Marissa Baker

Marissa Juana Baker is a fictional character and the titular viewpoint protagonist in E. M. Rivera's teen romcom novel, A Love-Hate Relationship. She is a 17-year old high school student in her junior year who moves with her family from Iowa to Wisconsin after her father receives a better job opportunity in the new location. Her favorite color is green and she loves dancing. She initially approves of the move, excited for a new life and a chance at having her "first love" in high school.

After moving, Marissa attends Brownbrick High School and meets an arrogant jock boy named Johnny Calloway after accidentally trying to open his locker, having misread the locker number given to her by the office. They get off on the wrong foot and argue, since Johnny accuses her of trying to prank his locker and repeatedly calls her "brunette" and "newbie" instead of her real name. She later makes friends in the cafeteria at lunchtime and learns of Johnny's past, being informed that he was severely bullied by some freshmen in his ice hockey team the year prior, resulting in his locker being trashed and emitting a foul odor for an entire week. She encounters him in many of her classes; AP Calculus, Chemistry, Art, and P. E. She is also his neighbor across the street. She later offers to tutor him in both History and Spanish, and develops a love-hate romance with him, which is the main premise of the story.

Concept and Creation
According to Rivera, Marissa was initially supposed to be a redhead with green eyes, which are the origin of her favorite color being green, but later changed her appearance to be of Mexican descent so she could implement Hispanic qualities into her life. Rivera pictured her as "a social, friendly girl who easily befriends people, but has her shy side when it comes to meeting an entirely new group of people". She also has a "smart mouth", making her capable of defending herself against verbal bullying.

Marissa's mother was partially inspired by her own mother, who, though not of Mexican descent, did introduce her to the Latino world and gave her a Latino background, being from Guatemala. She wanted to be able to relate more to her main character to make it easier to write her home life. She explains:"'It was difficult enough to write her high school life because I never experienced it; I wanted Marissa's home life to be something interesting and different from the American culture she lives in, and something easier for me to write. I especially enjoyed Marissa's conversations with Johnny in Spanish when she tutored him.'"She also needed Marissa to know Spanish professionally, as a second native language, and not be just a student that decided to study Spanish, since her level in the language wouldn't be that professional if that was the case. She quotes: "'All the nuances, slangs, idioms, and other things in Spanish are really hard to learn. If she only studied Spanish as an elective, she wouldn't know it so well. Her Spanish level needed to come from either having a Spanish-speaking relative, or living in a Spanish-speaking country, which is my case. Since she lives in the States, I made her mom Mexican so she would have Mexican blood and a natural way of learning the language. I didn't want to make her Guatemalan, since that would make her too much like me.'"As a result, she changed her appearance to make her look more Hispanic, and also comments that her appearance is "similar" to her own, but not "equal".

Her career in dancing was inspired by one of Rivera's best friends from South Carolina, whose name she does not mention to protect her identity. According to her, her friend is a professional ballet dancer and is currently studying dance in Oklahoma. She described her friend's dancing to be "flawless and inspirational", and she wanted Marissa to have a talent that would speak to the reader. She also saw it as the perfect opportunity to create a romantic setting for the last chapters of the book, resulting in the dance on ice Marissa and Johnny have at the end. She explains:"'I've always admired [friend's name]'s talent in dancing; she is just so flawless that she's basically a pro. Ballet on ice impresses me even more, and as I went building the story, I found that it was the perfect setting for a romantic book like this. That's also why I chose Wisconsin; it has the perfect winter climate for this story. And Marissa's ballet on ice talent had to match with Johnny, so naturally, I made him an ice hockey player so he could know how to skate as well as she could.'"Marissa is also portrayed as a good older sister; she encourages her sisters to see their move in a positive light when the two don't approve, and she advises them before their first day of school. Though she remains partial to Gracie and connects with her more, her relationship with Brenda is shown through her natural way of disciplining her by being intimidating and more mature than she is. Rivera states: "I'm an only child, so I don't know what it's like to have siblings. But I basically portrayed Marissa as the older sister I would be if I had younger siblings."

She is also noted to be a "goodie-goodie", since when Johnny proposes that he and Marissa use the school's intercom without permission, she initially protests and fears getting in trouble. She also is shown to be bothered by having misbehaviors listed in her record, despite them being minor ones without any major importance. She also shows to have immense respect for her parents, since she calls them and lets them know when she's going out, or staying late somewhere. Rivera says: "Being in a Latino house, you need to follow the rules. Otherwise, it costs you your life, basically. Since Marissa has a Mexican mom, she's gonna have a strict regimen from her."

