Charles is a seventeen-year-old high school junior managing unexpressed anger stemming from a difficult home life, a contentious divorce, and family secrets. Though he appears social and athletic, he prefers playing video games and masking his internal struggles with provocative behavior. He secures validation by entertaining his male friends with increasingly extreme jokes, culminating in his creation of the @yungcavage Instagram account.

Andrea is a biracial high school junior who has felt like a social outcast since elementary school. She presents a strong, sarcastic exterior to her peers while internally managing depression and grief over the death of her father. After enduring repeated microaggressions about her hair and appearance in her predominantly white school, she becomes a primary target of the offensive social media account.

Murphy is a Mexican and white student who holds an alpha position within Charles's inner social circle. He regularly participates in the group's culture of dark humor and boundary-pushing jokes. Believing his female friends will appreciate the dark comedy, he inadvertently exposes the group's offensive content to the targeted students and triggers the school-wide crisis.

Jon is a quiet, socially awkward white student who struggles to secure respect within his friend group's hierarchy. Seeking an explanation for racial differences, he falls into an internet rabbit hole of pseudoscientific ideology. He attempts to gain intellectual authority among his peers by sharing online statistics that falsely link genetics to intelligence, providing a pseudo-intellectual foundation for his friends' jokes.

Eren is a sophomore of mixed Asian, Latinx, and European heritage who operates on the periphery of Charles's friend group. A well-liked social butterfly, he follows thousands of accounts and views the private group's content as generically edgy internet humor. His casual participation becomes central to the school's investigation when older students borrow his device to secure evidence.

Lolia is a Black student and basketball player at Albany High School. She forms part of a close-knit group of girls who frequently hang out with Charles and his friends. She finds herself explicitly targeted by the private account with violent imagery and memes mocking her hair.

Sita is a mixed South and East Asian student whose house is a gathering spot for her peers. She maintains a close friendship with Charles and his inner circle until she discovers the offensive digital content they have been producing. She serves as a critical link in the chain of information spreading through the school.

Ana is a biracial student with a Black father and a white mother who frequently spends time with Charles's inner circle. She initially tolerates offensive remarks from the boys by interpreting them as private, harmless jokes. Her personal photograph is repurposed by Charles to create the catalyst meme that launches the private account.

Kerry is an Asian student who is close friends with both the targeted girls and the boys who created the account. When the school administration requests concrete proof of the harassment, she acts decisively. She formulates and executes a quick, covert plan to photograph the digital evidence during a psychology class.

Greg is a popular, high-status white student in Charles's inner circle. He frequently initiates uncomfortable interactions, such as touching a Black classmate's hair without permission. He acts as the driving force behind moving the group's offensive content to a dedicated private channel, suggesting they create a separate space for their extreme jokes.

Patrick is an alpha member of the friend group who is already known around the school for making provocative comments. He openly brings controversial topics into the classroom, such as delivering a presentation invoking the model minority myth. He enthusiastically participates in the escalating digital competition for the most offensive meme.

Wyatt is a lower-status member of Charles's friend group who frequently bears the brunt of the older boys' teasing. He objects to the group's offensive behavior more often than his peers, but his protests are routinely ignored due to his lack of social capital. He follows the private account in an effort to maintain his tenuous position in the social hierarchy.

Billie is a Black and Jewish freshman who is new to the predominantly white high school. She enters the school year preparing for a debate on Confederate symbols, only to find herself the subject of modern digital racism. She hides in a bathroom stall to process the shock of being mocked for her hair and appearance.

Rina is the junior class president at Albany High School. As one of the darkest-skinned girls in the school, she carries a secret fear that her peers dislike her because of her complexion. The discovery of the racist account seemingly confirms her worst insecurities, profoundly affecting her academic confidence and social trust.

Brutsri is a Sri Lankan American student who initially attempts to shrug off the hateful comments directed at him. He believes that ignoring the racism will render it harmless, a coping mechanism that frustrates his peers. He later grasps the severe real-world implications of online hate speech after connecting it to national white nationalist movements.

Eliza is Charles's older sister who has historically absorbed the brunt of their father's verbal abuse. She serves as Charles's primary confidante and emotional anchor, helping him draft his initial public apology. She worries constantly about her brother's isolation and attempts to provide him with a supportive environment away from their hometown.

Rosie is a white junior who shares a psychology class with both Kerry and Eren. She assists Kerry in securing the photographic evidence of the offensive account by distracting Eren and returning his phone without raising suspicion. She later grapples with intense grief and anger over the loss of her friendship with Eren.

Ray Newsome is the girls' basketball coach and one of the few Black employees in the school district. He is deeply unsettled to find himself and his player featured in the account's violent imagery. He advocates for the targeted students, emphasizing that the harm they experience will outlast any temporary disciplinary measures imposed on the boys.

Val Williams is the superintendent of the Albany Unified School District. She struggles to manage the escalating community outrage and relies heavily on rigid disciplinary matrices that fail to address the emotional complexity of the situation. Her hasty communication regarding a suspected hate crime in a local park exacerbates the panic and directly contributes to a chaotic student protest.

Jeff Anderson is the principal of Albany High School during the exposure of the offensive Instagram account. He conducts the initial interrogations of the suspended students alongside police officers. He struggles to lead his staff through the crisis, often withholding information and leaving teachers to navigate the tense school environment without clear guidance.

Tami Benau is a vice principal at Albany High School. She is tasked with gathering the initial reports from the targeted students and assessing the severity of the digital posts. Recognizing the violent implications of specific images, she makes the critical decision to involve the local police department.

Melisa Pfohl is a vice principal who participates in the disciplinary interviews with the offending students. She attempts to balance administrative duties with moments of compassion, such as hugging a confessing student and assuring him the situation will be sorted out. She receives the digital screenshots that finally provide the school with actionable evidence.

Lewis is Ana's father who takes a hardline stance against the perpetrators. He delivers a disruptive, powerful speech at a school board meeting, comparing the boys' racism to a deadly electrified rail that demands severe and equal punishment for all involved. His uncompromising position shatters early attempts at reconciliation between the parent groups.

Alexander is Charles's white stepfather. He has a tense, hostile relationship with his stepson, who resents his authority in the household. Despite this friction, Alexander advocates for Charles during the school disciplinary process, arguing that expulsion is an act of mere retribution rather than education.

Lauren is Greg's mother. She attempts to navigate the intense public backlash against her son, who becomes a primary target of community outrage. She faces direct, highly emotional confrontations from the targeted students in public spaces and desperately pleads for the implementation of restorative justice programs to resolve the crisis.

Tiana is a Black student who is directly impacted by the private social media account. She processes her trauma by maintaining a strict boundary regarding the boys involved. As a close friend to the other targeted girls, she advocates for addressing the harm openly rather than burying the conflict.

Steven is a member of Charles's inner circle who follows the private Instagram account. During the chaotic student sit-in, his attempt to casually eat a sandwich while facing the protesters is perceived as a profound act of defiance and provocation, escalating the crowd's anger.

Gabriel is a sophomore who follows the private account and finds himself caught in the violent aftermath of the failed mediation session. He hosts the other suspended sophomores at his home for an impromptu educational pod dubbed "The Little Schoolhouse" while they serve out their independent study periods.

Lucy is a sophomore follower of the account who is swept up in the chaotic student sit-in. Too frightened to return to her own home after her vehicle is mobbed by protesters, she joins the other suspended sophomores in hiding, sleeping on the floor of a friend's house for days.