Slacker

Outside of Cam and his immediate friend group, Daphne is the first person to join the P.A.G. Daphne is an eighth-grader and works as a foil to Cam’s plot to keep the P.A.G. as non-existent as possible. In Chapter 3, Daphne is introduced as a passionate yet cynical person. She is concerned about an aging, displaced beaver named Elvis, who has been left behind by his colony after the mall destroyed their habitat. Daphne is passionate about making sure Elvis has a safe place to live out his days, but she feels that “[n]obody cared—not about a poor homeless beaver, not about anything” (23). Daphne believes all the clubs and school organizations are self-centered, and she longs for a way to make people care about the town and about Elvis. Mr. Fanshaw describes Daphne as “a nice girl with a big heart” (38), but she also has high expectations for herself and others.

Daphne plays an important role in getting the P.A.G. off the ground by involving Mr. Fanshaw, who makes it his mission to help Cam with the P.A.G. Daphne is motivated by her desire to help Elvis, believing it’s the perfect project for the P.A.G. Daphne decides “to make myself indispensable to the P.A.G. And when it got to the point that they couldn’t function without me, I’d demand that they do something for Elvis” (86). Daphne’s focus remains on Elvis throughout the book. Even after the P.A.G. has built a habitat for Elvis, Daphne worries about him because no one can find him. This conflict culminates in a showdown with the Friends of Fuzzy in Chapter 30, as both the P.A.G. and the Friends of Fuzzy race to find Elvis after he’s hit by a car. Once Elvis is located, Daphne and Jennifer Del Rio fight over the right to save him. Finally, Daphne realizes that Jennifer will not let go, and she releases her grip to save Elvis from further stress and harm.

In Chapter 32, Daphne narrates that “It was the happiest of all happy endings” (225) because Elvis was cleared medically and introduced to the habitat that she’d advocated so passionately for. Daphne expresses that “Watching him swim and play and chew wood filled me with so much happiness I was afraid I might cry” (227). With Elvis finally safe in a habitat of his own, Daphne’s arc comes to a close.

Pavel Dysan, Cam, and Chuck Kinsey have been best friends and gaming buddies for years, and at the beginning of the book, the group is training for Rule the World, where either Pavel or Chuck will be Cam’s partner for the competition. Pavel believes Cam will choose him over Chuck because Pavel is “tops in the entire eighth grade in academic average” and “could play [himself] out of any tight spot” (11). Pavel is the brains of the trio, and in addition to getting good grades, he’s talented when it comes to dealing with computers. Pavel’s biggest contribution to the P.A.G. is the webpage that he and Cam set up for the, initially fake, Positive Action Group.

Pavel “first hacked into the school’s website before lunch on day one of sixth grade” (17), so he has insider access to the official school website, which lends validity to the P.A.G.’s existence. This website contributes to conflict between Pavel and Cam as the P.A.G.’s profile grows and the faux club morphs into a real one. In Chapter 17, after the date and time for the second P.A.G. meeting have mysteriously appeared on the website, Cam confronts Pavel, convinced that Pavel is the one who posted it. Pavel asserts, “I was innocent, but I understood why he would suspect me” (118). After assuring Cam of his loyalty, Pavel diffuses the situation.

As the P.A.G. blossoms into a full-fledged organization, Pavel begins to enjoy the community service. During the P.A.G.’s second project, Pavel observes the difference they made by spending the day cleaning up a local park. He feels proud that the P.A.G. made a noticeable difference. Pavel acknowledges, “It wasn’t what we would have chosen [to do], but it was something good” (122). Although Pavel enjoys gaming too, he finds value in the work he does with the P.A.G., which contrasts with Cam’s interpretation of the work as a waste, creating distance between the boys.

Their conflict comes to a peak when the P.A.G. website remains active after the P.A.G. is shut down. Cam accuses Pavel of updating the website again. Though Pavel maintains his innocence, the friendship breaks down. Pavel and Cam make up in the climax of the book as they celebrate the bulldozers driving away from the freeway ramp. Cam acknowledges that he was wrong to accuse Pavel and the boys become friends again. In the final chapter, Pavel shows up to support Cam and Melody in Rule the World.

Chuck Kinsey is best friends with Cam and Pavel. He and Pavel both wish to be Cam’s partner in the Rule the World competition. Pavel narrates that Chuck panics in tense situations while gaming adds that “every now and then, by sheer random chance, Chuck would go nuts on his controller and wipe out the enemy single-handed” (11), showing that Chuck is still a valuable gamer to have by Cam and Pavel’s side.

