was then that Bobby, barely old enough to drink, decided to go ahead and get a vasectomy since traditional birth control methods seemed non-functional between him and his high school sweetheart. When asked if he was ready to make such a huge decision at such a young age, he had just smiled and told the doctor his life was already filled with everyone he'd ever need.
For another two years, things were quiet and relatively perfect in the Lane household. Everyone got along as best they could for a family with three young children living in their in-law's basement. Every night, Bobby's parents would cook dinner and all seven of them would sit around the table together. Sarah would clean, bake, teach, and occasionally work on quilting projects for extra money. Bobby went to the restaurant every day with his father and poured everything he had into supporting his family and his wife, who he loved just as much as he had at fifteen.
For a long time, life was good. The children grew up and began coming into their own interests and personalities. Bobby and Sarah saved up enough money to get their own place (though the girls shared a bedroom, much to Lorna's chagrin), and Sarah even began to contemplate going back to school. There was still too much to do at home, however, so she shelved the idea once again.
Logan was a genius, spending all of his time with his nose buried in a history textbook or working math problems for fun. Lorna was a dancer, twirling her hours away in a ballet studio and spending her nights rubbing ointment on her aching feet. And Lark...well, Lark could never quite figure out what exactly her niche was, not until she hit middle school and one of her art teachers urged her to take the constant doodles in her notebook more seriously.
Suddenly, there was an entirely new world ahead of Lark. She experimented with a hundred different mediums and styles (sculpting, jewelry making, charcoal, pencils, palette knives, oils, and more) and fell in love with them all. Her studies fell by the wayside as she began to dive headfirst into her paintings. It frustrated her parents, who had hoped to get at least one well-rounded kid from the bunch, but all three Lane siblings were fairly single-minded when it came to their passions.
Unfortunately, Lark's teenage self-esteem teetered on a knife's edge, and it only took one summer on a lake with some friends at fourteen to push it right over. God Lark, looking a little pudgy there, aren't you? Caught between the awkwardness of melting baby fat and hitting puberty, Lark became obsessed with her appearance and her weight. That one comment managed to unravel a thousand insecurities inside the girl.
She wasn't as smart as Logan, and she sure as hell wasn't as graceful as Lorna. Yeah, she could paint, but did that really mean much when there was Photoshop? And god, was she fat? It started slowly, picking at her dinner and skipping breakfast in a rush to leave the house, spending her nights looking at her naked body in the mirror and pinching rolls of supposed fat. The pounds melted off until you could see the bones in Lark's body, pressing against the thin skin at her hips and collar and wrists.
Busy with their own lives, the Lane family didn't much notice Lark's blooming anorexia. This lasted until the day of an art competition towards the end of her sophomore year. When she was 15, Lark passed out in front of the entire school and ended up in the hospital. Her parents were heartbroken that they'd missed all the signs, and quickly checked Lark into a rehab facility until she was deemed healthy enough to be released.
After that, Lark struggled to find herself. Therapy and treatment had helped her see some of her own self worth, but it was something she wasn't 100% comfortable with yet. Instead of focusing on what she couldn't control, since her diet was now carefully monitored by her worried father and brother, she looked to other outlets. When she wasn't entirely focused on her painting, she struggled with the fact that she still wanted to kiss girls more than boys. She dyed her hair outrageous colors, pierced her own ears with a needle and an ice cube, and patched her old clothes with bright colored fabrics and a hot glue gun. She wasn't exactly happy with herself entirely, but she was trying.
Slowly, things went back to normal. Though set in their ways, the Lane siblings were good at what they did. Logan competed in quiz bowl tournaments and won academic awards, Lark painted, Lorna danced, and Sarah and Bobby somehow managed to stay blissfully in love. And then, when Lark was eighteen years old, her father was hit by a distracted driver and died instantly.
And just like that, as things had finally come together for the Lane family, they fell apart again. No one knew what to do without Bobby and each coping method seemed worse than the last. Sarah's drinking got worse, Logan took his full Ivy League scholarship to Princeton and threw himself into his studies, and Lorna begged to be allowed into a boarding school for dancers and shut everyone out. Only Lark was left behind, numb and lost and without anyone stable to lean on.
So she left, too. One day in September, Lark climbed into the car her brother had loaned her while he was at school and started to drive to cover her shift at the coffee shop inside the local bookstore. But instead of getting off at her exit, she keep driving straight through all the tolls until she suddenly found herself in the middle of New York City.
Willing to do anything to get rid of the feeling of numbness inside of her, Lark spent a whirlwind three months experimenting with drugs, sex, and other big city debauchery until she felt both physically and emotionally raw. Living off the kindness of strangers and pocket cash she made selling caricatures wasn't easy, though, and eventually her brother started demanding she come home. It was only when Lark woke up one morning and realized she had literally no idea where she was or who she was with that she decided maybe he was right.
Tail between her legs, Lark slunk back to Connecticut. She tried to do something productive with her time but found it impossible. Connecticut reminded her too much of her father and everything that was suddenly missing from her life. Though her time in New York had been destructive, she missed the bright lights and the vibrant culture of the city. After applying to Brooklyn College and getting accepted, Lark headed back to New York - this time with a plan and a couple of scholarships.
Finally, she started school with a clean slate. No one had to know about her past, her eating disorder or her dead father or her perfect siblings or her drunk mother. Instead, she reinvented herself as Lark, the painter, instead of Lark, the kid everyone in school pitied. Things started to look up for her and eventually, she began opening up again and letting her friends and lovers see more of her real self.
Lark lived in New York for seven years, working as a bartender, a nanny, and a gallery coordinator as she struggled to figure out what to do with her life. She struggled with relapsing into her disorder and maintaining her familial relationships, but things continued to improve for her and the rest of the Lane family. After an almost-engagement and a bad breakup in the summer of 2017, Lark moved back home to Conneticut. Currently, she works at Mohegan Sun Casino as a bartender and lives with her mother.
★ Technically bisexual, though she tends to lean more heavily towards woman as a sexual preference.
★ Honestly doesn't mind the fact that most of her customers either ignore her completely or treat her like an alcohol-dispensing therapist. Talking about other people's problems is way easier than talking about her own.
★ Absolutely loves being in the water and is about 84% convinced that she was supposed to have been born a mermaid.
★ Carries the last picture she took of her father before he died in her wallet at all times.
★ Is currently still battling anorexia, though it's more managed than it has been in the past.
★ Incredibly creative, Lark expresses herself through tattoos, hair dye, and painting. Though she has no musical talent, she is decent at dancing. Has a huge desire to learn how to do parkour. And juggle. And a lot of things, really.
father: bobby lane
deceased at age 36. former chef.
mother: sarah lane
46 years old. paralegal.
brother: Logan Lane
31 years old. hedge fund manager.
sister-in-law: Becky Lane
30 years old. logan's wife. teacher.
nephew: Robert "Bert" Lane
4 months old. Logan & Becky's son.
sister: Lorna "Lola" Lane
26 years old. dance instructor.