#maybeck

This shingled cottage was designed by Maybeck in 1902 for UC Berkeley English professor Hiram Kellogg. It was originally located on Regent Street in Berkeley but was moved - apparently in sections - to nearby Linden Avenue. The interior of the unfinished redwood creates a feeling of rusticity that is enhanced by an adjacent fig arbor, a highbacked settle near the entry, and symmetrical gabled ceilings for both of the upstairs bedrooms.

⚠️ maybe spoilers & some may not be cannon ⚠️

finn

* his mom taught him to cook, so now he makes full course meals for the group.

* wanted to do the matching group outfits at disney but everyone else (except for willa) said no. he managed to convince amanda to do matching couples outfits for a date once.

* sits in his room and blasts music rlly loud when he’s upset. the music is one direction or taylor swift.

* is going to university of central floridia with a major in hospitality management or business.

* the embarrassing boyfriend (and friend) that will go to any event and scream and yell. like amanda could be presenting something and here comes finn: “THAT’S MY GIRLFRIEND!!” and tbh willa would join him.

* usually just wears a t-shirt and jeans, but when he needs to dress up, he will 110%. he’s the one the girls call when they need outfit advice.

amanda

* she was the one who chose eli’s name (kingdom kids!). she also let finn try to choose his middle name but he got stuck between wayne or dillard for weeks.

* kind of a beachy outfit/vibe. i feel like she wears a lot of hoodies with shorts and flip flops.

* likes to wear her hair in all different styles. one day it would be normal, then braids, then space buns, then it’s suddenly curly??

* usually tries to keep her emotions pretty chill, but if you try and bully her friends, she will loose it. try flirting with finn and see what happens.

* tried getting a tattoo of one of jess’ drawings once, but the thought of the needle made her turn right around.

* if she doesn’t want to be bothered, she just flips you off. deep into a book? middle finger. concentrating on schoolwork? there it is.

jess

* has a gc with maybeck called “art hoes” where they talk about drawing, sculpting, etc.

* the type of aunt that gets her nieces/nephews/other really weird and kind of dangerous gifts. like: “where did you get that?!” “oh, from aunt jess.” “of course you did.”

* got a pair of doc martens as a gift and wore them to disney for an entire day for “the aesthetic” even though she complained about her feet hurting the entire time.

* also the type to wear long-sleeves and turtlenecks under shirts in 100° weather.

* probably did the kool-aid hair dye trend in middle school and kinda regretted it.

* every time she would walk into a room someone would blast the “that’s so raven” theme song on repeat.

charlene

* tries to volunteer every weekend either at crazy glaze to spend time with maybeck or coaching a little kid’s cheer squad.

* has an amazingly good memory for really random things. like, “you can’t wear that, you wore it to disney springs last time we went.” “that was three months ago how???”

* i feel like she’s a really good baker. brownies, cakes, you name it. she leaves the cookie baking to mrs. whitman though.

* also a really good listener. would 10/10 be the group’s therapist. whatever time of day (and night) you need to talk or vent, she will pick up the phone immediately.

* maybeck sculpted her a vase with cinderella castle and fireworks on it years ago and she adores it to this day. it sits on her nightstand and is slightly faded but she doesn’t care.

* buys her friends cute things that remind her of them. she’s bought willa, jess, amanda, and herself matching necklaces and bought the boys disney pins with mickey, donald, and goofy on them.

maybeck

* had professional headshots done just because. “maybeck where are you we have an OT problem!” and he’s like, “one sec, getting my headshots done and i’ll meet you there” and they’re all “????”

* you have to drag him to go clothes shopping but then he never wants to leave and does a fashion show with each and every item he bought.

* somehow looks good in every picture? it could be blurry, from a terrible angle, and everyone else looks rlly bad, but then there’s maybeck.

* loves meeting characters. he will flip if he sees a character he really loves. “IS THAT REMY THE ***** RAT! CHARLENE WE NEED TO TAKE A PICTURE!”