Once the P.A.G. takes off, Chuck begins to grow as a person and discovers a new side of himself outside of gaming. At the P.A.G.’s first project, Chuck becomes “the darling of the senior citizens’ garden” (94) through his great attitude and willingness to help everyone. This trend continues as Chuck becomes more and more involved in the P.A.G. In Chapter 20, which is the first of two chapters told from Chuck’s point of view, Chuck describes the P.A.G. as “a higher purpose—a calling, almost” (137). He explains how he “used to get upset when my clan base got sacked, or when Evil McKillPeople crushed me. But now everything was cool, because the P.A.G. had shown me what was important” (138).

Chuck’s change in priorities causes a divide between him and Cam, who continues to resent the P.A.G. despite its success and popularity. This culminates in Chapter 23, when Chuck suddenly abandons the video game while playing online with Cam and Pavel, expressing that “[t]his is boring” and saying he doesn’t “want to play anymore” before signing off (159). Cam and Chuck maintain distance until the P.A.G. reunites in Chapter 31. In Chapter 33, Chuck shows up to support Cam and Melody at Rule the World, showing that their friendship has been mended.

Mr. Fanshaw is a guidance counselor at Cam’s middle school. His conflict at the beginning of the book is that he needs to sell raffle tickets, but with the entire town struggling since the mall opened, he’s having a hard time making back the money spent on the raffle prize. He is roped into the P.A.G. when Daphne Leibowitz shows up to his office to complain about the Positive Action Group not taking any action. Mr. Fanshaw sees this club as a perfect antidote to the community’s depression, thinking “The P.A.G. was going to do a tremendous amount of good for the people of Sycamore” (42). He adds that “it seemed like the kind of organization that could sell a lot of raffle tickets” (42). Mr. Fanshaw is taken aback that a student at the middle school came up with such a charitable organization, and his first impression of Cameron Boxer is that he’s a “community-minded student leader” (41).

Through his misguided optimism, Mr. Fanshaw acts as a foil to Cam and ultimately becomes the driving factor behind the P.A.G.’s transition from a hoax to a successful organization. Mr. Fanshaw’s misconceptions of Cam as a dedicated leader with a good heart drive him to pursue Cam and corner him into holding and attending P.A.G. meetings. Though Mr. Fanshaw becomes confused by Cam’s behavior and tired of chasing Cam around school, he never gives up on the P.A.G. because “The Positive Action Group was every guidance counselor’s dream” (112).

Mr. Fanshaw’s interest in the Positive Action Group grows as his motivations change from raffle tickets to more ambitious projects. He “was up nights brainstorming future projects to suggest” to the P.A.G. (114). When the P.A.G. is shut down by the principal, Dr. LaPierre, Mr. Fanshaw fights for them, listing the wonderful things the P.A.G. has done for the community and for the students, showing how much he cares for the P.A.G. and sees the good in all of the members, including Cam. There are no more chapters from Mr. Fanshaw’s perspective after the P.A.G. is disbanded, but Mr. Fanshaw gets his happy ending. In Chapter 32, Daphne explains that the P.A.G. has been reinstated, and their first project is to sell raffle tickets for Mr. Fanshaw, solving Mr. Fanshaw’s initial conflict.

Melody Boxer is Cam’s younger sister. She is in sixth grade, and she is tired of her brother getting away with his slacker lifestyle and hogging the gaming console. Melody enjoys gaming, but she is also much more in-tune with the happenings of the school and the people around her than Cam is. Melody acts as yet another foil for Cam’s Positive Action Group scheme. Melody first attempts to sabotage Cam’s plan come in Chapter 8, when Melody openly questions Cam about the lack of P.A.G. posters and members in front of their parents. Cam dodges Melody’s questions but realizes this means she “had been on the web page, nosing around. And she could be like a bloodhound, especially when the target was me” (60-61). Melody’s motivations become clear in Chapter 14, when the novel shifts to her perspective. Melody explains that she “longed for Mom and Dad to see through Cam’s smokescreen” and she “thought it had finally come the day of the scorched ziti” (99). Seeing Cam get away with his P.A.G. sham is making her angry. Determined to see Cam’s downfall through, Melody and her best friend Katrina participate fully in the P.A.G.

Melody manages to gain access to the P.A.G. web page and secretly posts updates for P.A.G. meetings and themed events, like “Cookie Day and Crazy Hat Day and Pagger Pride Day” (131). Because Cam initially believes Pavel is posting these things, it causes tension in their friendship. Melody doesn’t just sabotage Cam through the P.A.G. website. In Chapter 27, Cam discovers that Melody has been his arch gaming rival, Evil McKillPeople, all along. Evil McKillPeople is better at games than Cam, which is why Evil McKillPeople squashes Cam in every battle across multiple games.

