Main Character Description

Peter King.
An offbeat teenager.

Peter is unusually tall for someone of his age, but despite of this, he does not draw attention to himself. He, as said in Chapter 1, has a metaphorical 'Cloak of invisibility' which appears to shield him from the one of the most interesting characters in the story, Jye Sullivan.

Peter has a laconic sense of humour, and judges many people in his own unique way. He is extremely obsevational through this, and he appears to take in the seemingly insignificant details of everything.
This is shown through his intense analysing of the different people around him.
-"Kingy," he said, all buddy- buddy.
-'Mrs Kennedy smelled like shampoo, and I walked behind her until she looked at me strangely.'
-Bethany and Rachael walked in a toxic cloud of perfume. I saw Rachael spray herself three times.'
-'I knew she was in pain. We all did. She'd made it painfully clear that the blisters on her feet were extremely painful.'

Peter appears to be slightly under motivated and not at all interested in outdoor endeavours, but when the time comes, he becomes the mature leader of the three other characters, and reduces many of the verbal battles occuring between Jye Sullivan and Bethany.

Peter has a loving kind of personality, and obviously could be friends with many more people than he is. On page 7 of Chapter 2, he states-
"Its not as if I TRY to be a freak, it just turned out that way."
And-
"Add it all up- Badminton, Asterix, Tuba- Tuck it inside a long body as lean as a skinned rabbit and you get a guy who nobdy can take seriously."

He uses references to the popular books of Asterix in several moments of the book, and I believe he does this to compare just how out of this world their situation is, and to bring a sort of frivolous element to the story.

Peter really comes out of his shell and becomes a stronger, more persistent person by the end of the book, and I believe that this is one of the most meaningful 'messages' of the book.