Characters / The Freshman

Character List from the Visual Novel The Freshman and its sequels The Sophomore, The Junior and The Senior.

Students and Faculty members of Hartfeld University

Main Character and her Roommates

General Tropes for The Gang

• Amicable Exes:
  • No matter if Emily chooses Chris, Kaitlyn, James or Zig, there's no animosity between any of them or resentments towards Emily.
  • At the same time, Chris seems to be this with Becca because he is the only one who mildly defends her inside the group (he still says they just were casual). Emily can be this with her too if they hooked up in Freshman Books 3 and 4.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
  • We have the Average Girl (Emily/MC), the Lovable Jock (Chris), the Party Girl (Kaitlyn), the Overemotional Artist (Abbie), the Asian and Nerdy guy (Tyler) and the Gay Best Friend (Zack). Later join the Non-Idle Rich Writer (James) and The Bad Boy with a Heart (Zig).
  • The new house in Sophomore has Author Avatar Emily/MC, Lovable Jock Student Council President Chris, Punk Lipstick Lesbian Kaitlyn, Quirky Camp Gay Friend Zack, and later Fallen Princess Becca moves in.
• True Companions: They bonded immediately since Day 1. Despite any rift that had appeared (Chris hanging out with Becca, Kaitlyn and Abbie's fight), they always came around to forgive and help each other.

Emily Day (Or "The Main Character"/You)

• Author Avatar: The Player can customize her look or name to be in the story.
• Based on a True Story: Professor Vasquez's final novel ends up being the story of her first year at Hartfeld.
• Fiery Redhead: Her default look combined with the most assertive responses.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The main character is nameable; the main books do not provide a default name for her, but the spinoff books have her default name as Emily.
  • By The Senior, her last name is revealed and customizable, with the default as Day.
• The Matchmaker: She can help form couples during the story, like Zack and Brandon, Abbie and Tyler, Madison with either Logan or Tripp, and Amara with Darren.
• Maternally Challenged: If Emily ends up babysitting with James or Zig (who are very good with babies), she’ll get teased about having no idea what she’s doing.
• Second Love: If she chooses Chris, she will be this after Chris decides to move on from his break up.
• Secret-Keeper: She accidentally finds out that Professor Vasquez is dying from Terminal Cancer and is forced to keep it a secret until James and Gabriella inevitably find out.
• Team Mom: In Book 3 Chapter 16, Zig tells her she's the glue that holds the group together. Zack echoes this sentiment in book 1 of The Sophomore, playfully calling her the group mom.

Christopher "Chris" Powell

• The All-American Boy: Chris has the look, hobby (football player), and nice guy personality.
• Cool Big Bro: His little sister AJ adores him so much that she acts as an overprotective sister towards any of his girl friends.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Before enrolling at Hartfeld, Chris used to be a rebel with a criminal record from a broken home, until his coach bailed him out and got him into football so he could get a scholarship for college.
• Disappeared Dad: A premium choice in Book 3 Chapter 1 has Chris reveal his father just left with no note or explanation, and he's never seen him since. His father reappears in Sophomore Book 2, giving Chris mixed emotions between forgiving him and reconnecting or dealing with the years of abandonment.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In The Sophomore book 1, he has longer hair.
• Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: During Truth or Truth, Chris tells that his ultimate fantasy is to rescue a girl from a burning building, which later leads to this. This becomes a Trivia Question during the Valentine's Day Special.
• Hidden Depths: Book 2 is essentially a development for his character, since he tries to find a purpose for himself outside playing football. He discovers he has acting talent when auditioning for James' play, and also becomes interested in Political Science for his major.
• Love Interest: One of the three original Love Interests.
• Student Council President: He becomes this in Book 3, but still has to struggle with Sebastian as his Treasurer.

Kaitlyn Liao

• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: During Truth or Truth, Kaitlyn tells that her dream is to be covered in chocolate. This becomes a Trivia Question during the Valentine's Day Special.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In The Sophomore book 1, she gets a haircut above the shoulder.
• Gay Option: She turns out to be the third Love Interest through the middle of Book 1.
• Heroic BSoD: She suffers a big one in Book 2 after her parents accidentally discover that she is a lesbian, resulting in her avoiding Emily during two weeks and locking herself in her bedroom crying. She snaps out of it when her father tells her that he already assimilated it, promptly apologizing to Emily.
• Jerkass Realization: She only realizes that she was a complete jerk to her friends when she's 24 hours away from failing the whole semester.
• Lady Drunk: Subverted. She begins the story as the heaviest drinker in the group, but the excess eventually causes her to have alcohol poisoning and get rushed to the hospital on her birthday, after which she curbs her drinking significantly.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Apart from the fact that she's into girls, she doesn't display any stereotypical traits.
• Love Interest: One of the three main Love Interests.
• Twofer Token Minority: She is Asian and gay.

