Guillermo (Memo) Palacios

Full name: Guillermo Palacios
Nickname: Memo
Birthday: March 19, 1978.
Age: 17 years.
Occupation: Student.
Nationality: Mexican.
Gender: Male.
MBTI: ISFP (Feeling, Sensation, Intuition, Thinking).
Residence: Mexico City, Mexico.
Friends:
*Tenoch Pérez

• María Fernanda Calónico
  *Daniela Oz
• Alejandro Haza

He is a young man with fair skin and an oval face. His straight, dark brown hair falls lightly over his forehead, framing his face and giving him a neat yet casual appearance. He has light blue-green eyes, slightly almond-shaped; his serene expression conveys the impression that he is a gentle and shy person. His eyebrows are straight and well-defined. His nose is straight and in proportion to his face, which balances his features. He has thin, naturally pink lips that create a subtle and relaxed expression. His facial features convey calmness, and his gaze suggests that he is a kind, approachable, and perhaps somewhat gentle person.

Memo's most critical and tragic personality trait is his inability to communicate his pain. He is a silent, unsung hero who almost never shares what he truly feels. Even when going through profoundly painful situations, such as personal losses or fear of the future, he camouflages his suffering by presenting a charismatic, kind, and helpful demeanor to his friends. He doesn't seek attention or play the victim, which means his depressive state remains invisible to others, and no one around him notices the inner turmoil he is facing.

Memo has lived a life of constant moving due to his parents' work, which led him to develop a very introverted personality and a defense mechanism based on isolation. Always being "the new kid" at the schools he's attended, he assumed that forming deep bonds was pointless, because sooner or later he would have to leave. This weakened his social skills and led him to keep a low profile to avoid being noticed and to avoid rejection or the pain of goodbyes.

Although Memo has a seemingly perfect nuclear family and a high, privileged economic position, he suffers from a cold emotional absence at home. His parents are physically present (sometimes), but they are disconnected from his inner world. This lack of affection has prevented him from building a solid self-esteem and a strong sense of self that would allow him to cope with the hostility of the outside world, such as the bullying he experiences with his friends. Finding insufficient support from his parents, Memo transfers his need for a father figure and secure attachment to Pascual, his driver, who becomes his true daily emotional support.

Despite his shyness, Memo possesses great nobility and a pure sense of justice. This was demonstrated on his first day when he returned an envelope of money to Alex, performing an act of selfless honesty that opened the doors to the group. Once he joined the clandestine homework-selling business, he proved to be a loyal friend. His sharp intelligence and fluency in English help him thrive, and he values ​​this friendship above all else. However, this same devotion also makes him extremely vulnerable, as any rift, argument, or estrangement within the group completely destabilizes him, because his friends represent his entire social world.

*His group of friends

• Music on cassettes (Spanish Rock, English Rock and ballads)
  *Loyalty
• Small details

*The constant moves

• The absence of their parents
  To draw attention to the internal conflicts within their group of friends

Memo almost always speaks in a soft, submissive, and low voice because he doesn't like to draw attention to himself or take up too much space in public. When he feels intimidated or exposed, his speech slows, and he hesitates slightly, as if carefully considering each word to avoid conflict or misunderstanding. Due to his deep introversion and fear of rejection, he tends to use short answers like "yes," "no," "I don't know," or "okay." He also avoids prolonging conversations about his private life or emotional well-being, employing evasive language to avoid dwelling on the loneliness he experiences at home.

However, his communication style changes completely when he speaks English. Memo speaks it perfectly and fluently, with impeccable pronunciation. While in Spanish he might sound insecure and hesitant, in English he projects confidence, quick wit, and surprising eloquence. This linguistic ability captivates his classmates and makes him a key player in their clandestine homework-selling business, as it gives him a "voice" and status within the group.

Unlike other high school students who use rebellious, brusque expressions or more informal language, Memo maintains a polite, proper, and respectful way of speaking. Even during tense moments or when talking with Pascual, his driver, he uses refined vocabulary and lacks aggression. To truly understand his communication style, it's also necessary to observe his silences. Memo constantly resorts to nonverbal communication to replace words: he lowers his gaze, remains silent, pauses, or uses small gestures when he feels emotionally overwhelmed. In this way, his speech reflects his introverted personality and the difficulty he has in directly expressing what he feels.

Compulsively adjusting clothing or hair: When experiencing a crisis or feeling like the center of attention, they often readjust and stretch their shirt collar or subtly touch their hair as a way to buy time and dissipate peaks of social anxiety.

