Roseville High Hornets
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The Roseville High Hornets are the school sports teams of Roseville High School: a track team and a cheerleading squad, both dressed in the school's blue. The track team recruited Mike in Track Meet, and Daisy has been cheering on the squad since her freshman year.
| Roseville High Hornets | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Track Meet, page 11 June 1, 2022 |
| Type | School sports teams |
| Location | Roseville High School |
| Related characters | Mike, Daisy, Felix, Paulo |
Description
The Hornets uniform is a light blue sleeveless jersey with "HORNETS" printed in white above the school mascot, a grinning hornet flexing its bicep.[2] That jersey is pretty much the name's whole footprint in the comic. The only character to actually say "Hornets" out loud is Daisy, who explains her presence at the boys' practice with "I am but a humble cheerleader cheering for the Hornets."[3] Practices happen in the school gymnasium and out on the track, and the track team answers to an unnamed coach, a brown and white dog in a blue tracksuit and glasses.[4]
On the track side, the regulars are James, Darwin, Felix, Finn, Lucas and Max. Mike joins their ranks in Track Meet, and David follows a few chapters later.[2][5] Practice means group stretches and timed sprints.[6][7] Daisy leads the cheer squad, with Katie, Stacy, Jessica, Rachel and a couple of unnamed girls filling out the roster.[8]
History
The cheer squad is the older institution by a long way. It performs at the freshman-year pep rally in A Different Side, where the principal declares that the squad always brings the school together. Daisy caps the pyramid finale by slipping off the top and flashing the stands, and plays it off with a cheery "Silly me. I must have slipped ♥".[10] Junior year finds the squad in uniform again in Total Recall, grumbling about teachers using cheerleaders as a cleanup crew, and Daisy uses the waiting squad as her exit line when Augustus corners her in the gym.[11]
In Popularity Contest, Daisy runs practice ahead of a big game while Katie shoves her way toward the leadership, and Sue borrows Daisy's old uniform to prove that being popular takes no real effort.[12][13] Sue's cheerleading career lasts exactly one move — her leg crumples under her on her very first jump, and she's next seen in a leg cast.[8]
The "Hornets" name itself arrives with the track team in Track Meet. James recruits Mike over lunch, cheerfully admitting the team's plan was "to stalk you for four months", and Mike pulls on the jersey and reflects that this is how he became a jock.[14][2] His first practice draws an audience. Daisy cheers from the sidelines with blue pom-poms, and Paulo watches from the bleachers.[3] The side chapter One-Track Mind backs the stalking claim up, slotting scenes of the team scouting Mike into three earlier chapters.[15]
For a while, the team is the best thing in Mike's life. In Link Play, James, Felix, Lucas and Finn drag him along on a mall, arcade and pizza outing, and the chapter closes on Mike falling asleep to the thought of his six smiling teammates and his folded jersey.[16] James keeps recruiting in the meantime, begging David to join after an informal street race.[17] Seeing Stars shows David, Mike and James squeezing extra training runs into recess on the outdoor track.[18]
Second String is where things sour. David is now on the roster and outrunning Mike at practice. James's heartbreak over Paulo and Daisy plays out in front of the whole team, and Mike ends the session running alone.[5][7] The rest of the team stays friendly. In First-Degree Burn, Finn invites the abandoned Mike over to their lunch table, telling him, "Forget about stinky ol' James."[19]
James, though, is done with him. In Line in the Sand he challenges Lucy to an after-school race from the team's lunch table and coldly hands Mike off to Finn and the others.[20] By the following chapter Mike has drifted out of the team routine entirely, training alone at recess while Paulo wonders aloud, "Isn't that what the track team is for?"[21]
Trivia
- For all the practices, drills and pep rallies on-panel, the Hornets have never been shown actually competing at anything. Track Meet contains no track meet, and the big game the cheer squad drilled for in Popularity Contest happens entirely off-panel.[12]
- The cheer squad predates the team name by some fifteen publication years. It first performed in A Different Side back in 2007, and the "Hornets" name didn't appear until Track Meet in 2022.[10][2]
- Under the page where Mike first wears the jersey, the author commentary jokes, "Time to stuff some nerds into lockers."[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 11
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 11
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 12
- ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 19
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 124: Second String, page 2
- ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 13
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 124: Second String, page 14
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 109: Popularity Contest, page 12
- ↑ Chapter 109: Popularity Contest, page 10
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 37: A Different Side, page 11
- ↑ Chapter 85: Total Recall, page 7
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 109: Popularity Contest, page 9
- ↑ Chapter 109: Popularity Contest, page 10
- ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 10
- ↑ One-Track Mind, page 1
- ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 32
- ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 19
- ↑ Chapter 120: Seeing Stars, page 14
- ↑ Chapter 125: First-Degree Burn, page 16
- ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 40
- ↑ Chapter 128: [Unknown Title, page 5]