Whitney Weiss

Survival of the fittest is a game I’ve basically mastered. Whitney Weiss is an 8th grade student at Whistling Pines Junior High.

Another one of Nicole's closest friends (and her walking partner to Nicole's locker). A dedicated member of The Ones, Whitney is often seen trying to make others who are not in the group feel inferior, although her character begins to soften as the series continues. When she's not with Nicole and Stephanie, she'll usually be hanging around Rockett or Cleve Goodstaff. Whitney is actually her middle name, and her first name (which she does not go by) is revealed to be Barbara. Whitney's parents are divorced, and her mother lives in Austria. Her birthday is October 5th. She has curly blond hair and wears braces (later a retainer). She is Jewish. Whitney was voiced by Morgan Kibby. Her character name in development was Kimberly.

Background
Whitney is one of three kids and the only daughter of two unnamed parents. She has two brothers, Joshua Jay and Nate. Not much is known about her brothers except that Josh has a pet snake. The Weiss family is Jewish and throws a big annual Hanukkah party; Whitney usually invites her friends from The Ones to attend. Her phone number is 555-3902.

When Whitney was 10 years old, her parents divorced, and she decided to start going by her middle name instead of her first name Barbara. Her mom now lives in Austria to take care of Whitney’s sick “grandmama.” Whitney really misses her mom; they have the same curly blonde hair, and together they used to go to the ballpark, sing silly songs made up in the moment, and Whitney would be tucked into bed at night with a kiss. In the Rockett’s World books, Whitney’s dad tries to incentivize Whitney’s school work by promising that she can visit Austria if she gets good grades, but the desperation of seeing her mom again drives her to cheat and plagiarize in her studies.

Whitney’s dad started dating after the divorce. He likes a woman named Sheila, whom he calls a friend, but Sheila tries to fulfill roles for the Weiss family like a stepmom, such as taking Whitney shopping and throwing a birthday party for her, too. Whitney’s dad also knows the Zeitbaum family through the Whistling Pines country club. Since fellow student Arnold Zeitbaum is so unpopular in school, Whitney does her best to avoid being seen with him, but sometimes it’s unavoidable because their parents are friends.

There is some ambiguity about when Whitney befriended Stephanie and Nicole and when they formed their clique. In Secret Paths to the Sea, Whitney tries to get Nicole’s attention by wearing things that Nicole thinks are cool. Nicole then asks to borrow some of Whitney’s pieces in exchange for Whitney getting to hang out with her. Stephanie doesn’t like Whitney very much at this point since much of what Whitney is wearing is copied from Stephanie’s style. By the end of seventh grade, at least, all three of them are friends and call their group The Ones to denote their status as the number one kids in class.

In September of eighth grade, Whitney adopted a kitten from Stephanie’s cat and named it Tigger No-Tail because it has a stub tail from its sire being a Manx breed.

Interests & Skills
Whitney loves the idea of travel; she keeps world maps, tourism brochures, and scenic posters in her locker. She’s even spoken with the well-traveled teacher Miss Chen about possible trip destinations and education programs abroad.

Her locker has both Spanish and French textbooks in it so she’s possibly studying multiple languages at once. This interest is not for school since her fall report card does not list any foreign language classes.

Whitney also makes candles with treasures in the wax and gives them to her friends as gifts. She likes to collect seashells and go to the beach.

Academics
Whitney has Mr. Baldus as her homeroom teacher. Her fall report card shows her as a B  average student with math and drama being her best subjects and PE being her worst. Math is a subject where Whitney admits that she excels.

The Ones ran for student office, and, as a strategy, their original ticket did not include Whitney. When the original line-up didn’t work out as planned, Whitney was put on the ticket for Vice-President. However, Whitney was discovered to be cheating on her classwork and had to drop out of the running.

In the book Who’s Running This Show? for the school talent show Whitney was originally going to perform a cheerleading routine with her friends, but her friends decided to do different acts, leaving Whitney by herself. Eventually, she agreed to be in Arnold’s magic act as his lovely assistant.

Secret Paths in the Forest
Whitney thinks birthdays aren’t the same, happy occasion for her now that her parents are divorced. Her dad’s new girlfriend, Sheila, wants to throw Whitney’s birthday party this year and Whitney worries that Sheila will ruin everything by getting involved. Her mom has a special box of ornate party decorations that is only used on family birthdays. Whitney is very protective of the box and the memories it brings of her mom. She doesn’t want Sheila using the box, and she also worries that all her friends will think Sheila is going to be her new stepmom if she gets involved in family events.

After traveling her path, a tropical rainforest, Whitney can see that Sheila is just trying to be nice; birthdays won’t be spoiled just because someone besides her mom is throwing the party. However, Whitney is going to ask her dad to explain to Sheila that the birthday box is special and just for parties with her mom, and she feels sure that Sheila will be understanding of that.

The secret stones in her necklace are Creativity, Confidence, Love, the story stone showing a box of sentimental treasures, and one unknown stone showing a growing shamrock. Her story is “Snow Child.”

Whitney also briefly appears on Minh’s path as one of the kids who find Minh’s foreign grandma “spooky” without getting to know her.

Secret Paths to the Sea
Whitney appears as part of Stephanie's path. She is copying aspects of Stephanie's style to get the attention of popular girl Nicole Whittaker. By wearing a necklace similar to one that Stephanie has, Whitney is able to negotiate time spent at Nicole's house playing computer games because Nicole wants to borrow the cool jewelry from Whitney. Stephanie confronts her about being a copycat, but Whitney denies that she's doing it and brushes Stephanie off by saying it's none of her business.