What I appreciate about this series is they do a good job at reiterating that everyone has their imperfections. Rudy and Paul's fight seems like some holier-than-thou hyperintelligent kid talking down to his Dad...but that is what precocious children always do. But the encounter makes Paul think more carefully about being a father, and not just his vision of what a father should act like. Rudy responds to it later, when Paul's improved approach helps both discipline Rudy for what he did to Sylphie, and help him apologize to her.

In Rudy's case, he gets better at dealing with people, or at least is reminded how to properly deal with people.

It's getting harder to blame Rudy's pervy behavior when Paul is a complete horndog though.

Should I assume the bully had one of his friends give him a black eye, or do the later lines about the summer imply that his mother is finding excuses to talk to Paul? The later ones seem a bit more like Rudy and Slyphie's doing, but the first one is quite suspicious...