The Beginning
Obsessed with sharing his 'exotic culture' which he himself is largely making up, Douglas Fairchild comes across as eccentric, and fails his classes, which leads him to be placed in a special needs support group, condescendingly referred to as "the Twinkie Squad" by most other students. Later on at lunch, Armando "Commando" Riviera, is playing basketball outside, and Doug is sitting on a nearby bench writing in his "Pefkakia journal" (actually a notebook filled with nothing but the word 'blah'). Commando mistakenly fumbles the ball, which bounces and hits Douglas in the nose, causing a massive nosebleed (Douglas already has a bad post-nasal drip). Commando's enemy, Kahlil, reports him to the Principal, who accuses him of deliberately attacking Doug; and when Doug denies that this is how the incident happened, the Principal carelessly assumes that Commando is bullying him into keeping quiet. Commando is kicked off the basketball team and is also sentenced to a year in Doug's special needs support group with other "defective" students. The "Twinkie Squad", actually called the special discussion group, is made up of Mr. and Mrs. Richardson who have degrees in counciling and try to help the children. Apart from Douglas and Commando, there is Anita, who can't think up her own thoughts so she copies others; Yolanda, who is obsessed with movies; Gerald, who is incredibly shy; Ric, who is hyperactive and very jittery; and Dave, who has very low self-esteem.
Commando is also upset because his family has fallen on hard times, forcing his father to go back to school to earn a degree in Accounting and take the necessary exams to become a CPA(certified public accountant).
Read more about this topic: The Twinkie Squad
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