Chaz Franklin

"Just ask for the one man Whistling Pines peacekeeping squad and I gotta admit everyone will probably know exactly who you’re talking about - me."

Charles "Chaz" Clay Franklin is an 8th grade student at Whistling Pines Junior High.

Chaz is one of the most popular boys in school, but he doesn't usually let the fame go to his head. Cool and collected, Chaz enjoys making others feel welcome. It is implied that he is the Whistling Pines' famed secret mascot, the Pine. His dad is a pilot in the military, so he is able to sympathize with Rockett on account of her being the new kid. He is sometimes involved with a girl named Princilla Jordan, who he met at the African American Leaders of Tomorrow student congress. His best friends include Cleve Goodstaff and Max Diamond.

Chaz is of African-American descent; he has brown/black eyes and black hair that is tightly curled and cut short. The art style of the games draws him as the only male student with lips - the other boys only have a line for their mouths. He always wears jeans and sneakers as part of his outfit. Many of the girls in his grade have crushes on him. He was voiced by Khafre James.

His birthdate is never specified in the games; and he's not listed in Viva's astrology book where she tracks her classmates' star signs. In the Rockett's World book, Are We There Yet? Chaz says his birthday is in August.

Background
Chaz is no stranger to being the new kid in school. He spent his younger years moving around because his dad was a pilot in the Air Force constantly being transferred to new bases. The family has been settled in Whistling Pines ever since Mr. Franklin left the service and became a commercial pilot. The nature of Mr. Franklin’s job keeps him busy and away from home, so Chaz feels he still does not get enough quality time with his dad and can’t wait for him to retire.

Chaz is the middle child of his family, having an older brother (who starred in a Shakespeare play) and a much younger sister, only known by her initials T.F. His mother Pearl has a twin sister named Patricia. And Chaz has several cousins, but we only know two of their names: Shareefa and Rolfe.

Before the eighth grade school year began, he had recovered from a broken leg. Chaz keeps the old plaster cast with all his friends’ signatures on it in his school locker for several months.

According to his Purple Moon Place page, he has several pets: a chameleon, two lizards named Milo and Sid, and a skunk named Rose (with removed scent glands). In Rockett's New School, he says he has five chameleons. Chaz says he feels like he had to learn to be a chameleon with all the moving around his family did while his dad was in the Air Force.

His phone number is 555-8833.

Personality
Chaz has a laid-back attitude with people while also demonstrating leadership abilities in his academic and athletic endeavors. He is self-assured, cool, and friendly. He has a gift for making other kids feel welcome or respond positively to him. He refers to himself as the one man peacekeeping squad of the school.

Even though he’s a member of an exclusive popular clique, Chaz is outgoing with everyone and doesn’t worry about jumping through hoops to stay in his clique’s good graces. He acts confident and can easily stand up to his own friends when they’re being jerks. And even if he can’t confront them head-on, Chaz finds other ways of keeping them in check, like making sure Rockett knew Max was cheating to win King of Hearts and trusting her to tell a teacher. On separate occasions, both Nicole and Stephanie have threatened to ostracize him if he “misbehaves,” but Chaz is never intimidated by them, does what he likes, and still keeps his cool, popular status.

Interests & Skills
Chaz likes baseball, basketball, and kung-fu. He plays on the Whistling Pines Jr. High basketball team and collects baseball cards. He also dabbles in snow sports, and a lacrosse stick can be seen in his locker.

He is considerably skilled at building large wood construction projects (like a stage) although he only has a B grade in school shop class.

Bulkman was his favorite superhero at age six. Currently, Chaz likes old B-movies, especially in the horror genre, and kung-fu action movies.

Relationships
Chaz is a member of The Ones clique so he mostly hangs out with fellow guys in the group, Max Diamond and Cleve Goodstaff. Since he doesn’t worry about wearing the right clothes or acting superior, it’s unlikely he fell in with his popular clique by climbing a social ladder. It’s more likely that his personality and athletic skills gave him enough positive attention that the cool kids wanted to include him.

