Jasper Bayers

Jasper Bayers is a student in the Royal Institute for Masterful Individuals' 43rd class and a participant in the Camping Trip of Mutual Killing. His title, Super Stellar Jeweler, was given to him after he created a number of impressive jewelry designs for his family's jewelry business, leading to said business gaining fame and popularity throughout the country.

Appearance
Jasper is a relatively young looking teenager with blond hair and brown eyes. In Monocamp, he is seen wearing a cream colored knit sweater, a light brown scarf and cap, black jeans and a pair of dull brown dress shoes.

During The Cessation, he abandons most of his old outfit in favour of comfier, lazier attire such as plain t-shirts and sweatpants, although he still keeps his signature brown cap.

Personality
Jasper comes off as relatively mellow and easygoing person. He can often be seen lazing around the camp or taking long naps in his cabin, to the point where Anabel calls him a slacker and "a waste of her time". He has a smart mouth, constantly making snarky and impudent remarks towards his fellow students throughout the course of the story. He has a hard time trusting others after they've done wrong in the past. For instance, he is still not fond of Marion and Moche after the former became a more cooperative person and the latter was revealed to have been under the control of the Blackburn Society.

Despite his negative traits, he is shown to be capable of being a very compassionate and caring person. He is shown to be willing to do anything for those he genuinely cares about, including acting as a spy for Rowan and swearing to defend Saffron no matter what. He absolutely hates seeing his loved ones suffer, and will do anything within his power to cheer them up.

Although he appears to be slothful and somewhat aloof, Jasper can be a very intelligent person when it comes down to it. For instance, he manages to singlehandedly solve Penny's murder in Chapter 3 while the rest of the class was stuck. During elementary school, he was a very bright student with top marks, but he mentions that his grades started falling during his junior and intermediate years.

His secret in Chapter 3 reveals that he suffers from clinical depression and has attempted suicide in the past. He is uncomfortable speaking about the subject, and since then has been trying to recover.

Early Life
Jasper grew up in Rochester with his younger sister Jade in a house above his family's jewelry store. His father was very passionate about the business, and when Jasper displayed interest in the craft at a young age he took him under his wing and began teaching him everything he knew.

A few weeks before his mother's birthday, he asked his father what he was going to give her as a gift. His father seemed unconcerned with this, brushing it off and telling his son that he'd come up with something eventually. Just a few days before the birthday, his father excused himself to go on a trip over the weekend with his friends. Jasper, upon realizing that his mother would be devastated that her husband neglected to celebrate her birthday with her, secretly headed into his father's workshop to make a simple pair of earrings for her. As he was still young and inexperienced, it took an all nighter to make the gift.

On the morning of the birthday, he gave the gift to his mother, and although she knew that he made it and not her husband, she thanked him for bringing the gift and suggested that he should continue to work on the craft so that he'll "be as good at it as his father". Thanks to his mother's encouragement, he began working harder and harder on his jewelry.

As the years went on, Jasper noticed that his father began to drift away from the family as a whole. He became overly obsessed with the family business, spending almost every waking hour working away in his room. When he wasn't working on the business, he tended to head out for trips for days at a time, not even letting his wife and kids know where he was going. Jasper feared for his parents' relationship, but decided not to get too involved. He instead spent his time caring for and playing with Jade while his mother was busy with her own work. Occasionally while his father was away, he'd head into the workshop again and spend hours making small trinkets and gifts for Jade, showing her how he did it and teaching her techniques and skills just like his father did to him as a child.

When Jasper was nine, his mother discovered that her husband was cheating on her with several women and even had a daughter named Sapphire with one of them. This led to a big fight and ended in the two getting a divorce. Jade was absolutely devastated by this, but Jasper had been expecting this for years. The two children were to be moved between their father's house above the jewelry store and their mother's house across town every six months.

During his time at his father's house, he spent hours practicing the craft of jewelry making with his father. Although he wasn't very fond of his dad anymore, he continued to work on this under his guidance so that he could make his mom proud. By the time he turned ten, his father considered him good enough to start making designs for the store. The unique designs he released were a big hit and thanks to them, the Bayers Jewelry Firm began gaining popularity and fame, his work reaching even famous fashion icons such as Jolie L'Amoureux and her family.

By age thirteen, his designs had made the family business famous. His father, greedy as always, began taking credit for his son's jewelry designs and even took the money he made. He began losing interest in jewelry making due to this, and due to a lack of other hobbies he started to spend his days sleeping in his room after finishing off his schoolwork.

As a result from the stress from his life building up, a lack of meaningful friendships, his overly materialistic father stealing the credit for his work, watching his father treat Sapphire better than him and Jade, a growing hatred of himself for not being able to help support his mother and sister much after the divorce, he later attempted suicide. Jade discovered him bleeding out in his bedroom and he was soon rushed to the hospital where he was saved. Jasper instantly regretted it after he saw how saddened his mother and sister were when they visited him in his hospital room. He began taking steps towards recovery after this.

Later that year, the Institute noticed the Bayers Jewelry Firm's success and through some thorough investigation into the business, found that many of the store's most successful designs were created by a young boy. Jasper soon received a letter from the school that recognized his achievements as a jeweler and thus was given the title Super Stellar Jeweler and invited to join the school's 43rd class.

Camping Trip of Mutual Killing
Along with the rest of the 43rd class, Jasper gets his memories of his high school years erased by the Blackburn Society during his graduation and is taken to Monocamp while unconscious. Soon after arriving in the camp, he becomes friends with Saffron, Rowan and Jolie. He encourages Rowan to start making friends in the class in hopes that a stronger bond between the students would prevent murders from occurring.

In Chapter 1, he hosts a jewelry making session with Jolie where he creates a necklace from fake rubies relatively quickly. He also presents his pet rock, Dwayne, to the group, sarcastically declaring it a new member of the class. The pet rock is later used by Jolie to murder Thomas. During Jolie's execution, he can hardly bear to watch.

In Chapter 2, he develops a stronger bond with Saffron when he consoles him after finding him crying in his cabin about the recent events. He also acts as a spy for Rowan when she expresses concern regarding Saffron and Olive's nightly training sessions that involve dangerous weaponry. Throughout this chapter, he slowly develops a crush on Saffron and soon admits his feelings to him during Blake's party against Rowan's advice.

Trivia

 * His original last name was Purdie, but it was changed to Bayers in the early planning stage.
 * He's gay, and has a short-lived relationship with Saffron during the Camping Trip of Mutual Killing. In Happy Campers, it is revealed that the two have stayed in a healthy relationship throughout most of their high school years.
 * His favorite ice cream flavor is rocky road.
 * His favorite gemstones to use in his jewelry designs are sapphires.