These are minor characters in the Evette Peeters stories.
Ashlyn[]
Evette's best friend.
She and Evette do not see each other over the summer as she is with her father in Maine. Ashlyn surprises Evette on their first day of school with her new hairdo, which is half-shaved and dyed pink. She has also become close friends with two other kids from her online homeroom in the previous year, Gia and Ziggy. Ashlyn at first doesn't understand why Evette is awkward around her new friends and unintentionally excludes her; an example is when Evette asks to eat lunch with her, but by the time she arrives she, Gia, and Ziggy are already done eating and have excluded her. Evette is hurt and upset, and feels that Ashlyn has pushed her away for new friends; in retaliation, she avoids her at school (which is easy as they have no classes together).
As Evette is putting up posters for the river clean up, she sees Ashlyn reading one and, thinking that the longer she she waits to talk to her the harder it would become, takes the first step in speaking to her again. She agrees to come to the clean up and and asks if Gia and Ziggy can come, which Evette agrees to, and agrees that they're still friends.
Ashlyn arrives with both her friends and they are there until noon, when they have to be picked up. At lunch after the river clean up, Ashlyn says that she found a soggy pizza box with half a moldy pizza in it that almost made her throw up.
Evon[]
Evette's maternal grandmother, whom Evette calls Gran E, and Nia's mother.
Evon is very close with her family and took care of Evette and her younger brother Bud during the start of the coronavirus pandemic while their parents have to work. Once classwork was done, she had them turn the screens off and do offline things such as play board games, bake bread, craft, or garden. She saves everything and taught Evette how to sew when Evette asked about wearing a dress when she was older, teaching her how to make things fit her; Evette will often receive old clothing from her that she upcycles.
Evon bakes the best red velvet cakes, but only does so for picnics. She is quite stubborn, for better or for worse. During the previous Kwanzaa, she gifted Evette an umoja locket that came with a card explaining the principal and how to promise always to seek umoja--unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
When Evon was a child, she experienced racism at the local pool; she was excited to wear a new sunflower print swimsuit to the pool, only for racist White girls to drive her away. Her older brother Robert found her upset at home and took her to a spot on the Anacosta River where she could swim and the place became special to her. She is thus very upset and distressed when, after taking Evette and Bud to the river to share the space with them, she sees that it is incredibly polluted and unfit for swimming. She does not, however, attend the river cleanup as she doesn't want to speak to Evette's paternal grandmother, Kathryn, due to racist comments Kathryn made when Evette's parents were planning their wedding. While she attended the reception at Kathryn's house, she left before Jason and Nia cut the cake and didn't speak to the Peeters again, even going as far as to tell Evette that she wouldn't swim at their house if someone paid her.
While Evette tries to invite her to the river clean up to try and mend the rift, Evon avoids it and texts that she couldn't make it after hearing that Kathryn would be present.
Evette pushes to heal the rift by bringing both grandmothers to a picnic at the now-clean river; after Kathryn apologizes, Evon explains that Kathryn's judgement made her feel as if where Nia was raised wasn't good enough for Jason and his family, and that it hurt. The two repair the rift and bond over their love for family and shared enjoyment of knitting.
Gia[]
One of Ashlyn's new friends, whom she met in online school. She has flat black hair that Evette thinks looks fake and wears a lot of eyeliner. She helped Ashlyn cut and style her hair and offers to style Evette's, which she turns down.
Evette is at first nervous around her, later followed by deciding that she and Ziggy are not her type of people. The two of them later bond over their environmentalism at the river clean up; Gia shows up in a Save The Earth shirt, which makes Evette realize she cares about the environment too. She says she helped drag an old ratty armchair out of the mud, and there were slugs and various grubs squirming around.
Kasey[]
A young black man, about twenty years old, who helps organize river cleanups.
Evette calls him to help organize the clean up of the spot in the Anacosta River after seeing a flyer in the community center. He takes her information and picks the clean up day for Saturday at nine a.m., as long as she has at least two adults present. He brings the equipment and more volunteers from the neighborhood.
During the cleanup he takes Evette, Makena, and Maritza in a canoe to help pull trash from the river water. He also explains how litter and dumping occur at the river and that how things are worse on the side of the river they're cleaning because the east side of the river is mostly Black folks and so isn't monitored as much, which is both racial and environmental injustice. He also explains that tires are especially bad as they leech toxic chemicals and heavy metals into the water as they deteriorate.
