Jason

— Jason in "Jason"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe (v2)
* Brinckloe (v1)
* Hockerman

**Jason** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. He does not appear in the cartoon. He is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class.

## Appearance

In "Another Story About Socks," Jason is said to wear a red shirt, and "Jason" and "Open Wide" tell that he has a big mouth, the second-biggest in class, only beaten by Joy. In "Mrs. Jewls," Mrs. Jewls additionally states that he is "much too small to be a gorilla." Aside from this, few details are known about Jason's appearance. His hair once turned purple due to him laughing so hard, but his true hair color is never mentioned.

## Personality

Jason is described as having a "big mouth," which can be taken in both a figurative and literal sense. In "Jason," he is seen calling out to Mrs. Jewls when he catches Joy chewing gum in class, even offering to write Joy's name under the discipline list. Jason frequently is seen speaking his mind, even when it is rude, such as when he insults Stephen's costume in "Stephen," despite being his best friend, and referring to Eric Bacon as fat in "The Three Erics," only because the other two Erics are. Jason is also occasionally somewhat crude, telling Calvin to get a tattoo of a naked lady in "Calvin's Big Decision," and apparently swearing while his mouth is taped shut in "Pencils."

As a result of his big mouth, Jason is frequently seen getting himself into trouble. In "Jason," Joy ends up getting him stuck to his seat after he calls her out in class, and in "Kachooga Boop," it is shown that he struggles to keep a secret. In "Calvin," Mrs. Jewls seems to state that Jason is irresponsible, something seen with frequency throughout the books, as "Pencils" reveals he has a bad pencil-chewing habit, "Open Wide" shows that he has poor dental hygiene, and "Inside the Closet" shows that he got so distracted reading a book that he didn't notice it bent his paper clip. Jason frequently bothers Allison, something she assumes is because he either hates or loves her in "A Bad Case of the Sillies," though a line from "Recess" implies it to be the latter. In "Allison," Jason ropes her into a game of freeze tag uninvited, and in "Mrs. Surlaw," he competes with her to choose a larger book to read.

He can be helpful at times, as he does help find Jane Smith's current identity in "Open Wide," and manages to console Stephen in "Breathe" when he feels nervous about ringing the gong. He also points out when his classmates are misbehaving as is seen in "Jason," though it's possible this is just an attempt to get attention or approval, something backed up by his jealousy of his popular older brother in "Glum and Blah." As is seen frequently, such as in "Open Wide" and "A Short Chapter About a Long Book," he often does regret his actions after learning their consequences, but this hardly prevents him from making future mistakes.

## Relationships

### Stephen

Stephen is stated to be Jason's best friend in "Stephen," and the two are frequently seen interacting throughout the course of the series, though ironically enough, their first interaction seen in this chapter involves Jason laughing at Stephen's costume. Subsequent interactions, however, are more positive, as they are seen with one another in "The Substitute," and are seen playing together at recess in "Teeth" until Terrence steals their ball. In "Open Wide," Jason tells Stephen when he finds out his dentist, Dr. Jane Payne, is the bad student Mrs. Drazil has written down in her notebook. Jason encourages Stephen when he's doing his push-downs in "Push-Downs," and helps him calm down as he prepares to ring the gong in "Breathe."

### Allison

    Jason is frequently seen bothering Allison, and vice versa. In "A Bad Case of the Sillies," Allison figures it's because he either hates or loves her, though a line in "Recess" implies it to be the latter. In "Jason," Allison giggles alongside Rondi when he gets stuck to his seat, and he dislikes being tickled by them when Mrs. Jewls leaves the room. In "Allison," he tags her in a game of freeze tag she was not part of, but Allison threatens to knock his teeth out. In "Pencils," it is shown that Allison willingly lent a pencil to Jason, but felt disgusted when he chewed it, and she ends up laughing at him when his mouth gets taped shut, something that causes him to swear at her in response. The two dance together in "Valooosh," though given the nature of Mrs. Waloosh's dance class, the dance was violent, involving the students tripping each other over and throwing balls at one another. In "Nose," Jason feels grossed out when he briefly has Allison's voice instead of his own. In "Mrs. Surlaw," he frequently tries to pick a longer book than the ones Allison chooses, something that inevitably leads to him choosing a 999-page long book that Allison repeatedly teases him for picking in "A Short Chapter About a Long Book," "The Best Principal Ever!!!," and "Inside the Closet," though in the last case, she is shocked to learn he actually finished reading the book.

### Rondi

Rondi, being Allison's best friend, frequently joins her in teasing Jason. She giggles alongside Allison at Jason's misfortunes in chapters like "Jason," "Pencils," and "A Short Chapter About a Long Book," and joins her to tickle him in "Jason." That being said, the two don't seem to have quite as much of a rivalry, as Rondi does willingly lend him a pencil, even after he chews Allison's, in "Pencils," though she does feel disgusted when Jason inevitably chews it. In "Teeth," she additionally willingly decides to help out Jason when Terrence steals his ball, though this is likely because she wants Terrence to punch her teeth out. In "Breathe," Jason and Rondi both work together to help out Stephen when he feels nervous about ringing the gong.

## Appearances

For a list of every chapter Jason is seen in, see here.

## Trivia

* He is not in the cartoon, alongside Allison, Benjamin, Calvin, D.J., Dameon, Deedee, Joy, Kathy, Mac, Paul, Ron, Terrence, and Sue. Although Myron has some of Jason's personality.
* Jason, Todd, Maurecia, Deedee, Kathy and Mac are the only students to have had their designs changed significantly between illustrations by the same illustrator.

### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Satoshi Kitamura design (Japanese edition, 2010)Unknown illustrator (Simplified Chinese edition, 2012)Aleksei Bitskoff design (British edition, 2021)Ramona Bruno design (Italian edition, 2021)