145 Harley Diaz

## Harley Diaz

**Harley Diaz** is the main protagonist of *Stuck in the Middle*. She is the middle child in the Diaz family of seven kids. She is known for her creativity and inventions.

Harley is portrayed by Jenna Ortega.

## Personality

Harley is an inventive, caring, and smart girl with a sense of humor. She stands out for her creative inventions. She is an extremely intelligent and observant person as seen as when she invented a roller coaster when Daphne threw Georgie's bobbleheads out the window. Despite being very intelligent, Harley is still social and enjoys spending time with others. She is also very kind as seen when she was willing to help Rachel with her social life and help Georgie with golf.

Harley is strong, confident and is always persistent to get what she wants no matter the cost. As a result, she is a bit pushy and bossy especially when it comes to her inventions and other circumstances. Ethan has called her out for being pushy in multiple occasions. She is manipulative as seen in the way she often manipulates and uses her siblings for her own benefits. She uses Georgie, Lewie and Beast as test subjects in her inventions, some of which turn out to be dangerous. She often uses blackmail and lies to get her siblings including Rachel to do what she wants. She once manipulated Lewie and Beast to make slushies to make her money which resulted in them separating and hating each other. This implies that Harley sometimes doesn't think things through but she is willing to make things right when things go wrong.

Harley also has a temper and can hold a grudge as seen when she was visibly angered when Cuff threw a chicken bone in her invention bag; blasted Rachel with snow when she didn't invite her to a party; held a tight grudge to get Cuff out of the house.

Despite her overconfidence and pride, Harley comes off as the smartest and the most rational of the Diaz kids. She is passionate about her family and will do anything for them. Even when she feels left out and underappreciated, she works hard to keep the family together. She is the one who rallies and leads the other Diaz kids into doing activities that they didn't think they could. Ethan describes her as the glue of the family. And she even wins a special Diaz of the Year Award because of how much she cares about her family.

## Biography

Harley Diaz is the fourth-born (middle child) of Tom and Suzy Diaz. She is the younger sister of Rachel, Georgie, and Ethan. She is the older sister of Lewie, Beast, and Daphne. Being the middle kid makes Harley feel unnoticed and underappreciated. She even calls herself Hump Day Harley because she thinks of herself as the Wednesday of the family.

Harley is currently a student at Marshport High School along with her older siblings. When she's not at school, she spends most of her time inventing things, hoping that one day she will make a breakout invention. She hopes that she will get recognized and eventually become the first girl to go to Mars. In Stuck in the Middle, Harley is recognized by her invention of a conveyor-belt table that has a lot of cool features and is also large enough to accommodate a large family like the Diazes.

In Stuck in the Sweet Seat, Harley turns thirteen years old but her family forgets her birthday. She plans to keep them distracted hoping to use it to score some guilt points to convince her parents to give her Rachel's sweet seat. Georgie helps her realize that it's better to celebrate with her family.

As part of family tradition, after turning 13, Harley starts working in her dad's store in Stuck in the Slushinator. She invents a slushy machine powered by Lewie and Beast to prove to her dad that she can do it. Tom is impressed by Harley's work ethic and buys her an actual machine. Since then, Harley has been running the slushy machine section in the special counter called Harley's Slushy Shack. As the owner of the Slushy Shack, she has had to deal with the pressure of hiring and firing people including Cuff in Stuck with My Sister's Boyfriend and Phil in Stuck in a Slushy War.

In Stuck in the Diaz of Our Lives, Harley is cast into a reality show called *Girl Power* to showcase her inventions. However, after realizing that the producers are more interested in family drama than her inventions, she gets the entire family to quit the show. She eventually gets to appear on another favorite show of hers, "*Dancing With My Dad*" in Stuck Dancing with My Dad.

To help fund for her inventions and raise money for other things, Harley often runs schemes to raise money. In Stuck with a Guy on the Couch, she secretly rents their living room to an exchange student to make money for a new tablet. She rents their entire house to Colt Bailey in Stuck with a Hook, Line and Sinker. In Stuck without a Ride and in Stuck Dancing with My Dad, she goes to great lengths to convince Rachel to drive her so that she can meet rich people to invest in her inventions. In Stuck in the Harley Car, she starts Harley Care babysitting business to raise money to fix the Slushy Shack. However, she gets carried away and secretly takes over Ethan's Star Tour business so that she can make money by making Ethan take her babysitting charges on tours. Ethan helps her realize that she went too far, trying to make money.

Harley goes to her first school dance in Stuck with a Boy Genius. After being convinced by Rachel and Georgie to invite her internet friend, Josh to be her date to the dance, she does it. Unfortunately, it turns out that Josh is a nine-year-old. Harley spends most of the night being humiliated and laughed at by other students. When they nominate her and Josh as formal queen and king, she uses the opportunity to show off her invention and put on an amazing dance show.

In Stuck with a Bad Influence, Harley is heartbroken when her best friend, Ellie Peters leaves town for a boarding school. Harley and Ellie would do anything for each other despite the rivalry between the Diazes and Ellie's mom, Bethany Peters. Harley is left without a best friend until a new girl, Sophie Adams joins Marshport High School.