Zackary "Zack" Zilberg

• Alliterative Name: Both start with Z
• All Gays are Promiscuous: Averted. In Freshman he starts as a hopeless romantic with a huge crush on Brandon. After they break up, Zach decides to remain single for a while, until he meets Grant and decides to date on a casual level.
• Amicable Exes: After a long process of recovery, Zack finally made peace with himself and parted ways with Brandon.
• Camp Gay: He is very flamboyant and quirky.
• Casanova Wannabe: He presents himself as a flirty flamboyant gay stereotype, until it's shown that he can barely talk to his crush. It's only because of the Main Character (and premium options) that he is able to ask him out at all.
• Gay Best Friend: He is this to Emily and the rest of the gang.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He is Best Friends with Tyler, with Zack constantly shipping Tyler and Abbie.
• Long-Distance Relationship: When Brandon goes for an exchange program in Peru for three months, Zack becomes paranoid that Brandon will either cheat on him or break up after meeting another handsome guy. While he is relieved that Brandon misses him as much as he does, Zack realizes that he should be the stable one until he comes back, with the help of Emily and a premium option for a "Skype Date".

Tyler Alan

• Asian and Nerdy: Smart, very dorky and a big fan of games and other pop culture media.
• Beta Couple: Since Book 2, he and Abbie become the only stable couple in the story. Tensions between them flare up in The Sophomore, however.
• Demoted to Extra: He and Abbie appear notably less in The Sophomore, since they no longer live with the gang.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He is Best Friends with Zack. After Sophomore, he becomes his with Sebastian.
• Morality Pet: He becomes this for Sebastian. After befriending each other during his fight with Abbie, Sebastian tries to make honest efforts to be nicer to Tyler's friends. After the incident with the boiler, Sebastian tries to make amends and get everyone's forgiveness, especially Tyler's.

Abbie Bishop

• Ambiguously Brown: Her portrait suggests that she might be multi-racial, but her specific ethnicity is never stated.
• Beta Couple: Since Book 2, she and Tyler have been the only stable couple in the story. Tensions between them flare up in The Sophomore, however.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She only shows interest in Tyler when Leila appears as The Rival for his affections. She also gets overprotective of him when Rachel and Natasha teased him about his meek personality.
• Demoted to Extra: She and Tyler appear notably less in The Sophomore, since they no longer live with the gang.
• Oblivious to Love: In Book 1, she doesn't notice that Tyler wants to be with her. The most notorious example is when Tyler suggests sharing a car ride, just the two (and he wasn't being subtle at all), and she still doesn't notice until the others tell her.

Literature Faculty

James Ashton

• Belligerent Sexual Tension: He and Emily start snarking at each other until James admits that he developed feelings for her.
• Black and Nerdy: Though to be honest, he's more bookish than nerdy.
• Career Versus Man: In Book 3, James is given the opportunity to become a professional author when his play is picked up as a movie, but that implies leaving college and moving to Hollywood. If Emily is dating him, they can either break up or try to keep a Long-Distance Relationship.
• Da Editor: He becomes Chief Editor of the Knightly News, the University's newspaper, and becomes a very strict one.
• Defrosting Ice King: Claims that it takes him a while to "warm up to people." Except for Emily, of course.
• Geeky Turn-On: If Emily decides to go to Twelfth Night in the park with him, she can reveal that she knows a lot about Shakespeare. When she jokes about the time they "wasted making out when we could have been talking about Shakespeare," he suggests they do both. He later invites her back to "discuss the play".
• Out of Focus: From the three first Love Interests, he is the only one Demoted to Extra for the Love Bites Halloween Special.
• Love Interest: One of the three main Love Interests.
• Sixth Ranger: By Book 2, he becomes the seventh member of the gang.
• Teacher's Pet: James for Vasquez, to an extent, because he's a big fan of his writing and extremely excited to have the opportunity to work with him.
• Token Minority: The only black romantic interest.

Professor Enrique Vasquez

• The Atoner: It took him a lot of time to swallow his pride and recognize that he owed his daughter an apology for writing all her secrets into a novel. He eventually gives her the complete rights to the novel in question, allowing her to choose whether to let them expire and cause the book to go out of print or renew them and live comfortably off the royalties they will bring in.
• Based on a True Story: Most of his novels are written about real people, which bring problems because they are too accurate on the person he based them on.
• Character Death: He passes away near the end of Book 2.
• Stern Teacher: He won't tolerate any kind of distractions during his classes, as seen in #LoveHacks when Mark strikes inside of his classroom on a dare.
  • Before his death, he makes peace with Emily, encouraging her to live life at maximum and learn from his mistakes. Emily later talks to his grave and tells him how much she appreciated their time despite their differences.
• Straight Man: He usually plays serious foil, more notably next to Mrs. Twombly.

