Simms sees this assignment as undesirable, but a possible stepping stone to protecting the President. He fails to connect with the boy at first, and Luke continues to misbehave, including an incident where he releases his pet snake Poison into a White House party. After seeing Luke get beat up by the school bully Rob (Zachery Ty Bryan), Simms feels sorry for him because he had felt alone as a teenager, too (losing his father in Vietnam) and they become friends. Meanwhile, Luke agonizes over asking the cutest girl, Katie, to the school dance, which he finally does successfully with Simms's help.