Wallace Fennel - Background

Background

Wallace has become Veronica's best friend; they first met when Veronica cut him down from the Neptune High flagpole after he was duct-taped to it by Eli "Weevil" Navarro. Deciding that Veronica was a better friend than any of the 09ers or jocks at Neptune High who simply laughed while he was taped to the flagpole, he began sitting with her at lunch. The two became fast friends when Veronica helped get him out of trouble with the PCH biker gang.

Wallace is 19, a Sagittarius and his hometown is Chicago, Illinois. He lives with his single mother, Alicia, and his brother. After befriending Veronica, he starts helping her in many cases. Because he is an office aide at Neptune High, Veronica often asks for "favors" in order to see school records and gain information on other students. He also gives her tardy slips and occasionally provides bits of key knowledge which helped Veronica in her investigations. When not working as her liaison into the school files, he is most often seen driving the getaway car (literally), providing distractions so Veronica could sneak around unseen, or planting bugged items around Neptune.

He is, arguably, the best basketball player on the Neptune Pirates basketball team. This becomes the focal point of the episode "Betty and Veronica." One of his teammates steals the team mascot in an attempt to keep Wallace from playing so he could be a starter instead.

Wallace usually helps Veronica out of feelings of friendship, although on occasion she needs to promise a little something extra — perhaps the answers to a test. Typically, he does not ask why she needs his help or what she is doing with the information he passes on to her. He trusts her almost unquestioningly. But he is always there for her, and Wallace is the one person Veronica truly opens up to about her rape in the episode "A Trip to the Dentist."

Initially, Wallace's mother is skeptical about letting him associate with Veronica, whom she thinks is a bad influence. However, things smooth over when Veronica's father Keith kicks out the Fennels' dead-beat tenant (in "Like a Virgin"). Alicia even begins seeing Keith romantically, which causes a bit of initial discomfort for Wallace and Veronica, though they eventually support and accept their parents' relationship. Nevertheless, the relationship doesn't last.

When Wallace finds out that the man who raised him wasn't his father and that his biological father is still alive, he tries to confide in Veronica. When the tension between Veronica and Wallace's new girlfriend Jackie Cook escalates to the point where Jackie pulls a huge prank, Veronica intends to get revenge. Wallace begs her not to, and the core of their relationship is shaken. Even though Veronica doesn't intend to do anything, she and Jackie get into a fight at the school dance. That, along with the revelation about his father, leads Wallace to leave town to go live with his biological father in Chicago.

While in Chicago, he was a passenger in an SUV that was involved in a hit-and-run on a homeless man. Looking to escape his troubles, he returns to Neptune and re-enters Veronica's life. When he is framed for the accident back in Chicago, he has to work with Veronica to prove that he is innocent. He and Veronica eventually reconcile and become best friends again.

Though he has started dating Jane Kuhne, he still had feelings for Jackie and tries to rekindle their relationship. Jackie doesn't want to steal another girl's boyfriend, however. After Wallace properly breaks up with Jane, he and Jackie begin dating again. Things get serious, until Jackie tells Wallace she is leaving to go to France and attend the Sorbonne. After Jackie's father treats her harshly, she leaves early, leaving only a note for Wallace. It turns out that Jackie is in fact in Brooklyn, now working at a diner with her mother. She also has a two year old child whom Jackie's mother is raising. Wallace comes to find her, but she breaks up with him because she has to try to be a parent like her father wasn't, and stay in New York.

In Season 3, Wallace joins Veronica at Hearst College. His roommate is Stosh "Piz" Piznarski. At first, Wallace attempts to pursue both a major in Mechanical Engineering and his position as a starter on the basketball team. After getting caught cheating on an exam, however, Wallace decides to quit basketball for the semester to focus on his studies, even if it means losing his starting position. When Wallace returns to the team during the next semester, he earns back his starting position.