Heather Acosta is a main character, and archenemy of Sammy Keyes. For some reason, she hates her (which is mutual) and tries to ruin Sammy's reputation. Heather made her debut in the first book, Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief.
Background[]
Heather has the same exact birthday as Sammy, April 6th. Her parents are Candi (who she probably gets her cattiness from) and Warren Acosta, who divorced before the start of the series when Heather was eleven. She lives with her mom in town. Heather's older brother is Casey Acosta, who lives in Sisquane with his father. Heather is friends with Taylor Briggs, and Sammy beginning in the book Sammy Keyes and The Showdown In Sin City, where they work together to sneak into a concert to contact Sammy's mother (,Lana Keyes a.k.a Lady Lana,) and stop her from possibly marrying Warren Acosta. She also blackmails Billy Pratt in Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher.
Appearance[]
Heather has firey, red hair. She seems to like punk/rock, as she dressed up like a bimbo rockstar at a Halloween party, and in order to win Most Unique Style at school, she came one day as a punk princess in black and chains and ratted red hair. The next day she was decked out as an old-time movie star, wearing satin shoes and a matching handbag, her hair all smoothed back . Heather can be pretentious about trying to look good, such as dressing like a prom queen at the Farewall dance in spaghetti strap dresses with wraps, updos, and jewelry. She looks plain hideous when she lets her psycho personality out. Heather wears lots of earrings, as Sammy compared a random woman's number of earrings to hers. In Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway Heather prepped herself for her "evening of glory"; adding blond streaks into her flame-throwing red hair, and she had her nails done with fake white tips that look fake. Her eyebrows were all waxed.
Personality[]
Sammy described Heather to be vicious, sneaky, wicked, and just plain mean. She frequently tried to ruin Sammy's reputation. The first mean crack she made to Sammy was on the first day of school, when she laughed at her high-tops and taunted her about looking like a fourth grader. Heather is a psycho, pulling Sammy's hair on one occasion, and going so far as to physically attack her a few times. Heather has given mean nicknames to some people, usually Sammy and her friends, like calling Sammy a loser, and sometimes Holly a "trash-digger". In Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher, while Sammy, Marissa, and Mikey were at the mall, Heather even had the nerve to make fun of Mikey's weight, calling him 'Blubber Boy'. Billy Pratt and other kids from school were hanging out with her, and Sammy couldn't understand why they would want to hang out with a person like Heather, who makes fun of little kids.
Candi Acosta, Heather's mom, is unpleasant and catty, too, and Heather might get her personality from her. She and her mom hate that Sammy's mom, Lana is dating Warren Acosta (her dad). This probably makes Heather hate Sammy more now. Heather also likes Danny Urbanski (Marissa's crush) and has tried to flirt with him on occasion. Then when she and Danny were kissing in Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash, it broke Marissa's heart, and she became enemies with Heather then.
In Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City, it was revealed that Heather's behavior stemmed from feeling like Warren chose Casey over her when Warren and Candi got a divorce. There was an old picture on her phone of her and Warren before the divorce, where she looked really happy and different from the current Heather. She felt abandoned and took her pain out on others by putting them down in order to feel better about herself. Over the course of the book, she becomes nicer and gets along better with Sammy after they team up to find Lana and the mysterious man she's with, initially mistaken to be Warren.
Relatives[]
- Candi Acosta- Mother
- Warren Acosta-Father
- Casey Acosta-Older brother
- Unnamed Grandmother
Trivia[]
- Heather and her friends, Monet and Tenille, all drink beer and smoke cigarettes.
- Sammy saved Heather from drowning at a pool party in Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash.
- Heather was also wearing the same bathing suit as Marissa, so that's why she was mistaken by Sammy for her.
- Heather is known for calling Sammy and her friends names; she called Holly names like Ugly Orphan, Homeless Hag, and Trash Girl.
- On Wendelin Van Draanen's Jog Blog, she stated that the sixteenth book will be a 'Heather book', and it will reveal why Heather is the way she is.
- According to Gina, Heather is Sammy's Shadow Sister in terms of astrology.