Many of the girls his age have crushes on him, but Chaz has only discussed returning the affections of one. Princilla Jordan is a girl from another school, but she runs into Chaz (and Stephanie) at the African-American Leaders of Tomorrow events that all of them attend. Chaz has Princilla’s email and phone number written down, and he keeps a picture of her in his locker. He thinks about writing her poetry or a rap but can’t come up with anything good so he sticks to writing letters via email. He speaks to the player via voiceover that Princilla is a beautiful girl but he finds her persistence in flirting with him a tad annoying. At the AALOT events, Princilla can tell that classmate Stephanie also has a crush on Chaz, so Princilla often acts like she can’t even remember who Stephanie is and tries to downplay her achievements when conversing/corresponding with Chaz.

He has no close teacher relationships or crushes. He does pull pranks on Mr. Pill with his friends.

Academics
Chaz has Mr. Baldus as his homeroom teacher. His fall report card shows him as an A/B average student with PE and language arts being his best subjects with A’s and shop and math having his lowest grades of B’s.

Each year Whistling Pines Jr. High selects one boy and girl in the eighth grade class to be representatives at the African-American Leaders of Tomorrow Congress, and Chaz is chosen as the boy representative. From October 26-29, he and Stephanie Hollis attended the AALOT congress. Chaz’s speech was on Oct 27 and called “Got My Eyes Wide Open, My Heart Tuned In - a humorous slice of life.”

It is heavily implied that he is the Whistling Pines' famed secret mascot, the Pine. A flyer for Pine tryouts is in Chaz’s locker for his first two games. Whenever Rockett (and the player) interacts with the mascot, the person inside the costume either doesn’t speak at all or speaks with a voice similar to Chaz’s. In the hidden hallway, notes are passed between Chaz and Sharla Norvell about covering for each other with school events where the principal expects their help to “stir up the crowd” which hints that the two of them share the Pine mascot duties. Principal Herrera finally confirms it for the player when there is a note in Chaz’s locker thanking him for his duties as the Pine in the fall semester and hoping to see him continue on in the spring.

Rockett's New School
It’s the first day of school. Before classes begin, Chaz stands outside of Mr. Baldus’s homeroom with his best friends, Cleve Goodstaff and Max Diamond. If Rockett Movado passes the group on her way to class, Cleve says hello to her, and Chaz remarks that it’s good to see a new face at Whistling Pines.

At lunch in the cafeteria, Chaz doesn’t sit down with his friends at their usual table right away. Apparently a girl “somebody” talks to him in the lunch line friendlier than she’s ever spoken to him before - he doesn’t say who in his journal, but if it was someone generally unfriendly, it’s possibly Sharla Norvell.

If the player has Rockett join the popular kids’ table for lunch, there’s a chance for Chaz to be welcoming to her when Nicole Whittaker tries to force Rockett to leave. Chaz says he can pull over an extra chair so Rockett doesn’t have to give up her seat, and he argues with Nicole’s high and mighty attitude. Rockett can tell it’s an uphill battle so she quickly leaves the table. However, before he sits down, Chaz will pull Rockett aside to say that some days are better than others for Nicole’s temper; today they can let Nicole have her way, but he invites Rockett to try sitting with them another time.

In his locker, the player can find a letter to Chaz from Principal Herrera that personally invites him to be The Pine mascot for the year. Ruben writes to ask if Chaz will build a platform for Ruben’s band to use and bring as a stage to their gigs. And Cleve wants to come over to Chaz’s house after school to see his newest pet chameleon and what happens if they put it on a tie-dye background.

Rockett's Tricky Decision
On the school day of the game, Chaz is mostly absent from school as he attends the African American Leaders of Tomorrow Congress. He sends and receives a few notes throughout the day and is back at school by the end of classes to help his friends pull a prank in the teachers’ lounge. When Rockett has gym class and plays soccer, Chaz was also there but he was dressed as The Pine mascot and missed seeing the moment when Nicole’s pants ripped.