Constant manipulation of small objects: Memo often releases his anxiety by manipulating whatever is within reach. It's common to see him repeatedly fiddling with pens, pencils, the corners of his notebooks, or music cassettes. Rubbing fingers and hands together: In moments of high tension, Memo tends to tightly interlace his fingers, rub his palms together, or fidget with his thumbs. In psychology, these gestures act as a form of self-soothing or self-regulation in response to fear.

Averted gaze fixed on the floor: Memo rarely maintains eye contact for long, especially with authority figures (like teachers or his parents) or hostile people. His automatic habit when he feels observed or intimidated is to immediately lower his eyes or glance evasively out of the corner of his eye. Staring at his hands or the table: When sitting in the classroom or at the family table, he fixes his eyes on his hands or food, using it as a mental screen to isolate himself from his surroundings.

Slumped shoulders and hunched back: Physically, Memo's body is chronically hunched inwards. He walks and sits with his shoulders slightly collapsed, an unconscious habit that reflects his literal desire to go unnoticed, take up as little space as possible in rooms, and protect his chest from vulnerability. Arms crossed or close to the body: He keeps his limbs very close to his torso. When walking through school hallways, he doesn't swing his arms freely; he tends to hold onto his backpack straps or cross his arms in front of him as a defensive "barrier" against the outside world.

The forced or social smile: Memo has a behavioral habit of smiling subtly but in a forced way in front of his friends so they don't suspect his sadness. It's not an involuntary motor tic, but a learned adaptive behavior (the smiling depression mechanism).

On a social and economic level, his parents provide him with every possible privilege (a large house, technology, private education, and a chauffeur), but they completely lack the ability to connect with their son's inner world. Although Memo's parents live under the same roof, they are emotionally absent. Their attention is entirely focused on their own problems, maintaining the appearance of their social status, and the demands of the father's job. By not showing genuine interest in what Memo thinks, feels, or suffers at school, they cause him to develop a profound sense of "accompanied loneliness."

Memo's parents try to compensate for their lack of time and genuine connection with him through material things. Instead of having deep conversations or providing psychological support for his shyness, they give him expensive gifts like a modern computer or a state-of-the-art karaoke machine. They don't realize that material objects don't fill the emotional void Memo carries. Due to the father's job, the family moves to different cities constantly. The parents make these decisions unilaterally, completely ignoring the psychological and social impact this has on Memo, forcing him to be permanently "the new kid" at every school he transfers to.

Due to his parents' silent hostility, Memo unconsciously transfers the emotional role of a protective family to Pascual, his driver. He is the only figure in his daily life who truly listens to him, gives him life advice, validates his feelings, and cares about his well-being, becoming his true paternal support in the face of the cold absence of his biological family.

Alejandro (Alex) Haza: Appearance: He has a slightly alternative or rebellious but neat style. He wears his brown hair in the typical open-book hairstyle of the time, and when he's at school, he wears the school uniform in a slightly more relaxed way. Personality: He is the natural leader, charismatic and driving force behind the clandestine business. Although he projects confidence outwardly, Alex experiences a deep internal conflict surrounding his own identity and sexual orientation, facing the challenge of self-acceptance, but he eventually overcame it and established a romantic relationship with Rafael (Rafa), a boy who works at his father's video store. María Fernanda Calónico:
Appearance: She has a natural, fresh look, with a simplicity very characteristic of the youth of that era. She usually wears her long hair loose and dresses in a practical and informal style.
Personality: Represents the creative, sensitive, and empathetic part of the group.

Tenoch Pérez: Appearance: He has striking features and a more centered presence. He wears his school uniform correctly and formally, reflecting his role as the model student. Personality: He's the brains of the homework business due to his impeccable academic excellence. He's a rational, extremely loyal, structured, and mature friend, often acting as the realistic anchor of the group when things get out of hand.

Daniela Oz:
Appearance: He has a youthful look and often displays a focused expression. His clothing and hairstyle are neat, projecting an analytical and formal vibe.
Personality: She brings scientific insight, logical thinking, and operational strategy to the group. She is decisive, direct, and highly pragmatic, ensuring that the clandestine task-making business operates with mathematical efficiency.

Basically, they secretly sell tasks and jobs.
Tenoch was the one who had the idea and started the business, but eventually, the number of students who wanted to buy homework and assignments increased, so he went to ask for help from Daniela, the second highest average in that generation, then he went to ask for help from Marifer, who is in charge of artistic and creative assignments, later, he recruited Alex, who is more "the face of the business", since he is the one who defends them from any classmate who wants to bother them.
Finally, Memo, the last to join the business, he takes care of the English tasks and jobs.

The amount they charge for tasks and jobs depends on their difficulty and importance. In the end, they meet every afternoon at Alex's video store to divide the profits and take on other jobs.

They also meet in the school library, where they usually spend most of their breaks and talk about business matters.