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

Prime Timeline

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,^{[note 1]} the Yeerk Empire began their invasion of Earth out of this city in California,^[4] 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,^[5] 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][6] By 1997,^{[note 2]} Tom's younger brother Jake, who was thirteen at the time,^[7] 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.^[5] A student named Tobias also transferred to the school in 1997, where he was excessively bullied^[8] and earned the sympathy of an English teacher named Feyroyan.^[9] Tobias had first period gym class.^[10] 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.^[5]

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 Empire's 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, as the Animorphs learned that Chapman was a host body to a Controller. "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 Yeerk Empire 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.^[5]

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.^[5]

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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.^[6]

On a Wednesday, Marco struggled at school as he only had one hour's worth of sleep while Rachel skipped school for the first time. The next day, Rachel and Cassie were in Ms. Paloma's history class where she spoke about the United States' involvement in World War II along with the butterfly effect. After the bell rang, Rachel and Cassie walked to their lockers to discuss the Ellimist before the warning bell for next period rang; Cassie then went to gym class to play volleyball.^[10] On a Friday, Rachel informed Melissa at school that she would not be attending their weekend-long gymnastics camp. The next day, on Saturday, Rachel headed to the school at 10 A.M., with a school bus slated to arrive at 11 A.M. to transport the gymnastic students to camp. Having arrived an hour early, Rachel crossed the school's athletic field in order to enter the woods behind the school, where she morphed into a bald eagle. Shortly after, she was mobbed by jays and knocked unconsciousness, which caused her to miss the bus to gymnastics camp.^[13]

Two weeks after Rachel and Cassie learned about the butterfly effect, the Animorphs decided to bring Ax to their school in his human morph, pretending to be Jake's cousin "Phillip." Jake and Cassie got to the school and walked across the field to the edge of the woods, where Ax and Tobias were. Ax morphed to human and got dressed before following Jake and Cassie to the exterior of the school, where Marco and Rachel met up with them. Entering the school building, Ax followed Jake and Cassie to Cassie's locker, where he noticed that she had a picture of Jake inside, which embarrassed Cassie. Just then, the bell rang, which scared Ax, and Jake took Ax to his homeroom class, taught by a man named Pardue. Jake told Pardue that his cousin "Phillip" would be attending school with him for the day before Pardue began shouting and clawing at his own head. Jake and Ax realized that Pardue was a host and that his Yeerk was dying. As Pardue clawed at his head, Jake rushed to Pardue's side and whispered that he knew what was happening and urged Pardue to ride it out. The commotion caused Iniss 226 to arrive, and he ordered all of the students to exit the school building. As Ax pulled Jake away, the two noticed Iniss inject a steel cylinder into the base of Pardue's neck, killing both Pardue and the Yeerk within instantly. Jake ran through the crowd and rushed outside, with Ax following them, where the two got into a heated debate once Jake realized that Ax had known that the Yeerk Empire would kill any hosts that were freed. The death of a teacher ended Jake and Ax's school day, and Jake went home while Ax returned to the woods and demorphed.^[14]

Due to her life as an Animorph, Cassie's grades plummeted and she was facing a D in science class. Cassie was granted an extra-credit assignment, in which she made a maze for a white rat named Courtney to navigate. Cassie placed seeds and nuts at the end of the maze but was confounded when Courtney failed to move through the maze. On a Friday, as the school day ended, Cassie stayed behind in the science classroom with Rachel to figure out why her project was not working. Rachel, who did not like staying at school after school had let out, suggested that Cassie morph into the rat, and Cassie told Rachel to join her. Cassie and Rachel then acquired and morphed into Courtney, and Cassie discovered that the fan on the ceiling of the science classroom was blowing the scent of the seeds and nuts away, which prevented Courtney from navigating the maze. Just then, two boys entered the classroom, and upon seeing the three rats there, they decided to try and kill them with a broom handle. As the boys upturned the maze, Cassie and Rachel narrowly avoided being struck by the broom handle and jumped off of the table. The boys then cornered Courtney and tried to kill her with the broom handle, causing Cassie and Rachel to rush toward the boys and run up their pant legs. The two boys screamed and ran out of the classroom and into the hallway, where Cassie and Rachel ran out of the pant legs. The two girls made their way to a safe spot and demorphed, although Courtney was missing, with Cassie theorizing that Courtney was now living in the school walls.^[15]

This section requires expansion

Alternate Realities

Dark Timeline

In an alternate future timeline where the Yeerk Empire successfully conquered Earth, the junior high school had been destroyed while individuals were still inside the building. The remnants of the school, along with the skeletal remains of the victims inside, were all that remained. When Ellimist transported the prime Animorphs to this timeline, Tobias recognized the building as the school, which unsettled Marco.^[10]

History Altered by Crayak

This junior high school was attended by Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco. Tobias began attending this school after returned to living with his uncle, where he quickly became a target of bullying. During one such attack, Tobias was saved by Jake, who told the bullies to step away. In this timeline, the Animorphs did not meet Elfangor and gain their morphing powers; as a result, Tobias stopped following Jake around after a while, which caused him to become bullied again. One day, Tobias was kicked repeatedly in the school bathroom by a few boys, and remarked that he was being seriously injured after getting kicked in the ribs. The assault was then stopped by another boys, who were human-Controllers, who convinced Tobias to join The Sharing. This timeline was erased from existence by Drode shortly after due to Cassie destabilizing the timeline with her temporal abilities.^[8]

Known Faculty

• Hedrick Chapman (assistant principal/vice principal)
• Paloma (history teacher)^[10]
• Feyroyan (English teacher)^[9]
• Lambert^[11]
• Halloram^[12]
• Pardue † ^[14]
• Unnamed female guidance counselor^[11]
• Unnamed basketball coach/gym class teacher^[6]

Known Students

Tom Berenson † (graduated) Jake Berenson (graduated) Rachel † (graduated) Tobias (dropped out)[note 3] Cassie (graduated) Marco (graduated) Melissa Chapman (graduated) David (dropped out)[note 4]

Allison[16] Bailey[17] Beth[18] Brittany[16][9] Charles[19] Dahlia[17] Danielle[20] Darlene[13] Drake[21] Elizabeth[17] Ellen[13] Hans[13] Jawan[19] Jessica[12] Joe[19] Juan[6] Justin Mullins[20] Kara[13] Marian[22] T.T.[23] Terry[6] Tracy[13] T'Shondra[20] Woo[21]

Appearances

The Invasion The Visitor The Encounter (mentioned) The Message (mentioned) The Predator The Capture The Stranger The Andalite's Gift (exterior) The Alien The Secret

The Android The Forgotten The Reaction The Change The Unknown The Escape The Warning The Departure The Discovery The Solution The Pretender (mentioned)

The Extreme The Attack The Exposed The Sickness The Reunion (mentioned) The Illusion The Test (mentioned)

Trivia

• The school is located only a quarter mile away from the mall.^[10]

Gallery

"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

Notes

References