NOTE: Since this is an ongoing series, the original line-ups for the groups on the separate pages have been used for the character pages to avoid confusion for newcomers.
In general
- Alpha Bitch: It Runs in the Family. Each one of them either were one back in the day (Jayna and Cameron) or currently are one (Shay and Mikayla).
- Catchphrase: "Hi-yeeeeeee!", and "Bye-eeeeee!"
- Demoted to Extra: The Van Buren sisters are pretty much put aside for most of the second season to focus on the feud between the cheer squads. Then they're reascended to main/supporting roles in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons.
- Disappeared Dad: Their father is never seen. (Or, fathers, since season five reveals that Cameron and Shay's fathers are different.)
- Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas: Despite being respective Alpha Bitches, all of the Van Buren sisters greatly care about their mother, taking care of her since she cannot due to her alcoholism.
- Even Evil Has Standards: The Van Buren sisters were completely shocked after they accidentally ripped Deandra's arms off.
- Rich Bitch: All the Van Buren women apparently. The fourth season reveals they're loaded.
- Small Name, Big Ego: The Van Burens consider themselves to be a dynasty of "high school socialites," and Cameron often brags about how she jet-sets from one county to the next.
- The Three Faces of Eve: Shay (Wife), Cameron (Seductress), and Mikayla (Child).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: They're the Girly Girls to the Cheer Squad's Tomboys.
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Shay Van Buren
"Mikayla, I'm six feet tall and I weigh a hundred and five pounds. I think I know how to mix Ex-Lax into a drink."
Voiced by: Andrew Delman, Haley Mancini (young)
The only member of her family not to make Head Cheer Captain, center of the other side of Overland Park's popular girls, and not a "fucking liar."
- All for Nothing: In Season 4, she quits the cheer squad, work with Brittany in taking down Mackenzie with a humiliating video, got nearly murdered by The Expendables and it ends with her popularity tanks as Trisha changes the video to Shay's drunk rant criticizing hating everybody.
- All Work vs. All Play: Is the All Play to Mackenzie's All Work.
- Aloof Big Sister: Towards Mikayla.
- Alpha Bitch: She's bitchy, beautiful, and, yeah, almost as popular as Mackenzie.
- Animal Motifs: Has been associated with dogs since Season 5.
- The Atoner: Towards Deandra, as she tries to make up for the fact she ripped one of her arms off.
- Attention Whore: Most prominent in Season 5, where she tries to force herself into Team USA despite being told "no" countless times by the main girls.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Part of her Deadpan Snarker nature. Especially in "Keeping Up With The Van Burens", where she asks Shay if she is alright after deliberately hitting her with her car.
- Bad Boss: Downplayed. Upon being named the new head of the Cheer Squad, Shay's first decisions including hiring a professional to teach the squad how to truly be popular and has commissioned a gorgeous new set of uniforms. Although it seems beyond that, even if she has the title of head cheerleader, Mackenzie is still calling the shots. However, she later quits in the fourth season because she was tired of doing so much work and because she was tired of dealing with Brittnay's revenge melodrama.
- Berserk Button: Being called a "fucking liar," which sets off the whole series.
- Big Sister Bully: While she was mainly aloof to Mikayla in previous seasons, by Season 5 she's shown being more of a bitch towards her little sister, going from throwing a glass of water at her face to give her a drink with laxatives off-screen!
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Though not to the same extent as her big sister.
- Brick Joke: Her deafness is a running brick joke, if such a thing exists. Every time you think you've forgotten that she's deaf in one ear, she'll blankly say "What?" out of nowhere.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Could do so much more thanks to wealth and status, but Shay never actually commits to her role as the Head Cheerleader, much to Mackenzie's infuriation.
- Childhood Friends: With (all formerly) Brittnay, Rachel, and Mackenzie.
- Comedic Sociopathy: In "Keeping Up With The Van Burens", she wants to distract Cameron in order to throw her a surprise birthday party by hitting her with her car.