Professor Alice Balewa

• One-Shot Character: Subverted. She first appears in The Sophomore Book 2 Chapter 13 and reappears in The Senior after her absence throughout The Junior. Justified in that she mostly works with seniors because she teaches upper-level classes.

Kappa Phi Sigma sorority

Rebecca "Becca" Davenport

• Alpha Bitch: In Books 1 and 2 of The Freshman, she is mean and nasty to Emily at every opportunity, usually with no justification. Character Development gradually turns her into a Lovable Alpha Bitch since Book 3, when she begins acting nicer toward other people.
• The Atoner: In The Sophomore, she tries to get revenge for losing the sorority presidency to Madison by ruining the pledge event. Afterward, she feels horrible about what she did to her best friend and becomes determined to make it up to her.
• Bully Turned Buddy: Becca, formerly Alpha Bitch number one, falls on hard times and eventually becomes Emily's friend (and possibly more).
• Card-Carrying Villain: Vasquez classifies Becca as a classic novel villain because of her profile as a typical Sorority Snobby Antagonist.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite antagonizing Emily and her friends, she decides to help them blackmail Sebastian after she discovers that he steals trust funds for himself.
• Fallen Princess: In Sophomore, Becca reveals that her parents signed a prenup before the divorce, which meant that she, her mother and sister are broke, while her father is still paying for her college tuition, but not for her other expenses, which made her retire from the Sorority. Emily feels so sorry for her that she invites her to share rent with them at the house.
• Gold Digger: She initially dated Sebastian because she was impressed by his background and wealth.
• Hidden Depths: She is a fan of Punk rock.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: It's only because of Darren, Madison and Logan telling about how a good friend Becca can really be.
• Important Haircut: After moving in with Emily and the gang, she gets herself a new makeover as a sign that she is now a "New Becca", straightening her hair and dying it a shade darker of blond while also sporting thick bangs.
• Pet the Dog: In Book 3 Chapter 13, she refuses to let Emily go by herself to her dorm and invites her to crash at the Sorority house.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In Chapter 13, the story allows Emily to build relationship status with Becca with a Premium Option.
• The Proud Elite: During the time she was dating Sebastian, she also berated Emily and friends as "poor".
• Took a Level in Kindness: While she helped the gang with Sebastian's blackmail in Book 2, Book 3 shows a softer side of her, making a temporary truce with Emily when both tell each other they're going through rough patches (Emily is in the middle of her group falling apart, while Becca's parents are getting divorced). Instead of being insulting as usual, she tries to comfort Emily and even offers her to crash at the Sorority for the night.
  • She has her occasional relapses in Sophomore, where she can't help but be rude to her new suitemates. Emily has to remind her many times to be nice to them. In Book 2, she makes amends for Madison as well as being genuinely nice towards her suitemates.
• Woman Scorned: Besides her discovery of Sebastian's dirt (see above), the main reason she gives away the information is because Sebastian is so self-absorbed that he completely takes her for granted, never complimenting her or taking her on dates.

Madison Eckhart

• Dumb Blonde: She is very ditzy and doesn't get any metaphors.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: She is very loyal to Becca, even if Becca isn't as nice to her. During the time Becca ignored Madison to date Sebastian, Madison won't sign Chris' petition if Emily suggests this as "getting back at Becca". On the other hand, convincing her to sign so she can free Becca from "Sebastian's evil love spell" will do the trick.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In Book 3, it is revealed that she has quite a passion for poetry, and in particular is a huge fan of William Wordsworth.
  • In Love Bites, she shows an unexpected interest in geology. It would eventually be revealed in The Sophomore that it's her major.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Despite the fact that she is best friends with Becca, Madison is never mean to anyone, and she will be insulted if Emily suggests her to take revenge on Becca the time she ditches her for Sebastian.
• Nice Girl: She is the live example that not all Sorority Girls are mean like Becca.
• Literal-Minded: She can date either Tripp or Logan, she will confuse their love declarations for something completely off.
  • If Tripp is chosen, she will try to do a Heimlich Maneuvre on him because he says "She gets him choked up".
  • If Logan is chosen, she warns him to keep his balance when Logan says "He's falling for her".
• You Are in Command Now: In The Sophomore, she's voted as the new President of the sorority unanimously over Becca. She feels bad about it because Becca thinks she backstabbed her.

