Karla Bentham

Infobox_character
status =
name = Karla Bentham


first = 3x01
last =
born = 1992 or 1993
color = #BBAAFF
family =
spouse =
age = 15
occupation = Student
portrayer = Jessica Baglow

Karla Bentham is a fictional character in the TV series "Waterloo Road", who is portrayed by Jessica Baglow.

Karla is a 15-year-old Year 10 student who has Asperger's Syndrome. She also exhibits Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and depression, and is unable to deal with physical contact.

Series 3

When Karla first arrives at Waterloo Road the teachers are unsure how to deal with her, as they have not been trained to know how to handle students with autism. Her mother requests that she is to take tranquillizers regularly (seemingly identical to the ones Jack Rimmer has started taking), however Steph Haydock doesn’t believe that they will make a difference and keeps them from her.

On her first day at Waterloo Road, Mr Rimmer told her to wait outside (his office) when he wanted a private conversation with her mother, only for Karla to literally go outside of the building. Steph then told Karla to "wait for a second", and Karla responded by pointing out that she'd been waiting for 35 seconds.

Karla was placed in the lowest groups at Waterloo Road, because of her condition, but is shown to have an advanced understanding of certain subjects such as Mathematics, so she is promptly moved to Grantly Budgen’s higher ability class. The moment she moved into this class, due to her literal interpretation of simple instructions she inadvertently disrupts the lesson when Grantly announced that he wants everyone to be quiet and then continues talking so Karla accused him of lying (she thought he was including himself when he said “everyone”). Grantly then threatened Karla who becomes afraid and disoriented so she arms herself with her chair, and warns Grantly not to touch her, when he continued to advance, she hit him with the chair.

It is later established that this could have been avoided if she had taken he pills, but Steph denied all responsibilities. And in the next episode, Grantly placed her on the other side of the class room, and refused to acknowledge her presence, even when she was trying to answer the questions, despite protests from other students and Davina Shackleton who sympathizes with Karla, and takes a course on Asperger’s.

Karla took part in auditioning for the school musical, but is left off the list by accident and is thefore unable to finish her song, which confuses her as she has always finished while practising, Steph became inpatient and attempted to silence her and was slapped, and when Karla realized what she had done she runs out of school. An unlikely source, Lewis Seddon (a one-time school bully), befriends Karla when he finds her behind the sheds, and is able to talk her into returning to class, although he initially referred to her as the "Asparagus kid".

Karla was also the first pupil to talk to Ben McNulty after news his HIV reached everyone at school, and expressed a greater understanding than the rest of the students. She later took part in an archeologically digging project with Aleesha Dillon and Danielle Harker, which was promptly cancelled after the remains of a dead baby were discovered. The three (Karla especially) were very disappointed, but were unable to convince the teachers to reconsider the situation. Danielle and Aleesha manipulate Karla into starting a petition to get the dig reinstated, putting her at odds with other students, particularly Mika Grainger, who was having a pregnancy scare (later found to be negative) at the time. It was later discovered that the Aleesha wrote the entire petition her self, and may have deliberately made it misleading.

Later on, Danielle began to regret having played a part in the petition. A week or so afterwards, she was growing tired of Aleesha's attitude to having lost the lead role, and was equally fed up with her friend's insistence that it was Karla's fault she was fired from the musical. Karla had been given the duty of operating the audio equipment, and Aleesha decided to get her revenge on her by sabotaging the equipment.

After reading her diary, Danielle Harker and Aleesha Dillon decided to be a better friend to Karla Bentham. They found her hiding in the bin area, and convinced her to come out. Just at that moment, the wife of Grantly Budgen appeared and fainted. The three students joined forces to help her recover.

Although a lot more sensible than her two friends, she has tended to give Danielle and Aleesha a free reign to continue being as minxy as they were before they met her, as she isn't the type to be judgemental or impulsive. Because she wasn't sat with her friends when the immigration officials returned, Karla was not in a position to aid her two mates in trying to stop one of the pupils being deported.

Friends & Associations

Although she didn't make any friends on her first day, she gradually became friends with Danielle Harker and Aleesha Dillon, in spite of a thoughtless prank (the petition) that was carried out at her expense. Danielle and Aleesha soon saw the error of their ways, and did what they could to make amends for their misdeeds. Her only other true friend is Davina Shackleton, her support teacher and Jack Rimmer's former fiancee.

The Gifted & Talented Gang

In spite of not being officially acknowledged as such, Karla, Danielle and Aleesha - because they are the three most promising female students - are regarded as being part of a specific clique within the school. The three of them were forced to watch with incredulity, as a fire ripped through the canteen, damaging half of the principal buildings in the process.

External links

* [http://www.waterlooroad.co.uk "Waterloo Road" Website]