He is a troubled teenager who has just moved to Los Angeles with his family. Jim has become the target of many bullies in his new town, making his life harder than it should be. Jim approached two people he met at the police station the night he was arrested for being drunk in public. Plato was a boy younger than Jim who wanted nothing more than to have Jim as a friend considering his parents were never around, and Judy who ended up falling in love with Jim and separating from the group of bullies. Jim feels that his father is incapable of supporting and opposing his mother; which we find out for sure in the film when he asks his father, “What do you do when you have to be a man?” He has big problems with his parents, because he feels that they are unable to support him and take care of the person he wants to be. Buzz Gunderson is the leader of the school bullies. His life's mission has been to be a total nuisance to Jim and instigate a fight regardless of the conditions. This confrontation leads to the climax of the film; the knife fight and the girls' escape. After seeing the bullies slash a tire for no reason, Buzz challenged Jim to a knife fight in which Jim won, although both parties walked away with minor injuries. After the embarrassing defeat, Buzz needed to up the ante by causing a "chickie" run. The “chickie” race was a catastrophe; Buzz got stuck on the door handle