Anika Johnson is a minor character in The Summer I Turned Pretty series. She is one of Belly's college roommates. She and Belly meet at a party and hit it off, with the two bonding closely and forming a sisterly bond.
Appearance and Personality
Anika is described as being laid back, morally upright to where she is visibly shocked when seeing a girl admit to stealing and is a very kind person. She is, though, frank and incisive about what she says while also expresses it in a kind manner.
We'll Always Have Summer
The only novel that she appears in is the final installment of the trilogy, We'll Always Have Summer.
She and Belly meet during a party while playing the game Never Have I Ever and decide to stay in touch. She and Belly end up forming a close and sister-like bond to where Belly even views her as her true best friend in life. When Belly tells Anika of her engagement to Jeremiah, she fears her opinion and reaction more than anyone else's. When Belly asks her if she thinks she is making a mistake in marrying Jeremiah, Anika refuses to give her opinion about it as she feels it is a decision Belly must make on her own. Anika then tells Belly how she cares about other people's opinions too much and must decide how to live her life without other people's constant input. Belly admits to herself that if it had been from anyone else who said this to her, she would have felt bad about herself. But since it was coming from Anika, it did not hurt her to hear it.
Anika continues to spend the summer with Belly, hanging out with her during the weeks leading up to her wedding. She is present for Belly's wedding shower and her pre-wedding preparations, comforting her pre-wedding jitters. After the events of the novel, following the abrupt cancellation of Belly's wedding to Jeremiah, Anika and Belly ended up moving in together for their next year in school. It is implied and assumed that the two continued to remain close friends.
Quotes
Trivia
- She is from New York.
- Her father is a jazz musician and her mother is a writer.
- Anika doesn't eat meat, never gossips and is a dancer.
- Belly says her hair smells the way she imagined wildflowers do in the sand, which she later finds out is because of the oil she uses in her hair.
- She is sexually active as she helps give advice to Belly for her wedding night with Jeremiah, assuring her that it did not hurt her when she had sex for the first time.
- She was to be one of Belly's bridesmaids during her wedding to Jeremiah.
- Despite Taylor initially being Belly's best friend for most of the series, she later names Anika to be her true best friend more so than Taylor due to their more emotionally strong bond.