While the little brute was merely upset as she was too impatient to simply wait in line just to get on the ride, Charlie struggled to keep the rising level of nervousness at the thought of getting onboard that spinning monstrosity in front of him at bay. The only way he could get passed it for the time being would be to ignore it, luckily there was something ratting around his mind that could keep him distracted for the time being; he pondered how Veruca showed hardly any fear inside that house of horrors they just got out of. Inside The Mad House, Charlie was the one screaming his head off in terror, whereas Veruca kept her cool the entire time, and while the little brute was cold and almost sadistic in many of her truly honest interactions with others, she was the farthest thing from someone who lacked emotions. At first, these two facts did not jive in the mind of the Good Boy, he would have thought the brat would have thrown a huge tantrum at the first shot of being scared on purpose, yet she didn't. However, after thinking about it for a while it all made sense; having a horde of rodents attack her as a child must have been so terrifying that, even now, as an adult she knows there are scarier things than plastic, decrepit-looking puppets. Basically, after being assaulted by wave upon wave of squirrels and having them throw you down a dark shaft to your possible doom, cheap animatronics just don't seem that scary. Yet, while some might view her ability to walk through a haunted house and not shriek half as high-pitched as the heir did as a prime example of courage, Charlie knew there was a deep, thick layer of childhood trauma underneath that thin, brave façade.
The Good Boy guessed part of the way Veruca dealt with her issues was by doubling-down on her own vices, in this case, criticizing other's flaws instead of reflecting on and attempting to alleviate her own shortcomings. And that's what she did when she questioned Charlie on why he acted the way he did in the mystery house and now getting nervous in line for this new ride, claiming, "I don't know why you're getting so scared, Wonka's bonkers contraptions surely aren't designed with safety in mind, and you probably ride those things every day."
It was times like these that made Veruca's company so stimulating for Charlie. She was one of a few people in the entire planet who knew all about the marvelous creations that lied behind the gates that surrounded the factory, nor did she believe the stories people told, when they were true, to be fairy tales; both heirs shared the knowledge of the awesome inventions Wonka brought to life. Nevertheless, what she did not have insight into was Willy Wonka as a person, something Charlie picked up on over the years of them living together, which he used in his rebuttal, replying, "I've admired Mr. Wonka my entire life, so, I trust his judgment and creations, especially now, after having spent so many years with him."
"What you're asking me to do is put all of my faith in someone who's creation is something just short of a spinning cage deathtrap," the heir added as he pointed to the spinning carnival ride, thinking that he was being witty, but, in fact, now he was raising questions in his fellow Golden Ticket winner's mind.
"You say that you've been a Wonka fanatic all your life, yet you cower when something bizarre jumps at you. That's interesting, even before the tour began, I would've taken you for someone with weird passions," Veruca declared, giving Charlie into a glimpse of her first impression of him all those years ago.
Disregarding the difference between the oddities that covered every corner of Wonka's factory and horrifying, ghoulish creatures created for the sole purpose of scaring people that Veruca seemed to ignore, Charlie wasn't sure why she viewed him in such a light, and asked, "Why would you assume I'd like that stuff?"
"You just always seemed a bit odd to me. You seemed like you were the kind of kid who watched those Japanese cartoons. That, or you spent your time off with some Christian youth group and that made you all repressed, or something," the brat responded, thinking of the weirdest interests the most socially inept children would gravitate towards.
Charlie didn't know how to respond to such a damning yet accurate assessment, and so he went with wit again, deciding to correct the little brute's lack of knowledge of geek culture, responding, "I think it's called Anime."
"And you knowing that proves my point," she sniped back in a monotone voice, as if she was stating a straight fact.
While Veruca's estimations were not correct about specific details, she was far from incorrect on the main idea she picked up on from spending time with Charlie. And seeing from his previous experiences with her, Veruca only opened up whenever Charlie did so first, so, he decided to take the initiative once again and talk to her about his childhood, saying, "Well, you're not wrong to come to the conclusion that I was far from the ideal well-rounded child. Most children didn't notice me, and those who did, well, it rarely ended nicely."
Surprisingly enough, the little brute seemed interested in what the Good Boy had to say, mainly because she wanted to hear about these encounters which did not end nicely, and simply responded, "Care to explain."
"I guess you could say that my biggest weaknesses combined made for the ultimate storm; I was an average kid, not faster, stronger, or more cleaver than others to be recognized for that, and I guess my goodie-goodie personality turned off a lot of the other children. Plus, gut-wrenching poverty didn't help my social standing, either"
"Don't forget your weird haircut and no fashion sense," the little brute amended by bringing up the two features about him she remembered from first meeting Charlie all those years ago.
The Good Boy was in no place to refute her claims because even he knew that his personal aesthetic directly contributed to how the other children treated him, and instead, he continued speaking about his schooldays candidly, stating, "So, all of that combined made me an awkward child, as well as a bully magnate. At first, I thought I could reason with my bullies, but that was a foolish dream. No matter how friendly I acted or what I told them, they kept on berating me, shoving me...kicking me. I also had another outlandish idea to stop the bullying, have the amazing chocolatier, Willy Wonka himself, stop by and acknowledge himself as my friend in front of my entire class. Word would've quickly spread throughout the school and then every bully would've reassessed their relationship with me. But the more I thought about it, the more I saw just how stupid of a plan that was."
As powerful as it would've been for the world's most famous candymaker to publicly proclaim himself as his friend, Charlie knew it would've been extremely unfair for him to ask Wonka to speak to his class. Part of the reason Wonka retreated from the rest of the world and why he thrived as a hermit was because he was awkward around others, especially children. He clearly didn't like having to spend time with four rotten children in his sprawling factory, so, imagine how he would have reacted to over 20 children all crammed into a small classroom. And, besides, he probably would have made an ass of himself in front of so many children, like making fun of one of the kid's names or criticizing Charlie's teacher's curriculum and attempt a takeover of the class just to give a lecture on the wildlife of Loompaland both the real teacher and the students would have thought was made up nonsense.
The Bad Nut also agreed with Charlie that having Wonka show up to his class would've been a bad idea, although, part of her reasoning was the fact that if she had ever seen Wonka again as a child following the factory fiasco, she would have certainly cussed him out and perhaps might even have tried to fight him. And, speaking of choices made in childhood, Charlie then told Veruca what he would do to protect himself from attacks, adding, "To escape the bullies, I would stay away from any place where children congregated after school, you know, like a park or next to a shop, or something. Instead of socializing with the other children, I used to stand on the pavement and watch the red Wonka vans leave the factory grounds and transport shipments of candies to their various destinations. Looking back, prioritizing shipping vans to age-appropriate social interactions is probably where many of my current social problems stem from."
"You think?!" Veruca sniped back, especially after having spent so much time with Charlie and witnessing his lack of grace in social settings.
Regardless of the condemnation, Charlie continued speaking openly about one of the saddest parts of his childhood, adding, "But, eventually, it became so routine that I could hardly contain myself while I waited for when I could go outside and watch the Wonka vans file out of the factory from the end of the street. And, if there was one upside to my hobby, it was that whenever bullies found me at my spot, I just had to run across the street to get home."
"Come to think of it, I had to do just that the afternoon before Mr. Wonka announced the contest," the Good Boy added as the memory of the time his watching of the Wonka trucks leaving the factory ended abruptly that January afternoon all those years ago came back to him when he spotted some of his bullies walking down the street and heading towards him, forcing him to cut his viewing of the procession short and run to the safety of his home.