The New Campers

**The New Campers** is the third chapter of Camp Wiggle.

## Story

The next morning, everyone went to the mess hall. On the menu was pancakes or french toast sticks with maple syrup, sausage, and scrambled eggs, various breakfast cereals, and breakfast salad, which was great for Oona. All the campers ate with their counselors.

"So," James asked Peanut, Jelly, Munchy, Pinch, Flick, and Emmy, "how are you guys liking camp so far?"

"I love it here," said Peanut.

"So do I," said Jelly.

"Same here," said Munchy.

"It may not be home," said Pinch, "but, it's fun."

"I like it here," said Flick.

"Yeah," said Emmy.

"Well, that's good," said James.

Just then, James saw a mail truck drive by, putting something in the mailbox outside his office in the process.

"Excuse me," said James.

James then went to his office, collected his mail, and went inside, where he found that was was sent where four more applications for the camp.

"Nice," said James, "Well, time to make some calls."

James then made the calls, then called Felix into his office, where he told him to pick up the new kids.

"Righty-o," said Felix.

Felix got in his bus and left. A while later, he returned, and four human children, two boys and two girls, got off. Two of them went by the name of Leo and Annie Anderson. Leo had fair-skin, green eyes, red hair, and wore a pair of blue-green glasses, a black t-shirt with an orange stripe, orange shorts, white socks, and orange, black, and white sneakers. Annie had fair skin, like her brother, blue eyes, blonde hair kept in pigtails tied with magenta bows, and wore blue dress with a green shirt underneath, magenta shoes, and magenta bows in her pigtails. The other boy, Quincy Miller, was an African-American with brown eyes, dark brown hair, and wore a red and blue baseball cap, a yellow shirt with green sleeves, blue jeans, and red sneakers. The other girl, June Chung-Taylor, had brown almond-shaped eyes, light skin, dark brown hair, and wore a pink hairband, pink pearl earrings, a purple tutu dress, and reddish-brown ballet shoes.

"Hello, Leo, Annie, June, Quincy" said James, "Welcome to Camp Wiggle!"

"Thanks," said Leo.

"Thank you," said Annie.

"Happy to be here," said June.

"Same here," said Quincy.

"Now then," said James, "you go right ahead and join in the fun, and I'll see if we can fit you four in with one of our other groups."

"Okay," said Leo.

Leo, Annie, June, and Quincy then left, and a girl named Vanessa Carter stepped off the bus. She wore a yellow hair scrunchie, a yellow pearl necklace, a white t-shirt with red letter "C" on it, pink wristbands, an orange belt with a yellow buckle, a brown skirt, pink socks, and lavender sneakers.

"Hello, Vanessa," said James, "Welcome to Camp Wiggle! I'm James, the Camp Director and Head Counselor."

"Thank you," said Vanessa.

James then led Vanessa away, and Vanessa got a glimpse of the many activites available. She saw Casey water skiing on the lake with his bare feet and being pulled by the Big Red Boat, being driven by Jeff and Murray.

"Hey, look at me," said Casey, "I'm barefootin'!"

"That looks like fun," said Vanessa.

Vanessa also saw Greg playing horseshoes with Jelly, Pinch, and Emmy. Emmy threw her horseshoe, but missed the stake.

"Hey, that was still a nice throw, Emmy," said Greg.

Vanessa then saw Gil and Goby along with Yang, Peanut, Flick, Munchy, Doki, Oto, and Fico having an arm wrestling tournament.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go," the other boys were chanting as Gil and Goby wrestled.

Vanessa smiled.

"I think I'm gonna like it here," said Vanessa.

James then came out of his office, and called Vanessa, Leo, Annie, June, and Quincy together.

"Okay, kids," said James, "Here are your counselor assignments."

Leo, Annie, June, and Quincy were assigned to Murray's group, and Vanessa was assigned to Jeff's group. After that, the group disbanded and went their separate ways. Annie joined Greg, Pinch, Jelly, and Emmy at the horseshoes game, June went paddle-boating on the lake with Hopsalot, Quincy and Leo joined the arm wrestling tournament, and Vanessa walked around the camp, trying to find something to do when she saw the main lodge.

"What's in there," Vanessa asked herself.

Vanessa then went up to the main lodge, and when she went inside, she found Nonny playing chess against himself. How was he doing this? Well, dear friends, it's rather simple, he kept his glasses on to play the "light piece" side and he took them off and went to the other side of the table to play the "dark piece" side. Vanessa watched in amusement.

"You know," said Vanessa to herself, "I have a feeling I've seen this before.

