Characters / Thirteen (2003)

Tracy

Tracy Freeland

Portrayed By: Evan Rachel Wood

• Age-Appropriate Angst: She's dealing with things that no 13-year-old should and is obviously confused and upset at the situations going on around her.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Mason thinks she is this.
• Author Avatar: Nikki Reed based Tracy off of herself at that age.
• Beta Bitch: Becomes this to Evie, after ousting Evie's friend Astrid.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Zig-zagged, as she's not entirely wangsty, many of her gripes and struggles are relevant. But even pre-corruption, she can be pretty snotty to her mom.
• Broken Bird: Tracy could be seen as this by the end of the movie.
• Commonality Connection: Despite Evie being the more straightforward "bad girl" to Tracey's "good girl", part of the two girls' bond is that they both have traumatic pasts and seek refuge in relationships outside of their families.
• Disappeared Dad: Melanie and her husband divorced sometime before the film, and he doesn't seem interested in his former family at all. Tracy blatantly reminds him of this by stating "Dad, do you even remember what the last thing we did together was?", to which he responds by taking a phone call, and calling her a "client", and walking away.
• Drugs Are Bad: Tracy desperately wants to be popular, and will do anything to gain popularity, including hardcore drugs. By the end of the film, she realizes the damaging effects that the drugs have done to her, and her family. Ironically, she despises her mother's boyfriend for being a recovering addict.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Tracy has this reaction by the end of the film, after she realized Evie told Melanie and Brooke about their "hiding places" for their drugs and stolen money. Tracy gets all the blame, while Evie gets off somewhat scot-free.
• Evil Former Friend: Tracy's friends, Noel and Yumi may see her as this.
• Fille Fatale: Picks it up from Evie, but is less comfortable about going after considerably older men.
• Fish out of Water: Tracy is this when she first decides to take the bus to Melrose and go "shopping" with Evie and Astrid.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She is the foolish sibling, to Mason's responsible.
• Good Girl Gone Bad: As she's drawn into Evie's orbit.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Inverted. In the beginning of the film Tracy starts off as this (before befriending Evie) and tries to keep up this act around adults. But as the movie unfolds, she completely abandons this trope all together.
• Hidden Depths: At the beginning of the film, Tracy is a very talented poet. By the end of the film, one of her teachers said that "She was one of her best students", until she became friends with Evie.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Melanie desperately wants to believe that Tracy is still the same girl who used to "play with Barbies" during the whole film.
• In with the In Crowd: As stated above, Tracy desperately wants to be popular, and does anything to gain popularity.
• Jerkass Has a Point: By the end of the movie, Tracy has become a drug-addicted, foul-mouthed twerp. But she wasn't wrong to be upset over the things in her life she has to go through despite being a teen (i.e., her mother making poor money decisions, her father being flaky, etc). She was also justified in being mad at Evie for not taking her part in the earlier debauchery, as it was Evie who introduced her to it.
• Joins to Fit In: Tracy steals a women's pocketbook, and uses that to fit in.
• Little Miss Badass: Tracy tries to come off as one several times throughout the film.
• Madness Mantra: Her infamous mantra of "no bra, no panties" is a perfect example of one
• Middle School: As the film's title states, Tracy and Evie are thirteen years old, and in 7th grade.
• My God, What Have I Done?: The scene at the end of the film, where Tracy is on a merry-go-round, could be seen as this.
• Naïve Newcomer: Tracy is this, before Evie introduces her to the world of petty crime, sex, and drugs.
• Odd Couple: Subverted. Tracy and Evie seem like this at first, but by the middle of the film, they are best friends.
• Really Gets Around: Tracy has, or at least tries to have intimate relationships with multiple people.
• The Scream: Tracy has one at the very last scene of the film.
• Self-Harm: Tracy cuts her arm with a razor as a way to deal with all the stress in her life. You can tell she started cutting before the events of the film, because she constantly wears a sweatband on her wrist, and long sleeves, long before she befriends Evie.
• Sex as Rite-of-Passage: After Tracy has sex with Javi, Evie seems to fully accept her into her group of friends.
• Smoking Is Cool: Even before she forms a friendship with Evie, Tracy begins to smoke one of her mom's cigarettes to look cool.
• Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: About halfway through the film, Tracy and Evie begin speaking in an incoherent language, obviously to hide things from Mel.
• Teens Are Monsters: Tracy used to be a sweet kid, but after she befriends Evie, she starts to act so much like Evie, it's clear she's become a different person.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Gradually throughout the film and thanks to Evie's influence, she devolves from a kind, decent young woman to a rude, disrespectful, bitchy twerp.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Even before befriending Evie, she writes dark poetry and smokes.
• The Unfavorite: Tracy thinks she is this, when she tearfully tells Melanie, "Mason said you wanted me to move in with dad. You don't want me. You don't want me," to which Melanie wholeheartedly denies, and tells Tracy that she loves her and Mason "more than anything in the world".
• We Used to Be Friends: She is this with Noel and Yumi, and eventually Evie
• Younger Than They Look: Tracy is only 13 years old, but dresses like she's 20 years old.

