Alex Standall

Alex Standall is a new student who briefly shares a tentative support network with Hannah Baker and Jessica Davis. His defining early action in Hannah’s account is voting her Best Ass in the Freshman Class on a school list dividing students into “WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT”; the vote becomes more than a compliment, because Hannah traces how a public label can alter the way others see and treat her.

Identity and Introduction

Alex is among two other freshmen who, like Hannah, are new to the area. Hannah recalls that the three of them were not close friends, but relied on one another during their first weeks at school. That limited companionship gives Alex an early place in her story before the list makes his name carry a different weight.

The scene is recalled through Hannah’s tapes, addressed to Alex in turn. She frames his presence on the recordings as something he may not understand, asking whether he thought he had done a good thing by voting her Best Ass. Her address makes the gap between his presumed intention and the vote’s effects central to his introduction.

The List and Its Effects

Alex’s vote appears within the school paper titled “FRESHMAN CLASS—WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT.” When Hannah first sees the list, it is circulating in history class, and she searches for her own name amid the excitement of discovering where she has been placed. The list offers the apparent reassurance of everyone agreeing on something about a person, but that collective judgment also turns students into categories for public consumption.

Hannah says Alex probably thought the vote was a good thing because it placed her among the desirable students. She rejects the idea that her body was the decisive factor, suggesting instead that revenge shaped his choice. The tape does not yet supply a fuller account of that motive; Hannah explicitly says his motivation will come later. For now, she redirects attention from what Alex intended to the consequences of seeing his name attached to the list.

Relationships and Narrative Significance

Alex’s connection with Hannah develops from their early reliance on one another into an accusation delivered after the fact. Hannah says that only a small number of people initially knew about the list, while many more were about to learn of it. In her telling, Alex’s vote participates in a chain through which a private or limited judgment becomes part of Hannah’s public reputation.

The contrast between Alex’s apparent gesture of praise and Hannah’s interpretation of its consequences gives the episode its force. The list reduces a person to a sexualized ranking, while Hannah’s tape restores context that the ranking leaves out: she remembers Alex as part of a small group of newcomers, yet also holds him responsible for a choice whose effects extend beyond the moment of voting. His place in the narrative therefore links personal motive to the wider power of school gossip and public labels.