Rumble Fish

Rusty-James's father, it emerges, is a law-school graduate who now wastes his days drinking. His mother, whom both boys physically resemble, left the family before Rusty-James can remember. Both Rusty-James's father and brother are more intellectual than Rusty-James himself, using long words that he does not understand. Neither of them pay much attention to him.

Rusty-James asks his father for money and receives $10. His father is unfazed by hearing that Rusty-James has been in a knife fight, only pronouncing that he leads a strange life. He adds that he knows of a local cop who “[is] determined to get” the Motorcycle Boy or Rusty-James (39). Rusty-James is not worried about this cop, dismissing him as “a local who had hated [them] for years” (40). He is more worried about his side becoming infected from a joyride that saw him swimming in a lake after messing around with girls and drinking. 

When he shows up to school late, Rusty-James gets expelled. The guidance counsellor tells him that he will be sent to Cleveland High, which Rusty-James knows is Biff Wilcox’s territory; if he goes to that place, Biff Wilcox will kill him.