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I plopped my stuff down on the stage, where all the other kids were. Then I noticed that Rowley was there, so I moved my stuff to the other side of the stage. I think most of the kids had already written off the night, because just about everyone was playing with whatever electronic gadget they brought with them. I didn't even THINK of bringing my video games, and I didn't have a magazine or anything to entertain myself. So I asked one of the grown-ups what I could do. Mrs. Barnum told me there was an "activity center"

in the corner for anyone who needed to take a "fun break" during the night. But all of the activities were little-kid stuff. Activity Center Ball Pit I decided to just sit on my sleeping bag with my hands folded on my lap instead. At 9:00 the adults said it was time for "party games," but nobody heard them because everyone had headphones on. Mr. Tanner said people needed to be "social," so he confiscated all the cell phones, music players, and whatever else kids had and put them in a garbage bag.

Then we all sat in a circle in the middle of the auditorium. Mrs. Carr said we were gonna play some "icebreakers" that would help us get to know each other better. But the truth is, all of us kids know one another really well, because we've been together since preschool. In fact, I think we know each other TOO well. Mrs. Carr said we were gonna start with something called the "Name Game," where everyone goes around and gives themselves a nickname that starts with the same letter as their first name, like "Sporty Seth" or "Funny Fred" or something like that. The idea was that your nickname would say something about your personality. Rowley went first.

RESPECTFUL ROWLEY! It was really stressful trying to come up with a cool- sounding nickname, and my turn was coming up quick. I finally settled on "Great Greg," which I know is a little lame, but it was hard to think of a decent nickname that starts with the letter "G." I guess the kid to my right, George Fleer, was having the same problem as me. GREAT GEORGE I couldn't use the same word as George or people would think I was copying him. So I sat there for a while trying to think of another good "G" word, but everyone was staring at me and

my mind just went blank. Then Mrs. Libby chimed in to try and bail me out. JOLLY GREG! Everyone seemed pretty happy with that, even though "Jolly" doesn't start with the letter "G." And it makes you wonder about our education system, especially since Mrs. Libby is the eighth-grade honors English teacher. I thought "Jolly Greg" was a TERRIBLE nickname, but before I could come up with something better, the person to my left went, and it was too late. So now I was stuck with a stupid nickname for the rest of the night, and probably until I go off to college.

HELLO my name is Jolly Sheg After that, we played a game called "I Never Told Anyone This Before," where we had to tell everyone a secret. Mrs. Carr said the game would help us "bond" with one another, but I think the REAL purpose was to let the chaperones know who the troublemakers were. I WAS THE ONE WHO SPRAY PAINTED A BAD WORD ON THE FRONT OF THE SCHOOL! My theory was proven right later on when Teddy Caldwell went down the hall to the bathroom and a chaperone trailed him.