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“I beat the crap out of a guy at the mall yesterday,” Adam Lockwood said.
This sentence opens the story abruptly. It acts like Adam’s personal mission statement, defining who he is as a person and his reason for being. Adam’s crass claim tells readers many things about him. He is violent and likes to brag about it. Yet he is also insecure about his masculinity. With this statement, Adam shows his desire for others to see him as a tough guy. And, like Seth, when readers eventually realize that Adam lies compulsively, we can look back to this statement to see another of his character traits: his dishonesty.
“Can’t, man,” Adam said. “You just have to have the right touch. It’s something you’re born with.”
Adam has shown Seth how, by pumping his fist up and down, he can get a semi-truck driver to blast his air horn. Seth tries and fails, so he asks Adam to show him how he does it. Adam’s response shows his need for dominance in the relationship. In Adam’s mind, Seth can never reach his level of coolness because he was not born with it. Since Seth cannot learn coolness from Adam, he will never be his equal.
“I tried to help you,” Adam said, “but one of them held a knife on me.”
Seth glanced at him.
“It was a small knife,” Adam said. “I guess he didn’t want anyone to see it.”
Adam has betrayed Seth, and Seth has been beaten up as a result. Adam did nothing to help Seth while the bullies assaulted him. Before Seth can ask for an explanation, Adam feels compelled to lie about his failure to defend his friend. He claims to have been held at knifepoint. His lie is pathetic and obvious, and Seth clearly sees through it, at last becoming aware of who Adam happens to be.
