Alexandria Donna “Alex” Sanders is a student at Lakewood Middle School. She is a child at heart who loves cartoons and goofing around. Alex is tough, determined, and bold, but despite her tough demeanor, she is a playful girl who loves being around her friends.
Appearance
Alex is a pale-skinned skinny girl who stands at 5'3. Throughout the series, it is said that she looks very young for her age, and this is attributed because of her appearance. She has red hair that she normally plaits into two pigtails and wide dark blue eyes. Her typical wardrobe consists of graphic t-shirts with cartoon characters on them, jeans, long shorts (during warmer weather), and sneakers. She dislikes wearing anything girly or frilly, and there are very few instances where she wears a dress.
Personality
Most tomboys are girls who enjoy playing sports, but Alex is a tomboy who enjoys watching cartoons and playing video games over shopping and crushing over boys. She is very blunt when it comes to her opinions, and she never gives up until she accomplishes something. At times, she can be very vengeful towards people whom she dislikes, but as she gets older, she learns how to ignore her enemies. Alex believes that friends should come first and always cherishes her friends' company; she hates getting in fights with them or being excluded by them. Though she is vastly different from most of them, she loves them for who they are. Her attitude is considered immature to most people, but Alex vows that she's never going to change who she is.
Notable Moments
Alex is first introduced in First Experiences as a new sixth grade student at Lakewood Middle School. Unlike many of her peers, Alex is not very excited to start middle school due to it being drastically different from elementary school. Still, she hopes to get through it with her three best friends by her side. In the morning, she meets up with two of those friends, Leah and Ellie and attends the sixth grade assembly with them. Afterwards, she runs into her closest friend, Marylin but sees that Marylin looks and acts different from their last days in elementary school. During lunchtime, Alex learns that Marylin has become friends with Clarissa Simpson's clique, The Popular Sensations. Over the next few weeks, Alex tries to preserve her friendship with Marylin, but after hearing Marylin complain to Clarissa that she had an obligation to be friends with her, the girls get into a physical fight which ends their friendship. After that, Alex is reluctant to make new friends, but she eventually grows closer to one of her classmates, Jessie, and gets to know Leah and Ellie's new friends.
In Revenge, it is suggested that Alex is still angry and bitter about losing Marylin to the Popular Sensations. She decides to get back at them by pulling pranks, embarrassing them in front of their peers/love interests, and getting them in trouble with their teachers. She even enlists the help of her friends to pull off these stunts, but her friends quickly tire of them and refuse to help. Alex's biggest stunt occurs at the annual Autumn Dance, where she pours slime all over the Popular Sensations. Unfortunately, she ends up getting kicked out of the dance by the principal. Eventually, she is forced to admit that she is still upset about losing Marylin, but later realizes that nothing will change and she should move on.
Life goes smoothly for Alex until Enemies and Frenemies, when she learns that Peach Media, the company her mom works for, is hosting a charity event and is unfortunately inviting Andrew Simpson and his family. Meanwhile, a new student, Matt, enrolls into Lakewood Middle School, and quickly becomes a target of Alex's animosity due to his douchey and obnoxious attitude. However, he helps Alex with the prank that she pulls on Clarissa and Marylin. At the end of this story, Matt admits that he likes Alex, but Alex, who is not interested in boys, punches him in the nose. Alex and Matt's relationship is revisited in Dance Drama, when Matt attempts to ask Alex to attend the Farewell Dance with her. Alex refuses to be his date, but reluctantly decides to when she learns that Matt and his family are moving back to California. During the dance, Alex spends the majority of the time ignoring him, but after it is over, she realizes that he is sad about moving and decides to become friends with him.
Throughout seventh grade, Alex retains her values and opinions about makeup, boys, and her enemies, but seems to act more logical. In The Dance Committee, she helps the student council members prepare for the Autumn Dance, but struggles to deal with Clarissa, who has also joined the committee. However, instead of resorting to violence or pulling pranks, she decides to confront Clarissa and tell her to stop making the dance about herself. In Blue Summer, she and Chloe gather her friends to help make a tribute gift to Jessie's grandmother, who had recently died.
By eighth grade, Alex is enjoying herself at Lakewood, and is excited that her younger sister Katelyn is starting sixth grade at the same school. However, Katelyn ends up losing her elementary school friends in a similar way that Alex lost Marylin, and Alex uses her experience to comfort her sister and reassure that she too will find new friends and enjoy middle school. In Changes, Changes, and More Changes, it is revealed that she had been a late bloomer and struggles to deal with getting her period and her newly changing body.
In the last book of the series, Matt Farrington moves back to Georgia to start high school at Fairfield. Alex finds him attractive and develops a crush on him, but she is heartbroken when she finds out that he has a girlfriend in Los Angeles. Alex attempts to avoid Matt for most of the summer, but she can't avoid her feelings. At the end of the summer, Alex and Matt confess their feelings for each other, but decide to stay friends for the time being. Later, Alex reminisces on her time in middle school and realizes that she had had a great time despite a few setbacks.
Significant Relationships
Jessie Sanchez
Alex and Jessie are best friends. They enjoy most of the same hobbies and activities. Early in the series, Alex was a little reluctant to befriend Jessie because she didn't want to make new friends, but eventually, she opened up to her. Alex can rely on Jessie for her loyalness and support, and vice versa. Alex and Jessie are friends who believe that there is more to life than clothing, shopping, and boys.
Leah Harrison
Alex and Leah are close friends who have known each other since kindergarten. They are extremely different from each other, as Alex is an extreme tomboy, and Leah is an extreme girly girl. However, at times, Leah can be just as blunt as Alex, and as a result, they can tell each other anything. Despite their different behaviors, they get along perfectly and have remained great friends for most of their lives.
