Greg learning to care about Rachel
Greg hates befriending Rachel again when he is forced by his mother, especially when she is about to die and the whole facade is about pitying her. But, as he starts to spend time with her, he gets emotionally attached to her even though he is not as affected be her death as he thinks a friend would have.
Greg going to film school
Greg is a person with very low self-esteem. He is obsessed with films and likes to make his own parodied versions of those films with Earl. However, he believes he has no talent whatsoever and is highly subjective to the thought of letting other people watch his films.
Earl giving up making films
As much as Greg likes film-making, it is Earl who drives this need. Earl is the leader in the duo, while Greg is the follower. Usually, it’s Earl who comes up with the script ideas and the names of the movies. However, when their film for Rachel is showed to the entire school, he realizes his wishful thinking and decides to retire from film-making to make a normal living.
Greg getting hatred for doing something for Rachel
While the whole school is apparently mourning for Rachel, it is obvious that like Greg, a lot of them are hardly concerned with her life. They give random cards and messages to her but none of them are genuinely impacted by her death. However, everyone tries to appear to be most affected by her condition. However, when Greg and Earl make a film for her, and that film is showed to the entire school, the school is angry at them for making them a part of her suffering.
Greg and Earl getting drugged
Greg and Earl think that they might have been drugged from eating their teacher’s soup and come up with all sorts of excuses to mask the fact that they are high to protect their teacher and come up with crazy storied about their teacher who eats spiked soup everyday. Ironically, it is discovered that they were drugged by Earl’s cookies which were made by his older brother’s girlfriend.