Wen Gifford (book character)

For the character from the film, see Wen Gifford.

Wen Gifford
Friends:	Olivia Whitehead (girlfriend, dating, in love with, kissed) Charlie Hirsh Stella Penn Mo Banerjee Lyle Dwarkin Naomi Fishmier Azra Quimby (ex-girlfriend, former crush/crusher, on-again-off-again friendship, first kiss) Floey Packer (ex-best friend, former crush/crusher, on-again-off-again friendship) Rajeev Kumar
Family:	Unnamed mother Norman Gifford (father) Sydney Gifford (step mother) George Gifford (brother)
Enemies:	Ray Beech (former) Scott Pickett (former) Mudslide Crush Patty Norris Patty Keane Mr. Brenigan Earl Decker
Occupations:	Trumpet player Student Olivia's collaborator Band member
Interests:	Trumpet Song-writing Music Marching band
Vulnerabilities:	Lusting after his father's girlfriend Naivety
Strengths:	Playing the trumpet Making people laugh Joking around Good grades Friendship
Weaknesses:	Humiliation Singing His parents' divorce
Nicknames:	Woody The Horndog (Ray Beech) Wen (everyone) That Kid On The Trumpet (Scott Pickett)
First Appearance:	Lemonade Mouth

Wen Gifford:

Wendel "Wen" Gifford is the trumpet player in Lemonade Mouth. He is struggling with the fact that his father will be marrying his girlfriend, Sydney. On top of his problems at home, Wen also begins to discover his love for shy lead singer, Olivia Whitehead. Wen is a geek who loves his band members whole-heartedly. He is occasionally described as the wild one, never afraid to do what he loves and he knows what he wants. He is very put-together and his laid-back personality usually keeps the others from fighting. In the second book, Wen's crush on Olivia strengthens, and the two eventually share a kiss, becoming an official couple.

Story Lines:

Early Life:

Prior to the book, Wen was best friends with two girls named Azra Quimby and Floey Packer. During eight grade, he and Azra had a brief, romantic relationship----Azra being his first kiss----but they broke up after things got complicated and the three-way-best-friendship splintered into peices. In addition, Wen's father is divorced and he lives with him and his little brother, until his dad, Norman, begins dating a beautiful part-time graphic artist, named Sydney, which Wen immediately dislikes, as he's afraid his dad will forget about his real mom.

Book 1:

Wen is introdiced as the son of his divorced father, Norman, who is dating Sydney, his girlfriend, who is sixteen years younger than he is. He rushes to get to history class, where painfully shy, lonely, over-weight, bookish girl, Olivia Whitehead, is. As he prepares to do his presentation, he realizes he grabbed a bunch of naked photos of his father's girlfriend. Humiliated, he flees out of the classroom, forever ruining his chances of going up the social latter, as he screwed things up with Floey Packer and his eight grade girlfriend, Azra Quimby. He becomes targeted by the school bully, a popular yet vicious junior named Ray Beech, who is member of a heavy metal band called Mudslide Crush. Ray bumps into him and tells him to watch where he is going, using a humiliating slur against Wen.

In detention, Wen, Charlie Hirsh, Mo Banerjee and Olivia disregard the rules and start playing a song which was in a radeo comercial. After getting called down to Mrs. Reznik's office, Mrs. Reznik attempts to persuade them to form a band, but all but Wen are reluctant.

At a meeting at Bruno's Pizza Planet, Wen and Stella are all for doing the band. Mo eventually agrees, but Olivia is too insecure and shy to sing in front of large crowds because she's afraid she'll get laughed at or teased, as it happened before. But after Wen pleads her, saying he believes in her, Olivia agrees to do it, but says she can't make any promises.

At the band's first rehearsal, everybody gets into a fight about the type of music they should play. Wen silences the fight by playing his trumpet and the band learns to work together. Later, Wen forms a friendship with Olivia after the two work on songs together, which brings the closer together.

