The ideas that Victor gets in the short story “Seventh Grade,” are flawed. It is pretty obvious that Victor is trying to get Teresa to like him by impressing her, which, fair enough, is a way to get somebody to like you. The problem is his methods, which we will be talking about later, and the effect on him in general.
One way that Victor tries to get Teresa to like him is looking better. The problem his what his idea of looking better is. His friend gave him the idea that all handsome people scowl. Therefore, people who scowl are considered handsome. Victor thinks this method works after trying it out, and seeing that girls look at him more often. The problem is that this obviously does not work, as even he thought that scowling would not make him look better when his friend first described this to him.
Another thing that Victor does to get Teresa to like him is to appear more knowledgable then he really is. Specifically, pretending to know how to speak French. His teacher immediately called Victors bluff, to which Victor responds in some very uncertain and made up French. This then results in Victor being completely humiliated in the first couple minutes of class. When the bell rings, Victor is too embarrassed to even look at anyone. Although one thing has gone his way: Apparently, Teresa does believe that Victor knows French, and his teacher is nice enough to let Victor get away with it.
The problem is the effect that this has on the way other people see Victor. Contrary to Victors belief, girls are not looking at Victor because they think that he is handsome, but rather because they think he looks weird from scowling. Victor then proceeds to ensure everybody in his french class that he has no idea of what he is doing by pretending to know french. This, if continued, will lead to his reputation being destroyed. Teresa may end up liking him, but will soon realize that the way Victor behaves is all an act, which will leave without Teresa and without a good reputation.