* one of those people that says “me” in deep voice to everything. sees a kid trip and fall onto the ground “ME” “maybeck stop”.

* has picked up a few gymnastics tricks from charlene and will do them randomly. like, *backflips away from OT* “when did he learn that???”

willa

* 90% of her clothes are button down shirts with college pull overs and converse. she doesn’t care how warm it is.

* somehow always has a book on her. they could be in line at a park and she just pulls a book out of thin air and starts reading.

* had a harry potter phase growing up that everyone joked about. “willa you can’t that’s UNIVERSAL! you dare betray walt disney like this?!”

* for one of their anniversaries, philby buys her a new bear, this time a duffy bear, to replace mr. totems and she almost cries. every anniversary one of his gifts is a new outfit for duffy.

* goes to university of florida with philby. she’s an english language and literature major and loves going on study dates.

philby

* studying computer science at the university of florida.

* wears flannels, hoodies, or t-shirts that have really bad science-themed puns on them everyone loathes (which is mostly why he wears it).

* wants to adopt or foster tons of cats when he’s older. he was so upset he couldn’t take elvis to college.

* either listens to disney music or 80s/90s hits. there is no in-between.

* the designated bag holder while in the parks. he always has everything you could possibly need. sunscreen, bandaids, mints, hairbrushes, pencil and paper (if jess has a dream), snacks of all sizes, he’s got it all.

yes i reread the series like a month ago actually so i can actually answer this without scrambling for my books and honestly... i kind of agree with you? I mean anyone who knows me knows that I’m a sucker for Ron and Hermione and Philby and Willa give me serious Ron/Hermione vibes but I just can’t imagine many of the canon couples together? 

I mean Finn and Amanda? Sure yeah they’re adorable I love them, not gonna change them at all. 

Maybeck and Charlene? Came out of left field tbh. I didn’t realize that Charlene was crushing on Maybeck and vice versa until literally Maybeck said “I thought you were crushing on me” like since when??? When?? When did they interact? 

Also I kind of wish Charlene stayed single. She struggled with unrequited love and not just being the “pretty cheerleader” and she had the potential to grow into a single badass (kind of like Addy Prentiss from the One of Us series). And if you want something really crazy she and Jess would be kind of cute. But, alas, girls are one dimensional in the series. 

And Willa and Philby? I can’t seem to wrap my head around them sometimes. He was cruel to her, worse than Ron ever was to Hermione. He ignored or mocked her and Willa is just too pure for the way Philby treated her. I’m not saying they’re not adorable sometimes (the cheek kisses and the fact that he thinks of her to go all clear is just too cute) but occasional cuteness doesn’t excuse unhealthy treatment every other time. 

Also I always think of Philby as either ace, aro, or both. He and Charlene could have been single best friends and it would have been amazing. 

On to couples that should have been, yes you’re right: Maybeck and Willa for the win. They were understanding of each other and they were the “artists” of the group - Willa the musician and Maybeck the artist. Willa would gush about how amazing his pottery is and how he’s such a good photographer and he would just slowly fall in love with the way she softly sings when she’s happy or the way she can play any song he requests on the piano. And Maybeck would be amazing with Willa’s brothers and Jelly would love Willa. Also Willa would totally work at Crazy Glaze and Maybeck would just watch her work with the kids with the goofiest smile on his face. She’d be the only one he confides in about his parents and she’d talk about her dad’s accident and they’d bond about how hard it is to be a person of color in a state/society that doesn’t value them. They’d hold hands during meetings and he’d pick her up and swing her around when he’s happy and she’d lean her head on his shoulder when they need a little support and it would be great.

Also, in the earlier books, it’s kind of easy to imagine that Ridley was going for Willa/Maybeck before he transitioned into the cannon couples (”that’s an old joke” “i’m an old soul” ahhhhhhhh).