Teresa Smith (Honor Student)

Teresa Smith (Josie Loren) is the main villainess of the 2014 Lifetime film Honor Student.

History[]

Teresa was a student at OSU University, accepted into the college at just 17 years old. She began an affair with her English professor and fell in love with him. When she learned he was sleeping with other students, Teresa forced him to read his novel about eulogies to her before putting the gun to her head and asking what literary eulogy he'd read at her funeral. When he didn't respond with the one she wanted (Romeo & Juliet), the psychotic Teresa killed him with a shot to the head.

She was then sentenced to prison, where she became the student of main protagonist Nicholas Howarth, a writer who taught the inmates. Teresa was antisocial for most of the class sessions, not even writing any work. But on Nicholas's last day, he talked to Teresa and she revealed an idea she had for a book, the plot mirroring her own crime. Five years later, Nicholas turned her idea into a novel entitled Killer Student, which became a bestseller and earned Nicholas wide praise. Teresa, however, became angered and tracked Nicholas down to get what she felt was due to her.

Events[]

Teresa approached Nicholas at a book signing for Killer Student, subtly threatening him. She later broke into his office, accusing him of stealing her idea and deleting the progress he had made on his current book. She then demanded that Nicholas give her half of the royalties he made from Killer Student and hold a press conference to announce it. When Nicholas refused, Teresa responded by stalking Nicholas and his wife Lana, along with letting out Lana's chickens and refusing a money offer Nicholas gave her when she approached him in a bookstore. She also planted a used condom in Nicholas' house, briefly making Lana think the two were having an affair before Nicholas confessed the situation, putting a strain on the already shaky marriage and causing Lana to move out.

In another confrontation at his house, Teresa forcibly kissed Nicholas and briefly allowed him to threaten her with a knife before leaving. Nicholas tried to report Teresa to the police and had the police do a sting on a meeting between him and Teresa when he went to pay her off, but the villainess managed to manipulate the Sheriff against Nicholas. She also stole the flashdrive containing Nicholas's latest book, giving it back to him under the condition that he list her as a co-author (which he secretly didn't do). Nicholas tried to appease Teresa by offering to sponsor the book she was writing herself, but Teresa refused and punched Nicholas in the nose before leaving. She then called his publisher Erica Edwards (whose contact information she stole from Nicholas' phone) and claimed Nicholas was taking her on as a protégé to further toy with him. Nicholas tried to protect his new book by giving a copy of it to Marcia, the owner of his favorite bookstore, but Teresa saw the exchange and later attacked Marcia, knocking her out before stealing the flashdrive.

She then sent Nicholas's new book in to Erica as her own work and killed Lana's chickens, further driving her and Nicholas apart. Fed up with Teresa's schemes, Nicholas tried to pay her off with a check and the royalties of Killer Student, but Teresa rejected it due to the money she could make off of Nicholas's new book. The psychotic woman then smashed a bottle over her head, making it appear that Nicholas attacked her and causing him to be briefly arrested. Nicholas finally signed over the rights to The First Wife (his new book) to Teresa, but after she was unsatisfied with the ending, Teresa took Lana and Erica hostage to Nicholas's house and tried to force him at gunpoint to write a new ending. Nicholas tried to get to the car to get Erica's phone, but was caught by Teresa and taken back to the house. When Nicholas insulted Teresa, she briefly held Lana at gunpoint to make him do as she wanted. She also became irate when she realized Lana had tried to drug her, firing a bullet as the Sheriff called to the scene by Lana's sister. Nicholas and the Sheriff tried to formulate a plan to stop Teresa, but she caught on, leading to a gun battle in which Nicholas chased Teresa upstairs. Teresa held Nicholas at gunpoint for a brief moment before dropping the gun, saying she didn't really want to kill him. Nicholas then took control of the gun, using it to force Teresa to start writing her own book and helping aid her. The final scene of the movie showed Teresa back in prison, busily typing on a laptop, having published her own successful novel with Nicholas's help.