Erin Penelope Swift is the main characters and narrator of the story. She says she has big feet, which helps her when she's playing basketball and soccer. Her best friend since Kindergarten is Jillian Gail Hennessey. Erin has an older brother, Chris, who is in high school.
In the relationship between Erin and Jillian, Erin is more of the follower than the leader. Jillian pretty much tells Erin what to wear and asks Erin to do a lot of things in their friendship. Erin is afraid of change, so when she finds out that she and Jillian have different class schedules when starting middle school, Erin begs her mom to call the school and get her changed to Jilly's schedule.
Erin turns out to be very resilient. She gets through going to school without Jilly on the same schedule and even makes new friends. Even after the kids start calling her a puppet and making fun of her, Erin perseveres. In the end, when Erin's personal thoughts and feelings are published to the school's Intranet site, Erin finds a way to bear with the humiliation and obtain the forgiveness of her friends.