- Covert Pervert: Shay just isn't as outwardly lustful as the other girls in this show, but it's still obvious from the evidence gathered; we get hints of bisexuality and one-night stands in Episode 17 (see above) and, in Episode 65, a poster on her bedroom wall says "Hot Pussy".
- Deadpan Snarker: Often in a Surrounded by Idiots sort of way, especially when it comes to her family's antics.
- The Dog Bites Back: She finally gets her time to shine in Season 5 by refusing to join Team USA in Episode 81, bringing up how once all of this is done, they'll go back to treating her like shit, and other very good points.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Gay Van Buren. It always comes back to haunt her...
- Entitled Bitch: Due to her upbringing, and it shows while she's the Head Cheerleader.
- Fallen Princess:
- While popular in her own right, she was originally going to be the cheer captain. Being incapacitated by a hacky sack to the head changed that.
- And now she managed to get cheer captain back from Mackenzie, who asks her to join the squad because they couldn't get anyone else and they are losing their popular status to Jenna Darabond's hipsters. Shay demanded that the only way she would join the squad was if she could be captain, and Mackenzie was so desperate she finally conceded.
- And then in episode 70 her popularity really tanks when Trisha displays a video of Shay going on a violent, drunken triad bitching about how everyone at Overland Park sucks, including Saison and Blaine's baby daughter.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Is somewhere in-between Mikayla's Responsible Sibling and Cameron's Foolish Sibling.
- Freudian Excuse: Similar to Mackenzie; with a mother and family life like hers, would you be the most pleasant person in the world?
- Girlish Pigtails: Her usual hairstyle.
- Heroic Heelization Speech: At prom, she and Mackenzie realize they actually should be working on maintaining friendships and being kind, before rejecting the idea and deciding that they now have a common goal of destroying Rachel Tice.
- Which becomes Double Subverted as, unlike Mackenzie whose cheer squad steadily loses members left and right as her schemes drive people away, Shay actually restrains herself and maintains her friendships with her circle. By Season 5, she even (with teeth gritted) even eats fondue with Rachel, the person she swore vengeance on.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: She calls Cameron a whore all the time, but gets annoyed if anyone else does it.
- I Can't Hear You: Is prone to this, as she's deaf in her right ear.
- In Vino Veritas: Revealed in an exposed video in Episode 70.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She might be a giant bitch, but she also seems to truly consider herself friends with Deandra and Saison, even inviting them to her birthday party despite not liking the surprise Moana theme.
- Kick the Dog: To remind the viewers that she's still a bitch, she outright refuses to hang out with Rachel and Judith in Episode 75 because they're poor and ugly.Shay: You two are losers who look like you just beat cancer yesterday.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She's probably one of the "nicest" Alpha Bitches introduced on the show, as most of her motives are mostly due to getting back at Mackenzie, who started their rivalry by betraying her in the first place. Case in point, she's very amicable towards Saison and Deandra. It's played definitely straight when she was a third grader, as she was the most popular in her elementary school and was a still a rather sweet kid.
- Lean and Mean: She weighs 105 pounds (see above quote).
- Middle Child Syndrome: The only thing she achieved was becoming deaf in one ear, whereas her sisters are popular cheerleaders. Shay just lives off their popularity as the odd one out.
- My Greatest Failure: Not being cheer captain. She overcomes this when she finally becomes cheerleader captain.
- Old Shame: As a child, she had to shave her head because of lice (and because her mother didn't know about shampoo for lice being a thing). She hates being reminded of that.
- Only Sane Woman: The only one in her family with any common sense, though Mikayla is a close second. She's also slowly evolved into this for the show as a whole. If Matthew Derringer, Deandra, or Tanner aren't available, chances are Shay will play the voice of reason in a situation.
- Out-Gambitted: She never expected Trisha to be able to pull off a revenge scheme and have it work.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to her rival Mackenzie's Blue.