Chelsea McIntyre

• Alpha Bitch: After Becca leaves the Sorority, she becomes the new mean girl of the house, even dissing Madison, who is the current president.
• Big Sister Instinct: As soon as she hears that Emily was involved with the prank that made Claire cut off most of her hair, she refuses to acknowledge her.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She begins The Sophomore as the new Alpha Bitch by calling Madison dumb and dismissing Emily's attempt to defend her from Manny. She starts to be nicer in Sophomore Book 2, when Emily and Zig help her report Manny for harassment.
• You Are in Command Now: She becomes the President of Kappa Phi Sigma in The Junior after Madison graduates.

Claire Pierce

• The Cameo: She is originally from Rules of Engagement. She later becomes a regular after she enrolls at Hartfeld. She also makes a cameo in Red Carpet Diaries.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: She cuts her hair short in The Junior Book 1 Chapter 5 after Beau pranks her by replacing her shampoo with glue.
• Idle Rich: Despite Emily charging just one dollar for a poem, she is baffled that one dollar bills exist, insisting on paying 50 dollars instead if the poem is good enough.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Continuing with her trend of flirting with good looking guys, she makes her debut in Sophomore by trying to flirt with Zig. She later pays Emily to write a poem for her to impress her most recent crush.
• Spoiled Brat: She is so spoiled and self-absorbed, she makes Freshman!Becca look more sensible in comparison.
• Took a Level in Kindness: She is less combative in The Sophomore Book 2, since she pays Emily 50 dollars for a poem, helping their fundraiser considerably, and takes part in Becca's musical number for Madison. She goes back to being a brat in The Junior, when she insults Alpha Theta Mu for rejecting her and mocks Beau's Nouveau Riche background, though when Alpha Theta Mu is revealed to be up to no good all along, her abrasive attitude may be because of her suspicions of them. However, in The Senior, she apologizes to Emily for her previous behavior toward her and says that she has vowed to become a better person.

The Football Team

Darren Taylor

• Game-Breaking Injury: He is the QB of Hartfeld's football team. He twists his ankle in Book 1, which allows Chris to play in his spot while he recovers for the reminder of the season.
• Hidden Depths:
  • When first meeting him, the player assumes he is just a one-dimensional jock. While he admits that he does benefit from his sports scholarship, he knows that it won't be a long-term career, so he just wants to enjoy playing while still young.
  • Darren is also into Punk music.
• Lovable Jock: He is the star of the Hartfeld Football team and is also very nice and smart.
• Opposites Attract: Despite Amara being a punk girl and Darren a typical jock, he can't stop thinking about her after finding they have a lot more in common than they thought.
• Put on a Bus: He graduated at the end of The Freshman, leaving his Captain spot to Chris. He makes a couple of cameos in The Sophomore, and is still dating Amara if Emily helped them get together in Book 3.

Logan

• Betty and Veronica: He is the Veronica next to Tripp's Betty while pinning for Madison's Archie.
• Dumb Jock: While as likable as Chris and Darren, he is a lot more relaxed and daredevil than the other two. He got indigestion by eating a lot of eggs (presumably for a fraternity stunt) before Kappa Phi Sigma's party, leaving Abbie without a date.
• Lovable Jock: Like Chris and Darren, he is friendly and nice to others.
• Noodle Incident: A "Never have I ever" game reveals that he has worn a bra, and he told everyone not to ask him the circumstances.
• Put on a Bus: Downplayed. He has appeared very few times in The Sophomore. Madison mentions that he is still in his hometown after graduating.
• Token Minority: He is one of the few Asian characters at Hartfeld. (along with Kaitlyn and Tyler)

