Slacker

After reading about the P.A.G. in the newspaper again, Jennifer becomes infuriated. The newspaper lists several projects the P.A.G. has completed, like toy and meal drives. Jennifer rants to her boyfriend Tony about the P.A.G. She thinks Cameron is ignoring her because of how the P.A.G. has grown since their conversation. There are so many members that they can tackle multiple projects at a time by splitting into groups. Tony tells her not to get bent out of shape and to focus on finding projects for Friends of Fuzzy, but Jennifer has tried. Everywhere she wants to volunteer has already been visited by the P.A.G.

Tony’s little brother is a member of the P.A.G., so Jennifer and Tony use him to find out about upcoming P.A.G. projects. They learn about a project happening at a ravine, so they visit the area to see what’s happening. This time, there is a news crew covering the group. Jennifer and Tony hide in the bushes and watch. They learn the P.A.G. is building a habitat for the old beaver in town. Jennifer thinks this is a huge misstep. The beaver is a menace, and everyone dislikes him. Jennifer believes this project will be the downfall of the P.A.G., especially since no one has seen the old beaver in a few weeks anyway. 

Still, the papers and television news praise the P.A.G. for their service, much to Jennifer’s dismay. She wants to teach Cameron a lesson. Jennifer and Tony begin to stalk Cameron as he walks home from school, just to intimidate him. Jennifer writes threatening messages on Cameron’s plywood front door. Eventually, Cameron yells at them, declaring how much he hates the P.A.G. too. Jennifer thinks he’s lying, which she considers an escalation of the conflict.

Cam has lost control of his life, and he’s got no time for anything but the P.A.G. and peripheral socialization. Eighty percent of the middle school students have joined the P.A.G. When Cameron isn’t participating in volunteer efforts, he’s attending parties and social events, trying to keep everyone satisfied and not create more conflict. Whoever has hacked the website continues to post updates and schedule meetings. When he tries to avoid meetings, someone always goes to find him. Chuck pushes Cam to continue to participate in everything. Chuck, like everyone else, loves the P.A.G.

Pavel doesn’t understand why Cam hates this life so much because Cam is now popular with everyone. Cam suggests he doesn’t understand because he and Chuck are getting time to practice for Rule the World, but Pavel clarifies that they’ve been busy with the P.A.G. too. Cam is upset because Evil McKillPeople is getting an edge on him, beating him even faster than usual. 

When Cam finally finds time to game, he is not gaming long before he hears his name called from outside. When he goes to investigate, it’s String. String explains that the P.A.G. is being blamed for the theft of bushes outside the library. String was there when the P.A.G. washed the outdoor library furniture and everyone was well-behaved. They are being framed. Cam can’t figure out why String cares since he only joined to get back on the football team. 

The red Dodge Charger drives by, and someone throws a bush from the library from the window at Cam and String. String has seen the car around too. Cam tells him it’s the Friends of Fuzzy. String wants to get even with them, but Cam tells him to drop it. String thinks Cam is taking the high road, but Cam just doesn’t care enough to do anything about the Friends of Fuzzy’s threats.

Chuck loves the P.A.G. He still cares about video games, but nothing has given his life purpose like the service he’s done in the club. He understands why his older sister Emma is a member of Friends of Fuzzy. Unfortunately, the incident with the bushes at the library has made the paper, which infuriates Chuck. He knows it’s Jennifer and Tony, but when he tells Emma and his mom about it, they both deny it because Jennifer is such a nice girl. Chuck can tell Emma knows something. 

On the way to school, Chuck, Cam, and Pavel walk by a playground that the P.A.G. powerwashed that weekend only to find the entire playground has been flooded with mud. Someone wrote “MUD IS THICKER THAN WATER” and “PAGGERS RULE” in mud on park signage (139). Chuck is angry, but Cam doesn’t care. He has no desire to fight the Friends of Fuzzy or do anything about their sabotage. Chuck pleads with Cam to do something, but Cam just keeps walking. 

At school, the garden that the P.A.G. weeded is torn up and destroyed—another move by Jennifer and Tony. Jordan and Felicia consider quitting to distance themselves from the controversy before the school election, but Jordan’s opponents Kelly and Jordana are also paggers. They want to figure out who is doing this. Chuck wants to tell them about Jennifer and Tony, but he promised Cam he wouldn’t say anything. 

Inside, Mr. Fanshaw approaches the boys, angry that the P.A.G. didn’t rake the historical property they’d volunteered to rake that weekend. Chuck insists that they did. It took the group nearly four hours to finish the massive property. Mr. Fanshaw signs Cam, Chuck, and Pavel out of school and drives them to the property to show them. The leaves are scattered everywhere and deeper than Chuck remembers them being. The boys realize that it isn’t just Jennifer and Tony but the entire Friends of Fuzzy club participating in sabotage efforts. 

That night, when Chuck’s dad gets home from work, he complains about not letting Emma borrow his truck without promising to keep it clean. Chuck investigates his father’s truck and finds leaves and scraps of garbage bags in the truck bed. His own sister is participating in the sabotage.

Daphne is upset that Elvis is still missing. He has only been spotted once in the last several weeks. On top of that, the P.A.G. continues to get bad press. It feels like the glory days of the P.A.G. are fading away. Every project the group takes on gets sabotaged. Daphne cannot figure out who is doing it, but she knows it’s not her fellow paggers. 

Mr. Fanshaw is also struggling. He was once so proud of the P.A.G., and Daphne can tell this bad press is killing him. Mr. Fanshaw manages to get the P.A.G. a job repainting the indoor pool area at the local YMCA. It’s a big deal, and when he announces it at the meeting, everyone is thrilled. 

On the day of the job, over 70 paggers show up to work. Everything goes smoothly for the first half of the day, with paggers working like a well-oiled machine to get every facet of the project covered. When the group returns from their lunch break, they catch several high schoolers in the act of sabotage, adding suds to the pools and vandalizing the fresh paint. Cam recognizes Tony and calls his name, and several paggers cry out for him to be stopped, running after Tony. String manages to tackle him. Daphne realizes it’s the Friends of Fuzzy when she recognizes Jennifer Del Rio. 

As the high schoolers advance on the group, Xavier rips the slide off the kiddie pool playset and swings it at the teens, sweeping them into the pool. Amidst the chaos, Daphne notices Elvis in the pool, trying to get away from the teens. She dives in to grab him, but a teen manages to grab Elvis first. Several more paggers dive in, but Daphne diverts her mission when she realizes Mr. Fanshaw has fallen in and is struggling to swim. She helps Mr. Fanshaw to the edge of the pool, but in the process, Elvis escapes the pool area through an open door to the outside.

Mr. Fanshaw is proud of the paggers for standing up to the high schoolers, but he also laments the destruction that happened during the brawl. On top of it, the paggers are being blamed for everything, despite the clear involvement of the high schoolers. The Friends of Fuzzy have already volunteered to clean up the mess left at the YMCA. 

The principal tells Mr. Fanshaw to shut down the P.A.G. Mr. Fanshaw tries to argue about the good it’s brought to the students, but the principal doesn’t want to hear it. 

Mr. Fanshaw doesn’t want to be the one to announce the disbandment of the club to everyone, so he tracks down Cameron, who is playing on his phone in the upstairs boys’ room. Mr. Fanshaw tells Cameron about the fate of the P.A.G. and notes a grimace that almost looks like a smile on Cameron’s face. They shake hands, and Mr. Fanshaw leaves Cameron to digest the news in peace.