despite being only 11, thinks of herself as “the mature one”. But her idea of being an “adult” is completely ill-conceived and gets her into trouble at every turn. She thinks “kid rules” don’t apply to her, but understands why they’re in place - to protect the other kids around her who are actually dumbasses. And she is a scheming, crafty, cynical kid: she’ll take her dad’s Mazda Millenia for a joyride, threaten the neighborhood kids with her homemade weapons, or befriend an older girl in Juvie because, well, why shouldn’t she? She’s the kind of kid who will never not know the answer to a question: she’ll only be right like 30% of the time, but she’ll give the answer with the confidence of a Jeopardy champion. She also loves to play “the devil’s advocate” but mostly only because it has the word “devil” in it and she thinks that’s pretty cool.
cherishes every moment of being a responsibility-free 8-year-old kid. At heart she is a nervous, gentle-mannered rule-follower. She has zero interest in growing up because the adult world seems scary. But then again, most things seem scary to her. Her fears are often a result of her misinterpreting the world around her, which becomes exacerbated due to the complete lack of adult guidance. She often finds herself panicked and forced to create her own unhinged, nonsensical “rules” to live by. In her overactive imagination, the smallest noise heard in the house means the “Sandsville Strangler” must have escaped the nearby maximum security mental institution and is out to kill her family specifically. So Pia will wake her whole family up in order to “save” them, when in reality there is no Sandsville Strangler and the “mental institution” is just the abandoned styrofoam factory on the outskirts of town.
is Lucy and Pia’s older brother. He’s a proud teen punk outcast who barely pays attention to his annoying kid sisters. He smokes cigs, has a chain wallet, wears lots of rings-- all in the name of rebellion. Although he probably couldn’t articulate exactly what or who he’s rebelling against, there is an overwhelming feeling of discontent and hopelessness in the world that he’s attempting to navigate the best he can with his underdeveloped teen brain. He plays guitar in a punk band that practices in the garage. And he brings his guitar around with him everywhere he goes to make sure everyone else knows he’s in a band. In his mind, it’s only a matter of time before he’s a hugely famous rockstar. But for now he spends his days at Sandsville Academy, trying to avoid failing another grade and hoping his cool guitar will catch the eye of his crush, Jenny.
, the girls’ 10-year-old neighbor who is believed to have been accidentally dropped from a four story building as a baby, hence his ever-present bike helmet to prevent any further injury. He claims if he hits his head again he’ll die (and Pia believes this wholeheartedly). He lives alone with his Aunt Sandra who barely watches after him. He’s actually extremely intelligent and mature as a result of having to take care of himself his whole life, but no one around him sees him as anything but a dumb, annoying kid.
, age 13, is the oldest kid in Lucy’s class, who has been in and out of Juvie for a myriad of offenses ranging from petty theft to first-degree arson. Obviously, Lucy thinks she’s the coolest girl in the entire town. Kitty steals, smokes, sells pills, is totally boy crazy and is rumored to have stabbed her step-uncle. She knows a lot of interesting curse words and how to wield them at authority figures. And she has a couple of tattoos. She’s in court-mandated therapy, but it doesn’t help much because she doesn’t think she has any problems. Overall, a horrible influence on Lucy. Pia is just hoping for the day that they'll finally lock her up for good.
is Pia’s outgoing, popular friend that comes from a wealthy family. She represents the staggering wealth disparity in Sandsville (there’s one street with huge mansions that have green lawns and pools) that kids can perceive even from a young age. As a result, Pia has access to cool, rich stuff she would not normally have access to because her parents are aggressively middle class. Pia comes back from sleepovers with tons of new clothes, leftovers from CF Wangs, souvenirs from theme parks, etc. Lucy claims not to care but she definitely does.
, the toughest punk girl in Sandsville, is a well-read, articulate, young revolutionary-to-be. Passionate about every social cause under the sun, she doesn’t care much in the way of normal teen stuff like socializing, sports, college, etc. All she wants is revenge against the government. She knows one day she will lead the revolution against all of the corruption and evils in this world (of which there are plenty). But for now, she must exercise her revolutionary tendencies against the “authoritarian” figures in Sandsville: The mean math teacher who took down her book club fliers, her Ayn Rand-obsessed father, and the power-hungry gate guard at the 55+ community.
is Nils’s aunt, who is slightly more present than Lucy and Pia’s parents, although not necessarily a more competent guardian. She loves gambling and spends her winnings on egregious amounts of plastic surgery, enjoying the “fake” look. She is taking care of Nils as a favor to her ex-husband's sister, but she doesn’t really know anything about raising a child. In fact, Nils often is the one taking care of her: he tends to her after her many surgeries, and has saved her from accidentally committing tax fraud multiple years in a row.
are pretty much absent. We don’t see much of Lucy and Pia’s parents because they’re either working long hours or trying to save their failing marriage with a vacation on a short, economy cruise. And they fight a lot about boring adult stuff like inflation and HOA fines, so the girls just try to stay out of their way. Since the show is from Lucy and Pia’s perspective, we’ll only see/hear the parents from afar or hear about them second-hand, and through information that has already filtered down through the girls.