- Revenge Before Reason
- Running Gag: "What?"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When she quits the Cheer Squad because of Brittnay's rampage.Shay Van Buren: Have fun with the fucking Frankenstein's monster you've created!
- Sitcom Arch Enemy: To Mackenzie.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's six feet tall, and while there's not a lot of comments on her looks, she professes to be hotter than some of the girls who make it onto the Team USA modeling team.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She was actually a Cheerful Child and Lovable Alpha Bitch in the third grade, but after Mackenzie stole the head cheerleader position from her and caused her future misfortune, she's become bitter and swore to take down Mackenzie ever since.
- We Used to Be Friends: She and Mackenzie were actually Childhood Friends, until the day Mackenzie used on Shay becoming part-deaf because of Matthew at her advantage to win the head cheerleader position she's kept since that day, which caused their friendship to fall apart and the beginning of an ongoing rivalry.
Cameron Van Buren
"Um, Witchita State is great. I'm in like, a shit ton of sororities, and I have a twenty-nine year old boyfriend. Suck itttt!"
Voiced by: Aaron Krebs
The most popular girl in the history of the Blue Valley School District, and she knows it.
- All Women Are Lustful: Cameron is sexually active and proud of it. When she's sexually frustrated, everyone knows it.Cameron: I need a dick so bad!
- Alpha Bitch: She's regarded as the most popular girl in the history of the Blue Valley School District, even though she graduated and is now at Wichita State University. She's also highly volatile, prone to getting aggravated when inconvenienced and bitching people out.
- Big Sister Bully: She's particularly cruel to Shay in Season 5, from insulting her looks to joining the Cheer Squad mocking her.
- Big Sister Instinct: She immediately got involved the moment she heard Shay was being called "a fucking liar." Which was mere seconds after Shay herself heard it. This is subverted in season five when, after getting invited to join the American modeling team, participates in Mackenzie, Brittnay, and Deandra's taunting of Shay.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: The premise of the first "Keeping Up With The Van Burens" episode. Let's just say she ends up in a full body cast.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: She's a Spoiled Brat who gets whatever she wants.
- Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Shay, but still standing. And definitely not the kind-natured variety.
- Dude Magnet: She can get any old guy she finds at her taste into her bed with the snap of a fingers.
- Dumb Blonde: It pops up in the series a notable amount of times.
- The Chew Toy: Especially in "Keeping Up With The Van Burens", where she's on the receiving end of endless slapstick throughout the whole first episode. On her birthday.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: As big of a bitch she can be, she clearly cares a lot about her sisters, as was demonstrated in her introduction when she threatened to rip Mackenzie a new one for talking smack about Shay.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Lunch Lady Belinda is extremely in love with her, to Cameron's dismay and disgust.
- Foil: To Rachel Tice's older sister.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish Sibling to Mikayla's Responsible Sibling.
- Gender-Blender Name: Cameron Van Buren. Brittany even lampshades it in the episode 13 when she insinuates that Cameron has testicles, to which Cameron angrily replies "that was a rumor!"
- Gold Digger: She Has a Type, and it's rich old guys. Case in point, she breaks off her relationship with Senator Darabond after he lost his job and revenue due to a sex scandal involving their affair.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: Cameron is by no means a "good girl" and as for getting an abortion? She's getting an entire wing of an abortion clinic named after her. It turns out the reason she's gotten so many abortions is because she purposefully forgets to take her birth control meds whenever her boyfriends consider leaving her.
- Jaded Washout: Doesn't seem like it at first, but dig through the "glamour" of her college-aged life and what you find is a miserable woman constantly shacking up with increasingly older guys when she's not getting used as a fraternity sex toy, lets herself get pregnant in order to keep her boyfriends from leaving her, has had multiple abortions, and spends far too much time invested in her younger sister's high school shenanigans. The end of season five sees her starting a career as a model, though, so maybe she'll make something of herself after all.
