- "Luckily, our school has no guards or metal detectors like they have in the high schools. All I had to worry about was the stray teacher or kiss-up hall monitor. I leaned around the front door. Nobody. Just the janitor, but his back was to me and he was wearing headphones. And doing this weird kind of shuffling dance as he pushed a mop across the vomit-green linoleum tile that is our school's main hallway."
- ―Marco
This unnamed junior high school was the middle school in California attended by the human Animorphs before they moved on to high school. Hedrick Chapman served as the school's vice principal.
History[]
This junior high school, situated in California,[2] was a local middle school in the Animorphs' hometown, where Hedrick Chapman served as the assistant principal, also known as vice principal.[3] In 1995,[4] the Yeerk Empire began their invasion of Earth out of this city in California,[5] and constructed a Yeerk Pool underneath half of the city and added a handful of secret entrances. The junior high school was also given a secret entrance,[3] most likely due to Chapman being the host of Iniss 226, a relatively high-ranking Yeerk,[6] as well as the fact that Controllers could enter the building when it was empty after hours and access the pool unobserved. The secret entrance was hidden behind a retractable wall in the janitor's closet, which opened if one turned the faucet to the left and then twisted a hook to the right.[3]
Tom Berenson attended this school in the 1990s and was known for being a legend on the basketball team before moving on to high school.[3][7] By 1997,[8] Tom's younger brother Jake, who was thirteen at the time,[9] attended the school, along with his cousin Rachel, his best friend Marco, and his crush Cassie, who was Rachel's best friend.[3] Chapman's daugher Melissa also attended the school, and served as Rachel's other best friend.[6] A student named Tobias also transferred to the school in 1997, where he was excessively bullied[10] and earned the sympathy of an English teacher named Feyroyan.[11] During one of his math classes, Marco decided to secretly listen to his CD player in class, hiding the earphone under his long hair. However, he started singing along to his music, which resulted in him being caught and sent to the assistant principal's office, where Chapman gave him detention.[6]
On a Friday in 1997, Jake tried out for the school's basketball team, wanting to earn Tom's former position, but failed to make the team. Later that night, Jake, along with Rachel, Tobias, Marco and Cassie, were informed of the Yeerk invasion and were given the power to morph. The following Monday, Jake skipped his first period English class, as well many of his other classes, and spent his time morphed as a green anole lizard, wandering the school in order to locate Chapman's office and spy on him. Chapman instead led Jake to the janitor's closet, revealing one of the entrances to the Yeerk Pool to the team, who began to refer to themselves as Animorphs. Later that night, the Animorphs broke into the school through an unlocked window in the science lab and witnessed as police-Controllers dragged Cassie through the closet. After checking that the hallway was clear, the Animorphs entered the pool through the janitor's closet entrance. After their battle at the Yeerk Pool, the Animorphs, minus Tobias, escaped the pool through the same passageway, along with a woman whom they saved. As the woman fled, the Animorphs demorphed and left the school to return home.[3] As the Yeerks had noticed that the Animorphs, whom they believed were "Andalite bandits", had escaped through the school's janitor closet passageway, they proceeded to permanently seal it off.[6]
A little over a week later, Jake and Rachel shared a bus to school. Upon arriving, Rachel noticed many students milling about on the grounds. Noticing that Melissa was crying, Rachel approached her former friend and asked her what was going on. Melissa questioned why Rachel cared, and began talking about how everything had changed, including her friendship with Rachel and her parents until she was interrupted by the bell. Rachel watched as Melissa walked away and eventually made her way inside the school building when she accidentally walked right into Chapman. The next day, the Animorphs attended school, where Rachel got a C in her math class. Upon leaving class, Jake told her to fly to a church clock tower where they were having a meeting later. Two hours later, school let out and Rachel morphed into a bald eagle; she soared above the school buildings before flying away.[6]
A short while later, on a Tuesday, the Animorphs attended school and were given a paper to write by Ms. Lambert, which was due on Thursday. As school let out for the day, Jake, Rachel, Marco and Cassie exited the school separately, as Marco believed it would be bad security if they were all constantly spotted together. The four then got on their respective school buses.[12]