Evie

Portrayed By Nikki Reed

Evie Zamora

• Abusive Parents: Evie claims to have an abusive uncle, which is confirmed via a newspaper clipping.
• Alpha Bitch: Evie is this at school and is admired and trailed after by boys and girls alike.
• Ambiguously Bi: She seems to have quite the hots for Tracy and passionately kisses Mel on the mouth. Of course, she still has a lot of guys to fool around with.
• Ambiguously Brown: Another ambiguity trope surrounding this mysterious character. Evie's last name is Hispanic/Latino and her actress Nikki Reed has Native American ancestry, but her ethnicity is never explicitly stated.
• Broken Bird: Evie is definitely one.
• Broken Pedestal: To Tracy and her family. Tracy goes from idolizing and adoring her best friend and surrogate sister to despising her. Mason begins the film infatuated with her, but can't even stand to flirt with her once the extent of her corruption of his sister becomes apparent. And Mel, whose heart bleeds for the downtrodden victim Evie presents herself as, removes her from the family home when Evie's lies and toxic influence become too much to deal with.
• Bros Before Hoes: Averted, Evie is implied to have hooked up with Tracey's crush Javi.
• The Charmer: Both to men, and the Freeland family, whom she wins over pretty quickly initially.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Averted. Evie has no problem selling Tracy out and pretending like she doesn't exist by the end of the film, leaving Tracy with no friends and a bad reputation.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: At first, when Tracy tries to befriend Evie.
• The Corrupter: She corrupts Tracy into a foul-mouthed sociopathic drug addict.
• Desperately Craves Affection: One could be forgiven for seeing Evie as a promiscuous opportunist, but a lot of her motivations derive from a longing for love an acceptance.
• Drugs Are Good: Evie has this mentality throughout the film.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Seems to feel betrayed by Tracey and Melanie after she's kicked out of their house, resulting in her selling Tracey out.
• Everybody Must Get Stoned: Evie thinks this, and she, Tracy, and a few other kids get high in the park.
• Evil Former Friend: Evie could be seen as this by the end of the film.
• Fille Fatale: She knows exactly what boys/men want.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Evie seems to completely forget that she "invited" Tracy to go shopping in Melrose in the beginning of the film.
• Freudian Excuse: Evie claims that she was sexually abused to Mel, which may or may not be true. For all the freedoms she enjoys at Brooke's, her desire to get adopted into Tracy's family and utter misery at being dumped back home points to a different strain of trauma.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Evie thinks this when she and Tracy are making out in her room.
• High-School Hustler: Well, in this case it would be a middle school hustler, but Evie is definitely this.
• Little Miss Badass: More so than Tracy.
• Manipulative Bitch: Evie is definitely one.
• Missing Mom: With only the information that Evie's mom is a "crack whore", it's presumed that she's completely out of Evie's life.
• Odd Friendship: She forms one with Tracy in the beginning of the film.
• Pet the Dog: She's surprisingly tender when she discovers Tracey has been cutting.
• Really Gets Around: Both she and Tracy have sex with different people, and even try to have a threesome during the film.
• Remember That You Trust Me: After Evie rats on Tracy, she tells her that she didn't have a choice, and that she loves her. We don't know if this is true or not, considering how much Evie lies and manipulates people.
• Riddle for the Ages: The veracity of her ever-changing claims of abuse, and the very real scars and bruises she bears.
• Slumber Party Ploy: Uses this a bunch.
• Smoking Is Cool: Evie glamorizes smoking and drugs throughout the film.
• Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: Evie and Tracy start speaking in an incoherent language in the middle of the film, obviously to hide things from Mel.
• Teens Are Monsters
• Toxic Friend Influence: Tracy wouldn't have become such a sociopath, a drug addict or a once straight A student turned grade repeater if it weren't for Evie.
• Troubling Un Childlike Behavior
• Younger Than They Look: Both she and Tracy are only 13 years old, but dress like they're 20.

Mason

Portrayed By: Brady Corbet

Mason Freeland

• Big Brother Bully: Could be seen as this several times throughout the film.
• Big Brother Instinct: This doesn't kick in for him until halfway through the film, where he accidentally hits on his own sister. He seems horrified to see his 13-year-old sister sporting a belly button ring, and a thong.
  • In a deleted scene during Tracy's intervention, he gives her a hug after finding out what she and Evie had really been doing.
• Competence Zone: He's only a year or two older than Tracey but given a lot more leeway and trusted to handle more.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Kind of. He does admit that he thinks Evie is the "hottest girl in school", but as the movie goes on, he abandons this thought all together after he finds out what an awful person she is. The only real one on one action they have is when Evie flashes him.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Could be seen as the responsible sibling, to Tracy's foolish.
• Only Sane Man: Of the Freeland family. Between Tracey's spiraling out, Mel's addiction issue/taste in boyfriends, and their dad walking out, Mason tends to behave the most rationally.
• The Unfair Sex: Inverted. Mason doesn't get in as much trouble as Tracy for doing drugs, because he only smokes pot, and Melanie knows about it.

Melanie

Portrayed By: Holly Hunter

Melanie Freeland

• Adults Are Useless: Averted, only until the end. Melanie only gets Tracy free from Evie, only after she realizes how toxic of a person Evie is.
• Cool Big Sis: Evie says that Mel is more like this than a mother.
• Former Teen Rebel: Implied to be this, which is why she overlooks a lot of her kids' mischief.
• Functional Addict: Implied to be a recovering alcoholic and/or addict, who frequently attends AA meetings and is dating another recovering addict.
• Grew a Spine: Mel finally stands up to Tracy, halfway through the film.
• Illegal Guardian: Subverted, even though Melanie is in no way Evie's guardian, Evie spends more time at the Freeland's house than she does her own.
• Mama Bear: Melanie defends Tracy when Brooke is making it sound like Tracy was the one who was the bad influence on Evie.
• Missing Mom: Melanie tells Evie that she didn't have a mom when she was Evie's age.
• Parental Substitute: To Evie, albeit reluctantly.
• Parent with New Paramour: Tracey hates Brady, who frequently spends the night.

---