#lzabout

the boys!

RYAN DOYLE

b. February 6, 1992 

Ryan is one of Lucas’ best friends. Originally mortal enemies in elementary school, they eventually became close after both discovering their deep, shared love for Pokémon. Ryan is cocky, affectionate, cynical, intense, and bold.

MAX COLLINS

b. November 21, 1991

Max and Lucas met in kindergarten and became instant friends. They later met Ryan when he moved to town from Montana, and became the OGs of the friend group. He is engaged to high school sweetheart, Meadow Morris. Max is laid-back, rational, light-hearted, and good-natured.

ABDUL ROYCHADHURI

b. September 4, 1991

Abdul moved from Sri Lanka to the Hills in the sixth grade. After being bullied for a semester, he eventually ran into Lucas on the bus, where they became fast friends, and Abdul was instantly integrated into the friend group and officially declared their protected buddy. Abdul is quick-witted, humorous, mellow, and considerate.

ALEX FINLAY

b. June 1, 1992

Alex threw a sandwich at Ryan’s head in the seventh grade and got into a fistfight with him-- and won, which earned the respect of the whole squad. He eventually joined the Mathletes, much to everyone’s shock-- turned out he just had a big fat crush on Hayley Bradburn, who he married in June 2021. Alex is edgy, eager, lively, entertaining, and competitive.

MATEO SANCHEZ

b. January 20, 1992

Mateo moved to Beverly Hills from Hawaii with his grandmother in the third grade, and became fast friends with Ryan. He introduced Ryan and Lucas to Pokémon, which sparked their lifelong friendship and ended their brief rivalry. Mateo is nerdy, friendly, likable, optimistic, and easygoing.

MILES “BICEPS MILES” MACKY

b. July 11, 1991

Miles is a bit accident-prone, but fortunately loves to laugh it off. He had an innocent crush on Ava Lazanski throughout high school. He met the crew in sixth grade after being in the same gym class as Lucas, Max, and Mateo, the three of whom decided to befriend him after he tore his biceps trying to bench press far too much on the first day of school. He was immediately dubbed Biceps Miles. Biceps Miles is suave, confident, forgetful, zestful, and plucky.

the ladies!

SOPHIE CORAM-CONNELL

b. April 6, 1992

Sophie Coram-Connell was a cheerleader at Beverly Hills High School who had a crush on Lucas, and all but staked her claim on him. After discovering that Lucas was actually dating Zoey, she bullied Zoey out of the school. She also bullied Hayley Bradburn and most other girls who were interested in him. Sophie is arrogant, manipulative, cunning, vain, and feisty.

HAYLEY FINLAY

b. January 3, 1992

Hayley Finlay (nee Bradburn) asked out Lucas at the beginning of junior year, but was ultimately rejected as at the time, Lucas had a crush on Zoey Kim. She was on the cheer squad, Mathletes, choir, dance team, and student council, and eventually began dating Alex Finlay second semester, effectively cementing her as “one of the bros.” They were engaged in 2019 and married in June 2021. Hayley is well-rounded, fair, compassionate, ambitious, and content.

MISUN “ZOEY” KIM

b. May 9, 1992

He’s the guy who— for some reason— moved out of L.A. halfway through senior year of high school to go and become an idol in South Korea.

You ask Zanski ‘bout his history, he’ll tell you; the man’s an open book. Someone like that’s gotta have some tragic backstory, yeah? Cool Asian kid at school, friends with everyone, single Hills mom, Stanford and Harvard sisters; what’s his deal, you’d ask? A shrug, then:

“It’s not that complicated, man. My parents were Korean, couldn’t take care of me. My mom’s husband passed, could take care of me. My sisters were studying abroad; mom missed having a kid around. I was cute even back then. How would she not adopt me?”

Then a flirty eyebrow wag, a teasing grin, and he’s off to find his next adventure.

And it actually isn’t that complicated, really. Mother: Jackie Lazanski, elementary schoolteacher who happened to marry a loving real estate tycoon who left everything, including his multimillions, to her after he died.

Sisters: Ava and Mia Lazanski, grad school and pre-med, respectively, at least back then. Successful engineer and surgeon nowadays. Also his home screen wallpaper, but not his lock screen, ‘cause he doesn’t wanna bother them if Dispatch sees his phone and tries to contact his sisters.

Home: Beverly Hills, baby!

