Nina Atkins

Nina Atkins is a recurring protagonist in Season One of 13 Reasons Why, mainly known as “Jeff’s Twin” but later (after his death) gradually became a main character in Season Two, Three and Four. She is portrayed by Renee Herbert.

As Nina stayed down a year as she skipped a lot of senior year because of deaths in the family, she was stil a senior at Liberty High School up until Season Four. In Season One she was apart of the Liberty High Cheerleading Team but later quit, then apart of the Track Runners of Liberty High, and now the only female player on the Liberty High Football Team. Nina struggled with her twin brothers death then continued to struggle with Hannah Baker’s suicide and her mother's suicide. She is known to have gone - as Justin described, “to hell and back and still managed to pull through.” as she was also raped twice, once by an unknown boy on the Liberty High School Baseball Team (that we later found out in “Bye” was Montgomery de la Cruz) and a second time by Bryce Walker.

Nina is friends with Clay Jensen, Zach Dempsey, Jessica Davis, Alex Standall, Tony Padilla, Scott Reed and Chlöe Rice and was friends with Hannah Baker, Sheri Holland and Bryce Walker. Also, she is dating Justin Foley.

Nina is a subject of Tape 10 when Sheri crashed her car into a stop sign, alongside Hannah which later caused the death of Jeff Atkins, Nina’s brother. The tape is dedicated to Jeff and Nina as Hannah is sincerely apologising for the death throughout the tape.

Early Life
Not much is known about Nina’s early life but that Jeff was exactly 8 minutes older than her and that she grew up in a stable family until her brothers death that followed her mother’s suicide, her father became more and more distant as time passed after these deaths. So, Nina is mostly seen at Clay Jensen’s or Tony Padilla’s house or mostly just at school.

Season 1
In a flashback, Nina was first mentioned when Clay and Jeff were talking about the Hot or Not List as Nina was tagged as “Best Sexual Partner”. This obviously broke Jeff seeing his sister on the list and later was seen comforting her at their family home.

Nina was seen cheerleading at multiple football and basketball games.

Nina and Justin are seen in Bryce’s pool, chatting and laughing. The next day, Justin runs up to Nina from behind, lifting her off the ground and spinning her in a quick circle before hugging her.

In Tape 3, Side A, Nina is dancing with Clay at the Winter Formal after Jeff told her to save him from his misery. She starts dancing while Clay stands there looking at her smiling and laughing. A different song starts to play and she asks him jokingly if it should be there song, Clay scoffs. He turns his head and looks at Hannah who is chatting with Bryce. Nina sees and stops dancing, she says “Hannah.” and encourages him to go over to her, she yells across the gymnasium at Hannah, asking if they can swap partners. She looks at Nina awkwardly but says ok. Bryce and Nina start to dance but Nina’s eyes stay locked on Hannah and Clay who are dancing to “their song”. Bryce says “Jensen, aye?” Nina looks back at him and refuses that his assumptions of Nina having a thing for him is even half true.

In Tape 3, Side B, Clay and Nina are seen at his house chatting about astronomy, Nina calls him a major nerd because he thinks astronomy is soothing. She tells him that there is nothing soothing about it and she believes it’s terrifying. Clay tells her that him and Hannah used to talk about astronomy and life after death, he switches positions and Nina laughs saying that now all she can see is up his nose. Clay then interrupts her saying that she reminds him a lot of Hannah, she’s surprising, funny, beautiful and broken. He says that he thought Nina was one of those “basic bitches” of the school, he states he was very wrong when thinking that and Nina moves closer to him. She explains that Jeff used to talk about Clay quite a bit and how much of a pussy he was. Nina falls asleep on his lap and he smiles.

She appeared in a fight between Jeff and Bryce as Jeff confronts him about Nina being raped. Nina tries to stop them but fails until finally, after Jeff has said enough, walks away with him, holding onto his arm. Later, Nina is cleaning up Jeff’s hands as they were all bruised after the fight.