- Jerkass: Yeah, she's not a nice person. And this one time, she willingly made a joke at the expense of "the son from Breaking Bad".Cameron: Yeah, and it makes him walk funny. That's the fucking joke.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- In "Pizza Street", she is understandably not happy with Bridget for providing a horrible service.
- In "A Very Deandra Thanksgiving", while rude, she the only person pointing out Deandra is mooching off her family's dinner.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: Despite being in a show filled with foul-mouthed characters, Cameron stands out along with Brittnay. Her use of coarse language worsens in "Keeping Up With The Van Burens", where her dialogue is constantly filled with Sound Effect Bleeps.
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: They both share an affinity for older men, as revealed in Episode 74, and it's likely Jayna's an indicator of how Cameron's life will turn out when she gets older.
- Likes Older Men: Just like her mother, as stated above.
- The Mistress: She takes great pride in that position, as she has no shame stealing men in relationships for herself. Mackenzie enforces this by using Cameron to get Senator Darabond out of the picture for her plan of revenge against Jenna by causing him and Cameron to have an affair and later a sex scandal.
- Noodle Incident: Back in her high school days, there was a rumor Cameron was a transgender woman due to her Gender-Blender Name. She makes it very clear that it's nothing but a rumor.
- Offscreen Teleportation: She somehow managed to make it to Overland Park High from Wichita State in mere seconds after hearing that Mackenzie called Shay "a fucking liar." Although given that Mikayla's teacher told her about Mikayla's head lice, it's possible she was already in the area because she'd been called to pick Mikayla up from school.
- Pet the Dog:
- She's pretty nasty to Shay, but she did stand up for her when Mackenzie called her a liar.
- When it seems that Jayna had a miscarriage, she tells Shay to lay off her, since losing a baby is already stressful and traumatic as it is. Of course, it turns out Jayna was never pregnant at all, and the sisters go back to insulting each other immediately afterwards, but it's the thought that counts.
- Pink Is Feminine: Wears pink from head to toe.
- Really Gets Around: She has quite the track record, to the point of having a wing of an abortion clinic named after her.
- Running Gag: Her new boyfriends always get older and older.
- Serial Homewrecker: Eagerly hooks up with married men and sets to establish herself as the top mistress of whichever guy she's fucking, to the point where her own godmother even hated her guts.Cameron: [to Team France] You bitches better watch the way that you're talking, because I got noooo problem fucking your dads and breaking up your family!
- Sitcom Arch Enemy: While Shay has it out for Mackenzie, Cameron has a more constrained but still present issue with Brittnay.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Despite her legendary status in the high school district and proportionate ego, most functional adults only see Cameron as a bitchy and oversexed co-ed and aren't nearly as impressed with her. Lampshaded in Season 3 when Cameron judges the Little Miss Overland Park Pageant: the other judges are a pair of respected business owners while Cameron is just an alum of the competition, but she still throws her weight around when introducing herself to them.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Gets into a lot of these with Brittnay, due to their positions as their respective Sitcom Arch Enemy.
- Spoiled Brat: Likes to rub her wealth in people's faces and when she wants something, she gets it.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's six-foot-one and as of the end of Season 5, a full-time contracted model.
- Stepford Smiler: Jeannie Halverstad's "The Reason You Suck" Speech and Cameron's reaction to it implies she's not entirely happy with getting fucked by guys old enough to be her dad and her seemingly glamorous college life of getting screwed by fraternities offers nothing genuinely fulfilling for her.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Amongst her admirers, most of them are filled with university teachers.
- Token Evil Teammate: Out of the three Van Buren sisters, Cameron has the least amount of redeeming qualities and is the one most likely to turn on Shay and Mikayla if the opportunity is worthwhile. In season one she gladly joined her sisters in planning revenge on the Cheerleaders for calling Shay "A fucking liar," while in season five she not only eagerly accepts Mackenzie's invitation into the American teen modeling team but joins in mocking Shay for assuming they asked her.
