Arcs

Grace Church school was defined by a series of "arcs" that would define the major plot points of the grade's history.

George Cheung Brony Phase
One of the most profound social arcs of the Grace Church Middle School was George Cheung's transition to and from the "Brony Phase." Described by Dictionary.com as "a male fan of the television series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," George began his rapid transformation into a Brony early in the Sixth Grade. Growing his hair out long and abstaining from physical exercise, he epitomized the traditional and stereotypical characteristics of a "Brony."

Nicholas Brodie's Political Views
Nicholas Brodie's political views were complex and rapidly evolving. Shortly after the beginning of eighth grade, Nick proclaimed himself a "Democratic Socialist," supporting candidate Bernie Sanders. Nick engaged in intense political debates, sometimes escalating to physical fights with instigator, Robert Rendine. In 2018, about 30 minutes prior to debate camp, Nick's political transformation was precipitated by socialist Kyle Kulinski's use of extraordinarily vulgar language. Over the course of the following year, Nick rapidly transitioned into a rabid conservative, attempting to debate anyone whose views didn't align with his own. Nick's primary strategy was to use a wide range of insults, ranging from "debate me libtard" all the way to "libtard." Overtime, Nick's views have begun to shift left, once more nearing original views.

The Del Pino Plight
While Maximo Del Pino joined Grace Church in fourth grade, he remained largely socially irrelevant until sixth grade. He rose to notoriety as a part of the infamous Abrams-Pena advisory section, along with social terrorist Robert Rendine, and firebrand Theo Carlston. Throughout sixth grade, Maximo was known to participate in games of tag with Henry "Early Departure" Levinson, Theo, and Robert.

Nathaniel's Rise and Fall
As a result of his Dog Squad membership, Nathaniel emerged as one of the preeminent members of his class in sixth grade. Building upon this social success, he established himself as a leading intellectual by scoring in the top 45% of students on his sixth grade science test. Throughout seventh grade, Nathaniel continued to rise through the ranks by joining the Model UN Club.

A major occurrence and continuation of Nathaniel's Eighth Grade social success would be his coercion of Leila Bynum, known to experts as The Great Coercion. Utilizing the psychological phenomenon of "peer pressure," he would ask Leila out on a date in front of a group of active Dog Squad members. This marked the zenith of his social prominence and power, as his successful manipulation of Leila into dating him was a school wide event. This relationship was made public when an unidentified hacker (conspiracy theorists believe them to be a member of the Asian Alliance) released the Yellow Heart Files, which was the discovery of a yellow heart (💛) exchanged between the two students via text.

However, this success would soon come crashing down. In eighth grade, tragically, Nathaniel's grandmother passed away. Devastatingly, minutes after learning of his grandmother's death, Leila informed Nathaniel that she was breaking up with him. Several insider sources have confirmed that her decision to date Nathaniel was contingent upon his grandmother being alive.

Various Targets of Theo Carlston
Theo "T-Boner" Carlston was a social mercenary during his time at the Grace Church Middle School. Theo's insults were known to shatter the minds, egos, and morale of his opponents, rendering them physically and mentally flaccid and powerless.

One of his most infamous attacks was against Dog Squad member Jack McCain, the former "King of Roasts." The latter began to berate Theo in the bus of the Seventh Grade D.C Trip bus. Theo began his vicious counter attack and ended with his magnum opus, "Jack you have a one inch wonder." The D.C Trip bus erupted in laughter, and Jack's counter was either droned out by the ensuing hysterics or stifled by the resonation of Theo's insult. Jack looked on in defeat as everyone else on the bus continued to laugh.

War of Charlie Plym and Robert Rendine
The War of Charlie Plym and Robert Rendine would be the defining arc of the recess basketball group since in the Post-Charlie era. The War was classified as a series of 1v1 basketball games in addition to the regular 4v4 basketball games played regularly at recess. As both students played similar positions, it frequently lead to Robert guarding Charlie. Initially, as a form of psychological warfare, Robert would repeatedly use bastardizations and variations of the phrase "You want my D?"

As the conflict worsened, Robert branched out from one simple phrase and soon moved to exploit Charlie's political views, either yelling or whispering into Charlie's ear, "this D is in your face," "you can't take this D," along with many other variations. The war reached a climax when Robert celebrated the ground invasion of Normandy, known historically as "D-Day," by beating Charlie in two successive 1v1's by huge margins.

As time passed, Robert's hate speech only worsened, resulting in Charlie striking Robert. The war culminated on the 75th anniversary of D-Day (June 6, 2019), in which Robert utilized this convenient date to taunt Charlie. These repeated acts of verbal harassment resulted in Charlie hitting Robert once more. This was one of the final basketball games played, and the war deescalated following the Breaking of Bones on the Penultimate Week.

Exorbitant Debt of Oz Gottesman
Oz Gottesman's first mistake as a new student in the Eighth Grade was to borrow money from notorious loan shark Daniel Hua. Accepting his "newcomer deal" of a mere 200% interest compounded daily, Oz borrowed $20 to buy snacks—including a beverage, chips, and possibly candy—from the deli. The following day, preparing to pay Daniel back the $40 which was owed, he realized that he had forgotten the money at home. Distraught, he was forced to admit to Daniel that the loan would be outstanding for another day. In a genius act of business making, Daniel offered Oz an intermittent loan to pay back his previous loan. Oz readily accepted, not doing the mathematics required to deduce that this was in fact the worst possible deal. This chain of events sparked Oz's Seventh Grade debt, which, according to anonymous sources, was only relieved after Daniel and Oz came to an undisclosed cash settlement (some believe the Gottesman Library at Columbia University in New York was liquified in order to pay).

Not learning from his mistakes, Oz would indulge himself in a series of high stakes betting with Asian Alliance leader, Alex Skrypek. With the power of some of the greatest minds in the grade—George Cheung, Dax Bischof, and Daniel Hua to name a few—Alex would easily calculate the best possible bets to make in order to exploit Oz's reckless gambling. By the end of the first Eighth Grade week, Oz would be down a measly $200, soon to increase more than tenfold by Winter Break. Desperate to extricate himself from the burden of arrears, he offered to settle with Alex for an undisclosed payment of V-Bucks, a highly sought after cryptocurrency, and the recipe to the Oz Family Salad Dressing. Tenuously accepting this offer, against the advice of Asian Alliance members, Alex would soon come to regret this decision.

Even at graduation, Oz would refuse to pay the debt owed to Alex, and because of that a $10,000 bounty is currently on Oz's head. Any member of the Grace Church School community who is able to legally deliver Oz, alive, to Alex and coerce him to pay the money due (now totaling a near infinite sum of money after two years of 200% interest compounded daily).