In-School Suspension concept (Version 2)

In-School Suspension concept (Version 2)

 

Concept Summary

 

When a bunch of seventh graders open a rare book, they get trapped in their school by a magician who plans to turn their school into a "world observatory." They have to use their knowledge,  imagination, and learning abilities to survive/escape because magic has taken the school and turned it into a strange micro-world. In order to escape, they have to collect the 6 chapters of the magician's book and fix it, but while the book can capture and contain the magician, it also makes him stronger.

 

Areas:

   -Lunch: Home base for the kids. It's inhabited by a junk beast thing who is actually very friendly.

   -Gym: Giant battlefield with the coach as a sergeant. All the sports teams are fighting against other teams with balls and stuff.

   -History/Geography Wing: Mostly a cave with a bunch of skulls, artifacts, and cave-paintings. At the very end there's a single stone that acts as a door. When it's moved, the visitor gets placed in a very tiny world that's a semi-flat version of ours with mountains, oceans, etc. The opening vanishes, and the visitor has to watch humanity spread out of Africa throughout the world and evolve. When the journey reaches present day, whatever's going on freezes, and a classroom door appears, letting them leave.  

   -Science Wing: A lot of useful shit here, but the rooms change every time the kids enter. Main hallway is a kaleidoscope of light/atoms/bacteria/etc. In one part, the group has to send dumb bacteria into the doors using Bunsen burners and atoms, eventually having to fight a giant amoeba. In another, they have to put those creepy anthro-cell things back into the doors somehow. When they get trapped, the wing becomes a mini solar system, with Pluto being big enough for just one person to sit on.

   -English Wing: A world that's all the color of a worn page, with words forming the outlines of everything. The way out is missing, and the group has to both talk to the authors and characters to find it. At the same time, every door is open, but the authors are out and searching for their home worlds, not remembering what they've created. The only one who remembers what he wrote is Shakespeare, who acts as a guide, but has a hard time communicating with everyone else because he's from so long ago.

   -Math Wing: Every door leads to the same room; a maze centered around using math to solve problems. There's an equation at every turn, and the correct answer is a step closer to the exit.

 

Characters

Patricia Hemingway: 12 years old. Average height and build, with blonde hair. Wears pink clothing. Popular not because she's a cheerleader, but because she's very good with all kinds of relationships. Her observant, analytical, and level-headed nature allows her to get to the heart of problems and easily solve them, but her belief that only relationships and society truly apply to the "real world" means that she doesn't value art or the sciences so much.  She's usually calm and friendly, but easily gets exasperated with behavior that she can't understand, like Zsasz's hyperactivity. As soon as the school's locked up, Patricia is put into the role of the leader, although she'd rather be the emotional support. She learns by discussing and observing.

 

Zack "Zsasz" Martin**: 13 years old. Tall, thin and pale, with big hands. Very energetic and unpredicatable, but usually yells and seems to not get the concept of personal space. This causes many kids to either laugh at him (he reminds them of cartoon characters or reality show stars), find him scary (such behavior is associated with insanity), or spread rumors about him. Despite his seemingly unstable nature, Zsasz does not have a mental disorder and knows when to calm down and focus. Unlike Patricia, he uses his intuition, energy, and optimism to survive. However, he's also very sensitive, getting mad when he's made fun of or crying when he feels trapped. This sensitivity is a double-edged sword. While Zsasz is aware that actions have consequences and tries to avoid anything that'll cause a major problem, he's extremely emotional, which creates a distaste for people like jocks. He believes that jocks are selfish, cruel, and arrogant people who don't care about anything, and Owen's quiet nature does little to help that. He learns by observing or doing. He and Juanita are friends.

 

Juanita Márquez**: 11 years old. Mexican-American. Very small and light for her age, wears orange clothing. Very bright (in both ways), curious, and enthusiastic about learning. Many kids either laugh at her for being a nerd or find her cute. Naturally, she's a good writer, and can come up with various stories with the subjects she knows. She likes to analyze and write about things, and is usually too eager to learn about something to be afraid of it. However, this means that she tends to get too deep inside her head and either overthink things or not even notice them at all. Sometimes she gets herself overwhelmed by panic by doing so. She learns by reading or thinking about something. She's friends with Zsasz.

 

Owen Wolfe (Yay I got a decent name): African American 13 year old who looks like he's 17. He's so tall and muscular that he naturally became the quarterback of the school's football team, even though he doesn't really like it. Although he manages to blend in easily with the other jocks, he's actually very introverted and would rather stay home and paint than play/practice football. However, he stays out of fear of being ridiculed by both his team and his parents, who believe that not stereotypically manly makes you too feminine to deserve respect. This looming, near constant pressure means that he envies people like Zsasz and Juanita, who he sees as being free from that, but he has a few guesses as to why. Owen mistrusts and fears people like Zsasz because like some of the other students, he sees "crazy" people as dangerous. He can learn in many ways, but is usually too disoriented by what's going on to do so.

 

Merasmus/Maleficus/Histrio (Most likely picking Histrio): Magician who hates all forms non-magic knowledge except languages and philosophy. Although he's hammy and has a flair for drama, he's actually very domineering. He's sort of like a very meticulous artist, seeing the world as a canvas on which to show his message, but also seeing that canvas as needing to be kept secret until it's completely converted into a painting. He believes that science and math complicate things unnecessarily and that school kills kids' creativity. The reason he keeps the kids inside is so that he can "test" his work, and see how a wider audience would react. Part of him wants the kids to join him for real but another suspects that they'll interfere with his plans to recreate their school. To maintain his freedom, he took the 6 chapters out of his book and scattered them throughout the wings, but tries to keep them in one piece to maintain his power. Although the book is his prison, it's also his magic "store," and the more intact the book is, the stronger he is. As the kids ruin his work, he falls apart.

 

Nobody: Monster created by the magician to catch anyone who intrudes on his work. Although he's supposed to be his guard dog, Nobody helps the kids both out of compassion and fear and loathing of Merasmus. Friendly yet stern, he tries to help by giving them food, shelter, and what limited knowledge he has of the new microworld.

 

**In their relationship, Zsasz and Juanita channel each others' strengths (the former's passion and sensitivity and the later's imagination and curiosity) and serve as their only friends. But because they're both emotional, they get each other wound up. Also, Zsasz learns from Juanita's stories/explanations while Juanita has someone who protects and understands her (that isn't her parents).