Can't Buy Me

Savannah Cole is a 17-year-old girl who is troubled, despite her straight A record. She has no social life, aside from her two best friends that have stuck by her since kindergarten, and she prefers it that way. She is a self-harmer trying to recover and struggling with undiagnosed mental illnesses, particularly depression. She's sarcastic, quiet, mildly bitchy as a defense mechanism, and complex. She's in film club and dreams of being a filmmaker, but she knows it isn't practical. Since her family has always struggled with money, she has faced many issues that come alongside poverty, and she has a tendency to react to the situation with anger towards those who are better off. Her voice to most people is fairly monotonous, as she doesn't like to display her feelings; however, she is not ALWAYS speaking in monotone as emotion can slip into her voice, especially once she's let her guard down.

Aaron Wayne is the popular rich kid and star on the soccer field, though he struggles with academics as well as a bad home life. He has an emotionally abusive mother who drinks too much and an absent father who always berates his son whenever he is around, expecting him to be perfect and not embarrass the family. He had a stint in juvie and never has more than a casual fling, usually lasting between one night to a week, because he doesn't want to let anyone in. He's spontaneous, brave, and smart in his own ways. He can pick things up about people easily. While he could pass his classes, he struggles with motivation as he thinks he'll never get anywhere in life. He focuses on the here and now, and while he can be exciting, he never thinks about "tomorrow" and all that comes with it.

Caitlyn Day is Savannah's outlandish and fun best friend. She rarely takes anything seriously, but when she does, she can be very supportive in whatever ways she knows how. Eccentricity is her charm, which is what makes her one half of the "cutest lesbian couple" at school. She came out in sixth grade and started reading BDSM erotica come seventh. She parties way too hard and often ends up drunk, which usually means her girlfriend, Rae, is the designated driver. She rambles and tends to interrupt everyone while they're talking. She is unapologetic about who she is, and her mom is very accepting. However, her parents went through a nasty divorce in fourth grade, and the father she was close to quickly disowned her as soon as she came out as pansexual, then completely abandoned her. After that incident, she has abandonment issues and a need for attention, which she always gets.

Rae Collins is mostly quiet, semi-serious, and compassionate. She classifies herself as "casually" goth, pretends to be a vampire, and always dyes her blonde hair black. She was in the closet until she was a sophomore, and while her parents took a while to accept her, they came around. Her family has always been supportive, but they expect a lot of her as she is the eldest sister and is supposed to be a good role model for her sister in sophomore year, Sadie. She's Christian but also not the kind of person to try to force her beliefs on others; she believes in being a "good Christian", and while she attends parties, she rarely drinks as her mother is ten years sober, and she doesn't want to fall into the pit that her mother was in while she was a child. She loves Caitlyn but struggles to believe that Caitlyn actually loves her back, despite being together for three years.

Cody James is supposedly Aaron's best friend, and while he is part of his inner circle, he's a little superficial and doesn't have so much depth. His long time girlfriend, Jess, is his world, but he doesn't look much past the traditional high school, athletic scholarship, well-paying job and white picket fence life. He always throws the parties, skates by with his grades, and dominates the soccer field, but he has a supportive family and can be self-involved. He isn't a big fan of anyone who doesn't party, resists change, and secretly has a thing for Caitlyn, despite his loyalty to his girlfriend.

Andrew White is close to Aaron and Cody, though he prefers to spend his time with his girlfriend, Lana, than deal with Cody's superficiality. He pretends to be all for the team to stay in Cody's good graces, but he prefers people with more substance. He is the only person Aaron trusts to talk to about real stuff, though even he doesn't know about all of it. He's dedicated and prefers to listen than talk, and he's an amazing artist that wants to go to art school. Soccer is fun for him, and school comes easy, but art is his passion. He doesn't show off, except to Lana, who he often describes as his dream girl.

Lana Rodriquez is the only Hispanic student at their school, and while she doesn't mind standing out, the lack of diversity and the undercurrent of racism get to her. Andrew, her boyfriend, has a lot more going on underneath than a lot of people at school, and she loves him completely, but she doesn't like to just be arm candy in the eyes of most people. She's exotically beautiful, and while she may speak Spanish, she also has perfect English. She does well in school and wants to be an actress living in Los Angeles one day. She's done a few modeling gigs when she was younger, but she quit when puberty hit, and she was no longer "model" qualified. Not tall enough, not skinny enough. She's very interested in social justice, and she has big dreams of changing the world someday.

Jessica Roland, known as Jess, is Cody's girlfriend. She's a pretty sweetheart with a little bit of spunk, but she doesn't have much as much depth as she would like. Sheltered by her parents and quickly becoming Cody's girlfriend in eighth grade, she hasn't had a lot of real world experience. All she knows is Cedar Grove, and she wants to travel the world. While she would love to do that with Cody by her side, she can't see a future with him as much as she tries.

Mr. Cole (Will), Savannah's father, is firm but fair. He grew up in poverty and wishes he could provide for his family more; he works at two jobs with long hours, but he tries to spend as much time with his family as he can, which usually means breakfast time only. He cares about his family, but he isn't home often, and he's quite sleep-deprived. He keeps working, though.

Mrs. Cole (Andrea), Savannah's mother, is often running after her two young boys when she isn't waitressing part-time. She didn't go to college, but she desperately wants her daughter to. She's kind and supportive and keeps their family together, even when disaster strikes. She never lets them give up, even when she wants to herself.

Mrs. Wayne (Elizabeth or Liz) came from a broken home and quickly followed in her alcoholic mother's footsteps. Marry rich, have children, and do what's expected of her with a smile and slip off with vodka later. She's emotionally abusive to her son, Aaron, due to her lack of respect from him and her absolute lack of empathy. She's materialistic and doesn't care about anyone but herself.

Mr. Wayne (Richard) works in mergers and acquisitions, and he is often away on business trips. While he remains faithful to his wife and family, it is purely out of his desire to keep a solid reputation. He has high expectations for his wife and son, and when his son can't meet them, he lashes out. He keeps his anger inside, letting it turn into competition in business or cruelty towards his own family.

John Mitchell is a senior on the soccer team and is loosely friends with Cody, Aaron, and Andrew. His girlfriend is a sophomore, Sadie Collins, who happens to be Rae's younger sister. He doesn't take many things seriously; he's a free spirit and is only with Sadie because Jess has been taken since eighth grade. He's been eyeing her his whole life, but he never got the courage to ask her out until after she was already taken. He was lanky and awkward back in the day but not anymore.

Sadie Collins is Rae's sister and John Mitchell's girlfriend. She tries to act superior to hide her insecurities about her relationship and social status. She's cool because she's dating a popular guy, and soccer is the only sport that does well at their school, but she knows how hard it is to stay cool. Her reputation matters to her, and she's absolutely determined to keep climbing the social ladder, even if she gets hurt along the way. She's also very naive about some things, and she has never dated anyone before John, not that she'd admit to it.