Sephy watches the case unfold on the news from home, and she knows Dad is innocent. Callum is suspended from school for no reason, but he’s somewhat hopeful about Dad’s prospects when an anonymous benefactor—presumably Sephy—pays for one of the best lawyers in the country, Kelani Adams, to represent Dad. But though Dad pleads not guilty to all the charges, and though Kelani mounts an impressive case, the jury finds Dad guilty of all the charges. The first day of school is horrible for Sephy and Callum both. A mob outside protests the nought students, and Sephy gets the mob to disperse by screaming that her classmates are acting like “blankers.” Callum is hurt and offended, so Sephy agrees not to use the slur again. Five weeks after returning home, Sephy discovers she’s pregnant. Though Minnie initially agrees to keep Sephy’s pregnancy a secret, she ultimately tells Mother and Mr. Hadley. Mr. Hadley insists that Sephy get an abortion, but she refuses. Callum learns about Sephy’s pregnancy on the radio a few months later, and he heads home to see her.

Jude is Callum’s older brother and the middle child of the family. Callum and Jude don’t get along and never have: Callum regularly describes Jude as insufferable, or as a “toad.” Part of the…Months later, out of the blue, Jude approaches Callum at a burger joint and invites him to join the LM. Feeling he has no other options, Callum agrees. At the same time, Sephy’s parents have finally agreed that she can go away to boarding school—but Sephy writes Callum a letter asking him to run away with her instead. Callum doesn’t read the letter until it’s too late, so he and Sephy part ways for two and a half years. During this time, Callum works his way up the LM ranks, hurting and killing Crosses and losing his humanity in the process. Sephy quits drinking, finds herself at school, and joins a resistance group. She decides to be a lawyer like Kelani Adams when she grows up. One of the protagonists, the novel follows privileged Cross Sephy from age 13 to 17. She’s been best friends with nought Callum her whole life and believes that it’s going to be great when Callum… Juno Ayelette is Mr. Hadley’s personal secretary, and she seems almost as famous as her boss. Like Mr. Hadley, she’s callous and obsessed with preserving the Hadley family’s reputation—so when she discovers that Minnie… Technically, Andrew Dorn is the General’s second-in-command in the Liberation Militia—but Sephy and Callum discover that Andrew is actually a spy. This is because at the beginning of the novel, when Sephy is…

Best friends Callum and Sephy are at their secret spot on the beach, where they kiss to see what it’s like. Sephy is almost 14 and is thrilled that 15-year-old Callum will be attending her school this year to integrate it. Callum, though, isn’t sure he and Sephy should act like friends at school—he’s a nought and she’s a Cross, and noughts and Crosses don’t mix. That night, Sephy overhears her father, Mr. Hadley, meeting with a nought man and saying that he’s angry “ blankers” (a terrible slur for noughts) are attending his daughter’s school.Callum gets home one day to find Jude and Lynette exchanging blows. To stop all three children from fighting, Dad tells Jude and Callum why Lynette is ill: three years ago, she and her Cross boyfriend were beaten for being in an interracial relationship. One night, Lynette leaves the dinner table to go on a walk. Hours later, police come to the house and deliver the news that Lynette was hit by a bus and killed. They say it was an accident, but Callum discovers a letter from Lynette under his pillow admitting she committed suicide. He vows to keep this secret. At about the same time, Sephy’s mother attempts to commit suicide but survives. Sephy and Minnie’s father and Mother’s husband, Mr. Hadley is a powerful Cross in government: he’s the home minister. He’s a large, imposing man and is constantly angry and physically violent with his… Callum is a nought - a second class citizen in a world run by Crosses. Sephy is a Cross - daughter of one of the most powerful men in the country. Noughts and Crosses simply don't mix, but they are determined to try. Motivating activities focusing on performance, close text analysis, language and structure, together with varied creative tasks Six months after Lynette dies, Callum and Sephy decide to meet at the mall—but Jude tells Callum very seriously not to go. Suspecting the worst, Callum races for the mall and drags Sephy out—just before a bomb explodes, killing seven people. Enraged when she realizes that Dad and Jude were involved, Mum slaps Dad so hard she breaks her finger. At the hospital, so she can receive treatment, Mum allows the nurse to scan Callum and Jude’s ID cards, which are linked to their fingerprints. That night, to help herself sleep, Sephy tries wine for the first time.

Dad is Callum, Jude, and Lynette’s father and Mum’s husband. He begins the novel as an easygoing, affable man. But when Mum loses her job and the family falls into poverty…Though he never appears in person in the novel, Alex Luther is a nought who fights for equality between noughts and Crosses through nonviolent protest, such as through sit-ins. He’s been to jail many times… Sephy is the only Cross to attend Lynette’s funeral, but her presence isn’t well-received; Dad and Jude both tell her to leave. In the weeks after the funeral, Callum realizes that Dad and Jude are becoming more involved with the LM. Mother’s drinking escalates, which frightens Sephy—but her sister Minnie says they shouldn’t do anything. A few months pass while Callum grieves, and his unhappiness, confusion, and hatred of Crosses grows. When Jude comes out of hiding to recruit him to the L.M., Callum agrees. Sephy is leaving for boarding school, and she writes to Callum, asking him to run away with her; Callum opens the letter too late and sprints to the Hadley estate only to see Sephy's car pulling away. Dionne is a year above Sephy at Heathcroft. After Sephy attempts to sit with the noughts at lunch, she, Lola, and Joanne brutally beat Sephy up. Several years later, after he joins the Liberation…