Fourth Grade Rats

Suds goes full rat, engaging in all the behaviors that Joey has “trained” him to display. He steals Twinkies from kids and pushes them off swings, misbehaves during class, and antagonizes Zippernose at home. He rejects anything that symbolizes his childhood, including his teddy bear, Winky, whom he throws out the window into the backyard. Most significantly, Suds defies his mom. When she tells him to clean his room before school, he refuses and runs out the door. 

Suds’s popularity at school has blown up overnight, and now Judy Billings is interested in him. At her request, Suds eagerly proves that he is just as much a rat as Joey is by allowing a spider to sit on his arm. The entire playground crowds around to admire him, and Suds notices that Judy has become popular too. The girls crowd around her to marvel over the fact that Suds is doing all of these things for her. Judy basks in the attention she receives, and Suds reflects that they’re both famous.

Joey starts behaving strangely at school. He shows no interest in Suds’s transformation into a fourth grade rat and is uncharacteristically quiet. Stranger yet, he appears to have given up his rat persona entirely; the temporary tattoos and the “No.