They Both Die at the End

Rufus is a 17-year-old Cuban teenager, who is the antithesis of Mateo: Rufus is bold and courageous, and he eschews social media, preferring instead to live in the real world. Rufus’ parents and sister died in a fatal car accident, in which their family car tumbled into the Hudson River. While his parents and sister drowned, Rufus somehow managed to escape, and he feels a deep sense of survivor’s guilt at being the only member of his immediate family to survive the accident. After the death of his family, Rufus entered foster care and met Malcolm and Tagoe, and the three of them became best friends. Together, they call their group “the Plutos,” and they refer to their foster home as “Pluto.” Rufus has a rebellious, wild edge to his personality, and he is the leader of the Plutos: “I don’t know how I became the alpha dog. I ended up in the foster home years after them” (16). Rufus identifies as bisexual, and he is completely comfortable in his sexuality.

Aimee is Rufus’s ex-girlfriend, who is now dating Peck. Aimee comes from a criminal family, which is how she landed in the foster care system. Aimee came to Pluto when her parents were imprisoned for robbing a family-owned movie theater, but Aimee eventually left Pluto when her aunt made enough money to take her in. Though Aimee and Rufus had a tumultuous relationship, and even though they are broken up, she still cares deeply for him. When she finds out it is his End Day, she is immediately devastated by the news: “Aimee already misses going on runs with Rufus while he rides his bike’ (168). 

Malcolm is one of Rufus’ closest friends from foster care, and one of the four members (Rufus included) who make up the group referred to as “the Plutos.” Malcolm entered foster care after his parents died in a house fire: “Malcolm hopes [the unidentified arsonist is] burning in hell for taking away his parents when he was a thirteen-year-old troublemaker no one else wanted except the system, and barely even them” (28). According to Rufus, Malcolm has always been a “mess” (60), and even though Malcolm has never been in a fight, “many paint him to be a violent young man because he’s six feet tall, black, and close to two hundred pounds” (87). 

Tagoe is another one of the four members of Rufus’ group of close friends from foster care, who call themselves the Plutos. Tagoe is black, wears glasses, and has a tic where he jerks his neck: “Tagoe suppresses his tic often because his neck jerking around every other minute is not only uncomfortable, but it also makes him look unapproachable and wild” (196). Tagoe’s mother abandoned him when he was just a baby, and his father abandoned him three years before coming to the foster home because he could not keep up with his bills. A month later, Tagoe’s father committed suicide.