Melody confesses she feels like a “second-class citizen in [her] own family” (192), and she hates having to go to a friend’s house just to play video games. Although Cam is initially furious to discover that Melody is both the mysterious website-poster and his arch gaming nemesis, Melody insists that she did Cam a favor by boosting the P.A.G.’s popularity and giving him unfathomable power over the student body. Melody’s assertion gives Cam the idea to reunite the P.A.G. to save the freeway ramp, leading to the siblings cooperating to enact their plan. In the end, Cam chooses Melody as his partner in Rule the World, as Evil McKillPeople has proven her skills are superior to Cam’s time after time.

Jennifer Del Rio is a high school senior and the main antagonist of the novel. Jennifer is the “head cheerleader, homecoming queen, and this year’s Grand Pal of the Friends of Fuzzy” (109). Jennifer’s goal is to get into Harvard, and she pursues this goal by padding her resume with community service. The publicity of the P.A.G. creates conflict for Jennifer as she and the rest of the Friends of Fuzzy struggle to find their own community service projects. During her introduction in Chapter 15, Jennifer demands Cam and the rest of the P.A.G. stop encroaching on the Friends of Fuzzy’s territory. Cam assures Jennifer that he is on her side because he hates the P.A.G. too, but Jennifer and her boyfriend Tony are skeptical.

Jennifer’s ruthlessness escalates as the P.A.G. becomes more successful. In Chapter 18, which is told from Jennifer’s perspective, she rages at the media coverage of the P.A.G., believing it made her “number one accomplishment—being Grand Pal of the Friends of Fuzzy—[…] totally meaningless” (124). Jennifer’s perceived competition with the P.A.G. drives her to lead the Friends of Fuzzy in a full-scale sabotage effort against the Positive Action Group. Under Jennifer’s guidance, the Friends of Fuzzy undo and vandalize many of the P.A.G.’s projects, eventually leading to a showdown at the YMCA, which results in the P.A.G.’s disbandment.

However, when the P.A.G. reunites for one more project, the Friends of Fuzzy show up too. Jennifer and Tony accidentally hit Elvis with their car, leading to a race through the woods between P.A.G. and Friends of Fuzzy members to try to find Elvis first. Jennifer and the Friends of Fuzzy’s only goal is to take Elvis “straight to Audra Klincker’s house so that everybody knows the Friends of Fuzzy are heroes” (216). Jennifer wins the showdown against Daphne and takes possession of Elvis, but she is shocked that Daphne was willing to let go of Elvis to protect him from further harm. This moment begins to change Jennifer’s perspective on helping. Jennifer’s arc concludes after the ramp protest when, instead of taking Elvis to the reporter, Jennifer turns him over to a veterinarian, showing that “Jennifer Del Rio had a heart” (224).

Freeland McBean, known as String to his peers, is a star football player on the Sycamore Middle School football team. String parallels Cam in that all he cares about is his number one hobby: “First-String McBean didn’t miss football for anything” (51). String is highly competitive, both on and off the field, often saying things like “[n]obody digs like The String” (89) and “[n]obody cleaned gutters like The String” (178).

String’s conflict mirrors Cam’s. String is failing his classes because all he cares about is football. He’s put on academic probation until he can raise his grades. Mr. Fanshaw offers String an opportunity to shorten his probation by joining the P.A.G. for extra credit. String, like Cam, must participate in the P.A.G. or he’ll lose the most important thing in his life.

However, unlike Cam, String embraces the P.A.G. Though at first he’s only interested in getting back on the football team, String begins to care about the P.A.G., and he puts great effort into every project he works on. In Chapter 19, Cam acknowledges this change in String’s attitude when String comes to Cam’s house to report that a recent P.A.G. project has been sabotaged and the P.A.G. is taking the blame for it. Cam narrates, “String McBean was only in the Positive Action Group for extra credit so he could return to the football team. What was the skin off his back if we got blamed for a few ripped bushes?” (135).

In Chapter 26, after the P.A.G.’s disbandment, String returns to football. Despite scoring a game-winning touchdown, String cannot enjoy the glory of this victory. He observes, “It was good. Don’t get me wrong. The String was born for moments like this. It just wasn’t—that good. Something was missing” (178). He realizes that he feels unfulfilled without the P.A.G., narrating “The String used to be part of something off the chain—something that wasn’t just numbers on a scoreboard. The P.A.G. made a difference” (179). This moment for String shows the growth he has gone through during his time in the P.A.G., resulting in a well-rounded person who cares about more than just football.