Emmanuel "Manny" De La Cruz

• Arch-Nemesis: He is this to Zig in Sophomore.
• Armoured Closet Gay: He expresses a lot of homophobic views, but then tries to kiss Zig.
• Domestic Abuser: To Chelsea. He never spends quality time with her and often makes sexist and perverted remarks towards her. Even after their breakup, he continued to stalk and sexually harass her through text messages and social media.
• Hate Sink: He's a perpetual Jerkass with no redeeming qualities who insults Zig, makes perverted remarks towards Emily, rejects Zig's pep talk regarding his sexuality, harasses Chelsea after their break-up, and denies guilt of his actions, which he excuses as drunken moments.
• In-Series Nickname: He calls himself "Manny The Man".
• Jerkass: He badmouths Zig and sexually harasses Emily by calling it "compliments" despite having a girlfriend.
• Jerk Jock: He takes pride of his spot on the team to act all high-mighty around campus and trash-talk Zig whenever he wants, be condescending towards Chris, and be a pervert towards girls.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After Chelsea told Emily, Chris, and Zig about Manny sexually harassing her, he gets suspended from school for a month and banned from the football team.
• Make-Out Kids: According to Chris, when he got assigned to be Manny's roommate, Manny booted him off to use the room with his girlfriend, without even giving Chris time to unpack.
• Malicious Misnaming: He always addresses Zig as "Twig".
• Never My Fault: While being evaluated by the Dean on harassing Chelsea, he kept blaming her instead, because according to him, he had all the right to get drunk and bitter after being dumped by her. The Dean obviously didn't buy any of this and suspended him from both the semester and the football team.
• Put on a Bus: Book 1 Chapter 6 of The Junior reveals that he transferred to another school a few weeks ago.
• Yuri Fan: He has a disturbing fascination of girls "doing the nasty" with each other. Again, he must be trying to overcompensate.

The Gamers

Edgar Tripp

• Betty and Veronica: He is the Betty next to Logan's Veronica while pinning for Madison's Archie.
• Last-Name Basis: He goes by Tripp; this was done at the insistence of the other Edgar.
• Nice Guy: He is one of the nicest guys from Hartfeld and is the most frequent of the ones who will help the Main Character and Friends.
• Odd Couple: If the player helps, he and Madison become this.
• One-Steve Limit: Defied. He has the same first name as Edgar Lucas but he goes by his last name to differentiate himself.

Edgar Lucas

• The Cameo: He makes guest appearances in Rules of Engagement, #LoveHacks, and America's Most Eligible.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: In The Sophomore, Zack is designated as his new roommate, and according to him, Edgar uses a dehumidifier and a humidifier at the same time and made him promise to organize his underwear in alphabetical order of the colors.
• Insufferable Genius: In almost all of his scenes he is either providing trivia facts or correcting people about History, Science, etc.
• One-Steve Limit: Defied. He has the same first name as his friend Edgar Tripp, but insisted that Tripp go by his last name so that there would be only one Edgar.

Leila

• Amicable Exes: Averted. By Book 2, she actively tries to avoid Tyler once he starts dating Abbie.
• The Cameo: She appears in Perfect Match as an intern in San Francisco.
• Control Freak: After being assigned as Kaitlyn's roommate, she completely took over the rules by establishing light hours, curfews, and food banning.
• Gamer Chick: She is the only girl in the DnD club.
• The Rival: To Abbie in regard to pursuing Tyler.
• Romantic False Lead: If Emily doesn't spend diamonds in book 1 to help Abbie, Tyler attends the dance with Leila. It ultimately doesn't matter, because once Book 2 begins, Tyler has broken up with Leila and begun dating Abbie offscreen, regardless of what happened last book.
• Yes-Man: In Book 3, she becomes this for Sebastian (even though Chris is the president and Sebastian is just the Treasurer)

The Gutter Kittens/TBD

Natasha

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She is very distant and blunt with others, except for Kaitlyn and her bandmates.
• Jerkass: She constantly snarks at Kaitlyn's friends and shows No Sympathy even after being told that Kaitlyn nearly failed the semester because of the band rehearsals.
• No Social Skills: She makes no secret of her dislike for Kaitlyn's friends, especially Emily. Every attempt to be nice to her fails to improve her attitude.
• No Sympathy: She feels no concern for Kaitlyn nearly failing the semester, and instead scolds her for missing rehearsals. And then she once again insults Kaitlyn's friends while proclaiming that grades are only important for the talentless.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Amara and Kaitlyn decide to quit The Gutter Kittens, she just decides to dissolve the band, which allows Rachel to join them.

Rachel Winthrop

• Dark Is Not Evil: She follows Natasha's lead and has a very sour sense of humor, crossing to rude on many occasions, but outside of that she's not a bad person. She gets upset if Emily opts to badmouth Sebastian instead of highlighting Chris' attributes as a candidate, and she barely contains herself from agreeing with Kaitlyn when she finally stands up to Natasha. In Sophomore, she doesn't resent Emily at all for moving out, since she's aware of her own mess.
• The Dragon: She seems to be Natasha's second in command in the band, since she is equally dry and sarcastic as her.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She has a brief appearance in Book 2 before she is formally introduced in Book 3.
• The Pigpen: In Sophomore Book 1, she has a large collection of dirty laundry and has trash on her side of the room.
  • In The Senior her mess has gotten to a point where she ended up adopting a raccoon as a pet, referring to it as “roommate”.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She is the one who teases Tyler the most for being nerdy, inadvertently picking a fight with Abbie, which turns into a big argument between Abbie and Kaitlyn and widening the gap between the gang and the band.

