Jay Smouse
Jay Smouse is one of Odyssey's most incorrigible schemers, a middle schooler rarely up to any good - pranking teachers, selling test answers, and squeezing money out of classmates with plans that almost always collapse on top of him. Loud, blunt, and devoted to Elvis, he wheedles his way into other kids' projects as a self-appointed director, manager, or life coach, whether or not anyone wants him there. Under the mischief sits a boy who fears he can never measure up to his brilliant rocket-scientist father, and a streak of kindness he refuses to let anyone name. His cousin Vincent often gets tangled in his plots, Zoe Grant and Buddy Norman are the friends who put up with him, and John Whittaker patiently keeps steering him toward honesty - one hard-learned lesson at a time.