Will Mackenzie
 Will McKenzie is on a bad run. His parents have just divorced and to compound matters, his mum has moved him out of an independent school and into the sixth form at the local comprehensive.
Will's last school did a good job preparing him for the outside world - he's smart, confident, well read, quick-witted and outspoken. Unfortunately for Will this isn't the outside world, this is a comprehensive sixth form in the commuter belt and all these attributes make the other kids and teachers deeply suspicious of him. It seems that the harder Will tries to fit in, the more he stands out.
Ever the enthusiast, Will intends to make the best of a bad fist. His efforts are immediately scuppered by the head of sixth who makes him wear a bright green badge that proclaims "Hi I'm Will. Stop me and say hello". This might just as well read 'please bully me'!
Despite the twin handicaps of being the new kid and being a bit posh, Will eventually makes new friends, but they're hardly the sixth form glitterati.
Simon Cooper
 Simon Cooper is Will's first new mate. They share the same form class and Simon has reluctantly agreed to show 'the new kid' around the school. Despite early reservations, Simon soon warms to Will - mainly because he's the only kid in school who doesn't call him 'boner', a name he earned after developing an unwanted erection in the sixth form common room.
The romantic of the group, Simon is secretly in love with childhood friend Carli D'Amato. Well, it was a secret until he drunkenly spray-painted 'I Love Carli' all over her driveway. It's an unrequited love but who knows, if Simon wasn't such a prat around Carli maybe something could happen. And that's about a big an 'if' as you're ever likely to find.
Jay Cartwright
 Everyone has had a mate like cheeky Jay Cartwright. The sort of friend that in later life you look back on and think 'why did I hang around with him?'.
A potty-mouthed, verbal bully, Jay is constantly lying about his sexual conquests and daring feats. Even though there's a disturbing lack of evidence to back up his astounding claims, Simon and Neil rarely pick him up on these fantasies, as secretly they want them to be true. Surely if Jay is getting some, they're about to get some too?
Will has no such hesitation in pulling Jay's claims to pieces though, and as a result battle lines are drawn and the two quickly become verbal sparring partners.
Neil Sutherland
 Neil Sullivan is a boy for whom the phrase 'in a world of his own' was invented. Neil is always 20 seconds behind everything and everyone, but occasionally he does say something almost profound.
Much to Neil's horror, his unconventional dad - a single, middle-aged man struggling to raise a family after his wife walked out on them - is the butt of everyones jokes. Aspersions are often cast on his father's sexuality.
Very occasionally, and much to the chagrin of the rest of the gang, Neil's uncomplicated persona and slick dance moves will see him triumph with the opposite sex.
Carli D'Amato
 Carli is the girl that makes Simon's heart race. Her family and Simon's have been friends for years, but lately Simon (and every adolescent male at the school) has started to notice that little Carli has grown up. She is incredibly hot!
Unfortunately for Simon, like most 17-year-old girls, Carli wouldn't dream of dating a boy of the same age. And even if she did, Simon hardly fits the bill of her perfect man - she's after someone tall, athletic, handsome, and preferably with a car that's not bright yellow.
Mr Gilbert
 Gruff Mr Gilbert always seems to manage to spot when the lads are up to no good.
Gilbert clearly doesn't like Will - they certainly didn't get off on the best of terms. The head of form made Will wear an embarrasing 'I'm New' badge when he arrived, and then walked in on Will as he was busy slagging him off to the rest of the class.
It seems Will can never be in the right as far as Mr Gilbert is concerned. For example when Donovan makes Will sit in a chair with a bucket on his head, rather than telling off Donovan, Gilbert tells Will off for being a grass.
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