Little Brother - Vanessa Pak

Well... Vanessa, Van for short, is the second of Marcus' friends introduced in the book. She is brought up as Marcus is trying to get Darryl to ditch school with him. Though Darryl persists on refusing to go with Marcus, he caves when Van is brought up. It turns out that Darryl has had a huge crush on Van for years. So, Van is part of Darryl's motivation. Quickly we find out that Van is a smart girl. She is quick-thinking and techy like her friends. However, she also has a working knowledge of first aid, as her mother is a nurse. When Darryl is stabbed in the ensuing chaos from the terrorist attacks, she demonstrates this knowledge by caring for Darryl. This shows that even in times of high distress, she is able to think clearly. During interrogation by the DHS, Van cooperates and is treated well, compared to Marcus. Before the terrorist attack and subsequent abduction, she is hot-tempered and feisty. During and after them however, Van seems to be much more cautious. Though she is still more impulsive than her friends, she seems to think things through more and make more calculated decisions after the attack. Her style before is described as eccentric before. Even though it isn't explicit, I think that her style is also toned down after the attack.

Later, we find out that Van is a compassionate person, caring deeply for other people. After people start to get in trouble by following Marcus' instruction and example, Van quits. She takes herself out of the whole X-net ordeal and cuts off communication between her and Marcus. She says that she doesn't like the fact that people are getting hurt because of Marcus. This shows that she cares deeply about people. While Marcus focuses on the main goal, Van is more concerned than he is about the well-being of those who happen to find their way in between. Also, Vanessa thinks that in the end, Marcus will destroy himself and she cares about him too much to just watch but not be able to do anything about it. When she stops communicating with Marcus, she basically doesn't show up anymore in the story.

Much, much later we find out that Van had actually had a crush on Marcus for a long time. Although Marcus acknowledges that she is indeed very attractive, he cannot be with her as he is in love with Ange and would bever betray Darryl like that. In the end, we end up with a weird love triangle type of thing. Darryl secretly loves Van, who secretly loves Marcus, who is in love with Ange, who doesn't get along with Van. Vanessa is an interesting character who acts as the voice of reason for Marcus.

-Lina >.<