At lunch, Stella complains about how the other members of that band eat things that contain meat. After Olivia says that her grandmother makes her lunches for her, Naomi Fishmier, Mo's friend and the school's gossipy reporter for the paper, asks Olivia where her parents are. Olivia just says the her mother left when she was little, so she doesn't remeber her, and her father is in prison for robbery and manslaughter, but she sees him often enough, and after, doesn't say a word, making the rest of the lunch hour awkwardly quiet.

Later, an upset Olivia tells Wen and the others that the Mel's Organic Frozen Lemonade machine is going to be removed from school proporty, and Stella and Charlie find out that it's because of a deal with a new scoreboard.

At a later rehearsal, the band stops rehearsal because not only Mo is not there, but Olivia is getting nervous and has a hard time remebering the words, so they cut the afternoon short. At home Wen is shocked to learn that his father will be marrying Sydney.

At the Halloween Bash, Wen, Stella and Charlie find a shaken Olivia in the girls' bathroom, where she was hiding, throwing up. Olivia is too scared to go on stage, and Wen, Stella and Charlie make her feel better by assuring her that they know how she's feeling, especially Stella. Before going on, Wen comes face-to-face with Floey and Azra, who arrive to wish him and the others good luck and the three rekindle their broken friendship.

On stage, Lemonade Mouth performs some songs that Olivia wrote with Wen, which becomes popular with the crowd, but unfortunetly, Stella's speach about the lemonade machine getting removed isn't so popular with the school's strict vice principal, Mr. Brenigan, so he shuts them down.

The next day, Wen calls Olivia at her place, and is shocked to hear her break down in tears, and a sobbing Olivia tells him that one of her cats, Nancy, died. Wen insists on coming over, and is fallowed by Charlie, Mo and Stella, who arrive to comfort Olivia. They hold a funeral for the cat and start worrying about what Brenigan will do to them on Monday, Mo and Olivia in particular, but after recieving a pep talk from Charlie, they spill out their issues at home. Wen tells his friends about how his father will be marrying his girlfriend and his parents' divorce (Stella knows where he's coming from, as some of her rebellious nature comes from her parents splitting up as well). Olivia walks Wen to his bike, where she tells him that maybe he should give Sydney a chance. Wen says that it will be bad if Sydney will be marrying Olivia's dad, but immediately regrets it and suddenly feels a little wierd, unaware of his romantic feelings for Olivia.

The fallowing Monday, the kids are called down to the vice principal's office, where Brenigan initially acts racist and traumatic towards them, saying that they were causing trouble. Stella opens her mouth to defend her friends, as she caused most of the trouble. Brenigan cuts her off, claiming that Olivia, Wen, Stella, Mo and Charlie were "incidating" people while they were telling the truth. He forbids them from playing at the school ever again and from participating in the school's Holiday Talent Show, saying Mrs. Reznik already removed their names from the list, leaving the kids devestated.

Later, with the help of Charlie's friend, Lyle, Lemonade Mouth gets a gig at Bruno's Pizza Planet, which skyrockets them to popularityn and the recieve more respect from their peers, and Stella insists on them auditioning for the anual battle of the bands, Catch a RI-Zing Star. They get one of their songs played on the air, which excites them all. They soon get a call from the people that run Catch a RI-Zing Star who tell them that one of the bands backed out at the last minute so they instantly get on the list.

Later Lemonade Mouth takes the day off to go with Olivia to visit her father in prison, where Olivia tells the whole story of what had happened with her parents. Wen feels sad for her, but also happy that she told them. Wen finds a new connection with his lead singer.

Later, Ray Beech hops onto the stage at Lemonade Mouth's gig before Catch a RI-Zing Star. There he steps up his bullying towards Lemonade Mouth, openly mocking Wen, Olivia, Stella, Charlie and Mo, enraging them. The fight eventually stops but the band is not allowed to play there anymore.

The next day, Wen informs Olivia via tellephone that Mo is sick with a hundred and two degree fever and Charlie got second-degree burns in his right hand. He tells her to meet him at the book store. There, Wen tells Olivia that his father wants him to be his best man at the wedding. Outside in a snow storm, Olivia and Wen get into a heated argument. Wen is shocked to see Olivia so angry, as he'd never seen her like that, let alone scream. Wen, humiliated and hurt about what he said, feels like he wants to punish himself for what he did. He goes up stares to use the bathroom, but runs smack into Sydney, who just got out of the shower. He runs down the stares and falls into a giant stone coffee table that was stuck on the top of the stares, severly injuring his lower lip. Instantly, Wen hates himself, for not only misjudging Sydney, but for also hurting Olivia, realizing all this time she'd been right. Sydney comes back with the phone, saying Stella needs him.