Paul[]
Evette's maternal grandfather, and Evon's late husband and Nia's late father. He died before Evette was born, and Evon keeps a portrait of him in her house.
Bud Peeters[]
Evette's younger brother, who is ten. Unlike Evette, his coloring is darker; Evette mentions this when Makena is discussing the racist treatment she has experienced, and she worries that he'll receive more discrimination than she does, especially as he gets older. He plays softball, collects Matchbox cars and loves gardening, especially the worms he finds, and other gross things like slugs. He has a very strong sense of justice and dreams of one day owning a sailboat.
When he and Evette were staying with Evon at the start of the pandemic, he made a whole cardboard city for his cars.
Grandpa Peeters[]
Evette's paternal grandfather and Jason's father. He has several severe health issues, which resulted in him not seeing Evette or Bud during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Kathryn Peeters[]
Evette's paternal grandmother and Jason's mother. She has blue eyes.
Kathryn loves her son and grandchildren greatly and though they couldn't see each other often during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, she gifted Evette a heart-shaped necklace to remind her that they were close in heart while apart. She also taught Evette how to write calligraphy. She and her husband have a large yellow house with white columns, a swimming pool and patio.
When Jason and Nia were getting married, Kathryn insisted upon having the reception at their house instead of Evon's. While she did say that this was due to the size and layout of the house, she later confesses that she said that Evon's neighborhood was bad and that guests might have their cars and gifts stolen. This display of racism resulted in Evon not speaking to her or her husband since and led to a rift in the family. She later realized that this was racist of her and while she attempted to make amends by inviting Evon over, Evon declined any invitations. Kathryn thinks that it may be too late to apologize, but is persuaded by Evette to try and make proper amends.
When she finally speaks to Evon at a private picnic at the (now cleaned) river she apologizes directly, saying that what she did in assuming about Evon's neighborhood was insensitive, thoughtless, awful, and racist. She also states that she doesn't have a right to expect forgiveness, but is sincerely sorry. This leads to their healing the rift, and the two grandmothers bond over their love for their family and their shared enjoyment of knitting.
Jason Peeters[]
Evette's father, who is white with light eyes and blond hair. He builds houses and sometimes drives Evette to school in his truck, although not often, as he usually leaves the house before everyone else. He tells Evette that she should leave the rift between her grandmothers alone and not stir things up, as they have a right to privacy and perhaps don't want her to know; he and Nia agreed long ago to leave things alone after failing to fix the rift themselves.
Nia Peeters[]
Evette's mother, who is Black. She is a pediatric cardiologist and is an only child. Due to the issues early in the pandemic she rarely saw her children due to working long hours.
She knows of the rift between Evon and her in-laws, but doesn't see how it can be fixed and sees it as ancient history that dredging up would result in hurtful feelings for all involved. While she forgave Kathryn's racist statements she made before her wedding (and was hurt as she let her mother know that the reception wouldn't be at her house), Evon did not and stubbornly avoided the Peeters.
Stan[]
A man that owns a garage. Jason takes his truck there to have his tires replaced. His business is struggling due to the pandemic, as with many people staying home cars didn't need as many repairs or maintenance.
Evette later spots him dumping tires after cleaning the river and, recognizing him, yells at him. He tells her not to report him before driving off. Evette turns the tires into planters she sells at the community center. When Stan sees this, he apologizes for dumping them and agrees to let her take the old tires and turn them into planters, buying her last two for decorating the garage and agreeing to split any profits they make with the community center.
Ziggy[]
One of Ashlyn's new friends whom she met in online school. He wears his pants low enough to show his skull and crossbones boxers. He is also loud and direct.
Evette is at first nervous around him because of his attitude, but is then offended when he--after seeing her mother--asks her if she's Black or White; she never asked him what his race was. When Evette hopes to eat lunch alone with Ashlyn, he is present, which further upsets her, and she decides that he and Gia are not her kind of people. However, the two of them make amends during the river cleanup. He later says that he found the grossest thing--a bag with a dead, decomposed possum in it--and they all agree.