Amara Butler

• Dark Is Not Evil: She is the one who looks the most punk from the band and yet the most decent from them.
• Face of a Thug: She looks the toughest from her bandmates, but is also the most mature and nice of them.
• Opposites Attract: Despite her being a punk girl and Darren a typical jock, she shows interest in him at first sight, before discovering they had more in common than they thought.
• Put on a Bus: After graduating from Hartfeld, she goes to London for her Masters Degree in Music, still keeping contact with Kaitlyn on regular basis.
• Token Good Teammate: Before Kaitlyn joins the band, she is the only one who apologizes whenever Natasha and Rachel are rude. By the time Kaitlyn decides to stand up to Natasha, Amara is the only one of them who supports Kaitlyn.
• Token Minority: One of the few black characters in the story. (along with James and Manny)

Annisa

The keyboardist in Kaitlyn's new band, replacing Natasha.

• Love Interest: Emily can encourage Kaitlyn to pursue her.

Kassidy Marquez

See Alpha Theta Mu folder

Alpha Theta Mu (SPOILERS)

As a whole

• Equal-Opportunity Evil: They define themselves as a "Fratority", composed of both male and female members.
• For the Evulz: Nathan reveals that he and the others mostly seek thrills by pulling off succesfull pranks that can even endanger others.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After being exposed by Nathan's accidental confession and Emily's evidence board, Nathan, Beau, and Kassidy get arrested (though Beau gets cut off by his family and Kassidy drops out if you don't have all clues), and Alpha Theta Mu gets shut down by the dean.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to list half of their tropes without covering them.

Nathan Sterling

The President of the fratority Alpha Theta Mu

• Big Bad: Of The Junior.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He shows himself to Emily as a charming and charismatic leader, always looking out for others wellbeing. He shows his true colors when Beau and Kassidy humiliate Abbie in front of Tyler; instead of stepping in, he tells Tyler that Abbie is bad news. When Emily confronts him, Nathan adopts a more condescending tone toward her and warns her to not mess with Alpha’s image.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Zack refers to him as a "card-carrying sociopath" in The Senior if Emily dated him in The Junior.
• Dating Catwoman: He intentionally charmed Emily, knowing both that she's his main target and is actively investigating their pranks.
• Love-Interest Traitor: He becomes one to Emily if she's single in The Junior, though he's later revealed to be the antagonist of the book.
• The Man Behind the Man: He has been using Beau to pull off most of the pranks.
• Manipulative Bastard: The main reason he got elected as president was because of his ability to manipulate others and covering his tracks.
• My Greatest Failure: He feels he has responsibility on Beau's actions because he enabled his bad attitude since childhood. Or so he claims.

Beau Han

The Treasurer of Alpha Theta Mu and a close friend of Nathan

• Berserk Button: Do not mock his humble beginnings and Nouveau Riche status or you'll get pranked badly. Just ask Claire Pierce.
• Disproportionate Retribution: He convinces Emily and the other Alphas to go along with a prank to replace Claire Pierce's shampoo with honey, only to turn around and use glue instead.
• My Beloved Smother: E-mails he received from his mother reveal that he's under a lot of pressure from his mother to fulfill various obligations expected from her.
• Red Herring: Subverted. He IS guilty of pranking the football team, but Kassidy and Nathan tried to paint him as the sole responsible behind all the incidents.

Kassidy Marquez

The Vice President of Alpha Theta Mu and the new drummer of Kaitlyn's band

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She claims Beau blackmailed her into sabotaging Becca's law school application, but Emily later realizes that Kassidy was playing her. When Emily and Abbie come to confront Beau, Kassidy joins him in humiliating Abbie in front of Tyler instead.
• Distinguishing Mark: She is revealed to have a jagged scar on her thigh. This clues Emily about her involvement in sabotaging Becca's law school application, since the attached photo showed the same scar in another photo of her during a carwash.

People at Hartfeld

Brandon

• Amicable Exes: At the end of Freshman Book 4, he makes peace with Zack and both can move on.
• Long-Distance Relationship: He goes for an exchange program in Peru for three months. Both Zack and him miss each other so badly that he even cries over the Skype call.
• Put on a Bus: He goes to a exchange program in Peru right before Book 3. He makes a brief appearance via Skype to chat with Zack and Emily. He returns in Book 3 Chapter 16, but he's back on the bus as of Book 4, having broken up with Zack in between books. He appears in the final chapter of Book 4 to provide closure on his and Zack's relationship, then disappears from the series for good.
• Straight Gay: Players don't notice he is gay until he takes interest in Zack.

