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Description
The Junior Over-Achievers

My squad of the disgustingly smart kids from High School. Melody had known Dharma and Janice from Middle School and we naturally gravitated together because no one else really related to us. One thing we had in common was that we found our schoolwork easy and that left us free time to find other ways to entertain ourselves. By our first year our teachers made arrangements for all of us to take the entrance exam for Mensa. I suspect that after that everyone was waiting for us to hatch plans for world domination.

We took great delight is trading information and talking about things that most kids would have found dull. We even had our own running jokes like Piña Colatl, the Aztec god of drinking and merriment, and his ancient Egyptian counterpart Cannubis. There was the guy behind all of those ancient Chinese inventions like printing and gunpowder, Wong Wei and his trustworthy assistant Hey Ling. And of course everyone’s favorite, the Mongolian Yak-Back Acrobats.

Dharma: The oldest member of the original group, she did not skip ahead any of her years in school. Looking back, it seems impossible not to compare her to Daria after the title character in an animated series that came along a decade or so after we graduated, although the analogy only goes so far. Like most hyper-intelligent kids, Dharma had no real interest in acceptance and status in the social hierarchy of High School but lived according to her own rules and so was actually very content. Her personality was an improbable combination of Daria’s droll sarcasm - her normal passive state - and Velma Dinkley’s energy and enthusiasm when some intellectual activity captivated her attention. She was prone to some amazing mood swings! Nor did she abandon her appearance to a type of pseudo-intellectual sloth or gender-neutral role-play. She was stylish in as far as she would spare the time and effort, generally well-dressed with long hair in a style that looked reasonably good with little effort. She also required little or no makeup.

Primarily French heritage. Speaks fluent French as a childhood second language.

Janice: Second youngest of the original group, she skipped four years of school and is only one and a quarter years older than Fox. They were much the same size, Janice being slightly taller, and could exchange clothes. She was more ‘girlish’ than Dharma and the only member of the group to voluntarily wear a dress or skirt on a regular basis. She was frequently compared to the Muppet character Janice because of their similarities in both appearance and generally laid-back behavior - her voice even resembled the somewhat deeper, gently rumbling tone of the Muppet Janice, but without the Valley Girl accent. She and Fox were co-valedictorians at graduation. For the last two years of High School, their class largely believed that they were an item and even lovers, although that was not true. She was naturally very affectionate with her friends with an inclination to hold hands in any situation, but was not much interested in romantic and/or sexual matters in High School.

Mixed Northern European heritage. Her parents were real late 60's Hippie Flower-Child Commune Members. Her statement is that she both frightened and disappointed her parents in being a genius and adopted her laid-back personality to keep them more at ease. This probably is the truth, although those who know her insist that at least half of her gentle ‘hippie girl’ persona is original.

Gianna (Spookie): The only member of the Junior Over-Achievers who was not a member of Mensa, her lack of confidence kept her short of her true potential as a student until her last three years of High School. She never entirely overcame the trauma of her life as a social outcast even in her own home. Her abusive, mentally unstable grandmother had passed away a couple of years earlier and that was probably for her good. She would have been naturally shy and quiet even without her long experience being bullied. She actively distrusted romance and sexuality, and was on relaxed terms with Fox only because of their five year age difference combined with his being small for his age while she was tall. Joining the others at the Japanese Bath House was hard on her and Dharma would sometimes ‘innocently’ press her ‘prude’ button, but she very much wanted to go along.

Italian/Italian Roma (Gypsy) Heritage. Speaks fairly fluent Italian but only a few words of Rom. Not interested in her Gypsy heritage because of her bad experiences with her Grandmother. In case it doesn’t become obvious, Dharma loved Spookie with the devotion of a protective older sister and was very committed to her rehabilitation, although her methods might have seemed a little rough.

David: Not an actual member of the Junior Over-Achievers in any sense, he would originally hang around from time to time because he was Dharma’s third cousin (17 ½ times removed and counting) Because of a misunderstanding, he once had a brief but rather intense infatuation with one member of the group that then evolved into a very boyish case of hero-worship. He was otherwise slightly above average in all things. Somehow he seemed to know almost nothing about Dharma although she certainly had the dirt on him.

His own ancestry was general western/northern European, less French than Dharma’s. His limited knowledge of French came from what he had learned as a somewhat indifferent student of the language in school.

