Setting+and+characters

=Setting:= ==At first, Ruby is living with her mom in a run down little yellow house in Wildflower Ridge, a neighborhood in the fictional town of Lakeview. Later on, when Ruby is sent to live with her sister Cora, the setting is at Cora's beautiful million dollar home in a rich neighborhood complete with a pond in the back.==

=Characters:=

Ruby Cooper
==the main character "Lock and Key" is in her point of view. She is reserved and has been taught to trust no one because of her dead beat mother. She is described to have red hair and pale skin and very petite.==



Cora Cooper Hunter
==Ruby's older sister who left after finishing high school to get a better life for herself and her sister. She is caring, responsible, tidy, organized, and timid. Cora is described as having dark hair and blue eyes. The complete opposite in physical appearance than her sister.==



Jamie Hunter
==Cora's adoring husband who is the founder of a computer company called UMe.com. He is very successful but undermines his talent. He cares a lot and sometimes lets his emotions get ahead of him. Jamie is very positive and motivated.==



Ruby (Mom)
==No, I'm not repeating myself! There are two Ruby's in this book! Ruby is Cora and Ruby's mother who has no maternal instinct what so ever. She is always drunk and has a lot of men over. Though she may love her children she is irresponsible and frankly a horrible woman. She never tells Ruby that Cora has wrote letters to her or tried to contact her a lot, even though she promised Cora she would. She also one day leaves and never returns which forces Ruby to live on her own as a minor! Ruby is described as having red hair, like her daughter Ruby, and always looking like a tattered mess.==



Roscoe Hunter
==The ever so adorable dog in the story. He belongs to Cora and Jamie and is always looking for a belly scratch. However, Roscoe has an irrational fear of the oven, if the oven is on, he will shake uncontrollably until it is turned off. He has a particular fondness towards Ruby. Roscoe is a black and white terrier of some sort.==

Peyton
==Used to be Ruby's best friends. They did everything together, until Ruby leaves to live with Cora. Ruby also walks in on Peyton with Marshall... that totally ends their friendship! Peyton is a little scatter brained and not on track for a successful life. She also was kicked out of her old high school for possession of drugs before she came to Jackson High and met Ruby.==



Nate and Blake Cross
==Nate attends school with Ruby and does a million extra curricular activities! He is also over friendly and a hard worker, helping his dad with their business. He has an interest in Ruby and even goes looking for her when he gets a tip that she was dropped off in her old neighborhood. He is described as tall, athletic, blonde hair, blue eyed and incredibly handsome! His father, Blake has a bit of a temper. He has the no monkey business look about him and can be quite bossy. Since he is the owner of his own business, I guess he can afford to be so bossy! He looks similar to his son, Nate.==



Heather WainWright
==Heather is the girl we all want to be; she is extremely caring, selfless, smart, and beautiful. She is Nate's ex girlfriend who Ruby cant find a flaw in. Until she realized that their breakup was because Heather wanted to help Nate with his dad problems and he turned her down every time. After so many rejections to open up to her, they broke up.==

Gervais Miller
==One of the youngest and smartest kids at school (he skipped a lot of grades) he is your typical younger brother sort of personality. Annoying, noisy, pesky, immature, and rude! However, he has a secret crush on Ruby and lets her know it through his constant teasing. You can always find Gervais holding books and sprinting to classes.==



Olivia Davis
==She attended the same old school as Ruby did, and somehow they both ended up at the complete opposite kind of school they wanted to be at. Olivia is always on her cell phone talking to someone and still visits friends from her old school.==



Marshall and Rogerson
==Ruby thinks Marshall is her boyfriend, until she finds her best friend Peyton with him! Marshall is not a good kind of guy, he smokes, drinks, and is not responsible. He lives with Rogerson Biscoe, who sells drugs. They are just not a good pair.==



Harriet
==Hires Ruby as her first employee. Harriet owns a jewelry kiosk at the mall and has never trusted anyone but herself to run her business. She is very independent and has a hard time trusting others, just like Ruby. I think this is why Harriet hires Ruby in the first place because they are similar. Also, Harriet is addicted to coffee and drinks way to much of it! Harriet also has red hair like Ruby!==



Reggie
==He owns the vitamin Kiosk next to Harriet. Reggie has a vitamin for everything and is always offering Harriet and Ruby some vitamins for all sorts of symptoms. He constantly is teasing Harriet and Ruby discovers that he is in love with Harriet. Ruby tells Harriet about her findings, and she just can not believe it! But she's secretly into Reggie as well.==