At the Opequonsett Middle School, Wen and the others show up, where the Mel's machine is going to be removed. Stella thinks of a plan, so the five lie in front of the truck where the machine is being held, and the delivery men call the cops, so the group is arrested, where they decide they're going to continue doing the competition.

At Catch a RI-Zing Star, the band tries to perform their song "Back Among the Walls," but nobody can play due to the mishaps that happened that day. As they leave, Ray Beech laughes and smiles happily. The kids in the audience, heartbroken at the thought of Lemonade Mouth ending, sing "Back Among the Walls" for the band members to thank them for all they've done. When the song finishes, the audience gives Lemonade Mouth a standing ovation, and Brenigan and Ray Beech finally back down.

Later the lemonade machines come back to the schools. Wen realizes his deep, romantic love for Olivia, and gives her a new kitten, which Olivia happily accepts, and the two are shown smiling at each other, obviously in love with one another.

Book 2:

At the start of the second book, Wen's father starts a company until he gets his job back, and hiring Scott Pickett, Mo's ex-boyfriend and Wen's nemesis. Wen's crush on Olivia increases and the two kiss, becoming an offical couple. After fighting Decker & Smythe Talent Co., the band mates' bond, friendships, relationships and personal lives heat up as the sun gets even hotter, and in the end, they become successful without all the money Decker & Smythe can throw at them.

Personality:

Wen is the artsy, creative, imaginative, happy-go-lucky hipster of the group with a witty sence of humor. He is normally a nice guy in general. He makes everybody in the band laugh and is the most laid-back. Along with his sence of humor, Wen is pretty naive about the obvious things around him, so Olivia is always on his case about it, which he finds secretly irritating. Wen is first in the band to realize that Olivia is going through strong, emotional pain and how lonley and unhappy she seems to be, as she's the only person at school who doesn't have a mother or a father that's around, as his mom left after his parents got a divorce. Although usually very strong, he is unconfident with his singing, much like Olivia. He really likes Olivia and is into the same things she's into, such as P.G Wodehouse. Wen is very protective of his little brother and his father, as he doesn't think Sydney is the right person for his father to get married to, as she's still in her early twenties, although later he grows into accepting Sydney as a mom. However, in the second book, Wen becomes a lot more open about his crush on Olivia; in addition to this, Wen becomes the first person to make Olivia feel loved, beautiful, sexy, skinny, visible and worthy, which leads to them sharing their first kiss. Wen is also shown to be a very caring, warm-hearted person who is willing to commit to his relationship with Olivia, showing that he missed out on his chance with his ex-girlfriend, Azra, and he doesn't want to do the same with Olivia, and later on admits to Olivia that whenever he's around her, he feels as though he's no longer alone anymore, as his way of telling Olivia that he loves her far more than any girl he's ever dated, showing that he is completely devoted to her and nobody else. He is known for his wit, honesty, colorful, goofy sence of humor, and his fierce loyalty towards his friends. Wen, much like Olivia, has a selfless heart and wants the best for his friends and family. Wen always gives his all and stays committed to everything he puts first in life. 

Appearance:

Wen is described as having black, rectangular-framed glasses, blond hair that falls to his eyes, and a colorful, preppy style.

Quotes:

So tell me. Is she living with us now or what?

Yes Olivia. We're your friends. We trust you.

Olivia, who are we talking about? Your parents?

But you wouldn't have to strain, Olivia. We'll get microphones.

I know what you mean. I'm scared too.

Oh yeah! And what do you know?

Then why did you do it?

I'm not lonely. I'm here with you.

I had no idea you were going through all this. Are you okay?

Why? This was never about me. You had to do whatever was right for you.

It's okay. I get it. You don't need to say any more, Olivia. I understand.