I was in last period of school with my best friend Ben Tennyson on the last day of school before summer vacation. And Ben thought it would be fun to make a paper airplane and throw it at the teacher while her back was turned. I saw what he was doing, I leaned over, and I begged him. "Please don't! Not on the last day of school." Ben just kept working on the airplane. "What's the worst that could happen?" He asked me. "It's the last day of school." I just shake my head. "Alright" I say. "But if you get caught I'm not going down with you." Ben just brushed off my comment and finished his airplane. He threw it, it hit her directly in the back of the head, and she gasped. Ben quickly picked up a book and pretended to read it.

It was the last few minutes of school and everyone was looking at the clock when the teacher started speaking. "And I just want to remind you all that I'll be teaching summer school this year and it's not to late to sign up." "Yeah right." Ben said. Ben and I hit each other's knuckles and Ben goes back to looking at the clock. I just rolled my eyes and smiled. The bell rung and Ben shouted. "Yes! Outta here!" The teacher started to say goodbye to everyone. "Everyone have a good vacation and I hope to see you again in the fall." As Ben and I start walking out the door the teacher called Ben back in. "Benjamin!" She called. "May I have a word with you?" Then she held up the airplane. "Good luck man." I called after him. I exited the classroom and waited for him when he got out he looked no worse for the ware. "Hey man what did she say?" "Something about my actions and consequences." "You spaced out didn't you?" I asked. "Big time." He said proudly. As we walked out, we saw some kid being bullied by Cash and J.T. Let me just tell you it makes my blood boil when I see someone being bullied. "Leave him alone." Ben said sounding as ticked off as I was. "Get lost shrimp. Same goes for you Toth." Yelled J.T. "He said 'Back off'" I said. "Well looks like we got ourselves a couple of heroes. Suppose we don't want to back off. " Said Cash. "Yeah what are ya gonna do about it Tennyson." Said J.T. Mockingly.

"Thanks a lot." The kid said from the other side of the tree where we were hanging from our underpants. "We were just trying to help." Ben said defensively. "Next time you decide to play hero" The kid said sounding very ticked off. "Make sure you can back it up!" "Hey! He had backup!" I yelled from the other side of the tree. "If you had stopped them we wouldn't be in this situation!" "Hey I said I was backup I never said I was good backup." I said casually. Thankfully, the good old Rust Bucket pulled up at that moment. "Come on Ben we're burning daylight. I want to make it to the campsite by nightfall." Ben's grandpa said cheerfully. "Uh grandpa a little help here?" Ben said somewhat annoyed. When we finally got into the R.V. Ben said excitedly. "I have so been looking forward to this." Then his eyes went wide when he noticed a fourth presence in the room. "What are you doing here? What is she doing here? He yelled at both his grandpa and Gwen Tennyson his cousin. "Take it easy dweeb this wasn't my idea. Someone convinced my mom that going camping for the summer would be a 'good experience for me.'" She said agitatedly. "Grandpa please tell me you didn't." Ben said. "I thought it would be fun if your cousin came along with us this summer. Is that a problem? " Ben's grandpa said. "But we already have Greg here. Why do we need her?" Ben asked annoyed as ever. "To make up for the I.Q Points that you obviously lack." Gwen said snidely. "Ooh low blow." I said trying to be funny. "Come on Ben this will be fun." I said trying to cheer Ben up. Ben I sat down at the table and we took off. "Oh I can't believe this. I wait all school year to go on this trip and now the queen of cooties is along for the ride." Ben whined. "Hey I already my vacation all planed out to you know." Gwen said then she pulled out this color-coded schedule. "Each activity is color-coded so I never do the same thing two days in a row." Gwen said happily. Ben looked flabbergasted at this. Then Gwen's face went from happy to annoyed. "Now I'm stuck with my geekazoid cousin and his friend going camping for three months." "Geek." Ben said. "Jerk" Gwen said. Then Ben's Grandpa said something I couldn't quite make out. "Well I'm just happy to be here. I couldn't go on a vacation this summer so when Ben asked if I wanted to come I couldn't say no." I smiled.