Ellie Jackson
Like Leah, Ellie has known Alex since kindergarten. Their personalities are also different, as Alex is loud and opinionated, and Ellie is quiet and reserved. Throughout the series, Alex tries to get Ellie to open up, which she eventually does as she grows older. They both guide each other through middle school and support each other through the good times and the bad times. Ellie and Alex, though opposites, have each other's back, no matter what.
Clarissa Simpson
Clarissa is Alex's longtime nemesis. Enemies since kindergarten, Clarissa and Alex can't even stand to be in the same room. Alex cannot stand Clarissa's rudeness, nastiness, and shallow behavior. Clarissa cannot stand Alex's appearance, behavior, and prescence. During middle school, Alex and Clarissa have made each other's lives hell. In sixth grade, Alex constantly sought revenge for things that Clarissa had done to her. They aren't friends, and that's not a problem with either of them.
Marylin Roberts
Marylin is Alex's friend-turned-nemesis. Best friends since before they started school, Marylin accompanied Alex in her adventures. Alex and Marylin were inseparable BFFs who did everything together, from stepping into their kindergarten class on the first day of school to walking out of school as newly graduated fifth graders. In sixth grade, their relationship was put to a test when Marylin gets accepted into the Popular Sensations and begins spending less time with Alex. Eventually, Marylin cuts Alex off completely, and becomes just like Clarissa. Throughout middle school, Alex's relationship with Marylin becomes similar to Alex's relationship with Clarissa, except Alex's hatred for Marylin is intensified. Alex moves on from Marylin and the girls remain enemies.
Katelyn Sanders
Katelyn is Alex's younger sister. Close in age, Katelyn is like another close friend to Alex. Katelyn is a little girlier than Alex, but that doesn't stop them from getting along. They both support each other; Katelyn, though not a fan of Alex's schemes at times, encourages her to accomplish her goals. As the elder sister, Alex teaches Katelyn about life as an adolescent girl. When Katelyn starts attending Lakewood, Alex helps her get through her first year and avoid all the mistakes she made in sixth grade. They are loving sisters who couldn't ask for better siblings.
Carrie Sanders
Carrie is Alex's mom. Carrie is a loving mom, but Alex sometimes feels like she is out-of-touch with what she likes. Throughout the series, Carrie tries to make Alex into a girly girl by making her wear dresses to public events and convincing her to act more ladylike. Eventually, as Alex grows older, Carrie accepts that Alex will never change. Though Alex and her mom don't always see eye-to-eye, they still have a close mother-daughter relationship.
Matt Farrington
Alex and Matt have a complicated relationship. When they met each other in sixth grade, they initially couldn't stand each other. Alex didn't like Matt's snotty rich boy behavior, and Matt didn't like Alex's unsophisticated ways. During that year, they had a love-hate relationship, and Matt confessed to Alex that he had a crush on her. Alex, bothered by this, tried to avoid him for the rest of sixth grade, but eventually agreed (albeit reluctantly) to go with him to a school dance at the end of the year. After sixth grade, Matt moves away, and Alex doesn't seem to care. However, after Alex graduates from eighth grade, Matt moves back to Georgia, and Alex begins to develop a crush on him. Alex and Matt never become an official couple, but they end up having mutual feelings for each other by the end of the series.
Trivia/Fun Facts
- Alex was inspired by one of the author's American Girl self-help books. In it, there was an example of something using a character named Alex who was friends with two girls named Leah and Ellie.
- Alex's cartoon obsession was inspired by the author's obsession with the cartoon "Scooby Doo" (don't judge) when she was nine.
Other Information
- Confidence: Alex considers herself to be a confident person, but at times can be insecure when it comes to friend situations. After being dropped by Marylin, Alex becomes self-conscious when her friends hang out with people that she dislikes or if they get a boyfriend; she tries not to show it, but is worried that she will be dropped again.
- Intelligence: Alex has average intelligence; she does her work and studies like every other student and knows her strengths and weaknesses when it comes to academics.
- Negative Emotions: Like mentioned above, Alex's negative emotions are anger and vengeance. Whenever she is hurt in someway, she decides to get revenge on that person(s).
- Biggest Flaw: Alex's biggest flaw is her unwillingness to accept changes. Even though she does not know what the future holds for her when it comes to changes, she does not want to accept them because she knows in her mind that they will be horrible. As a result, she just makes herself miserable when she sees everyone else enjoying life except for her.
- Hobbies: Alex's hobbies include watching animated cartoon TV shows and movies and playing video games. Her favorite TV shows are "Gravity Falls", "Scooby Doo" (all series but mainly the recent ones), and "Phineas and Ferb". Her favorite video game is Mario Kart.
- Musical Preference: In First Experiences, it is revealed that Alex's favorite genres of music are punk-pop and indie/alternative music. Her favorite artists are Bowling for Soup and Simple Plan. She also likes to listen to songs from television shows such as "Phineas and Ferb" and "Steven Universe".
- Perception to Others: Most of Alex's peers at Lakewood find Alex to be immature and weird, based on her physical appearance, personality, and childish hobbies. Some of her classmates attempt to get to know her, but are turned off when they realize her true personality. However, her less shallow classmates do not seem to mind all of those attributes and are willing to speak to her based on her friendly attitude.
- Friend Type: Alex is sort-of selective when it comes to friends. She likes to be friends with people that she clicks with, even if they are different from her. She cannot stand people who come off as fake to her, and she cannot stand many girly girls because she feels they are shallow and mean (her friends are exceptions).
- Romantic Type: Nonexistent, since Alex does not like to associate with boys.
- Family: Alex is part of a traditional family. She lives with her caring but overbearing mom, Carrie; her laid-back dad, Gerald, and her younger sister and partner-in-crime Katelyn.
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