welcome to madison county, new jersey (population 3,500.)

in this rural county, there are three big schools. the first is washington high, a school that no one really wants to attend. the school isn't the greatest, nor is it the most reputable. it's a running joke that all the washington kids end up married and pregnant before they graduate. the second school is terrence high school, and it's the one to go to if you're athletic. teams at terrence have been winning championships since the school was built in 1937. the final school is marshall high, the academic school. students from marshall did sports, but they were more known for their academics.

while washington was basically ignored, except on game days, the students of marshall and terrence high school had a heated rivalry, on and off the sports fields. students from the schools avoided one another like the black plague. mascots were stolen on an annual basis, and once or twice the quarterback's house got toilet papered by the rival school. the officials brushed it off as a friendly rivalry, that the students just had school spirit. they ignored the fact that the rivalry was fostered in the younger children by their older siblings, so that even the students in the elementary schools didn't get along (though they weren't quite so open about it.)

it wasn't as though the two schools weren't within close proximity to one another, or the students didn't see each other outside of games. the town of marshall and the town of terrence only sat fifteen minutes away from one another, and terrence is often flooded with marshall students looking for entertainment. after all, marshall only has a grocery store and a bar in the town limits. terrence had all of the fun things to do, all of the fun places to go. terrence was the big city in the small new jersey county.

so you can imagine the disdain in the youth of madison county when marshall high went up in smoke a week before the start of the school year. the marhsall kids were ecstatic, thinking they'd be allowed to miss a little school. the terrence kids were ecstatic, thinking that maybe all the marshall kids would move to distant relatives houses and stop trying to take their championships. instead, they both had their hopes punctured.

three days before the school year began, the governer announced that the students of marshall high school would be attending terrence high school. after all, terrence was more than large enough to accomodate the new additions. the day before the school year started, the county renamed the school, announcing that they didn't want anyone to feel displaced. it was the end of marshall high school, the end of terrence high school, and the beginning of county high.

the school year has just begun at county high, and the students are getting used to being so close to one another. there are more fights in the hallways now than there ever was before. competition between students has grown more fierce as athletes fight for their previous spots on teams and club leaders fight for their previous position.

it's a new era for the small county. it's a new era for the small town of terrence, new jersey. it's a new school year, and a new school.

get ready county high cougars, because you're in for a wild ride.