Chapter 26: Halloween

At lunch the day after August’s birthday, Summer asks what he is going to be for Halloween. He says Boba Fett, one of his favorite characters from Star Wars. She tells him he is allowed to wear a costume to school. August, who loves Halloween, gets excited.

Summer explains that kids are not allowed to wear anything offensive or carry fake guns—which is bad news for August because Boba Fett has a blaster. But Summer insists that middle school rules are better than lower school rules. Last year, everybody had to dress up as characters from books.

August asks what Summer wants to be, and she says that her favorite idea is “too dorky.” She makes him promise not to laugh, and then she reveals that she wants to be a unicorn. This does make him laugh a little, but he encourages her to do it if it is what she wants.

But Summer is concerned that the other girls will laugh at her silly costume. A lot of kids in fifth grade are saying they are too old to dress up at all. Eventually she decides to dress up as a goth girl at school but to make a unicorn mask for the Halloween Parade in the evening.

When August approves of this plan, Summer thanks him and says she likes how open he is. “I feel like I can tell you anything,” she says. 

Chapter 27: School Pictures

August hates getting his picture taken, and he often refuses to do it. He is surprised but pleased when his mom says he does not have to do a school picture. However, he does have to be a part of the class picture. The sight of August seems to put the photographer in a bad mood, especially because August is so short he has to be right in front. August chooses not to smile since nobody can read his expressions anyway.

Chapter 28: The Cheese Touch

At first, he thinks it is normal that none of the kids at school touch him. After all, fifth graders are not especially touchy-feely with each other.

But August gets suspicious when a girl named Ximena almost has a panic attack when she gets paired with August during a dance unit in gym. Ximena rushes to the bathroom, and the teacher ends up letting the kids dance by themselves.

Then one day in science during an experiment, August accidentally touches the hand of a boy named Tristan. Though Tristan has always been “okay-nice” to August, he freaks out and rushes to the sink to wash his hands. At this moment, August becomes sure that the kids at his school have a pact not to touch him.

August has read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and in that book, the kids all think they will get cooties if they touch an old piece of moldy cheese. August thinks the game at his school is like that, but he is the disgusting cheese.