Gina Deveaux

Gina Deveaux arrives at Hillman College as a scholarship student with a sharp tongue and no patience for pretense. Street-smart and fiercely loyal to her friends, she carries herself with a confidence that dares anyone to underestimate her because of where she comes from or how she talks.

Ajai Sanders gives Gina a rhythm all her own — quick, unbothered, funny before you realize she's also making a point. The writing uses her working-class perspective to puncture the more privileged assumptions swirling around Hillman, and Sanders never lets that edge curdle into a punchline. She's warmth wearing armor.