Sebastian Delacroix

• Easily Forgiven: Double subverted. In Sophomore, the only people willing to give him a chance and treat him decently are James, Tyler, Chris and Zig. All the others (including Emily) still treat him with disdain. By The Sophomore Book 2, the rest of the gang forgives him after he makes genuine efforts to be on the gang's good side and actually apologizes to Chris, Zig, Becca and Emily personally.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He becomes his with Tyler.
• Hidden Depths: If the Premium Option of "Truth or Truth" in Book 2 is purchased, Sebastian reveals that he wants to have his own theatre company and be away from his father.
• Jerkass: To the point even Becca had enough with him.
• Karma Houdini: He got away with embezzling election funds and belittling Chris and Zig, even after it was revealed that the former was part of a prank for Alpha Theta Mu.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In Sophomore Book 2, he feels genuine regret when he learns that reporting their boiler resulted in the gang about to lose their house to his father's company. He tries to solve this, but the damage is already done.
• The Proud Elite: He is very proud of his wealth and takes every opportunity to trash talk any student with scholarships, proclaiming that only privileged people with private education are worthy of University.
• The Rival: To Chris inside the Student Council. He becomes Treasurer just so he could shut down all of his proposals.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: In Junior, he calls Emily to his apartment because he doesn't know how to do his laundry.
• Smug Snake: He treats everyone with disdain, mostly because of their lower social status. He even treats Becca, his then-girlfriend, like trash.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He starts this path in Sophomore Book 1 after befriending Tyler. Sophomore Book 2 makes him go all the way after he realizes what he did and makes genuine efforts to make the gang like him.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Sophomore Book 2 reveals that he has tried to impress his father, even thought he never reached his high standards.

Arjun

• The Cameo: He appears in Perfect Match as an intern in San Francisco.
• Childhood Friends: He and Kaitlyn grew up in the same neighborhood and their parents are close friends as well.
• Incompatible Orientation: It's very obvious to others that he has a big crush on Kaitlyn, who has trouble telling him that she is into girls.
• Nice Guy: He quickly becomes supportive of Kaitlyn's revelation, despite being initially hurt by the lack of trust. By Book 3, he becomes one of the few in the Student Council who actively supports Chris' proposals that could financially benefit other students. In The Sophomore, he agrees to temporarily handle presidential duties for Chris so that Chris can focus on the football team.
• Token Minority: He is of Indian heritage.
• You Are in Command Now: In The Junior, he is elected the new Student Council President after Chris decides to quit and focus exclusively on football.

Ms. Helen Twombly

• Ascended Extra: Her appearances in the main series are infrequent and relatively brief, but she has major roles in many of the spinoff stories.
• Cool Teacher: In comparison to Vasquez, she is far nicer than him.
• Covert Pervert: Many of her comments tend to go this direction by how invested she seems into her students' love lives, especially during the Valentines Day Special. Usually Vasquez interrupts her before she goes into details and she had no problem with letting Madison register with both Tripp and Logan by calling it a "Relationship Polyharmony"
  • Her horror novel in the Sophomore Halloween Special, in which she uses Emily and her friends to mold her characters, includes a full on description on either of the Love Interests bodies, like using the phrase "Adonis-like abs" for Chris' parody. Emily can choose to comment on how awkward that line is coming from her teacher.
• Flanderization: In-Universe. Her horror manuscript in The Sophomore Halloween special has her do this to the cast while also changing names around even by just one letter.
• Foil: She is this whenever she shares scenes with Professor Vasquez. Unlike his brash and stern personality, she is more polite and emotional than him, to the point she has to be constantly reminded to not talk about her personal life in front of the students.

Zigmund "Zig" Ortega

A new Barista replacing Brandon in Freshman Book 3. By the time of The Sophomore, he has enrolled into Hartfeld as a student.

