Ginger

Cynthia "Ginger" Sterling is Sam's best friend and lives with her in Chez Albert Apartments.

Early life
Ginger was born as Cynthia Sterling in Midvale, a wealthy suburb outside of Brick City. Her father, Randall Sterling, is a calculating, deceitful, and powerful politician. Though Ginger was given an extremely privileged upbringing, her parents were cold and uncaring throughout her childhood.

The fire
After school one day, Ginger was waiting in the car at Midvale Elementary to pick up Victor, her younger brother. Victor, however, was no where to be seen. The driver then sent Ginger inside the school to find her brother. After some searching, she found him playing with a group of other children near a gas pipe outside a three story building on the school's playground.

As Ginger approached her brother and his friends, she could smell gas in the air. Alarmed, she started running towards the scene. To her horror, she saw Victor with a lit lighter in his hand, laughing and waving it around proudly. Suddenly, the flame ignited the gas in the air and the entire building was quickly ablaze. Children and teachers ran from the classrooms, screaming amidst the smoke and flames. Ginger bravely guided her brother and his friends to safety.

Firefighters were soon on the scene, but sadly, there were over a hundred deaths in the fire. Arson investigators determined that the gas valve settings on the side of the building had been tampered with and that some sort of ignition was the cause of the devastating fire. Eyewitnesses placed Ginger and her brother at the scene.

The media scandal
The tragic event became the center of a media frenzy. Rumors of Randall Sterling's son being the fire-starter and a "child killer/terrorist" started flying through the news circuits. Extremely concerned with how the media scandal was affecting his image, Randall vehemently denied that Victor had anything to do with the fire.

Meanwhile, the enormous guilt of what had happened was eating away at Victor. The burden of keeping the secret, the prospect of going to jail, along with the notorious reputation was too much for a young child to handle on his own. Though it was an accident, Victor was unable to speak the truth of what occurred right before the fire because of his father's strong initial reaction to the police investigation. Ginger was extremely worried for the well-being of her younger brother, who she loved dearly, despite everything that had happened.

Taking the fall
Ginger resolved to protect her brother and to stand up to her father's lies. She then called a surprise press conference, entirely on her own. This caused even greater frenzy in the media, as news outlets speculated on what would motivate the 13-year old daughter of Randall Sterling to do so.

At the press conference, Ginger announced that she was the one that started the fire. As she explained the events, she put herself in Victor's place, saying that she took the lighter and wanted to "show off."

The subsequent media coverage was brutal. Countless stories painted Ginger as a spoiled, insufferable child whose actions took over a hundred innocent lives. Headlines included: "THIS CHILD IS A MURDERER - The Cynthia Sterling Story" and "Cynthia Sterling - The World's Most Dangerous Brat." Petitions called for her to be tried in court for manslaughter and for her to receive a prison sentence without possibility of parole.

Randall Sterling was livid with anger after Ginger's press conference. He wanted to formally disown her and shun her from the Sterling family, but Ginger's mother convinced him otherwise. In a last attempt to save face, Randall leveraged his political power to get the court to drop all charges against Ginger. The damage to their family's public image, however, was substantial. After two more years of constant criticism in the media, Randall sent Ginger to live with distant relatives in Brick City.

Tropes

 * Action Girl - Always ready for a fight.
 * Amazonian Beauty - Ginger is quite muscular, but beautiful in her own way.
 * Betty and Veronica - Ginger is the Veronica to Sam's Betty.
 * Black Sheep - Ginger is an outcast in her wealthy, upper-class family.
 * Bruiser With a Soft Center - Ginger cares deeply about her friends, children, and animals.
 * Fiery Redhead
 * I Am Not My Father - Ginger despises her father and vows to never be like him.
 * One of the Boys - Ginger generally fits in better with guys, with the notable exception of her best friend, Sam.
 * Secretly Wealthy - Ginger comes from one of the wealthiest families from Midvale.
 * She Cleans up Nicely - With Sam's help and to the surprise of the male members of The Team.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl - The Tomboy to Sam's Girly Girl.
 * The Big Guy - Ginger fulfills this role in the five-man band.
 * True Companions - With the rest of The Team.
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child - As evidenced by the Midvale Elementary School tragedy.