When we got to the campgrounds Ben, Gwen, and I all sat down at the table and Ben's grandpa brought out some bugs. "Chow time." He said as he put the bowl down on the table. "Ok I give up. What is that?" Ben asked quizzically. "Marinated mealworms. Hard to find them fresh in the states. You know they're considered a delicacy in some countries." Ben grandpa said smiling. "And totally gross in others." Gwen said disgusted. "If these don't sound good I have some smoked sheep's tongue in the fridge." Ben's grandpa said. "Eew couldn't we have a burger or something." Ben said both he and Gwen smiling. "Nonsense. This summer is going to be an adventure for your taste buds. I'll grab the tongue." Ben's grandpa said as he smiled. "Oh what the heck." I said. "I'll try anything once. As long as it doesn't kill me." I took a mealworm, put it in my mouth, and started chewing. "Mm not bad Mr. Tennyson." Ben and Gwen looked like they were going to hurl. Ben leaned over to Gwen and whispered. "Ok I've got a half eaten bag of corn chips and a candy bar in my backpack. What do you got?" "Some rice cakes and hard candy." Gwen answered. Ben then leaned over and asked. "What do you got Greg." "I've just got a pack of gum." I said eating another mealworm. He then leaned over to Gwen and asked. "Think we can make them last the whole summer?" They both groaned knowing they couldn't.

I was busy sketching the forest Ben was playing his video game and Gwen was on her computer when their grandpa came out with a bag of marshmallows. "Who wants to roast marshmallows?" He asked trying to coax them away from their electronics. After getting no response from us, he tried again. "Ok um how about we tell scary stories." "Scarier than having to spend a summer with your freak of a cousin?" Ben asked as he laughed. Gwen looked back slightly and decided to take her shot at insulting him. "I'd like to grandpa but I'm busy doing a web search on cures for extreme doofusness. Nothing yet Ben but let's not give up hope." Their grandpa tried to be the voice of reason. "Ah come on you three we're all in this together. You can mope around like this all summer or we can have some fun. Now what do you say?" He asked. "Bad question." I said to myself quietly. Immediately after I said that Gwen answered. "I vote for moping." "I'm going for a walk." Ben said as he stood up and started walking. "Hey wait up." I said as I started to follow him wherever he was going.

"Oh man this is going to be worst vacation ever. I might as well have gone to summer school." Ben complained. "You never know something exciting could happen." I said trying to cheer him up. Then we heard something so we looked up. "Whoa a shooting star!" Ben said excitedly. "See" I said "exciting." Then the "star" took a sharp turn and started coming straight at us. We screamed as we ran for our lives. As it impacted the earth, we were thrown to the ground. "See exciting." I said again. I got up and helped Ben get up then we walked to the edge of the crater. "Looks like a satellite or something." Ben said mystified. Then the ground crumbled beneath us and we fell into the crater. When we got up the metal ball opened up and in there sat two watches. "Watches?" we both said at the same time. "What are watches doing in outer space." Ben asked and I didn't have an answer for him so I just shrugged my shoulders. We both reached for one and they both flung themselves at us and attached to our wrists. Ben tried to shake his off. "Get off me! Get off! Get off!" Ben yelled. He tried to pull it of but fell. I on the other hand was fascinated with the watch. "Dude this is so cool!" I said. Ben just climbed out of the pit and started running back towards the campsite screaming. "Grandpa!"

I found Ben trying to get the watch off with a flimsy stick. "You know your not going that off with that stick." I said. Immediately after I said that the stick broke. "See." I said Ben fell on his knees obviously frustrated. Then he started to play with the watch then the center popped up. I looked over his shoulder, the shape in the center that had once looked like an hourglass now looked like a diamond, and in the center, and there was a person that looked like he was on fire. "Cool!" we both said at the same time. Ben pushed the center in and in seconds changed into the creature from the picture. "!" It screamed. I backed up terrified. I found a stick on the ground and held it up to the fire monster. "W-what did you with B-Ben?" I asked scared out of my mind. The creature seemed scared to, scared and confused. But mostly scared because it was running around screaming. "Aaahhh I'm on fire, I'm on fire!" It sounded like what Ben would say if he was on fire. "Ben?" I asked the creature to see if it was him. "Greg check me out I'm on fire and I'm ok." "Dude this is awesome." I said. Then I started think. "Hey If these thing came in the same pod then maybe I can do that to." I thought to myself. I started playing with my watch and soon the center popped up to. But instead of a picture, it was a hologram. "Sweetness." I said. The hologram showed a plant like creature with a flame like head. I pushed the center in and then I went through a strange transformation. "Cool!" I said sounding kind of congested maybe; it was because I had no nose I don't know. Ben looked at a tree and asked me. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" "Depends on what you're thinking. Ben threw a small fireball at a tree. "What are you doing!" I screamed. "Having some fun." He said casually as he threw another larger fireball at a tree. "You're gonna start a…." But it was already too late. "Forest fire." I said. Ben ran in and tried to stomp out the fire. "Ben you're made out of fire to. Stomping on it isn't going to help." Then Ben kind of panicked. "Oh man we are gonna get so busted for this." That got me kind of mad. "We? You started this fire you're gonna get busted for this!"