Gordy is Junior’s best friend at Reardan and, according to Junior, the smartest kid in the school. Gordy may be smart, but he’s also a bit of a nerd. He insists that books give him, and should give Junior “a metaphysical boner,” and he debates the merits of different computer models with Junior even though, to Junior, they’re all essentially the same. Gordy’s intellectual principles sometimes make him as socially inept as Rowdy. When Junior thanks Gordy for sticking up for him in class, for example, Gordy insists that he wasn’t sticking up for Junior at all, but for science. Likewise, Gordy’s commitment to research means he often shows Junior the same tough love as Rowdy. Gordy tells Junior essentially the same thing as Rowdy, that Junior’s infatuation with Penelope’s whiteness makes him a “racist asshole.” Junior loves reading and learning long before he meets Gordy, but Gordy shows Junior just how important and fulfilling intellectual pursuits can be—that is a good thing to be a little weird.

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