Trapped

Pete is one of Weems’s best friends and “a normal kid” who doesn’t belong to any particular groups or clubs (6). Pete’s so-called normalcy challenges Weems’s tendency to categorize people. Weems can’t place Pete in a box with a group of other kids, which foreshadows Weems’s coming to understand labels don’t matter. Like Weems, Pete ends up trapped in the school because he agrees to help Jason with Flammenwerfer. While Weems has time to help because of his canceled basketball game, Pete has nothing going on after school and may as well help his friend.

As the story unfolds, Pete and Julie get into a relationship of sorts. Weems watches Pete get close to Julie with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Weems wants to do the same with Krista but is too scared, despite his fearlessness on the basketball court. Pete, an average kid who doesn’t show bravery in sports, is able to have courage where Weems can’t.

Later, Julie represents Pete’s new-found bravery. When Julie gets lost and Pete thinks Les assaulted her, Pete runs off to confront Les, even though he knows he’d never win a fight. The beating Pete takes from Les is the impetus Pete needs to go for help. After dividing the group in his haste to defend Julie’s honor and destroying all the progress they’d made toward being a team, Pete needs “to do something right” (196). He steps out of his role of normal kid, only to become a tragic hero when he perishes in the snow. His sacrifice jumpstarts Weems’s latent hero role, ultimately allowing Weems to find help for the group.

Jason is Weems’s other best friend and the reason Weems and Pete end up trapped in the school. Jason is “kind of fascinated with wars and military stuff” (9), something Weems’s silently makes fun of Jason for. After the power goes out and the temperature in the school starts dropping, Jason’s survival knowledge (a result of his military interest) becomes invaluable. Something that both kids and teachers found unsettling about Jason turns out to be a resource in a life-or-death situation.

Jason spends much of the story working on Flammenwerfer. At the beginning, Jason is determined to get Flammenwerfer working because his shop grade depends on it. Pete and Weems poke fun at Jason’s failed past attempts, some of which have ended in explosions. By the end of the book, Flammenwerfer is no longer just a shop project. It is Jason’s contribution to helping the group survive the storm and becomes a symbol of the group’s hope of rescue. When Pete insists he be the one to take Flammenwerfer to find help, Jason argues but can’t bring himself to take the potential success from Pete. It’s not until the go-cart starts to flip in the snow that Jason admits his lack of belief in his work. He suspected something was wrong but, without proof, let Pete take the cart.

Les has a reputation as a bully and a resentment toward authority figures. Weems initially lumps him in the category of troublemakers, saying Les is the “kind of guy you just sort of assume is armed” (29). We never learn how Les got stuck at school, but it’s implied he couldn’t find a ride home because so many students and teachers are wary of him. Les’s tendency toward violence both helps and hinders the group. Les doesn’t warn Mr. Gossell that the truck’s flashing light is a distress call. Since Mr. Gossell does not return, Les may have indirectly murdered him, which initially sets the others on edge. Later, Les’s skill with breaking things comes in handy. He has no reservations about breaking into locked parts of the school (such as the cafeteria or principal’s office) to get supplies, and he does so with ease. Just as the others start to warm up to Les, he beats up Pete over a misunderstanding, driving a wedge back between the group. The beating convinces Pete to go for help, which leads to his death. Again, Les is indirectly responsible, but this time, Northrop reveals the death.

Weems labels Elijah as a weird kid whose eyes are always wide “like he was seeing things you weren’t” (38). Elijah laughs at things the others don’t find funny and takes to hanging out with Les, which makes the rest of the group wary of him. Elijah first introduces the idea that no one knows the kids are trapped in the school. His revelation contributes to Pete going for help and is one argument that gets Weems back up on his feet out in the storm. Before Les beats up Pete, the seven come together to share stories and laughs, and Weems realizes Elijah isn’t weird. He’s just misunderstood.

Krista is Weems’s love interest, and he categorizes her as “one of the school’s few truly hot girls” (167). Since Krista tongue-ties Weems, he doesn’t interact with her for much of the story, making her character flat. She’s a pretty girl who’s also smart, and Weems admires her. She manages to dial back Les’s aggression a few times, keeping arguments from coming to blows.

Julie is Krista’s best friend, but Weems doesn’t categorize her other than to nearly forget her. He’s so distracted by Krista, he isn’t even sure of Julie’s last name. Julie and Krista are the only girls in the group of trapped kids, and as a unit, they provide an avenue for Weems to think about how much he doesn’t understand girls. Julie getting lost sparks the misunderstanding between Les and Pete that leads to Pete going for help and dying in the snow. 

Mr. Gossell is Weems’s history teacher. Weems isn’t too fond of the guy and categorizes Gossell in the group of older guys who don’t care about gray hair. Gossell goes out to find help in Chapter 7 and never returns. We never learn if he made it anywhere or died in the snow.

Though he’s never seen, Coach Kielty represents Weems’s motivation. Several times in the story, Weems hears the coach’s voice in his head yelling about basketball. For Weems, this translates into not giving up. Most notably, Weems hears the coach’s voice while he’s lying in the snow near Pete’s dead body. It’s the coach’s voice that convinces Weems he has to try and get help.

Mr. Trever is the assistant principal. He stops Weems, Pete, and Jason on their way to the shop and tells them to get to the gym until their rides show up. The boys lie just enough to make Mr. Trever believe they’re going to leave before going to the shop classroom. They don’t know it at the time, but Mr. Trever represented their last chance to leave the school.