In Tape 5, Side B, Nina is at the scene where Jeff died. She confronts Hannah and Sheri about his death, calling them names and threw a punch at Hannah. She also talks to her crippled mother about “how lives end so quickly” and that “Jeff’s ended too soon”. Her mother doesn’t reply and just stares blankly at the ground.

The next day, she is seen being comforted by Justin Foley and Zach Dempsey, Bryce also is seen comforting her but doesn’t show much affection.

Season 2
Nina is first seen watching Jessica Davis from afar, Jessica looks back at her with a confused look on her face, recognising Nina. Nina continues to practice for her track running.

Nina steps in when Mr. Porter is talking to Jessica, seeing that she looks uncomfortable. Jessica then asks if she knows her, Nina replies with “I’m Nina Atkins, aka Jeff’s twin sister”. Jessica apologises for Jeff’s death but Nina quickly says not to.

It was revealed that Nina also spended time away from school after Jeff’s death, Hannah’s death and her mother’s death.

After going to a “abuse survivor therapy session”, Jessica runs up to her asking how she knew about Bryce raping her, Nina then told her, “remember that I was best friends with Justin, he told me everything. He only told me what Bryce did to you so I could relate to someone. So I felt like I wasn’t alone. He also told me to go to these. [the abuse survivor therapy sessions] He was a great guy. I miss him.” Jessica and Nina then talk more about Nina’s abuse and Justin and Bryce.

In Two Girls Kissing, Nina is mentioned while Mr. Porter and Sheri are talking about Sheri transferring schools, they chat about Nina when Mr. Porter brings up Jeff’s death. Sheri tells him it was her fault that he died and she feels horrible for what she did to Nina. Mr. Porter asks Sheri if she thinks that Nina should start cheerleading again and without hesitation she says no and she wonders if Mr. Porter even has an idea about what happens at Liberty. He tells her he does and that he wants to help but before long, Sheri gets up to leave. Mr. Porter tries to schedule another check-in but Sheri doesn’t want one.

Nina sees Justin for the first time in months when Clay Jensen asks her to babysit him while he goes to school. He asks why she left him homeless and she said, “I tried to help you. I gave you money, I comforted you, I put you into shelters but you kept messing things up, it’s not like my life wasn’t already messed up as it is. My mum, she fucking committing suicide because she couldn’t live with Jeff not being there. I was her fucking child too. I loved you Justin, you were my best friend. I couldn’t help you anymore so I left. And, I’m sorry that I did but look at us. Right now. I can help you with bumps and bruises but my life is fucked up, I can’t bring you back in it. It’s just gonna get even more fucked up.” Justin then replies, “So. Then what’s this? You’re just gonna stitch up my knee then leave? Forget that I ever existed?” Nina then looks up at him and scoffs, “Trust me, I could never forget you.” Clay then later arrives home and Nina leaves.

Jessica and Nina go to the mall to shop for dresses for the school dance. While they are trying on things, they chat. Jessica starts to panick as she tries on the first dress. As she races out of the changing rooms, Nina runs to her and calms her down, telling her everything is okay.

Nina gets raped by Bryce in the Chemistry Lab at school, while she’s unconscious. She wakes and sees that she is bleeding in the crotch area, she proceeds to cry on the classroom floor.

She has a panic attack after having a fight with Justin and is sent to the Hospital, where he visits and blames himself. Nina says he couldn’t have stopped it and she was just stressed and scared of what happens next. Justin tells her not to worry and kisses her on the forehead.

After having an argument with her father, she leaves her house and sits on some grass across from the house. Zach joins her and they talk about life and multiple problems. They then kiss but Nina pulls away as he kisses her neck which reminds her about Bryce raping her. She leaves Zach and walks home, apologetically.