• All the Other Reindeer: In The Sophomore, he tells the gang that his new suite mates are avoiding him after learning about his scholarship without caring about the circumstances of his time in juvie. Although based on what Emily sees later, it's not clear how much of this is accurate and how much is an overreaction.
• Big Brother Instinct: Protecting his sister by beating up her abusive boyfriend sent him to juvie without regrets. He stated that he would do it again.
• Closet Key: He ends up being this to Manny, who is still in denial and takes all the negativity on him. This gets confirmed when Manny kisses Zig suddenly.
• Commonality Connection: He gets along with Chris instantly because of their shared traits: past criminal record while also being noble guys.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was sent to Juvie for beating up his sister's abusive ex-boyfriend, which revoked all his possible scholarships.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even if the player chooses to have an intimate moment with him, he will reject the advance if Emily is already dating.
• Friend to All Children: If Emily goes with him to babysit Rico, Zig does a better job at taking care of the baby than her.
• Hot-Blooded: He gets angry very easy and his first reaction is to punch first and ask later. After the incident during Kaitlyn's concert, he and Emily get in a fight so intense that he still gave her cold-shoulder days later.
• Momma's Boy: If Emily moves in with Zig, one of their issues involves Zig calling his mother almost every day.
• Love Interest: He becomes the fourth one for the Main Character.
• Sixth Ranger: By Book 4 and The Sophomore, he becomes the eighth member of the gang.
• Token Minority: He is the only Hispanic love interest; the only other Hispanic characters in general are the Vasquezes.
• Twofer Token Minority: He is Latino and bisexual.

Reyna Mercado

New addition to the University's newspaper.

• Love Interest: Her main role in Sophomore is to be James' new Love Interest (if Emily isn't dating him), and Emily can encourage her to pursue him.
• Tagalong Reporter: She is very dedicated to the University Newspaper, and is the first one who tells Emily about the house wanting to be demolished to build a mall.

Other Characters

Other Characters

Gabriela Vasquez

Daughter of Professor Vasquez, she has a strained relationship with her father for writing a novel based on her life.

• Based on a True Story: She is in the other end, as the reason she is resentful of her father is because his novel Winter in July is based on every single detail of her life and depression issues.
• Big Good: After Vasquez passes away, she is in charge of checking up on Emily's advances with the book. She later takes charge of all her father's royalties and personally fires Yasmin after learning about her behavior. In Sophomore Book 1, she offers Emily her old house after she tells her about the gang's roommate drama.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Since Winter in July was based on her life, every reader became aware of her struggles with depression because of the explicit amount of details to associate her with the character. She was so ashamed by this that she cut communication with her father and left.
• Glamorous Single Mother: Subverted. She is clearly in a difficult situation when Emily and James meet her. After reconciling with her father, she inherits the rights and royalties of all his novels and a nice apartment, but she still finds it difficult to get a date while working and being a single parent for her son.
• Parental Issues: She had a big rift with her father, which they patch up once her son is born.

Yasmin Udoka

• Consummate Professional: Her demeanor is completely professional toward Vasquez and James. She only knows Vasquez's secret because of her client-editor code. Apparently averted in Book 3, when she warns Emily to stay away from James. Then completely thrown out of the window when she tries to make a move on James.
• Laser-Guided Karma: She gets fired when Gabriela learns about the sexual harassment incident with James.
• Secret-Keeper: She was the only character aware of Vasquez's illness before Emily finds out.

Enrique "Rico" Vasquez

• Babies Make Everything Better: Once he is born, Vasquez and his daughter finally reconcile.
• Dead Guy Junior: He is named after his late grandfather.
• Disappeared Dad: There was no mention of his father, so Gabriela's pregnancy comes as a surprise to Professor Vasquez. By the time he is born, Gabriela is preparing for her first date in months since she got pregnant.

Alyson Jo "AJ" Powell

Chris' sister. She is nine years old as of Book 2 of The Sophomore.

• Big Brother Instinct: More like "Little Sister Instinct". She is very protective of Chris and tends to grill any female friend of his with questions, regardless of whether or not she and Chris are romantically involved.
• Fangirl: She is an avid comic book fan and her favorite X-Men is Storm.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": Chris addresses her as Jo, only for her to angrily remind him that she now goes by AJ.
• Tomboy: She dresses in boyish clothes and likes fishing lobsters with her brother. If Emily chooses to have a pep talk with Chris, he tells her that AJ took football at her school too.

Dorian Delacroix

Sebastian's father and a building contractor trying to bulldoze Professor Vasquez's old home

• Archnemesis Dad: To Sebastian, whom he has a strained relationship with for his constant absence in Sebastian's life.
• Big Bad: Of The Sophomore Book 2
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: He bribes tenants so they won't speak against him when he bulldozes their homes to make way for his construction projects, has an unlicensed construction site, and doesn't supply his employees with proper safety equipment.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He was horrified that Alpha Theta Mu's pranks have gone sadistic as of late.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance is based on Donald Trump.

Eliana Vera Vasquez

A young woman whom Enrique Vasquez dated in college who eventually became his wife and Gabriela's mother.

• Love Interest: She is this to young Enrique in the flashback portions of The Senior.
• Posthumous Character: She appears only in flashbacks based on Enrique's journal entries, never in the present day. In The Senior Chapter 14, it is confirmed that she had died.