"My mind played hopscotch. My brother... football... Brad... Dave and his girlfriend in my room... the coats... the cold... the winter... "Autumn Leaves"... don't tell anyone... you pervert... Sam and Craig... Sam... Christmas... typewriter... gift... Aunt Helen... and the trees kept moving... they just wouldn't stop moving... so I laid down and made a snow angel. The policemen found me pale blue and asleep."
Sam & Patrick
Sam and Patrick are stepbrother and sister. Charlie does shop class with Patrick and approaches him at a football game, this is when Charlie meets Sam. He falls in love with her straight away even though she is three years older. "Sam has brown hair and very very pretty green eyes. The kind of green that doesn't make a big deal about itself." Sam and Patrick used to be popular until they began listening to ‘good music’ and didn’t care anymore. Patrick is gay and has a secret relationship with the star quarterback Brad. When Brad’s father catches them together he beats up Brad and they stop seeing each other. Patrick is very approachable and since the first time he and Charlie met at the football game he was always conscious to include Charlie. "Kids started calling him Patty when his real name is Patrick. And "Nothing" told these kids, 'Listen, you call me Patrick, or you call me nothing," from that point on Patrick was victimised for the rest of high school. Sam's very kind, supportive, and non-judgmental of Charlie despite their age difference. She tells him that he has to do what he wants instead of pleasing everyone else all the time.
"Patrick actually used to be popular before Sam bought him some good music." - Charlie
MAry ELIZABETH
Mary Elizabeth is a Buddhist Punk and runs her own play, which is her own personal take on The Rocky Horror Show. Charlie and herself start going out but she is extremely high maintenance and Charlie doesn't know how to break up with her. Once Charlie gets totally fed up, he humiliates Mary Elizabeth by kissing Sam in front of all their friends. Mary Elizabeth acts really tough but she really likes Charlie and she gets very hurt when he kisses Sam. She is very independent and smart to organize the entire Rocky Horror Show production. She tells Charlie a bit about Zen and how "it makes you connected to everything in the world". She's the opposite of Charlie, a guy who totally separates himself from reality. However they do become good friends again after she recovers from the humiliation and hurt. Mary-Elizabeth is the one that ends up visiting Charlie the most out of everyone when he is in hospital.
"Mary Elizabeth is a vegetarian and she hates her parents. She is also fluent in Spanish." - Charlie
CHarlie's sister & brother
Candace is Charlie's sister, she is the same age as all of Charlie’s older friends. Candace is very pretty and treats boys badly. In the novel she dates Ponytail Derek and after she tells her boyfriend about their baby, he denies that it's his, and she decides to have an abortion. Charlie is the only person she tells, and it seems like their relationship really improves after that. Candace is only nice to Charlie when he knows something he shouldn’t and she needs help. The rest of the time Charlie is so nice to her but she just ignores.
Charlie’s brother is left nameless but he is mentioned a lot. Charlie’s brother goes to Penn State and is on a football scholarship. The whole family is very proud of him and Charlie loves when he comes home. Before he went to college, Charlie's brother helped Charlie out after Michael died. He took him out of school and distracted him from his grief by allowing him to help work on his Camaro. For a while, he has a girlfriend named Kelly, whom Charlie is strangely obsessed with, wondering if she's "a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa."
Charlie’s brother is left nameless but he is mentioned a lot. Charlie’s brother goes to Penn State and is on a football scholarship. The whole family is very proud of him and Charlie loves when he comes home. Before he went to college, Charlie's brother helped Charlie out after Michael died. He took him out of school and distracted him from his grief by allowing him to help work on his Camaro. For a while, he has a girlfriend named Kelly, whom Charlie is strangely obsessed with, wondering if she's "a smart girl who wears a lot of sweaters and drinks cocoa."
Aunt Helen
Charlie's aunt Helen was his "favourite person in the whole world." Aunt Helen moved into Charlie’s house when he was very young. Growing up, Aunt Helen was molested by a friend of the family. When she finally told her parents, they didn't believe her. They did nothing to stop it, and even continued inviting the man into their home. As an adult she was abused but her husband and was in and out of hospital from drug related issues. Aunt Helen is very kind to her nephew Charlie and buys him two presents every year, one for his birthday and one for Christmas. It is not till the end of the book that you find out she molested Charlie and the presents were a sort of bribe to keep him joyful. Aunt Helen dies in a car crash a couple of years after moving in with Charlie' family and Charlie greatly misses her. He was too young to understand what she did to him and doesn't realise till he gets intimate with Sam at 16 years of age. All Charlie’s memories of Aunt Helen give the impression that she was a caring and kind aunt, which is partly true. But she did abuse Charlie and that has affected his life greatly.
Bill (mr anderson)
Bill is Charlie’s English teacher. He is very influential on Charlie and encourages him to participate. Bill sees that Charlie is a very gifted writer and gives him extra novels to read outside of class. Charlie begins to really trust Bill and tells him personal things like how his sister’s boyfriend hits her. Bill does blur the line between teacher and friend, though. He is a responsible adult when Charlie tells Bill about his sister's abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, he calls Charlie's parents and tells them about it. But another time, he lets Charlie smoke in his office. Bill is great to Charlie, giving him the encouragement he doesn't really get anywhere else.
"We accept the love we think we deserve."- Bill