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In the first few minutes of ZOMBIES 1, before the song My Year, Addison tells the audience that it's her first day of freshman year. However, this is physically impossible— all because of Bucky.
At first glance, Addison's statement tracks. In the first movie, they're freshmen, in the second, their juniors (attending prawn), and in the third they're seniors (graduating). But the main problem with this theory is that Bucky, Lacey, and Stacey graduate alongside Addison and the others. However, they were already on the cheer team during tryouts in the first movie, and Bucky is already cheer captain! We're lead to believe that Bucky and the Aceys are older, while they're actually in the same grade.
However, if we follow this logic to mean that the main players are actually sophomores, then why couldn't Bree and Addison join the cheer team the year before the first movie? Well, I have one theory— the former cheer captain inly accepted the best freshmen, which included Bucky, Lacey, and Stacey. For Bucky to not only be let in as a freshman, but also to rise to cheer captain above kids several years older than him, it would certainly explain his ego (in Fired Up; "There's really nothing better than hearing you're number one").