Olivia Hudson
The seventeen-year-old protagonist of the novel, Olivia is a reserved yet fiercely loyal young woman who lives in the shadow of her mother's suicide by drowning. She finds in herself a slight tendency toward mental illness, and she discovers that staying under the water is an intoxicating temptation. She will go to great lengths to protect her friends, as seen by her reactions after Jamie kills his father.
Jamie Benton
Olivia's best friend since kindergarten, Jamie is a good-natured guy who always stands up for her. Their bond isn't romantic - they're just really close friends. He has an abusive father, and one day he stands up to him, attacking and accidentally killing him. Another aspect of his personality emerges there: instead of growing angry, Jamie just bottles up all of his rage and emotion, resulting in a devastating outburst that changes the course of his life.
Max Barrow
Max is Olivia's on-again, off-again boyfriend. He's ruggedly handsome, but he has issues with anger and recklessness. He used to be an alcoholic, but he's working hard to make himself worthy of Olivia. He seems petty at first, but as the novel progresses, the depths of his love for Olivia and loyalty to his friends shine through.
Maggie Herrington
Maggie is a short, fierce teenager with strong loyalties. She's good friends with Olivia and Jamie, and eventually with Max as well. Her mother is a struggling singer in New Orleans, and Maggie wants to be a singer as well. She will go to great lengths to protect her friends, as seen through her actions in their escape to New Orleans.
Tom Benton
Jamie's father Tom is an alcoholic who is prone to bursts of anger. He regularly abuses his wife, who seems miserable, and this abuse is what fuels Jamie with so much rage. Jamie's murder of Tom is the crucial event that sets the terrible plot in motion.
Lillian Hudson
Lillian was Olivia's mother. Struggling with mental illness, she drowned herself after Olivia was born and her husband left her. Traces of Lillian, both good and bad, are present in Olivia, such as her proclivity toward mental illness and her loyalty to her friends. Her old friend, Beth Hunter, still writes her letters, and she becomes an important figure for Olivia and her friends.
Beth Hunter
Lillian's best friend, Beth still writes her letters detailing her progress on the bucket list they made and drops them off by her grave. These letters, which Olivia steals and reads, are the source of her information: she knows Beth lives in New Orleans now, where they go to ask for her help. Beth is a kind, caring woman, given to whims but a steadfast friend.
Vicky Herrington
Vicky is Maggie's mom, living in the streets of New Orleans, working on both her singing career and her drug addiction (although more on the latter than on the former). She makes contact with Maggie, but it is a rough reunion: Vicky attempts a drug deal in the same house and at the same time as her meeting with Maggie, and she fails a test of loyalty Maggie gives her. Vicky is their contact with Louis, the guy who can give them fake passports, but she sells them out to Louis for a clean slate of debt.
Steven
Vicky's friend, Steven lives in St. Orleans and seems to make his house into a hub for drug addicts and other similar types of people. He is kind at first, allowing Olivia and her friends to stay at his place, but eventually he blackmails them into doing drug deals for him.
Mark
Mark is the drug dealer with whom Vicky interacts during her reunion with Maggie. He is an important figure, and he comes back later; he works for Louis, and he was shadowing the friends as they went to the meeting just in case Vicky changed her mind about selling them out. He steps out from the shadows and threatens Olivia and Jamie, and at the last second, he kills Jamie with a knife.
