Pepper Phan

### Relatives

Taffy Phan (Flare, sister), Graham Phan (Flyer, brother), Jam Phan (Flyer, brother) Mr. Phan (Fuzzy, dad)

Pepper Phan is part of the Upside-Down Magic class. She is a Fierce, one of Nory Horace's best friends, and one focus of *Showing Off.*Pepper has a younger sister, Taffy Phan, and twin toddler brothers, Jam and Graham.

## Appearance

Pepper is rather short. She is Asian-American and is usually described as having two ponytails with a round face. Pepper is often seen in denim dresses. She wears scrunchies in her hair or on her wrist. Pepper also wears a purple or black bag that goes cross her chest. Pepper has a black head band in her hair she is often seen wearing. She also has a very scrunched up face.

## Abillities

Pepper is a Fierce. Instead of communicating with animals like a Fuzzy, she scares them. Her ability was first said to affect her normal school, causing complete chaos and earning her a bad reputation. Pepper scared her family's pet, Toothpaste, so badly her parents had to give him to a therapeutic pet service for the elderly.

Over the course of *Showing Off*, Pepper learned to pause her magic for up to two minutes at a time, thanks to Ms. Starr and Carrot. Pepper earned more than a hundred dollars during the book with her non-harmful pest removal service.

## Personality

Despite her magic, Pepper is a sweet, kind girl who hates hurting others. In the first book she didn't want the seventh graders to turn into kittens because she didn't want to hurt them. Her parents consider her extremely trustworthy, as shown by the fact they let Pepper babysit her three younger siblings, Taffy, Graham, and Jam on her own. Pepper does not like feeling left out and will befriend others who seem so proven by her friendship with Zinnia.

Pepper is sometimes a comforting figure to her friends, especially Nory. This is seen when she gives Nory, and others, pieces of candy in order to make them feel better or calm down. She likes having a quiet space to retreat to, as shown when she finds a supply closet as a hideout at two different schools.

Additionally, Pepper seems to have a tendency to find the good in people. This was demonstrated when she was willing to forgive Zinnia and see her as a friend, despite her negative behaviours and the fact that her other friends did not initially trust Zinnia. However, this tendency was reversed when she came into a situation that suggested that Zinnia had been faking their friendship. Following this, Pepper became very angry at Zinnia and jumped to a conclusion that Zinnia had been deceiving her. These actions of Pepper's contrasted a bit to the rest of her usual demeanor, although this reaction may have stemmed from her experience with people suddenly acting unkind to her in response to her abilities.

## Backstory

### Pre-Series

Pepper went to Dunwiddle Ordinary School. Her family was looking forward to her powers coming in; however, Pepper's magic just created chaos. She caused a mess at school, traumatized her family pet, and had to stop taking drum lessons with Elliott's dad.

### *Upside-Down Magic*

Pepper is shoved in her locker on the first day of school by some mean Flickers. Pepper is rescued by Principal Gonzalez, also a Flicker, and she hides in the closet. There she meets Nory, another new student in the Upside-Down Magic program. Nory believes that ‘Pepper the Fierce’ is a boy, and she tells Pepper that they need to protect each other from the Fierce, confusing Pepper. She and Nory make up later and become best friends.

### *Dragon Overnight*

Pepper is only seen saying goodbye to the UDM students at the beginning of the book as she is forbidden from going on the Dragon Haven trip with them because her magic poses too much of a risk.

## Trivia

* Nory called Pepper "the lemon-drop girl" before she knew her real name.
* Pepper body-drums, making her one of six musicians in the UDM class.
* Pepper's magic is automatic, but she can control it somewhat. Carrot is immune to most of Pepper's magic.
* Pepper is named after a spice. The given name "Pepper" often refers to a spunky personality.
* Pepper's magic excluded her from the dragon field trip in *Dragon Overnight*.
* Her favorite band is Everyday Cake.
* In book one, Pepper wore a denim dress that looked like a hand me down. But in the third book, we find out that Pepper has no older siblings.
* Pepper is a Flicker in the film, and her last name is Paloma instead of Phan. It is unknown why this film has this change.