Baz is Elizabeth’s best friend at the start of the novel. He is Brazilian and nurses a crush on Kwame, a Hawking boy on the rowing team. Known for his colorful hair and eccentricities like keeping an illegal guinea pig in his dorm, Baz provides much of the novel’s comic relief.

Sade meets Baz during her first day at ANA and is immediately struck by the intimacy between him and Elizabeth. However, as the story unfolds and Elizabeth’s many secrets start coming to light, Baz starts to worry that he didn’t know Elizabeth as well as he thought and was “a shit friend” (73). Her disappearance weighs heavily on Baz, and he is upset and frustrated by the school’s dismissiveness as he tries to get to the bottom of why Elizabeth went missing. Although Baz comes from a wealthy family, he recognizes the social and political forces at play in the school’s lack of response to Elizabeth’s disappearance, understanding that Elizabeth “brings in no money” to the school, so they put little effort into finding her (288). Over the course of the novel, Baz and Sade become close, bonding over their investigation into Elizabeth’s disappearance and developing a lasting friendship.

Persephone is ANA’s deputy head girl and a member of the Unholy Trinity, three of the school’s most beautiful and popular girls. She is the scary one of the trio, and rumor has it she once cut off a man’s appendage because he stared at her for too long, and she keeps it in a jar in her room. Sade is immediately attracted to Persephone; she finds her intimidating but also beautiful and intriguing. Initially, Persephone comes off as rude and vaguely unkind to Sade. She is annoyed, for example, when their English teacher asks her to help Sade catch up on the term’s workload. However, as they get to know one another, Persephone begins to soften in a way that catches Sade off guard. Beneath her perfectly groomed exterior, Persephone is intelligent and fiercely loyal to her friends. She also nurses a poorly concealed crush on Sade. The girls bond over their takedown of the Fishermen and end the year as girlfriends.

Persephone is soon revealed to have secrets of her own. Like many of the other girls on campus, she was once pursued by Jude, who cornered her and threatened to “turn [her] straight” (252). Because their exchange “technically didn’t go further than the threat” (252), Persephone would “gaslight [her]self” into believing that nothing happened. However, the incident made her feel powerless and afraid. Her story offers another example of the numerous layers of silence and secrets that allow boys like Jude to continue harming others.

Jude Ripley is the novel’s antagonist. He is head boy, the captain of the swim team, and ANA’s “resident fuck boy” (105). Blond-haired and blue-eyed, he has a reputation for making sweeping romantic gestures, like taking girls to Paris for the night, but also a reputation for breaking hearts. Sade meets Jude during her first week of school, but unbeknownst to him, Sade already knows who he is. In fact, he is the reason she came to ANA. When Sade’s twin sister Jamila attended nearby Nightingale Academy, she met Jude and was initially smitten. However, Jude drugged and assaulted Jamila, then had her expelled for drug possession when she tried to report him. This abuse began a depressive episode that ended in Jamila’s suicide, and Sade is at ANA to take her revenge on Jude.

Sade soon learns that Jamila isn’t the only girl Jude assaulted; he is “a rapist” with a reputation for sleeping with girls “who weren’t okay afterward” (253). When he meets Sade, he knows that she looks familiar but can’t place her resemblance to her twin, illustrating just how little these girls mean to him. He starts pursuing Sade despite her professed lack of interest, convinced his “charming personality will […] win [her] over” eventually (158). With his good looks, wealth, and athletic ability, the school generally treats him like a god, allowing him to get away with anything he likes. He isn’t used to being told no, and he doesn’t take kindly to Sade’s rejection. His advances become increasingly predatory, for example, standing on a table in the cafeteria to announce his interest in Sade to the entire school, despite her discomfort. Instead of being romantic, these declarations make Sade feel “cornered, forced to go along with the master’s puppet show in order to not upset him” (248). Jude has no consideration for girls’ feelings, illustration how stereotypical depictions of romance are often actually misogynistic and domineering.

Jude is found dead at a Hawking party after Sade drugs him to show him how powerless and violated his victims feel. Sade worries at first that she is responsible for his death, but his murderer turns out to be Francis Webber, April Owen’s boyfriend, who presumably kills Jude as retribution for assaulting April. However, in the wake of his death, he is celebrated as a school hero, illustrating how wealth and privilege continue to protect “monsters” even after their crimes are revealed.

Elizabeth Wang is Sade’s new roommate and house sister at ANA, and Baz’s best friend. She goes missing the day after Sade arrives at ANA and so appears little in the actual text of the novel, but her disappearance is an important catalyst for the plot, and her backstory, revealed at the end of the novel, exemplifies many of the text’s key themes.

At the expensive and prestigious ANA, Elizabeth is one of the few students to receive a scholarship. This places her at the bottom of a social hierarchy where many of the students come from wealthy families who give generously to ensure their children receive special treatment. During her first two years, Elizabeth roomed with ANA “royalty” April Owens and began dating her twin brother, August. However, because of Elizabeth’s more modest social position, August considered being with Elizabeth as something “private and shameful” (344) and kept their relationship secret. Similarly, April and Elizabeth were close friends in the privacy of their room, but outside, April barely acknowledged her. Elizabeth broke up with August when private photos August had taken of her began to circulate around the school. From his position of greater privilege, August couldn’t understand why the photos, which Elizabeth worried could rescind her scholarship, were such a big deal.

To get back at August, Elizabeth began casually dating and hooking up with Jude. However, Jude drugged and assaulted her one night at a party. After the incident, Elizabeth struggled to understand what had happened to her. After hours on the internet, she realized that she had been raped and tried to report the assault to Headmaster Webber. Webber, however, gaslit her, insisting she had no proof and could not even remember the incident. August also didn’t believe Elizabeth, nor did April, who was dating Jude, and accused Elizabeth of trying to steal her boyfriend. Elizabeth spent the rest of second year obsessively gathering information on Jude and the rest of the Fishermen, planning to expose the boys’ crimes.

The day Sade arrives on campus, Elizabeth has finally decided she has all the information she needs and texts August to warn him she is going public. She receives multiple threats from the Fishermen and that night meets August and Jude in the Newton Sports Center. Jude attacks her, and August intervenes, but while trying to escape, Elizabeth falls into the new pool and hits her head. She spends the next weeks hiding out in a bunker below Franklin House, worried about what will happen if Jude discovers she is still alive, until her health deteriorates to the point where she has to be hospitalized.

Elizabeth’s story illustrates the many obstacles women face even when they are brave enough to speak out about being assaulted. Institutions like ANA are predisposed to believe golden boys like Jude, who have power, wealth, and notoriety, rather than less privileged individuals like Elizabeth.

August Owens is Sade’s house brother and April’s twin brother. He comes from a wealthy, powerful family, making him a member of ANA’s royalty. Sade and August initially bond over their shared love of swimming, often meeting for evening training sessions after dinner. Sade believes that August is “kind and gentle,” and he takes pride in his “brand” as “the dapper charming guy,” who is slightly old-fashioned and “loves girls” (347). However, as Sade begins to unravel the mystery of the Fishermen, it becomes clear that August is “far from innocent” (370). He knows about the vile things that Jude and the other boys do, and even if he doesn’t participate in the worst of it, his complicity implicates him. His refusal to acknowledge the harm that his friends do is an important part of perpetuating abuse and misogyny.