Nina is talking to Clay and Justin about the clubhouse and told them she had it under control. She later went to the clubhouse with Scott and an unknown baseball player to look at the code they put into the lock but then Bryce shows up and encourages her in, scared and unable what to do she walks in with the three boys and gives them the drugs but they only made her do them. Bryce then took a polaroid picture of them and threw it into a box.

She meets up with Clay and Justin at Clay's house and looks through all the polaroids. Clay finds one of her in a bra sitting on the couch in the clubhouse. She snatches it out of his hand and explained that she was drunk off her head and stupid. Justin then suspects that that was the time she was raped and asked her, she looked at him disgustingly. Nina goes to leave and grabs the polaroids of Chlöe, Clay goes to grab them put Justin tells him to let her go.

Nina finds Chlöe in the library and talks to her about why she covered all the stupid comments on the cubicle door. Chlöe says it was because she was on the squad and she wanted to protect her. Nina takes out the polaroids and shows Chlöe them. She asks if Chlöe remembers this happening and she shakes her head. She also says that they could get revenge on Bryce so he can’t do this to any other girl ever again.

Nina punches up Bryce after he testifies, in between Nina’s strong punches, Bryce tries to speak about the days back in sophomore year when they were all together and were like three peas in a pod, trying to persuade her to stop. Nina tells him that she misses that Bryce, when he used to respect her and ask for her consent. Bryce bleeds and starts to cry as Nina cries.

In a flashback, Nina and Bryce are seen talking. Justin walks up to them and asks if Nina wants to have lunch at Monte’s. Nina says no and that they should stay at school with a smirk. Justin says that they never stay at school unless they do something “un-schooly”. The three go to the clubhouse and have a threesome. The next morning, Nina wakes up in between the two boys and goes to sneak out. Bryce wakes and grabs onto her ankle, pulling her down, she laughs and says that she has to go. Bryce says “that was fun”, Nina laughs and pecks him on the lips. She walks away and whispers, “see you around, handsome.” Bryce smiles widely.

In flashbacks, Nina and Tony are seen talking and Tony helps her with her anger and turning to violence. Later in the present, Nina helps Tony and tells him about when he used to help her.

In flashbacks, it goes back to the night when her mother dies. Nina comes home from Tony’s house and finds her mother hanging from the roof in her bedroom. Nina starts screaming and unwraps Mrs. Atkins neck from the knotted together sheets that hung from a hook in the roof. They both collapse onto the carpet, she pulls her mother closes to her chest and cries loudly.

In The Box of Polaroids, Nina is seen with Zach, Justin, Clay and Tony circling Monty asking for the Polaroids back. Nina walks up to him and tells him to give them back, he doubts that she wouldn’t touch him and laughs. Nina then pulls out a gun and points it to his chest, he steps back scared and the group is alarmed that Nina even owns a gun. Justin asks “where did you get that gun”, she replies, “I had to take it off Alex, Monty gave it to him” Monty looks at Nina and says he needs to go get the Polaroids because they aren’t with him, Nina tells him that she’ll come with him. Zach seems to think that that was a bad idea and says for her not to but she ignores him and says “No, I go with him.”

We then see her and Monty walking up to an unknown warehouse and Monty starts talking about Alex and Hannah, Nina pulls out the gun again and Monty says that she’s waving that gun around like he cares, he tells her he has no where to go anyway and his life is falling apart. Nina pulls the gun closer to him as he walks toward her, he tells her to shoot him if she really wants to. Nina asks where the pictures are and he replies with “I don’t know, I don’t have them” Nina looks at him. He walks closer and told her that he only said he had them to get out of there. He said he doesn’t care that Nina is with him because he knows she wouldn’t shoot him. Monty explained that she had a chance last year to end him and she didn’t, so why would she now. She yells, “Fuck You!” and he pushes the gun down and takes it off her. He runs to his car and is about to leave her stranded when she says, “Is it really worth it, Monty?” He turns around and looks at her, “Is it what worth it?”, She says “Raping someone, because you would know wouldn’t you. No, I didn’t “end” you last year because I thought you might regret what you did and turn yourself in. But your just like Bryce, a sick sick pig.” He smiles and says, “The whole worth it thing, I’ll make sure I’ll let you know the next time I do it. I kinda forget what it was like with you, you know because we were so wasted...I’ll be long gone by the time you get out of here.” He jumps in his car and looks at Nina a final time, “I would wish you luck but I’m a sick pig, so.” He speeds off and leaves Nina stranded.

