 During his high school years, Theo's best friend was Walter Bradley (Carl Anthony Payne II), better known as "Cockroach", who was more of a scholastic underachiever than Theo, although when an argument Theo and his parents culminated into a mock trial, Cockroach was the one who presented convincing facts which closed the "case".The two of them would occasionally compose rap songs for various school assignments.When Theo got tickets to ""Dance Mania"" (a "Soul Train"-like television dance show), and only one of them was allowed into the studio, Theo let Cockroach have the spot, but did not feel good about it when he saw Cockroach on TV, and as the center of their friends' attention the next day at school.