Somehow during the course of their friendship. Mark managed to convince Patrick's parents to send him to middle school. It helped that Mark's parents were literally their superiors and that Mark promised to look out for Pat while in school. It was Mark who stood up for Patrick when many of the children in the school ridiculed Patrick for his empty eyes and rude personality and it was Mark who defended Pat when a teacher tried to beat Pat after Pat corrected her in the middle of class. Mark became Patrick's best friend.