Claudia Rhodes

Claudia Rhodes, a character from the Murder at Homecoming book, is Gabbie Navarro's best friend. She is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance

Claudia has brown eyes, dark skin, and black curly long hair tied into a high bun. She wears a transparent sleeveless floral black dress. For her everyday wear, she wears a lavender sweater.

Personality

Claudia is one of the most popular girls in school, and the new queen bee after Gabbie's death. She is a kind and sensitive girl, and very friendly towards you and others. On the surface it looks like she enjoys being the new "it" girl, but there are moments where you can see that beneath her happy facade, she is still having a hard time coping with Gabbie's death.

Chapters

Murder at Homecoming

Chapter 1: Blood in the Water
Chapter 2: Keep Your Enemies Close
Chapter 4: You've Changed (Mentioned)
Chapter 6: Behind Closed Doors (Mentioned; Off-Screen; Determinant)
Chapter 7: Party Crasher (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
Chapter 9: Case Closed?
Chapter 10: Prisoner's Dilemma (Mentioned)
Chapter 11: Run, Rabbit, Run
Chapter 12: To Tug at Tangled Threads
Chapter 13: Pick Your Poisoner (Off-Screen)
Chapter 14: Dance with Death
Chapter 15: Prey For Me
Chapter 16: Surviving High School

Relationships

Gabbie Navarro

Gabbie was Claudia's best friend. Claudia becomes the new queen bee after Gabbie's murder, but she still seems to have a hard time coping with her death. In Chapter 6 you find some lingerie pictures of Claudia on Gabbie's laptop, and you assume that they were either for Brett, or that Gabbie was blackmailing Claudia. However, in Chapter 10, Brett says that Claudia never sent him nudes, and that Gabbie and Claudia were spending a lot of time together. He believes that Gabbie was jealous of Brett and Claudia, and that she was trying to break them up. Gabbie saw the kind of toxic relationship Brett and Claudia had and got him arrested because of it. She couldn't have him arrested because of the pictures but had to find something else. Claudia was angry at Gabbie as with her actions, Gabbie did the exact same thing as Brett - take Claudia's choice away from her. When Claudia confronted her about it, Gabbie told her "I have to save you from yourself."

Your Character

Claudia is one of your suspects in Gabbie's murder investigation. She thanks you for catching the pervert stealing the cheer uniforms. At Gabbie's funeral, you can use your own experience with grief to give advice to her on how to deal with her death, and this can make Claudia trust you enough to let you in on a secret. Throughout the story the two of you are friendly, and you are the only one who sees that beneath her happy facade she is still having a hard time coping with Gabbie's death. While there are moments that her actions seem suspicious to others, you usually sympathize with her and note that it must be hard to be in her place. In Chapter 7, if you play Truth or Dare with Brett and your friends and you choose to kiss Tyler, she is surprised that he would flirt after everything that has happened.

Brett Morris

He's Claudia's ex-boyfriend, and they were together until he was arrested. You note that Claudia never looked as happy as she did being on a friend date with Dylan as when being Brett's girlfriend. After their breakup, Brett went on a long rant about how awful of a girlfriend Claudia was, saying she didn't love him the way he loved her. In Chapter 10, he confirms that he sprayed their initials on a wall, and claims that he never hurt her. He says that they fell fast and hard, and that he never met someone who got him the way Claudia did. However, their relationship is shown to have been an abusive, toxic one. Brett felt entitled to her time, constantly asking her to hang out and complaining whenever she didn't have time to or didn't want to. He refused to accept it when she said she had schoolwork to do or wanted to hang out with her friends. Instead, he would call her over a dozen times, leave her several messages, and sometimes even go to where she was. He was monitoring where she was whenever she said she had something else to do. He came to the conclusion that Gabbie must have hated him and that she tried to get into their relationship, so he instead tried to break up their friendship, trying to convince Claudia to "get rid" of Gabbie. In Chapter 16, Claudia reveals she had a therapist who helped her with an exit plan but she was "dragging her feet" - until he was arrested which was the point where she could finally break up.

Gallery

Other Looks

Miscellaneous

Trivia

Her character model resembles a female version of Crown Shield from The Royal Masquerade.
On August 3, 2022, PB updated the first chapter and renamed her from Claudia Fiorello to Claudia Rhodes.
In Chapter 13, it is revealed that she is among the ones who exited the gym around the time of Gabbie's death, with the others being April, Kevin, and Mrs. Jones. Same scene told that other unnamed characters also exited the gym around that time.
She shares the same surname as Harrison Rhodes from The Billionaire's Baby.
In Chapter 15, she is voted Snowflake Queen. In Chapter 16, Mr. Lewis reveals she told him she didn't accept the tiara when he wanted to give it to her, thinking she didn't deserve being Snowflake Queen. In a premium scene, you can cheer her up and then give her the tiara. She will then wear it at the party later in the chapter. If the scene is not taken, she won't wear the tiara but it's not mentioned what happened to the title and the tiara.
In Chapter 16, she mentions she will be going to Spelman.