Deedee

— "Valooosh"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe
* Hockerman

**Deedee** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. She does not appear in the cartoon. She is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class. She is a quick, athletic, and competitive student with a knack for problem-solving. She is one of the Unbreakables, alongside Ron, Maurecia, and Joy.

## Appearance

Deedee is described as a "mousey" looking kid at the beginning of "Deedee." According to "The New Teacher," she wears a flowered T-shirt. Her best clothes, as shown in "A Story That Isn't About Socks," is an oversized black T-shirt that reaches to her knees with a heart on it, with "LOVE GODDESS" written above in silver and gold letters. She is short and skinny, and one of her legs is slightly shorter than the other, which gives her an advantage when running up stairs. She is shorter than Joe. In "Voices," her voice is described as being "small, but full of energy," like a superball.

## Personality

Deedee is a very athletic student, as shown a number of times throughout the series. In "Deedee," it's stated she likes recess more than spelling, in "Game Day" it's revealed she's the fastest runner in Mrs. Jewls's class, and in "Voices" it is revealed that she enjoys soccer. Due to one of her legs being slightly shorter than the other, she can run very fast, especially up and down stairs, as is seen in "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test." Deedee is oftentimes reckless and competitive, often ignoring the wellbeing of those around her in an attempt to achieve her goals. In "Forever is Never," she accidentally knocks down Allison when rushing up the stairs, and in "An Elephant in Wayside School," she knocks over a student from the tenth floor to get a red ball next to Louis. Her competitive nature sometimes turns her against everyone, even her best friends, as in "Ron," she says she'll "murder" Ron at kickball, despite their friendship, and she apparently enjoys a game called "murder-the-man-with-the-ball," according to "Valooosh." Despite her competitive personality, however, she still can recover from a loss, as is seen in "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test," where she still considers Maurecia a friend after she ends up getting ahead of her, though she still remains upset for a minute.

Deedee is presumably very active as in "Jane Smith" she is benched for excessive noisemaking. Deedee is presumably a good problem solver, as in "Deedee," she is able to figure out a way to get a green ball, and in the middle of *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger*, she helps her classmates get rid of Mrs. Drazil after she makes Louis shave his mustache. Even upon meeting Mrs. Drazil in "The New Teacher," she spends time figuring out where she had heard the name before, just to make sure everything would be okay. She does, however, struggle with spelling, as is seen when she spends a long time trying to spell "Mississippi" in "Deedee," and gets eliminated on "eliminated" in "The Ultimate Test, Day One." That being said, in "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test" it is shown that she remembers the spelling of Mississippi, which shows that she may have a good memory.

While usually more competitive, she does help out her classmates when necessary, and often can actually be a leader in those moments. In "Mr. Gorf," she works with the rest of the class to act well in case Mr. Gorf is hiding nearby, and she helps recover Mrs. Drazil's notebook in "The Blue Notebook." When not in a situation where she needs to win, she is willing to help out those around her for a collective victory.

## Relationships

### Ron

Ron is Deedee's best friend, as shown a number of times throughout the series. Deedee and Ron regularly rush upstairs together, as shown in "A Bad Case of the Sillies" and "Forever is Never," and in "Mush," Deedee sits closest to Ron when he's eating the Mushroom Surprise. Deedee and Ron have similarly named pets, Deedee owning a dog named "Cat" and Ron owning a cat named "Dog," though it is unknown if they had this planned out with one another. In "The Blue Notebook," Ron attempts to comfort Deedee before she goes on a mission to take Mrs. Drazil's notebook. In "Stupid," Ron and Deedee break their friendship after Miss Nogard turns everyone in the class against everyone else, but they reunite later on, likely after the events of "The Little Stranger," as they are seen as friends again in "The Unbreakables."

In "The Unbreakables," it is revealed that she, Ron, Maurecia, and Joy are part of a four-way friend group called the Unbreakables. In this chapter, however, Deedee struggles when the other three start teasing her, including Ron, who jokes that she only enjoys Miss Mush's spaghetti and feetballs because they smell as bad as her feet. Deedee objects to this, but continues to get teased, eventually being unsure to join her friends when she sees them playing three-square outside. However, Ron still comes to help her, alongside Maurecia and Joy, at the end of the chapter, after Deedee loses her history homework. Additionally, at the beginning of "The Ultimate Test, Day One," Deedee compliments Ron's spelling skills when she meets with the group outside the flagpole. While Deedee appreciates Ron, it's likely she isn't in love with him, as in "Mush," she is disgusted when Ron kisses her after eating the Mushroom Surprise.

