Lucas Gottesman

"Girls like her don't approach guys like me unless they have deep-seated self-esteem issues and a drinking problem...I have the upper body strength of Screech, and I spend my weekends playing Wii, alone. I think my virginity is pretty well safeguarded."

- Lucas Gottesman

Lucas Gottesman is on the yearbook committee and a friend of Hanna's, though he likes her as more than a friend. When Alison was alive, he was viciously taunted by Alison and called a hermaphrodite. Mona picks up where Alison left off when she becomes Queen Bee and taunts Lucas in exactly the same way, using Alison's insults. Lucas was the one who trashed Ali's memorial. He also kissed Hanna when he thought she was asleep. He brought Caleb back to Rosewood, and Caleb is currently crashing in Lucas' bedroom. Lucas is currently dating Danielle.

Season 1
When Hanna joins Sean's abstinence club at school, "Real Love Waits," she finds a surprising ally in the equally reluctant Lucas. The members are asked to role play situations in which they would be pressured to have sex. After Sean and Amber pair off, Hanna is called to take a turn - with Lucas. Unenthusiastic, she pretends to ask Lucas to make out, and after initially refusing to play along, he then says "yes," making Hanna finally smile and Sean see red. As yearbook editor in charge of photos, Lucas attends homecoming solely in order to photograph the event. At the dance, Mona and Hanna get into a heated argument when Mona makes nasty comments to Lucas, who has come to the dance as photographer for the yearbook. Hanna greets him warmly, but Mona shoos him away. After he leaves, the two argue over whether popularity is more important than befriending nerds.

Later, he gives Hanna a ride to the therapist's office so that she can steal Jenna's file. She keeps Lucas in the dark as to what she is doing, but he is happy to be hanging out with her. He confesses that besides for taking pictures, he had gone to Homecoming in order to elect Hanna Homecoming Queen.

The next day, he takes multiple shots of the homecoming king and queen, eventually frustrating the homecoming king with his suggestions, such as having Hanna sit on his lap. Later, Lucas and Hanna have fun looking at online videos together, whereas Sean thinks the videos are stupid, proving how much more Lucas and Hanna have in common than her current boyfriend, Sean.

When Hanna decides to help out with the Marins' financial situation, she agrees to put up a lot of her old clothes and handbags up for auction online with the help of her new ally, Lucas, who gives her the idea in the first place.

Hanna and Lucas grow closer, as Lucas continues to score Hanna big bucks selling her lesser used accessories on the internet. But, Mona is not enthusiastic about this new relationship development and mercilessly taunts Lucas for not being manly enough. Later, fed up, Hanna pulls Mona aside and calls her a hypocrite for treating someone of lesser social status so heartlessly when they used to be on that same strata themselves! Later, Lucas thanks her for Mona’s improved treatment of him.

At the hospital after Hanna's accident, an attentive Lucas gives Hanna a sweet kiss as she sleeps, but feels brutally rebuffed when she tells him – in truth, that she sees him much more as a friend. He wishes that she would lie, rather than be so brutally diappointing.

At Hanna’s homecoming party, Lucas drinks too much. He’s still upset from Hanna refusing to be more than friends and makes a big scene. Later, he confesses to trashing Alison's memorial, though Hanna forgives him and promises to keep his secret under tabs. He was upset by the memories of Alison's terrible treatment of them all this time and finds it hard to understand why Hanna could ever be friends with such a mean person.

At the Dance-A-Thon, "A" instructs Hanna to repeatedly dance with Lucas and then break his heart, in exchange for her mother's money back. Sean is unforgiving of Hanna's unceremonious treatment of him after several dances with Lucas, leaving her to slow dance with him. At the end of the night, Lucas also feels rejected when Hanna turns down his offer to give her a ride home.

Lucas is suspicious of Mona and what she had to do with Caleb leaving town. Mona tries to intimidate Lucas to forget about it, tempting him with the prospect of obtaining Hanna, but Lucas clearly doesn't take the bait, as later we see Lucas and Caleb in a car together! Lucas is driving Caleb back to Rosewood, Pennsylvania (from Arizona?).

Season 2
When Lucas and Caleb arrive in Rosewood, Lucas protectively warns Caleb not to hurt Hanna again. Lucas and his family have Caleb stay in Lucas' bedroom for the time being.

When Hanna is no longer allowed to see her friends, she decides to help Lucas with the yearbook. At first, Lucas wonders why Hanna is being so nice to him, worried that she has ulterior motives—but Hanna insists that people can change. She even gets a pretty girl named Danielle that Lucas is so obviously crushing on to agree to a date with Lucas. Lucas worries about his upcoming date with Danielle, so he asks Hanna to double with him and tells her to bring Caleb. Unfortunately it backfires. Danielle thinks that Hanna is interested in Lucas! To convince Danielle that there is no longer anything between her and Lucas, Hanna and Caleb pretend to be on a real date. It works, and Danielle reaches for Lucas' hand. Lucas thanks Hanna later for helping him with Danielle and acting so un-Alison like.

Trivia
In the books his name is Lucas Beattie.