- Unwitting Pawn: Mackenzie uses her to break up Jenna Darabond's family by sleeping with Jenna's senator father via getting the two to meet at a Parent-Teacher Conference.
- Womanchild: As some moments where she acts like an immature whiny teenage girl, despite being the oldest sibling and almost 20 years old.
Mikayla Van Buren
I was born in 2003. I have no idea what a gremlin is.
Voiced by: Lily Vonnegut
Cameron and Shay's little sister and the most popular girl at Meadowlane Elementary School. Denies she has lice even though she infected the entire 3rd grade.
- Alpha Bitch: Elementary school version. We haven't seen it, yet, but it's implied she rules Meadowlane with an iron fist.
- Abandoned Catchphrase: She used to say "Don't worry, I got this!" often in Season 1, but it was eventually dropped in later seasons.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: She constantly tries to get involved in her older siblings' schemes, despite the fact it's way above her grade and age. When they don't let her, she uses blackmailing or threats.
- The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the Van Buren sisters.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Her defining trait.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets sent back home from school after having lice and infesting the entire third grade, is on the receving end of a lot of insults (most of them by Deandra) and come by Season 5, she's just as much of a resident punching bag than Rachel Tice is.
- Childhood Brain Damage: Ironically inverted; despite Jayna drinking while she was pregnant with her, Mikayla apparently comes out not just relatively normal, but quite smart for her age.
- Child Prodigy: Not only is she far more levelheaded than Cameron and Jayna, sharing the Only Sane Man status with Shay, she also reads books way outside her grade level, has a sharp mind for how popularity and social hierarchies work even at the age of eight or nine, and has aspirations to be President.
- Enfant Terrible: Not as much as Brittnay when she was her age, but she's got a language that's definitely not suited for a little girl her age and at one point threatens to push Mackenzie's little sister down a flight of stairs.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible Sibling to Cameron's Foolish Sibling.
- Friendly Enemy: With Trisha. She also gets along with Brooklyn Katchadourian quite well.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Trisha.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's an awful brat a lot of the time, but she's genuinely nice to Trisha and Brooklyn, and loves her family. It's implied that, since she's only a kid, she hasn't grown into a full-fledged Alpha Bitch like her sisters yet.
- Kids Are Cruel: She threatened to kill Mackenzie's little sister if she (Mackenzie) didn't apologize to Shay.
- Lady Swears-a-Lot: For a 9 year old, dear god she's foul-mouthed.
- The Linus: She acts like an adult, but there are sometimes still reminders to the viewers that she's only in the Third Grade. Here's one example (from Episode 38)—Mikayla: Hello, [Santa] Claus. I know you've seen some naughtiness this year, but I have put together a report that will prove otherwise. Let's start here with this pie chart. [...] I thank you for your time. Here is my card. We will be in touch.
- Little Miss Snarker: A deeply sarcastic and foul-mouthed nine-year-old.
- Odd Friendship: With Trisha.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Same as her sister Cameron.
- Pet the Dog: Gives Trisha a nice book to read. By Dr. Seuss. Hell, her friendship with Trisha in general.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue (Dress) to Katelynn's Red (actually pink dress).
- Running Gag: That she's a gremlin of some sort, by Deandra.
- Straw Character: Of the conservative variety. She reads Ayn Rand and believes in trickle-down economics.
- Sweet Tooth: Loves Fruit Gushers to the point that she threatens to kill Shay in her sleep for eating the last of her stash.
- Tiny Tyrannical Girl: A Bratty Half-Pint with a Troubling Unchild Like Behavior who threatens to an innocent younger girl down a flight of stairs for her older sister's actions.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Mikayla has made a number of death threats over the series - directly to people, about their siblings, and even to her own family members. She's also knows how to properly mix and disguise laxatives into drinks and shares her family members' fondness of using them for vengeful purposes.
- Typhoid Mary: Her lice were so bad she infected the entire 3rd grade and had to be sent home.