On a Monday, a pop quiz was given in Marco's history class regarding the Mexican–American War and the Texas War of Independence, which he failed. As he went to his locker after class, he was approached by Jake. The pair discussed their upcoming mission of morphing into ants before Marco took a book out his locker and started walking down the hall. Marco mentioned the death of his mother and walked down the hall, and Jake chose not to follow him. However, Marco had a change of heart, and upon seeing Cassie with some of her friends, walked towards her and told her to tell Jake that he would join their mission. The next day, while in the cafeteria during lunch, a girl named Jessica, who had a reputation of considering herself to be a tough girl, bumped into Rachel. When Rachel told her to watch herself, Jessica asked if Rachel was yelling at her and threatened to slap her mouth if she kept talking. In response, Rachel got out of her seat, grabbed Jessica by the sweatshirt, and slammed her down into the lunch table. As Jessica shrieked and yelled for someone to get Rachel off of her, Marco spotted Jake and Cassie in the distance and realized that they were too far away to interfere. He then got in between them and used his arms to shove both girls away from one another, and received a punch in the eye from Jessica for his efforts. A teacher named Mr. Halloram then arrived and the three were brought to assistant principal Chapman's office, where Iniss 226 expressed shock that Rachel started the fight of all people. Jessica was offended and asked "Chapman" if he thought Rachel was better than her, although Iniss ignored her. When Iniss asked Rachel why she had done so, Marco claimed that the girls had been fighting over him as they were in love with them, which Jessica denied while Rachel smiled in silence. Iniss then told them to schedule appointments with the guidance counselor before dismissing them.[13]
On a Friday, Jake was in gym class playing basketball in gym class with classmates Juan and Terry. When the coach blew the whistle to signify the end of class, Jake went to the locker room to take a shower before getting dressed. Marco, who had gym class next, waited in the hallway and encountered Jake as he exited the gym. Marco and Jake spoke about the governor's upcoming surgery as well as their plans to infiltrate the Berman Clinic. As the bell rang, Marco began walking towards the gym as Jake headed off to his next class.[7]
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This section requires expansion |
Known Faculty[]
- Hedrick Chapman (assistant principal/vice principal)
- Ms. Paloma[14]
- Mr. Feyroyan[11]
- Ms. Lambert[12]
- Mr. Halloram[13]
- Mr. Pardue[15]
- Unnamed female guidance counselor[12]
- Unnamed basketball coach/gym class teacher[7]
Known Students[]
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Appearances[]
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Gallery[]
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"Someone took a picture of me? Not cool. Do you see what I'm wearing? I'm Spandex-boy. Totally not cool."
The image gallery for Junior High School may be viewed here |
References[]
- ↑ According to #54: The Beginning, it is in California. VISSER also reveals it is mid-sized coastal city, with series co-author Michael Grant describing the fictional city as a blend between Orange County and Long Beach.
- ↑ The Beginning
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 The Invasion
- ↑ In VISSER, Edriss 562 launches the invasion of Earth and fakes the death of her host, Eva. In #1, Eva is said to have died/disappeared two years prior. As #1 takes place in 1997, this places Eva's disappearance, and the beginning of the invasion of Earth, in 1995.
- ↑ VISSER
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 The Visitor
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 The Capture
- ↑ The Andalite Chronicles is said to take place 10 years after the 1966 Yeerk exodus of The Hork-Bajir Chronicles and 21 years before Elfangor met the Animorphs. This places it in 1976, meaning the Animorphs met Elfangor in 1997.
- ↑ The Answer
- ↑ Back to Before
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Illusion
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 The Encounter
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 The Predator
- ↑ The Stranger
- ↑ The Alien
- ↑ Stopped attending school after becoming trapped as a red-tailed hawk.
- ↑ Stopped attending school after becoming trapped as a rat.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Sickness
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 The Separation
- ↑ The Attack
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 The Unknown
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 The Discovery
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 The Andalite's Gift
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 The Escape
- ↑ The Extreme
- ↑ The Exposed