Robert Mallory’s Arrival at Buckley

Robert Mallory’s arrival at Buckley is the first encounter between the new senior and the close-knit circle whose lives his presence will alter. On his first day, Robert joins the central lunch table, where his conspicuous charm quickly wins attention; Bret is simultaneously drawn to him and suspicious that his account of himself is carefully managed. The scene introduces a defining uncertainty: Robert appears to offer an easy, appealing version of himself, but Bret senses that the story does not hold together.

The Name Before the Arrival

Robert first becomes a subject of conversation at Debbie Schaffer’s Labor Day Weekend barbecue. As Debbie talks about the events planned for senior year, Susan Reynolds interrupts to mention that a new student is arriving on Tuesday. When the group asks who he is, she gives his name: Robert Mallory. Bret later remembers the announcement less as useful information than as a threshold. At the time, the name means nothing to the group; in retrospect, he marks it as the moment Robert’s story began to enter their lives.

The timing places Robert’s arrival among established friendships and expectations. Thom Wright and Susan have been together for about two years and are the most popular couple in their class, while Bret is Susan’s close friend and privately loves both her and Thom. Robert is thus entering a social world with its own fixed roles, loyalties, and unspoken desires, not an empty campus where everyone begins on equal terms.

First Day at the Central Table

On the first day of school, Buckley’s lunch arrangement makes status visible. Seniors sit in the shadow of the Pavilion, and the group’s center table, set apart from the others with clear sightlines across campus, is the most prominent gathering place. The school’s uniforms and small classes soften obvious distinctions, but they do not erase popularity: Susan and Debbie draw attention, Thom is treated as a social king, and Bret’s own standing is closely tied to his proximity to them.

As lunch ends, Robert approaches that central table. Bret recalls the ordinary warmth of the afternoon and the interruption of a new presence rather than any immediate sign of menace. Robert introduces himself to Susan, who recognizes him from the picture the headmaster showed him, and greets the others with shyness and good manners. When Debbie calls him mysterious, he appears genuinely startled. Bret shakes his hand and notices its firm grip soften as Robert pulls away. The encounter is brief, but Robert’s direct eye contact and attentiveness make a strong impression on Bret.

Robert is invited to sit with the group. Bret feels an unsettling familiarity he cannot explain and asks whether they might have met at a party or club. Robert says he does not think so, explaining that he rarely goes out and does not know many people in Los Angeles. Bret accepts the answer at the time, partly because Robert seems sincere and partly because his attention is already fixed on him. The new student’s looks, Bret thinks, will make it easy for him to belong—and may also shield him from scrutiny.

The Account Robert Gives

Robert explains that he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport the previous night, overslept, and had trouble finding his uniform and the route to school. He says he became lost driving from Century City, missed the turns for Benedict Canyon and Beverly Glen, and ended up on the freeway before finding his way back toward Buckley. He had mistakenly expected the school to have a cafeteria, so he brought no lunch; Bret offers him half a sandwich, which Robert accepts along with chips.

In response to questions, Robert describes a series of moves shaped by family conflict. He says he had visited Los Angeles intermittently since the summer of 1980 and stayed with his father’s sister in Century City, but had spent most of his recent life in Chicago. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mother; after she died in what he calls an accident, he moved in with his father, whose household included a wife and her daughter with whom Robert says he did not get along. According to Robert, his aunt intervened and offered to bring him to Los Angeles for his final year of high school. His father initially objected, wanting him to attend a military academy, but agreed that May.

The account has a rehearsed quality that contrasts with the losses it describes. Robert recounts his mother’s death and the conflict at home in an even, almost detached manner, then shrugs and smiles at the group. Bret notices the mismatch between painful events and their smooth presentation, but has no proof that Robert is lying. The boy’s composed delivery supplies a usable explanation for his sudden transfer while leaving the circumstances around it obscure.

Welcome, Suspicion, and Retrospect

The group reacts to Robert in different ways. Thom seems to like him and gives him the benefit of the doubt, although he is disappointed to learn Robert does not plan to play sports. Susan listens but grows quieter as Thom and Robert quickly establish a friendly rapport. Bret notices that Robert seems to avoid staring at Susan, while Thom edges closer to her; these small shifts suggest that the newcomer is already changing the atmosphere among the friends, even before anyone can say what the change means.

Bret’s response is more divided. Robert strikes him as charming, intelligent, well-mannered, and attractive, but also as someone whose story has been rehearsed. Bret later recalls that Robert’s claim to have attended Roycemore School through the previous term was false, as was his story about an ex-girlfriend there. Looking back, he interprets such discrepancies as early signs that Robert was trying to appear normal and to make a particular impression. At the lunch table, however, these remain suspicions, competing with Robert’s persuasive ease and the group’s interest in him.

The scene’s significance lies in that gap between first impression and later knowledge. Bret narrates the encounter decades afterward, explicitly distinguishing what he sensed then from what he came to understand through the subsequent events. The arrival does not itself explain Robert’s hidden history or prove Bret’s immediate intuitions correct; instead, it establishes how beauty, social welcome, and a carefully told personal story can make doubt difficult to act on. Robert is admitted to the group at precisely the moment Bret begins to suspect that the story accompanying him is not the truth.