Nina and Clay arrive at Jessica’s house to tell her that Monty doesn’t have the pictures, Clay tells Nina and Jessica that they don’t need to be afraid anymore and that all of them will we by their side and that they’ll never be alone in all of this. Jessica tells Nina that if they do this (tell their story) that everything will change, Clay looks at them both and says that it needs to change.

Nina, Jessica and Justin are seen at the police station talking to police officers about what happened to Jessica and Nina. Alex, Clay, Tony, Courtney, Ryan and Zach are seen waiting outside the offices for the three of them. They all come out and Alex says how proud he is of the two of them, they hug him and look at Justin. He smiles at Jessica and she smiles back, Nina walks over to him and hugs him tightly, saying that Jessica and her are thankful for what he did.

In the court Nina is sitting with Jessica and Justin and is holding his hand, waiting for the jury. Liberty High wins and she puts her head on Jessica’s shoulder and closes her eyes. Nina stands outside the court with Jess, Bryce walks past them and states that they’re both making a big fucking mistake, they both glare at him as he get escorted to the police car. Nina turns around as a police officer arrests Justin. They let go of each other’s hand and Justin is taken to another police car, Nina and Jessica asks what is going on. Justin tells them it’s going to be okay and calmly sits in the car. Olivia tells Nina that they got Bryce and she says but they got Justin too and asks her what they’re gonna do. Olivia pulls her into a hug and tells her that they’re going to keep fighting.

In Bye, One month later, Nina is in the court room talking about the times she was raped by Montgomery and Bryce. Clay and Nina are sitting down together and he tells her he’s sorry. She tells him she still feels somewhat stronger, they both ask Lainie where Justin is and she replies that he can only be let out to a guardian. She also tells Nina that they will make Bryce stay away from her and Jessica.

At Hannah’s service, Nina is sitting with her dad, Jessica and Alex.

She’s mentioned when Montgomery and Bryce are talking in a classroom, Monty tells Bryce that he covered for him about all the girls he has sexually abused. Bryce confronts him about what he did to Nina and says that he regrets hurting her, Monty rolls his eyes and asks what he wants him to do about it.

Nina and Jessica are talking at Monte’s saying they’re happy that it’s all over and they hope one another feels peace now, she looks over at Justin and he’s smiling widely at her, she quickly grins back and walks away.

She’s mentioned again by Justin at the spring fling dance by telling Zach that he would be good for her, he says back that it sucks that she’s in love with you (meaning Justin). Nina is dancing with Zach when she sees Justin walking towards the locker room, she sees Clay upset about Hannah and goes to comfort him with Tony and the others. She joins Justin in the locker room and talks about how she was a shitty cheerleader, he agrees. He tells her she looks beautiful but quickly apologises. Nina asks “You’re sorry for saying I look beautiful?”, Justin looks at the floor and says “Yes.” He wonders why anyone would want to adopt him and Nina tells him that she knows why. They talk about if they’ve ever thought about doing what Hannah did, they chat a bit about wanting to live before leaning into kiss each other. Nina then proceeds to have sex with him. Afterwards, Jessica asks Justin if he’s seen Nina and he says no. In the bathroom, Nina bumps into Chlöe and tells her to go away, she tells Nina that she’s pregnant but she just stares at her blankly. She’s last seen standing with Clay and Justin asking if Clay’s alright, Justin asks what are they are gonna do now and Nina looks at him, frightened.