When Rachel leaves the family to go to college in Paris in Stuck with Rachel's Secret, Harley feels responsible to have someone fill in Rachel's shoes. She tries grooming Georgie to be the new Rachel in Stuck with a Diaz Down, but it doesn't work out. She tries taking the Diaz captain role herself but all her pieces of advice end up backfiring. She realizes that no one can replace Rachel. With Rachel out, Harley thinks she's going to have a drama-free life. But then Ellie's cousin, Aidan Peters moves in to live with Bethany next door. In Stuck in Camp Chaos the new neighbors begin a fierce rivalry. To make things worse, Aidan joins Harley's school and attends some of her classes in Stuck with Harley's Bethany. Aidan drives Harley so crazy that Ethan decides to put him in the "Dead to Diaz" list on Harley's behalf.

In Stuck with Horrible Helpers, with the unexpected assistance of her twin brothers, Harley wins the opportunity to compete in the state inventing competition, the Imagination Gladiators. She decides to reward them by letting them join the Slushy Shack staff, but find the Bait N' Bite robbed. In Stuck in a Mysterious Robbery, Harley learns she committed her biggest mistake yet when her dad's Bait & Bite store gets robbed because Harley had left the door unlocked. She is crushed but later realizes that everyone makes mistakes.

Harley has her biggest fight with her BFTF, Ethan in Stuck in a Besties Battle after learning that Ethan went behind her back to hang out with Aidan in Stuck in a Nice Relationship. Despite having put Aidan in the Dead to Diaz list, Ethan had realized how much he and Aidan have in common especially, their shared passion for the same comic books. He had used the opportunity to convince Aidan that Harley is a good person; but in the process he revealed Harley's biggest "Flea-az Diaz" secret. So, when Harley finds out Ethan did, she fights back by embarrassing him in front of Chloe. After the fight, both Harley and Ethan overhear Aidan talking on the phone with his dad. This makes them realize that Aidan is going through a tough time. So, Harley opens up her heart and invites Aidan in to join them for a game night. Harley invites Aidan again in "Stuck with a Non-Diaz" but Aidan ruins her perfectly planned premiere for Ethan's movie. Surprisingly, Aidan saves the day.

In "Stuck Wrestling Feelings," Harley starts to develop feelings for Aidan after spending time together with him and the twins at the wrestling convention. When Georgie points out that Harley and Aidan have a crush on each other, Harley denies it and decides to use science to prove Georgie wrong. Unfortunately, everything adds up to proving that Harley has a crush on Aidan. She tries to suppress her feelings, but Georgie and the twins encourage her to embrace them. So, she asks Aidan out a romantic hang out in the slide.

Harley's relationship with Aidan goes to the next level in "Stuck Without the Perfect Gift" when Aidan gets Harley a very thoughtful gift. Harley gives him a model of the school announcement booth with an audio recording of the time she was yelling at him on live radio. She likes it because it reminds them of how far they've come. But Aidan doesn't like the gift because it reminds him of a moment he would love to forget. So, Harley stages a fake "Who Knows Who Best" game show in order to get to know Aidan better. As Aidan gives his answers, Harley notices that he keeps bringing up his father. So, she concludes that the best gift would be to convince Aidan's dad to come visit him. Aidan had been trying to get his dad to come over but hadn't been successful because he is not good at expressing his feelings. So, he thanks Harley for making it happen.

As Harley approaches fifteen years old, she starts preparing for her quinceañera to celebrate her transition from childhood to womanhood. She wants to have a big science-themed party, using her own chemical element symbol, Hd15 (Harley Diaz). In Stuck in Camp Chaos, she tries to make money for the quinceañera by starting a camp for kids with Ellie. But it turns into chaos when she leads the kids to attack Aidan. In Stuck Without the Perfect Gift, she asks Aidan to escort her to her quinceañera but Aidan turns her down because he has to leave town with his dad. Harley wants the quinceañera to be so perfect that she doesn't even let her best friend, Ellie film it. She goes to such great lengths as doing a terrible fake quinceañera just to push Ellie to quit in Stuck in a Fake Out. This jeopardizes their friendship but they eventually make up.

On the day of Harley's quinceañera, the Diaz family takes over the final action items so that Harley can just relax and have fun. They find Harley's "Buck-Kid List" of things that Harley wanted to do before she became an adult. So, Harley enlists the littles to help her finish the list. Unfortunately, the day goes horribly wrong, with everyone - including Harley herself - messing up. Harley blames herself for ceding control to her family. Luckily, Rachel comes in as a surprise and gets things back on track. Despite many other ups and downs leading up to the quinceañera, it turns out to be better than she imagined. She makes an epic "dancing in the cloud" entrance into the room. She then dances with her family, friends and her surprise guest her boyfriend - Aidan Peters.

After the quinceañera, Harley realizes that her family really cares for her. She says that she used to complain about being the Wednesday of the family, the forgotten kid; but now she admits that being stuck in the middle is not a bad thing. It means you get love and support from both sides.