If the player chooses to make Rockett end up in detention, she’ll write in her journal later about seeing Nicole talk to Chaz outside the detention room door. Nicole tells Chaz to ignore Rockett but refuses to explain why. Chaz defends Rockett and doesn’t give in to Nicole’s demands. He writes Cleve a note approving Max’s choice to give Rockett an invitation to the Ones’ Halloween party on Saturday.

Chaz plans to go to Max’s Halloween party dressed up as a mummy. He received an invitation to Nakili’s party, too, but never questioned that he’d go with all his friends to Max’s. Stephanie writes to Chaz that the Ones will never speak to him again if he goes to Nakili’s party instead. Nicole also sends Chaz a note asking him to talk up her costume as the best one of the party so she can make a splash and win the costume contest. And Mavis sends him a request to be nice to Rockett if she comes to Max’s party after all.

Rockett's Secret Invitation
On Dec. 17, late in the afternoon, Rockett can pair off with Chaz for a project in computer lab class. She asks him if he knows a way to return someone’s private journal without letting the person find out who had it. Chaz has been hearing all about a missing diary from the Ones and thinks that Rockett is referring to it, so he tells Rockett to be careful.

If Rockett chooses to make her exit through the cafeteria at the end of the school day, she will come across Chaz with Cleve and Max waiting for a chance to prank Mr. Pill in the kitchen. The boys notice that Rockett looks a little sad, but she dodges explaining why by showing them a photo album of candid pictures she has taken of the 8th grade class. When the girls of the Ones clique arrive in the cafeteria, Chaz and his friends will voice their enthusiasm for Rockett's talent as a photographer and urge Rockett to share the album with the girls, too.

Rockett's First Dance
Chaz is in Mr. Baldus’s homeroom when Rockett Movado gets called out for daydreaming in class. Stephanie Hollis lightly teases Rockett and Chaz tells Stephanie that she’s probably daydreaming about the upcoming dance, too. Ruben Rosales remarks to Chaz that the dance is making the girls in school crazy.

In the middle of third period, Chaz is in costume as The Pine mascot. He’s delivering valentines to several classrooms. When he reaches language arts, he tells Rockett that Principal Herrera has requested Rockett’s help with dance committee duties. Rockett follows The Pine to the hallway where he then tells her to check out the art room on her way to see the principal. Chaz knows that Max Diamond is now in the art room with a ballot box and filling it with extra votes so that he’ll get to control who wins king and queen of hearts for the dance. Chaz hopes that Rockett will do the right thing and report Max to the principal for cheating. In one option, hall monitor Bo Pezanski can interrupt their conversation as he hopes to get The Pine in trouble for not being in class and finally learn The Pine’s secret identity, but Mr. Pill shows up and chases Bo and The Pine to the principal’s office. Apparently Chaz has been using his duties as The Pine to be late for class a few times without approval from Principal Herrera, so Bo’s dedication to catch The Pine ditching isn’t unwarranted. For the night of the dance, if the player chooses for Rockett to arrive with Jessie Marbella, Chaz will approach the girls and talk to Rockett about what she ended up doing with witnessing Max cheating. Rockett doesn’t realize Chaz would only know about that if he was The Pine - she’s more concerned about discussing it in front of Jessie. When Jessie defends Max and says he’d look cute as king, Chaz attempts to confirm if Jessie has a crush on Max. But Rockett cuts Jessie off and Chaz exits the conversation.

In his school journal Chaz talks about his romantic interest for Princilla dwindling away since she is not writing to him as often as last fall, and she is “geographically undesirable” living in another school district. He’s hoping to move on to other romantic prospects this valentine season and sends his regards to several of his lady friends. He also asks Darnetta James to take his official picture for a school award display case regarding his achievements in basketball.