Reason #10
Nina is a subject of Tape 5, Side B, however Hannah makes it clear that she is not one of the reasons for why she killed herself. Nina was mostly mentioned when she was apologising for Jeff’s death.

Hannah talks about the night Sheri drives Hannah home after Hannah sees something traumatic happen to an unnamed classmate by an unnamed classmate. Although we know this the traumatic event was Jessica Davis being raped by Bryce Walker. Sheri crashes into a stop sign, Hannah wants to call the police and tell them, but Sheri would rather leave it and not get into trouble with the police or her Dad, Hannah sides against her and tells her that when something bad happens she shouldn't just ignore it, she has to face the consequences. After persistence Sheri realises that Hannah won't get back in the car with her and drives off leaving Hannah alone. Hannah goes into a liquor spot store and uses the owners phone to call the police about the stop sign being knocked down, only to understand that someone already called about a disturbance in the area. Hannah asks who, but they won't tell her (we later find out that Clay was in the area, he heard the crash and called the police after finding Jeff unconscious), she walks out of the store and as a voice over she says that wishes she also told them about Bryce raping Jessica, calling it a terrible decision. Sheri and Hannah get driven further away because Sheri won't admit that there's a chance she killed Jeff, while Hannah is distraught over it and doesn't see a lot of remorse in her friend. Hannah blames Sheri for Jeff's death as she didn't report the incident straight away, which could have possibly prevented Jeff's death, and even more so after finding out Jeff wasn't drunk, as it was implied he was because there was a lot of empty beer cans found in his car, when Clay found him. As a voice over, Hannah says that it was fair when Nina punched her that night. After seeing her dead twin brother’s body, she blamed Hannah and that was okay but now Nina knows the truth about what really happened that night.

Physical Appearance
Nina has dark brown hair and beautiful blue-green eyes, she stands around 5’6” or 5’7” and has a very slim figure. The makeup she wears is always to a minumum, in both seasons. In Season One, she is seen mostly in the Liberty High School cheerleading uniform but if not, in blue jeans and knitted jumpers. Throughout Season 2, Nina’s hair is shorter and curled. She wears more dresses and workout clothes, but still keeps to her signature knitted wooly jumpers with blue or black jeans. In Season Three, her hair is back to a longer length and has been dyed a dark brown. Her eyebrows are more bold but her makeup is still layed back and kept at a minimum. Nina also seems to change up her style quite a lot, more revealing clothing is worn and more ‘badass’ clothing. She is also seen wearing the football uniform and workout clothes whilst training.

Personality
Nina is shown to be a very kind and caring person and also very forgiving. She always is seen sticking up for her friends or disrespecting the ones who hurt them. Being a loyal friend, she kept secrets from many people even after them threatening her to try and make her reveal them. Although being all those things, it is obvious that Nina turns to violence when mad, she is described to be a lot like her brother in that aspect and also a lot like Tony Padilla. Even though she’s sometimes seen to be a violent person, she often tries to break up fights instead of encouraging or joining them. She suffers from major panick attacks, after the trauma she’s gone through and is also seen to be depressed but still manages to have a smile on her face and to put others before herself with basically everything. She is a great friend but you do definitely not want to get on her bad side.

Season 1

 * “Tape 2, Side A”
 * “Tape 2, Side B”
 * “Tape 3, Side A”
 * “Tape 4, Side A”
 * “Tape 5, Side A”
 * “Tape 5, Side B”
 * “Tape 6, Side A”
 * “Tape 6, Side B”

Season 2

 * “The First Polaroid”
 * “Two Girls Kissing”
 * “The Drunk Slut”
 * “The Second Polaroid”
 * “The Chalk Machine” 
 * “The Smile at the End of the Dock”
 * “The Third Polaroid” 
 * “The Little Girl”
 * “The Missing Page”
 * “Smile, Bitches!”
 * “Bryce and Chloe”
 * “The Box of Polaroids”
 * “Bye”