Victoria "Tori" Spring
Tori is the first-person narrator and protagonist of the novel. She is a sixteen-year-old girl attending high school in England. The students have returned to school following Christmas break and the holidays have made Tori even more depressed. Tori is a descendant of Wednesday Addams and Daria: a sardonic, sarcastic, ironic and somewhat dark, but magnetic young woman.
She has been obsessive about Star Wars, disinterested in the homosexual subtexts of Harry Potter, and writes a blog in which she honestly spills her guts that she doesn't let anyone know about. She enters the new year expecting nothing to change, but is confronted by a mysterious person or thing or idea known as Solitaire.
That group will prove to become something that very much changes the trajectory of the school year. As does the introduction into her life of a boy named Michael Holden. As the revelation that a boy from her past named Lucas is not at all the boy she used to know.
Michael Holden
Tori is in Year 12 while Michael Holden is in Year 13. Psychologically, he is the opposite of her. She is downbeat while he is upbeat. She is pessimistic while he is notoriously optimistic. In other words, Michael is the ideal boyfriend for Tori in a romantic comedy.
The book is funny, but not a rom-com. Michael is thought to be gay. He is an outcast as well, but for the exact opposite reasons as Tori. Most importantly, Tori is actively resisting mere friendship, much less romance with him. And not because he was thick glasses.
Eventually, Michael will break through Tori's defense fort and an establish a friendship with Tori that remains on uncertain footing. Ultimately, he will learn something of tremendous significance related to Solitaire. Oh, and he will also save her life.
Lucas Ryan
Lucas was, at one time, Tori's best friend. Aside from her own brother, he is the only person who has ever called her Victoria. But, they bonded over Pokémon. That was a while back, however, and she has not even seen him since he was eleven.
Now he's back and they are both in the same school. Lucas knew Tori back when she was just a depressing pessimist. He is shocked, hurt, and even angered to find that she has sunk to a whole new level which seems heading toward outright nihilism. And so, he decides to do something.
Eventually, it is revealed that Lucas plays a major role in Solitaire's whole anarchy in this tiny little part of the U.K. thing. But that is not the only surprise revelation waiting for Tori about her old friend. Michael will be essential in bringing the big secrets of Lucas to light.
Becky Allen
Becky has been Lucas' replacement as Tori's best friend. But now that adolescence is getting serious and Becky is taking a road that Tori isn't, the relationship is becoming strained. Becky is suddenly very heavily into boys and drinking and all the other teenage kicks that have thus far eluded Tori's interest.
When Becky admits that she is no longer a virgin, this leaves Tori feeling somewhat broken because of a special bond the two shared. From that admission onward, Becky grows more detached and the distance causes Tori to wonder if they can ever get back to where they were.
Just as the moment of greatest distance between then, however, Becky proves her love and loyalty by becoming the surprise Superman Tori never knew she was or needed. After also saving Tori from danger, Becky and Lucas realize they are interested in each other.