Vanessa waited for Nonny to finish his game, then approached him.

"Hello," said Vanessa.

Nonny was a little startled.

"Sorry," said Vanessa, "I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's alright," said Nonny, "I know you meant no harm."

"Say," asked Vanessa, "can I play with you?"

"Sure," said Nonny, "you know how?"

"Not really," said Vanessa, "but I assume you do."

"Yeah," said Nonny, "My grandpa taught me."

"Nice," said Vanessa, "Can you teach me?"

"Sure," said Nonny, "We'll start with the pieces and how they move."

Nonny explained just that. Soon, the game began, and ended when Vanessa forced Nonny's king into checkmate. Nonny was stunned.

"Wow," said Nonny, "I'm impressed."

"How was that," asked Vanessa.

"Not bad for a beginner," said Nonny, "and, nice game!"

"Thanks," said Vanessa, "Same time tomorrow?"

"You bet," said Nonny.

The two then heard the lunch bell, and they went to the mess hall. On the menu was grilled cheese sandwiches, hamburgers, or the classic peanut butter and jelly with french fries or garden salad.

"So, Vanessa," asked Nonny as he enjoyed a grilled cheese sandwich, "How long have you been at camp?"

"I just arrived today," said Vanessa.

"Nice," said Nonny, "Liking it here so far?"

"Yeah," said Vanessa, "You're a really nice kid."

"Thanks," said Nonny.

Later after lunch, Greg was playing hide and seek with Pinch, Emmy, Jelly, Peanut, Flick, and Munchy. He had just found Munch in the coat closet of their cabin when Greg got an idea.

"Hey," asked Greg, "you kids wanna help me prank James?"

"Sure," said Peanut as he and the others gathered around the Yellow Wiggle.

"Okay," said Greg, "here's what we'll do; we're gonna take his mattress and put it in the rafters."

"Yeah," cheered Flick, "That sounds awesome!"

"Alright," said Greg, "let's do it!"

With that, they got to work, and soon, James' mattress was in the rafters.

"Boy," said Greg, "James is gonna **flip** when he sees this!"

And sure enough, when he went inside the cabin he, Peanut, Jelly, Munchy, Emmy, Flick, and Pinchwere in, James realized his bed was empty.

"Hey," asked James, "where's my mattress?"

Greg, Emmy, Peanut, Jelly, Munchy, Emmy, Flick, and Pinch all started to laugh.

"What's so funny," James asked.

James then looked up and saw his mattress in the rafters.

"Hey," said James, "How did **that** happen?"

The kids and Greg all pretended to look innocent, though James knew right away that Greg was the mastermind behind the whole scheme.

"I'll get you for that," said James, "Just you wait!"

Soon, James had gotten his mattress back in its rightful place with help from Murray, Jeff, Casey, and Hopsalot.

"Thanks, guys," said James.

"No problem," said Jeff.

Meanwhile, Vanessa and Nonny were in the lounge again, looking through the basket of movies.

"Wanna watch a movie," asked Nonny.

"Sure," said Vanessa, "What movie shall we watch?"

"How about *The Hunchback Of Notre Dame*," asked Nonny.

"No thanks," said Vanessa.

"*Toy Story*," asked Nonny.

"Maybe," said Vanessa, "What else is there?"

Nonny looked, and soon found a VHS of *The Aristocats*.

"How about this," asked Nonny.

"Sure," said Vanessa, "That's one of my favorites."

"Okay," said Nonny, "let's watch it."

With that, Nonny put the tape in and they watched it. Soon, it was over, and it ended just in time, as the dinner bell rang.

"Perfect timing," said Nonny.

The two then went to the mess hall, were tonight's menu consisted of sloppy joes and hot dogs with homemade potato chips, as well as the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich or salad. After dinner, Nonny and Vanessa played another game of chess. This time, Nonny won.

"Good game," said Vanessa.

"Thanks," said Nonny.

Nonny then noticed that the sun was starting to go down.

"Man," said Nonny, "look at that sunset."

"Yeah," said Vanessa, "It's all pink and orange."

"My grandma says that only God can make the sky as beautiful as that," said Nonny.

"Yeah," said Vanessa.

Soon, it was campfire time, so Nonny and Vanessa joined the other kids as they sang "There's A Hole In The Bottom Of The Sea". After the song, James told a funny campfire story about two friends named Fred Herring and Waylon Whale. After the story, the kids went to bed, and as Vanessa snuggled under her blanket, she smiled.

"I really like that Nonny kid," said Vanessa, "he's really nice. I hope I get to spend more time with him."

**End of Chapter 3**