### Maurecia

Deedee is first seen to like Maurecia in "Maurecia," where she enjoys Maurecia's flavor of ice cream, but that's not surprising, as everyone likes Maurecia. In "Deedee," Maurecia offers for Deedee to jump rope with her alongside Joy, but Deedee doesn't enjoy it. By "Guilty," however, Maurecia considers Deedee one of her friends, and by "The Unbreakables," they are revealed to be two of the members of a four-way friend group, alongside Joy and Ron. In this chapter, Maurecia is seen to tease Deedee alongside Ron and Joy, though she seems a little less harsh in comparison, and at the end of the chapter, she joins Ron and Joy to help find Deedee's missing history homework. In "The Ultimate Test, Day One," Maurecia notes that one of Deedee's legs is shorter than the other, likely referring to the advantage it gives her during the Stairway Quiz in "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test." In this chapter, Deedee is upset when Maurecia outpaces her during the Stairway Quiz during her frequent mistakes, but at the end of the chapter, she still assures that Maurecia is great, and the two remain friends.

### Joy

As is revealed in "The Unbreakables," Deedee and Joy are members of a friend group called the Unbreakables, alongside Ron and Maurecia. Before this point, they are only seen interacting in "Deedee," where she joins Joy and Maurecia for jumping rope, though she does not like it. In "The Unbreakables," Joy joins Maurecia and Ron in teasing her, and additionally remarks that she brought it upon herself when she gets sauce on her homework after shaking her fork. However, by the end of the chapter, Joy still joins the other Unbreakables in helping to find her homework, and feels relieved when Ron does. Although the two are not seen interacting much beyond this, it is implied that their dynamic is usually positive, as the Cloud of Doom is shown to put pressure on friendships, and Joy still sits near Deedee during lunch and engages with her in a four-handed handshake with the other Unbreakables throughout the book.

### Louis

    Deedee is also good friends with Louis, as first shown in "Deedee," where she tries to get a green ball or red ball from him. While Louis can only give her the yellow ball, which doesn't bounce and always goes the wrong way when it's kicked, he does try to comfort her. Louis is glad to see Deedee happy when she finally gets a green ball at the end of the chapter, and Deedee considers him her best friend. In "She's Back!," Louis helps out Deedee when she's afraid that Mrs. Gorf has returned, and tells her about his old teacher Mrs. Drazil. Alongside this, Deedee is upset when Louis starts acting more strict due to Mrs. Drazil's orders, and helps get rid of Mrs. Drazil so he can return to his old self. While Louis does appreciate Deedee, Louis also tries to be fair, and mentions that he can't save a green ball for her because otherwise everyone else would want to have balls saved for themselves as well.

### Jenny

While Deedee and Jenny are never seen together, they are presumably friends, as Jenny invites Deedee to play hopscotch in "Deedee," and tries to help calm her down in "She's Back!"

### Mrs. Drazil

    While how Mrs. Drazil feels about Deedee is never revealed, Deedee dislikes Mrs. Drazil because she made Louis shave his mustache and become a more strict teacher. Upon her introduction in "The New Teacher," Deedee is suspicious about Mrs. Drazil, and wonders where she had heard the name before. Deedee works with the rest of Mrs. Jewls's class to help get rid of Mrs. Drazil, and creates a plan to keep her out of Wayside School so they could get another substitute. Eventually, she succeeds, by finding out the location of Dr. Jane Payne with the help of Jason, and Mrs. Drazil leaves to chase after her.

## Appearances

For a list of ever chapter Deedee is seen in, see here.

## Trivia

* She is not in the cartoon, alongside Allison, Benjamin, Calvin, D.J., Dameon, Jason, Joy, Kathy, Mac, Paul, Ron, Terrence, and Sue.
* She is featured in the fifteenth chapter of each book in the main *Wayside School* series: "Deedee," "She's Back!," "An Elephant in Wayside School," and "The Unbreakables."

### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Satoshi Kitamura design (Japanese edition, 2010)Ramona Bruno design (Italian edition, 2021)
## References

1. ↑ "The Ultimate, Ultimate Test"
2. ↑ "Game Day
3. ↑ "Teeth"