Description
The Junior Over-Achievers

My squad of the disgustingly smart kids from High School. Melody had known Dharma and Janice from Middle School and we naturally gravitated together because no one else really related to us. One thing we had in common was that we found our schoolwork easy and that left us free time to find other ways to entertain ourselves. By our first year our teachers made arrangements for all of us to take the entrance exam for Mensa. I suspect that after that everyone was waiting for us to hatch plans for world domination.

We took great delight is trading information and talking about things that most kids would have found dull. We even had our own running jokes like Piña Colatl, the Aztec god of drinking and merriment, and his ancient Egyptian counterpart Cannubis. There was the guy behind all of those ancient Chinese inventions like printing and gunpowder, Wong Wei and his trustworthy assistant Hey Ling. And of course everyone’s favorite, the Mongolian Yak-Back Acrobats.

Dharma: The oldest member of the original group, she did not skip ahead any of her years in school. Looking back, it seems impossible not to compare her to Daria after the title character in an animated series that came along a decade or so after we graduated, although the analogy only goes so far. Like most hyper-intelligent kids, Dharma had no real interest in acceptance and status in the social hierarchy of High School but lived according to her own rules and so was actually very content. Her personality was an improbable combination of Daria’s droll sarcasm - her normal passive state - and Velma Dinkley’s energy and enthusiasm when some intellectual activity captivated her attention. She was prone to some amazing mood swings! Nor did she abandon her appearance to a type of pseudo-intellectual sloth or gender-neutral role-play. She was stylish in as far as she would spare the time and effort, generally well-dressed with long hair in a style that looked reasonably good with little effort. She also required little or no makeup.

Primarily French heritage. Speaks fluent French as a childhood second language.

Janice: Second youngest of the original group, she skipped four years of school and is only one and a quarter years older than Fox. They were much the same size, Janice being slightly taller, and could exchange clothes. She was more ‘girlish’ than Dharma and the only member of the group to voluntarily wear a dress or skirt on a regular basis. She was frequently compared to the Muppet character Janice because of their similarities in both appearance and generally laid-back behavior - her voice even resembled the somewhat deeper, gently rumbling tone of the Muppet Janice, but without the Valley Girl accent. She and Fox were co-valedictorians at graduation. For the last two years of High School, their class largely believed that they were an item and even lovers, although that was not true. She was naturally very affectionate with her friends with an inclination to hold hands in any situation, but was not much interested in romantic and/or sexual matters in High School.

Mixed Northern European heritage. Her parents were real late 60's Hippie Flower-Child Commune Members. Her statement is that she both frightened and disappointed her parents in being a genius and adopted her laid-back personality to keep them more at ease. This probably is the truth, although those who know her insist that at least half of her gentle ‘hippie girl’ persona is original.

Gianna (Spookie): The only member of the Junior Over-Achievers who was not a member of Mensa, her lack of confidence kept her short of her true potential as a student until her last three years of High School. She never entirely overcame the trauma of her life as a social outcast even in her own home. Her abusive, mentally unstable grandmother had passed away a couple of years earlier and that was probably for her good. She would have been naturally shy and quiet even without her long experience being bullied. She actively distrusted romance and sexuality, and was on relaxed terms with Fox only because of their five year age difference combined with his being small for his age while she was tall. Joining the others at the Japanese Bath House was hard on her and Dharma would sometimes ‘innocently’ press her ‘prude’ button, but she very much wanted to go along.

Italian/Italian Roma (Gypsy) Heritage. Speaks fairly fluent Italian but only a few words of Rom. Not interested in her Gypsy heritage because of her bad experiences with her Grandmother. In case it doesn’t become obvious, Dharma loved Spookie with the devotion of a protective older sister and was very committed to her rehabilitation, although her methods might have seemed a little rough.

David: Not an actual member of the Junior Over-Achievers in any sense, he would originally hang around from time to time because he was Dharma’s third cousin (17 ½ times removed and counting) Because of a misunderstanding, he once had a brief but rather intense infatuation with one member of the group that then evolved into a very boyish case of hero-worship. He was otherwise slightly above average in all things. Somehow he seemed to know almost nothing about Dharma although she certainly had the dirt on him.

His own ancestry was general western/northern European, less French than Dharma’s. His limited knowledge of French came from what he had learned as a somewhat indifferent student of the language in school.