Outward Appearance
Throughout the book, Marissa is described to have long, chestnut brown hair, honey tan skin, and hazel eyes. She is of average height for her age and has a fit dancer's figure. She is noted to have a Hispanic appearance by Johnny. Rivera describes her as "a pretty girl who's easy to be attracted to, but who doesn't have a disposition that leaves boys drooling all over her".

Her "dancer's body" is in shape, giving her a toned abdomen and slightly toned arms, along with a good weight for her height. She doesn't have any insecurities about herself, though she doesn't consider herself gorgeous. She is assumed to look more like her mother, who gave her the Hispanic features. Her best color is green, specifically mint green, which combines well with her skin tone, and silver. Her way of dressing is usually simple and casual, though she looks more beautiful when in formal wear.

Personality
According to Rivera, Marissa is a nice girl who has no problem making friends, but "tends to be shy when meeting a completely different group of people". She is smart and quite perceptive, usually knowing when someone is being genuine or fake, though she tends to be blinded when others cloud her judgment or confuse her. She has a "smart mouth", giving her strength and bravery against verbal bullying. Her quick wit helps her embarrass Johnny after he loses a $20 bet to get her to flirt with him.

Marissa's character flaws include anger and a tendency to jump to conclusions, which usually clouds her judgment of people and arises complicated situations. She is also very damaged by cyberbullying and widespread rumors about her, and she initially avoids Johnny to stop the abuse at school. Despite that, she is a strong, resilient, and ambitious girl who has set goals in mind and focuses on what's important. "She knows what's more important in life, and she doesn't let anything distract her. She keeps her grades up and she continues practicing ballet, no matter what's going on in her life." She is also quite modest, downplaying her almost-perfect grades in school, though she puts that modesty aside around Johnny when she competes with him in class. She is very passionate about dancing and expresses her full emotion through it, as seen when Johnny watches her at the rink letting out her feelings after finding out he resumed his relationship with his ex-girlfriend. This also shows a character flaw, being that she secretly lets out what she feels through dance but does not convey any of these feelings directly to Johnny, resulting in a lack of communication between the two.

Abilities and skills
Marissa is described as a gifted student with many talents. She is a prodigious dancer, able to participate in every dance genre, mainly focusing on ballet and ballet on ice. She is a talented figure skater, her performances being flawless and perfectly executed. Her skating gives her potential for hockey, but she isn't interested in any sport. In her dance, she frequently expresses all her emotion, whether she is happy, sad, angry, or hurt. She is even able to dance well when distracted, as proven in the final dance at the end of the book with Johnny. She has a good sense of rhythm and can dance to a certain song even if she isn't listening to it.

She is also gifted in many areas in her education, such as math, history, and science. She is one of the top students in her AP Calculus class, rivaling Johnny, and is also skilled in her Chemistry class. Her progress in History is shown when she tutors Johnny in History. Being of Mexican descent, she is also natively bilingual and speaks Spanish perfectly. Also having an interest in other languages, she takes Mandarin. Being a dancer, she also does well in P.E., as proven when she challenges Johnny to a 2-minute plank and holds it for the total amount of time.

It is also hinted that she has a fair singing voice, though she downplays it to an "average" voice. Johnny mentions that her voice "sounds sweet in falsetto".

Possessions
It is mentioned in the beginning chapters that Marissa buys new furniture and decorations for her new home, including posters of her favorite musicians such as Carly Rae Jepsen, Avril Lavigne, Sara Bareilles, Daughtry, and Imagine Dragons, also featuring the musical movie The Greatest Showman. Rivera states that all these singers contributed to her inspiration soundtrack for the book, except Imagine Dragons, which she featured because they are her favorite band. She also mentions a green backpack she takes to school, emphasizing her favorite color. She also possesses a computer and a phone.

For Thanksgiving, she wears the simple version of her silver sweet 16 dress. On Christmas, she wears a red dress. As presents, she receives a Swan Lake poster and a makeup bag from her sisters, a record player from her father, and a brand-new ballet outfit from her mother, which she wears on her Valentine's Day debut. For her Winter Formal dance, she wears a mint green dress, rented for four days.

She has a borrowed copy of a fantasy novel called Rillia and the Diamond Crown, which is the first installment in a fictional series she loves to read. From her dance school, she possesses a ballet leotard for rehearsing and figure skates, which she keeps in a gym bag, and a coupon that allows her 10 hours of free rehearsal time at any local ice rink.

She has a Valentine's card she keeps for Johnny, hiding it in her locker after changing her mind. She also receives some mystery Valentines from one of her classmates, which are later presumably discarded after she finds out he was cheating on his girlfriend with her.