## Physical Appearance

Harley has dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her hair is usually worn straight down with a side parting. She is taller than her younger siblings but shorter than her older siblings. She is most seen wearing blue jeans

## Relationships

* **Ethan Diaz** (BFTF, older brother) - Ethan is not just Harley's older brother. He is Harley's Best Friend in The Family (BFTF). He is the person Harley goes to first with most of her ideas, and he is the most supportive of Harley. **(See: Harley & Ethan)**

* **Ellie Peters** (best friend, neighbor) - Despite the rivalry between the Diaz's and Ellie's mom, Bethany, Ellie and Harley are best friends who would do anything for each other. In fact, they even switch identities in Stuck in the School Photo just so that Harley doesn't get in trouble. Unfortunately, Ellie leaves for boarding school in Stuck with a Bad Influence. **(See: Harley & Ellie)**

* **Sophie Adams** (close friend) - When Sophie transfers to Marshport High School, they develop instant chemistry after realizing how much they have in common. Harley believes that Sophie is the perfect go-to-girl while Ellie is in school. **(See: Harley & Sophie)**

* **Aidan Peters** (Close Friend/Boyfriend) - Even though Aidan is Ellie's cousin, he starts as Harley's biggest enemy. She finds him to be annoying and obnoxious. Harley spends a lot of time trying to figure out ways to get rid of Aidan. After realizing that Aidan has some family issues and could use some company, she becomes more open to letting him in and they become friends, starting in Stuck in a Besties Battle. They started dating in Stuck Wrestling Feelings. **(See: Harley & Aidan)**

## Appearances

Harley appears in all 57 episodes of *Stuck in the Middle*.

## Trivia

* Harley is the middle child in her family, so she's "Stuck in the Middle" like the show's title suggests.
* Harley is closer to her older brother, Ethan than any of her other siblings.
* Her friends have a crush on her older brother/BFTF, Ethan.
* Her best friend is Ellie Peters.
* She creates her own inventions which are always useful and often help her solve problems she has with her family.
* She was born on April 22nd, 2003 as shown in "*Stuck in the Sweet Seat*".
	+ This is made clear by the fact that her birthday, which is shown to be on the 22nd, takes place on a Friday in a month with only 30 days. April 22nd, 2016 takes place on a Friday and her following birthday, as seen at the end of the episode, takes place on a Saturday, which April 22nd, 2017 does.
	+ Also, as evidence is further shown on the calendar that Tax Day (which typically falls on the 15th of April) is a week before her birthday. Coincidentally, this means that Harley was born on Earth Day which is annually celebrated on April 22nd.
	+ Coincidentally, this is the premiere date of "*Stuck in the Sweet Seat*" in the UK and Ireland.
* She often breaks the fourth wall by directly talking to the audience.
* She loves wearing leather jackets.
* She is similar to "Strawberry Shortcake" from "Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures", "Mabel Pines" from "Gravity Falls" and "Princess Sofia" from "Sofia The First", due to being the main protagonist from their respective shows as well as being optimistic and joyful.
* Harley is in high school as shown in Stuck in a Gold Medal Performance.
* Harley first celebrates her birthday on April 22 by turning thirteen.
* Her fourteen birthday was not shown on 'Stuck in the Middle' but she had to be 14 because she turned 13 in 2016 which means in 2017 she turned 14.
* Harley used to go to Marshport Middle school but she graduated.
* Harley is the youngest Diaz after Rachel, Georgie, and Ethan to go to high school.
* She is a freshman in high school.
* Harley can't stand her younger siblings.
* She is very smart for her age.
* She has had her invention bag since she was six.
* Daphne loves cake and Harley hates when her siblings steal her spotlight or take something of hers like on her birthday when Daphne ate her cake.
* Harley wanted to go skydiving but her friendship with Ellie was more important.
* Harley has gone through a lot since she joined high school.
* Harley often goes up in the tree-house when she gets upset.
* Harley is known as Doody Diaz, due to an advertisement for her father's marina store.
* Harley cares about what others think.
* She is very sensitive.
* She has big reactions to things.
* She has invented a lot of things.
* Her long-stated ambition is to be the first girl on Mars.
* Her zodiac sign is Taurus.
* She is the female equivalent of the titular character of Malcolm in the Middle, due to the fact that they are both the middle child.
* Her boyfriend is Aidan Peters.
* Harley gave her family fleas and Ethan was the only Diaz to know up until Stuck in a Besties battle
* Despite that she appeared in every episode, she sometimes plays supporting, recurring and minor roles.
* She shares a lot of similarities to Lincoln Loud and Lisa Loud from nickelodeon's The Loud House.
	+ Both are the main protagonist of their show.
	+ Both are the middle child.
	+ Both can get annoyed with their siblings at times.
	+ Both are inventors.
	+ Both break the fourth wall by talking to the viewers.

* She is also very similar to Princess Isabel, Jenna Ortega's character from Elena of Avalor as they both are optimistic and joyful, and love making inventions and constantly do them which helps their family and friends.