Why is Junior hesitant to tell Rowdy? Why does he tell him? How does Rowdy react? Why does he react this way?

Junior is hesitant to tell Rowdy that he is transferring to Reardan for several reasons; the most important reason being that he does not know how Rowdy will react or how Rowdy will process this information.  Arnold fears telling Rowdy that he is switching schools because he thinks Rowdy might react badly because they have always gone to school together and he knows Rowdy will miss him and vice versa, but he also knows he has to tell Rowdy because Rowdy is his best friend.  Rowdy has been available for Arnold throughout his fourteen years of life and Arnold wants Rowdy to know that he would never hold back from telling anything to Rowdy.  Arnold wants to tell Rowdy how important this is to him; he is switching to Reardan because Arnold is desperate to leave the reservation so he can find hope (as he knows and has been told that there is no hope to be found on the reservation or by the people in the reservation).  Even though he is switching schools, Arnold knows that there is a powerful connection between Rowdy and himself, and he does not want loose that just because they would be in different schools.  Even though he wants to explain to Rowdy all the reasons for transferring to Reardan, instead of thinking through exactly what to say to Rowdy the next time Arnold sees him, Arnold blurts out, "I'm transferring to Reardan. I want you to come with me."  (p.49)  Unfortunately, Rowdy does not react very positively to this new information and he calls Arnold a "retard fag".  (p. 52)  At that moment, both Arnold and Rowdy knew that their friendship was over.  Arnold's "heart broke into fourteen pieces, one for each year" (p.52) that they had been friends.  Rowdy reacted this way because he was shocked and he never thought that Arnold would leave him or the reservation. Rowdy was surprised that Arnold had made this decision and he was not ready for them to be separated. Instead of being calm and listening to Arnold's explanation, Rowdy reacts badly and it costs him his friendship with Arnold.