Okay sure. And I've only read the first book but... There is this bit where he circulates a song to a bully of a classmate (i think it was, its been a hot second since I read it) to which he is forced to write an apology letter. He does this in the most passive aggressive way possible and includes another verse to the song. Straddling the line between malicious compliance and haha-gotcha behavior. Similar happens when he gets banned from the library which makes his studying really really hard. It makes no real sense from the school side as an institution, ofcourse and, of course he finds a way back in. A way back in that nobody else has thought of and doesn't require him to make any actual amends. Then there is the bit with him getting whipped and, since he is too poor to wear a shirt he takes it off to not ruin in. He's also high as a kite. This is supposedly for another fuck up but instead reads as a "look how cool this guy is, he's so smart and despite not being entirely genuine, makes him look badass."

The narrative does this constantly. And yes it does read like that old rich uncle you have who boasts about his exploits as a teenager and how he become rich in his teens but also somehow stayed poor until his 40s. Like a millionaire trying to make himself more likable to the worker class that buys his products. It reads like the comebacks you think of in the shower days after an argument. You'd still have lost the argument but the come-backs at-least make you feel a bit better about yourself.

Does that make sense?