He tries to get a spot in the school's newspaper as a cartoonist and teams up with Rowley.
He gets Rowley to sign up as well and enjoys the benefits of being in the Safety Patrols, such as getting free hot chocolate. Greg decides to join the Safety Patrols at his school, hoping that he will be able to control the other kids. When Rowley goes to school with a plaster cast, the girls take care of him (carrying his books, feeding him food), which makes Greg jealous. On one of Greg's tries, the ball goes under the front wheel, which causes Rowley to fall off and break his left arm. The other trees join in, and while Greg's mother is disappointed, Greg ends up enjoying the play due to him getting back at Patty.Īfter getting bad presents for Christmas, Greg decides to play a game with Rowley in which Rowley must ride a Big Wheel down a hill while Greg tries to knock him off with a football. Patty gets frustrated, and Greg starts throwing apples at her. During the show's performance, Greg becomes too nervous to sing, confusing the other trees. Greg lands the role of a tree, while Patty Farrell is cast as Dorothy, the protagonist of the novel. At home, Greg's mother forces him into auditioning for the school play (based on The Wizard of Oz). Greg fails a State Capitals test after a girl named Patty Farrell reminds the teacher that he needs to take down the map of the United States because it has the state capitals on it.
When they get home, they are soaked with a trash can full of water by Greg's father who mistakes them for teenagers. On Halloween night, Greg and Rowley go trick-or-treating, but are challenged by a group of teenagers who spray them with a water-filled fire extinguisher. Greg and Rowley decide to make a haunted house after seeing the popularity of Crossland High School's haunted house, but they only end up profiting two dollars. Near Halloween, Greg writes that his father likes to hide in the bushes on Halloween night and drench teenagers that walk by their driveway with a trash can full of water. Greg's father does not encourage his way of life - playing video games all day - rather than going outside and playing sports. He has a teenage brother, Rodrick, who likes to pick on him, and a little brother, a toddler named Manny, who gets everything he wants and gets away with everything he does wrong.
Although Greg wants to be famous and explains popularity to Rowley, "it just goes in one ear and out the other with him." He also talks about his best friend, Rowley Jefferson. However, the last victim of the Cheese Touch moved away to California, and Greg hopes nobody starts it up again. If someone touches it, they have the "Cheese Touch," which they are stuck with until they pass it on by touching someone else. It started when someone left a piece of cheese on the blacktop, and it got moldy. Greg Heffley, the middle school protagonist, clarifies that "this is a JOURNAL, not a diary." He then explains that he only agreed to write in one for when he is "rich and famous," and "for now, I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons." Greg then discusses the old, smelly, moldy Cheese at his school.