| abstract | - At home, Ginger's mother Lois, a nurse, attempts to give Ginger advice for the majority of her situations, but, as Ginger is often too embarrassed to listen to her mother's reasoning, she ends up learning from her own mistakes much of the time. Ginger's younger brother, Carl, often attempts to use Ginger as a test subject for his experiments and twisted schemes. However, he has tried this so much that Ginger can usually tell that he is up to something, and refuses to comply. Early on in the series, Ginger did not know much about her father, who left the family shortly after Carl was born. In "Hello Stranger", she invited him to her poetry reading at school. Although he did not respond to the invitation, Ginger was convinced he would show anyway, and thus, was devastated when he didn't. In "An 'Even-Steven' Holiday Special" (the title of which refers to Ginger being torn between how to celebrate Christmas and Chanukah at the same time after learning that she is one-quarter Jewish), Jonas returns to the family briefly after seeing Carl playing Santa Claus on the street. Though never having officially found his way back into the family, Jonas became more of an installation in the show, appearing at various intervals to give Ginger fatherly advice. Ginger is portrayed as excelling academically. A self-described "science geek", and frequent "kiss-up" to her chemistry teacher, Mr. Celia, Ginger is also a very talented writer, particularly gifted at writing poetry. In "The 'A' Ticket", her crush, Ian Richton, was paired up with her as a lab partner, but used her to get an A so he could stay on the soccer team, much to Ginger's chagrin. Ginger is a favorite of her English teacher, Ms. Zorski, due to her talent for writing. Ginger once wrote a poem entitled "And Then She Was Gone" (in the episode "And She Was Gone"), to Ms. Zorski's concern, who subsequently sent Ginger to the school counselor. Her talent for writing is expounded on in the series finale, when we are shown that Ginger has become a successful author later in life. Ginger's love life was not terribly successful throughout the course of the show. Initially, she harbored a crush on Ian Richton, which presumably ended when she discovered he was only using her to get an A in science. Another notable relationship that Ginger has had is with Sasha, a boy she met at camp. She left camp on good terms with Sasha, but when she visited him at his school in "Ginger's Solo", he tells her he has a girlfriend. Her relationship with good friend and neighbor Darren Patterson was incredibly tumultuous and underwent much change during the series. In "Dare I, Darren?" Ginger began to look at Darren in a more romantic light following Miranda's suggestion that they would make a good couple. Later on, in "Never Can Say Goodbye", she develops a physical attraction to Darren after he gets his headgear removed. Despite attempts to deny these newfound feelings, Ginger becomes incredibly jealous when Darren and Miranda begin to date. Finally, in "Foutley's on Ice", Ginger and Darren become an official couple. However, when they reach high school, Darren soon takes interest in a cheerleader named Simone. Darren then cheats on Ginger, leaving her heartbroken. She then develops acute appendicitis and has to go to the hospital. She then finds comfort in a new friend, Orion. She and Orion never have an official relationship, but more of a flirtatious friendship. In the series finale, "The Wedding Frame", Ginger "takes the leap" and is shown with Orion at her mother's wedding, but at the very end of the episode, when Ginger's future is shown, she and Darren appear to be married and have a child.
- Ginger Foutley (voiced by Melissa Disney) is a typical junior high school girl. She has never been considered popular until Courtney Gripling, the most popular girl at Lucky Jr. High decided that Ginger could become a close friend to her. Courtney uses Ginger as a door to how things work outside the world of popularity. But it isn't long after Ginger's fifteen minutes of fame that Courtney's right-hand woman, Miranda Killgallen, puts Ginger back in her place, bottom-of-the-barrel geek. But Ginger has loyal friends that always catch her when she falls. Inside Ginger's family, however, is a different story. Ginger's mother, single mom and nurse, is always trying to let Ginger learn from her mistakes, but most of the time, Ginger is too embarrassed to listen to her mother's good reasoning. Ginger's little brother, Carl, often uses Ginger as a guinea pig for his experiments and twisted schemes. But it has happened so much that she can almost predict when he's up to something. She doesn't know much about her father, who left her family shortly after Carl was born. In Hello Stranger she invited him to a poem reading she was doing at school. He didn't respond to the invite, but she was convinced he'd show anyway, which he didn't. Then in An 'Even Steven' Holiday Special, Jonas returned to the family after seeing Carl on the street while he was playing Santa Clause. Although he never found his way back into the family officially, he occasionally pops up to offer Ginger some fatherly advice. Ginger is an excellent student. She describes herself as a "science geek" and is a kiss-up to her chemistry teacher, Mr. Celia. In The 'A' Ticket, her crush, Ian Richton, who was paired up with her as a lab partner, used her to get an A so he could stay on the soccer team. Ginger also does well in English. Her natural talent for writing has quickly made her a favorite of her teacher, Ms. Zorski. Ginger once wrote a poem entitled "And Then She Was Gone" (in the episode And She Was Gone), which concerned Ms. Zorski and got her sent to the school counselor. Ginger's love life hasn't been very successful in the past. Ginger's original crush in the series was on Ian Richton. This crush presumably ended when he used her to get an A in science (as mentioned). Perhaps the most special relationship she's had was with her good friend, Darren. In Dare I, Darren? Ginger began looking at her close friend and neighbor, Darren, differently after Miranda suggested they'd make a good couple. Later in Never Can Say Goodbye, she develops a physical attraction to Darren after he gets his orthodontia removed. She then gives off a jealous vibe after Darren agrees to date Miranda. Finally, in Foutley's On Ice (Part 3), Ginger and Darren became an official couple. But when they reached high school, Darren cheated on Ginger, leaving her with a broken heart. She then found comfort in a new friend, Orion. She and Orion never have an official relationship, but more of a flirtatious friendship. However in the series finale, The Wedding Frame (Part 3), Ginger 'takes the leap' and is shown with Orion at her mothers wedding. However, at the end of the episode when it goes into the future, she not only has a wedding ring but Darren is holding a baby that looks like her. Hence, the implication is that she and Darren are married.Other notable relationships Ginger has had are with Sasha, a boy she met at camp. She left camp on good terms with Sasha, but when she visited him at his school in Ginger's Solo, he tells her he has a girlfriend. In Heat Lightning, when she returns to camp, she gets mixed feelings about Sasha but eventually fell back into the arms of Darren. The ending in the final episode called, "The Wedding Frame Part 3," takes us many years in the future where Ginger has become a successful author.
* Ginger considers herself one-fourth Jewish, as one of her grandfathers was Jewish.
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