Closest friends: Ryan, Max, Abdul, Alex, Mateo, and Biceps Miles. (That last one wasn’t ‘cause his biceps were ripped, but ‘cause he ripped his biceps in middle school. Lifting accidents, man.) All best friends since pretty much childhood. All ending up running different social circles in high school, but staying close as hell.

Girlfriend: half the high school woulda claimed Hayley Bradburn asked him out a month ago, the other half woulda argued that no, actually, Sophie Coram-Connell said that she was dating him, but Zanski himself woulda told you that it was Zoey Kim, the Korean exchange student during junior year.

Zoezanski, Ryan used to tease him about, ‘cause when Zanski’s got it, he’s got it bad. Pretty embarrassing the way he, so tall even as a high-schooler, seemed to forget just how big he was around Zoey’s cute long hair and accented voice and pink denim miniskirt. Thank God his mom said that he should keep in touch with his heritage and made him learn Korean as a kid, ‘cause he’s got a leg up in talking to her. And Misun, as he later discovers Zoey’s Korean name is— she’s a singer, man. Got one of the prettiest voices Zanski ever did hear. It’s why he ended up joining choir way back when, and realized he actually liked it a lot even after she left.

She used to sing a lot in the car, charmed by the cherry red color of the convertible his mom got him as he’d cruise down the coast with his hand on her knee. K-pop was what she listened to, and by extension, it’s what Zanski listened to even after they broke up.

And what a breakup it was. Remember Sophie? Sophie Coram-Connell who was rejected so nicely by Zanski that she didn’t even realize she was rejected at all?— oops! Turns out that not wanting to ruffle any feathers is a fatal flaw, ‘cause Sophie heard from Tina who’s dating Kyle who’s on Biceps Miles’ pole-vaulting team who’s following Zanski’s sister Ava that Ava posted a photo of herself, Zanski, and Zoey having dinner with the caption . . . “Glad to finally meet my brother’s girlfriend!” And Sophie freaked.

She bullied Zoey for the rest of junior year, despite Zanski’s pleading efforts to get her to stop. And Zoey begged Zanski to stop being friends with her . . . but how could he ever choose a side, burn a bridge? Turns out, the consequences of trying to rationalize and make amends between two people leads to even more friction. In hindsight, he does wish he defended his girlfriend way back when, but it doesn’t even matter now, ‘cause Zoey dumps him three months before she has to go back to Korea.

What sticks with him, though, is everything he picked up in his efforts to impress her. Is he heartbroken? Yeah, but he’s got his friends. He’s got his mom. He’s got his sisters, even if they’re plane rides away. But it’s hard to let go of the music, the singing, not when he’s finally discovered a talent he’s proud of.

And he guesses Zoey’s proud too . . . ‘cause she emails him, halfway through his senior year, with a link to Worldwide Records global casting in L.A. and nothing but the words “Go try out :)”. Well, what’s he got to lose?

It’s how he ends up having a going-away dinner with his mom and friends, and even Mia’s flown in from Harvard to attend her baby brother’s celebration. His heart is pounding as he boards the plane in early ‘11. ‘Cause he’s gonna be a K-pop idol— whatever that entails.

What it entails is Zanski having to water himself down. God, they even make him start going by Lucas again! No one’s called him that since pretty much the second grade. He’s too Western; the first few years he accidentally calls people “unnie” ‘cause he’s still getting used to honorifics. He has to be slapped on the wrist to stop hugging his seniors and clapping them on the shoulder and start bowing to them instead. He’s miserable the first few years as an idol. Even his mom notices it when he debuts in ‘14 and she comments on how he seems too tame.

But time goes by, and Prism starts garnering a bit more respect in the industry till eventually, Max is texting him and telling him that even the people in L.A. are starting to freak out over him. (But also, who the hell is Lucas?) We love to hear it, brother. (It’s me, dude. Lucas is me. Did you seriously not know my first name is Lucas?! We’ve been friends since kindergarten.)

He’s the guy who— for some reason— moved out of L.A. halfway through senior year of high school to go and become an idol in South Korea.

You ask Zanski ‘bout his history, he’ll tell you; the man’s an open book. Someone like that’s gotta have some tragic backstory, yeah? Cool Asian kid at school, friends with everyone, single Hills mom, Stanford and Harvard sisters; what’s his deal, you’d ask? A shrug, then:

“It’s not that complicated, man. My parents were Korean, couldn’t take care of me. My mom’s husband passed, could take care of me. My sisters were studying abroad; mom missed having a kid around. I was cute even back then. How would she not adopt me?”

Then a flirty eyebrow wag, a teasing grin, and he’s off to find his next adventure.

