How It All Goes Down
May 8, 1992
- A lot has changed in the past week.
- Brad came back to school, but he just kind of wanders the halls like a hollow zombie. On Thursday, Patrick tries to get Brad to talk to him at lunch, but Brad ignores him.
- Charlie's too far away to hear what's being said, but Patrick looks really angry when he walks away.
- When Brad yells "f**got" (4.3.9) at Patrick, pretty much everyone in the cafeteria—oops, sorry, the "nutrition center"—hears it.
- The conflict between Brad and Patrick continues to escalate until Patrick punches Brad. Bad move. At that point, Brad and his four buddies gang up on Patrick.
- But wait! Charlie's anger-management issues come in handy when he single-handedly saves the day.
- Not only does Charlie bash one of the guy's knees with a metal chair, he almost takes another one's eyes out. (Okay, so maybe this isn't quite "saving the day.")
- Everyone else stops fighting after that, but Charlie makes sure to tell Brad who's boss: "If you ever do this again, I'll tell everyone. And if that doesn't work, I'll blind you" (4.3.20).
- Patrick and Brad's friends get suspended for a while; Brad and Charlie just get detention.
- In detention, Brad tells Charlie, "Thanks for stopping them" (4.3.27). Hey, that's what friends are for. Beating their friend's bully to a pulp… right? Oh wait, no. Totally not right.
- After detention, Sam is waiting for Charlie to give him a ride home.
- She tells him that she was really mad at him for embarrassing Mary Elizabeth at the party. She also suggests that he apologize to Mary Elizabeth. (We concur.)
- Aside from all that, they're back to being friends again. Charlie was really overreacting—all everyone really needed was some time to cool off.
- Turns out Mary Elizabeth has a new boyfriend, Peter. He's pretty much the exact opposite of Charlie, and she's happy.
- Before ending the letter, Charlie tells his reader that he "figured that it was about time to stop smoking so much pot" (4.3.57).
- Also, Patrick has quit playing Frank 'N Furter in Rocky Horror.