- Vocal Evolution: Come Keeping Up With The Van Burens, she sounds far less of a whinier, pitched-up version of Brittnay.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The Serious Child to Jayna's Wacky Parent.
Jayna Van Buren
Girls, girls! You're all treasures. Lovely accidental treasures. Mistakes, but treasures.
Voiced by: David Razowsky
The mother of the Van Buren girls and an expert on using laxatives to poison people. Currently pregnant with a fourth child and is a heavy alcoholic and pill addict. And it turns out she's not pregnant. She's just really fat.
- Alcoholic Parent: Not even pregnancy (real or otherwise) is enough to spur Jayna away from booze.
- Alpha Bitch: Back in her high school days. She gives advice to her daughters on how to properly be one.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Just look at her! When Shay was called to a parent-teacher meeting, she lied about her mother's absence, saying that she was on a business trip. This is followed by a Description Cut to Jayna drunkenly sleeping on the kitchen counter.
- Anti-Role Model: Oh, she is a terrible example to her daughters.
- Balloon Belly: Episode 24 reveals that her "baby bump" is actually an accumulation of fat due to her excessive consumption of alcohol, therefore she is not pregnant.
- Birds of a Feather: She and Mrs. Zales get along extremely well (especially when high). Not much of a surprise, considering how irresponsible parents they are.
- Catchphrase:
- "Ha-cha-cha."
- "Girls' night!"
- Cloudcuckoolander: Helps that she's drunk off her ass in almost all her appearances, hence why she spurs nonsense.
- Evil Matriarch: Played for Laughs.
- Future Loser: She was a popular Alpha Bitch head cheerleader back in her glory days. Now, she's a pathetic alcoholic who's being taken care off by her daughters.
- Freudian Excuse: A throwaway line in Episode 33 implies that her own mother was an alcoholic.
- Hands-Off Parenting: She acts more like a Childish Older Sibling to her children than an actual mother.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Part of being an irresponsible Alcoholic Parent.
- Harmful to Minors:
- She more than encourages her children actively carrying out threats of bodily harm against each other. When it comes to Shay avenging the cheerleaders, she willingly tells her children about the pranks she had to pull on other students when she was popular in high school.
- Jayna didn't hold back on her children downing alcohol until they fell down. At the family reunion, she says that they can have as many glasses as they wanted. Shay didn't hold back, but Jayna was so drunk, she couldn't discipline her daughter.
- Jaded Washout: If she was as popular in high school as her daughters are/were/will be, then it's pretty clear her life went down the drain fairly quickly after she graduated. Shay mentions Jayna met her father while she was a waitress at Hooter's, and she usually spends her days getting drunk or passed out drunk in different areas of her home.
- Lady Drunk: To the extreme.
- Likes Older Men: The father of her first daughter was her teacher, to say the least. It's a trait she apparently gave to said daughter.
- Longest Pregnancy Ever: She thinks she's been pregnant for two or three years, and believes she carried Mikayla for 16 months. Except she didn't—all her drinking just made her fat.
- Old Master: In regards to sabotaging cheerleaders for the sake of popularity and petty vengeance.
- One Drink Will Kill the Baby: Numerous characters have expressed concern over Jayna's constant drinking, even while she is supposedly pregnant. Mikayla has thankfully suffered little due her mother drinking during her gestational period - if anything, she's the most well-off of the Van Burens.
- Parental Neglect: Shay, Cameron, and Mikayla generally take care of their mother rather than the other way around; they do well enough for themselves more than likely because they come from rich parents on both sides.
- Portmanteau: She has a habit of speaking like this thanks to being drunk all the time.
- Really Gets Around: Definitely where Cameron gets it from. Proof is, her daughters all have different fathers (Shay's being a customer she met when she was a waitress at Hooter's), and she hooks up with Cameron's teacher in "Keeping Up With The Van Burens".
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Mrs. Zales' Red.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Cameron's father was Jayna's high school teacher.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: The Wacky Parent to Mikayla's Serious Child.