And it actually isn’t that complicated, really. Mother: Jackie Lazanski, elementary schoolteacher who happened to marry a loving real estate tycoon who left everything, including his multimillions, to her after he died.

Sisters: Ava and Mia Lazanski, grad school and pre-law, respectively, at least back then. Successful engineer and surgeon nowadays. Also his home screen wallpaper, but not his lock screen, ‘cause he doesn’t wanna bother them if Dispatch sees his phone and tries to contact his sisters.

Home: Beverly Hills, baby!

Closest friends: Ryan, Max, Abdul, Alex, Mateo, and Biceps Miles. (That last one wasn’t ‘cause his biceps were ripped, but ‘cause he ripped his biceps in middle school. Lifting accidents, man.) All best friends since pretty much childhood. All ending up running different social circles in high school, but staying close as hell.

Girlfriend: half the high school woulda claimed Hayley Bradburn asked him out a month ago, the other half woulda argued that no, actually, Sophie Coram-Connell said that she was dating him, but Zanski himself woulda told you that it was Zoey Kim, the Korean exchange student during junior year.

Zoezanski, Ryan used to tease him about, ‘cause when Zanski’s got it, he’s got it bad. Pretty embarrassing the way he, so tall even as a high-schooler, seemed to forget just how big he was around Zoey’s cute long hair and accented voice and pink denim miniskirt. Thank God his mom said that he should keep in touch with his heritage and made him learn Korean as a kid, ‘cause he’s got a leg up in talking to her. And Misun, as he later discovers Zoey’s Korean name is— she’s a singer, man. Got one of the prettiest voices Zanski ever did hear. It’s why he ended up joining choir way back when, and realized he actually liked it a lot even after she left.

She used to sing a lot in the car, charmed by the cherry red color of the convertible his mom got him as he’d cruise down the coast with his hand on her knee. K-pop was what she listened to, and by extension, it’s what Zanski listened to even after they broke up.

And what a breakup it was. Remember Sophie? Sophie Coram-Connell who was rejected so nicely by Zanski that she didn’t even realize she was rejected at all?— oops! Turns out that not wanting to ruffle any feathers is a fatal flaw, ‘cause Sophie heard from Tina who’s dating Kyle who’s on Biceps Miles’ pole-vaulting team who’s following Zanski’s sister Ava that Ava posted a photo of herself, Zanski, and Zoey having dinner with the caption . . . “Glad to finally meet my brother’s girlfriend!” And Sophie freaked.

She bullied Zoey for the rest of junior year, despite Zanski’s pleading efforts to get her to stop. And Zoey begged Zanski to stop being friends with her . . . but how could he ever choose a side, burn a bridge? Turns out, the consequences of trying to rationalize and make amends between two people leads to even more friction. In hindsight, he does wish he defended his girlfriend way back when, but it doesn’t even matter now, ‘cause Zoey dumps him three months before she has to go back to Korea.

What sticks with him, though, is everything he picked up in his efforts to impress her. Is he heartbroken? Yeah, but he’s got his friends. He’s got his mom. He’s got his sisters, even if they’re plane rides away. But it’s hard to let go of the music, the singing, not when he’s finally discovered a talent he’s proud of.

And he guesses Zoey’s proud too . . . ‘cause she emails him, halfway through his senior year, with a link to Worldwide Records global casting in L.A. and nothing but the words “Go try out :)”. Well, what’s he got to lose?

It’s how he ends up having a going-away dinner with his mom and friends, and even Mia’s flown in from Harvard to attend her baby brother’s celebration. His heart is pounding as he boards the plane in early ‘11. ‘Cause he’s gonna be a K-pop idol— whatever that entails. 

What it entails is Zanski having to water himself down. God, they even make him start going by Lucas again! No one’s called him that since pretty much the second grade. He’s too Western; the first few years he accidentally calls people “unnie” ‘cause he’s still getting used to honorifics. He has to be slapped on the wrist to stop hugging his seniors and clapping them on the shoulder and start bowing to them instead. He’s miserable the first few years as an idol. Even his mom notices it when he debuts in ‘14 and she comments on how he seems too tame.

But time goes by, and Prism starts garnering a bit more respect in the industry till eventually, Max is texting him and telling him that even the people in L.A. are starting to freak out over him. (But also, who the hell is Lucas?) We love to hear it, brother. (It’s me, dude. Lucas is me. Did you seriously not know my first name is Lucas?! We’ve been friends since kindergarten.)