Not long after Charles and Drew's first day of fourth grade, Melinda Cavanaugh moves into town with her widowed father, and she and Charles become fast friends, and she soon befriends Stu, Didi, Charlotte, and Betty too. However, Drew doesn't like new kids, so he tries to make her become ostracized.

Here's the recap on how the Rugrats' parents may have sounded like as children: kid!Chas sounded like Gus from "Recess," kid!Stu sounded like Tommy, kid!Drew sounded like Spinelli from "Recess," kid!Betty sounded like Phil, kid!Didi sounded like Lil, kid!Charlotte sounded like Helga from "Hey Arnold," kid!Howard sounded like Sid from "Hey Arnold," and kid!Melinda sounded like Cornchip Girl from "Recess."

And of course, Chas and Drew's fourth-grade teacher would sound like Tony Jay.

Inspired by the "Rugrats" episode "Meet the Carmichaels" and the "Recess" episode "The New Kid"

It was September 1966. For Chas and Drew, the fourth grade had begun about a week before.

On Saturday afternoon, Chas was working on his math homework after a morning of watching cartoons on the TV when he looked outside his window and noticed someone hammering a SOLD label over the FOR SALE sign. Curious, he went to his mother in the living room and asked her, "What's going on, Mom?"

Shirley replied, "It looks like the Cavanaughs have moved in."

"The Cavanaughs?" asked Chas.

"Yep," said Marvin. "A widowed father and his daughter, who, if I'm correct, might just be your age."

"Widowed father?"

"Yep, they say his wife passed on just before the move."

"And does the daughter know about it?"

"No," Shirley replied. "And it's best that she doesn't know until she's older, so please don't tell her when you meet her."

Chas replied, "My lips are sealed, Mom."

Shirley then turned to Marvin and said, "Why don't we go over and say hello to the new neighbors, Marv?"

"I don't see why not," Marvin replied.

And so, Marvin, Shirley, and Chas decided to visit the Cavanaughs, with Shirley bringing a Jell-O mold as a housewarming present.

"But I don't know about the Jell-O thing, Shirley," said Marvin.

Shirley replied, "Marv, it's a tradition. You always give Jell-O molds to the new neighbors."

Marvin, Shirley, and Chas entered the house. Upon seeing the interior of the house, Chas couldn't refrain himself from saying, "Some digs they've got here!"

Soon, Mr. Cavanaugh saw the Finsters and said, "Hello. I'm Christopher Cavanaugh. Who might you be?"

Marvin replied, "We're the Finsters from across the street. I'm Marvin, and this is my wife Shirley and our son Charles."

Chas waved meekly at Christopher, who asked, "How old is this boy?"

"He's only nine years old," Shirley replied. "And he's just started fourth grade."

Delighted, Christopher said, "Wonderful! I myself have a daughter who's just turned Charles' age! Her name is Melinda. I'll show her to you"

And he called out, "Oh, Melinda!"

Melinda Cavanaugh. What a pretty name! And as she ran downstairs to see her father and the Finsters, Chas saw how pretty she was in person. And she also had a pretty voice as she spoke to him, "Hey, kid. My name's Melinda. What's yours?"

"I'm Charles, but friends call me Chas," Chas replied meekly.

"Hi, Charles," cried Melinda with delight as she shook his hand rapidly. "Want me to show you our new house? It's not exactly the farm I grew up in, but come on."

And Melinda showed Chas the living room: "This is our living room. The movers came to our farm, and they moved the whole thing over her to our city house."

"Really? Wow!" said Chas in amazement.

Melinda then took Chas to the den: "And this is the den. They brought it from the farm too."

"Even the floor?"

"Even the floor."

"Wow! You sure have a fun house, Melinda."

"Yeah, but you haven't seen the best room of all: my room!" And as Melinda showed Chas her bedroom, she said to him, "It's got my bed, my toybox, my old rocking horse, a window where I can see the backyard from, and my prized possession, a sock monkey that my mommy made me for my first birthday. By the way, my mommy's in the hospital, but I don't know why she couldn't come with Daddy and me."

Chas was upset. He had promised his parents not to tell Melinda the truth, and besides, he didn't have the heart to do so, because he liked her too much…


It was on September 16 of that year when, during class at Third Street School, Chas and Drew and all their classmates were introduced to Melinda. Their fourth-grade teacher spoke to them in his deep, powerful voice, "Boys and girls, I'd like you to meet your new classmate: Melinda Cavanaugh."

"Hello, Melinda," said the fourth graders quietly.

"Hello," said Melinda with a big grin. "My name is Melinda. I grew up on a farm for the first nine years of my life."

The fourth-grade teacher said, "Melinda would like to make friends with you, so be nice to her."

As Melinda sat down, all of her classmates stared at her with confused expressions on their faces, but Melinda was already excited in her anticipation to make new friends.

Meanwhile, Drew just glared at Melinda with a mean look in his eye.


During recess, Chas' friends were playing around. Stu Pickles, Drew's younger brother, was in second grade. Didi Kropotkin was in first grade. Howard DeVille and Charlotte McSell were in third grade, and Betty Giselle, like Stu, was also in second grade and, her two front teeth having grown in to replace her baby teeth, she was missing a tooth on either end of them.

As Stu and Drew were looking at blades of grass through a magnifying glass, Charlotte sighed, "I'm bored of standing around here. Why don't we have a tea party?"

"Pass…" said Betty as she rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind," Howard said.

"Uh-oh! Here comes Finster with the new kid!" said Drew as he pointed to Chas and Melinda.

Chas led Melinda to his friends and said to her, "Melinda, these are my friends: Stu, Drew, Didi, Charlotte, Howard, and Betty. Guys, this is Melinda."

"Hey guys," said Melinda in a heartbeat.

"Hi, Melinda," said Stu, Didi, Charlotte, Howard, and Betty.

"So how old are you, Melinda?" asked Didi.

"I'm nine years old," Melinda answered.

But Drew cried, "What are you doing, Finster?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Chas.

"You know the rules! You're not even supposed to talk to her kind for at least 48 hours!"

"Her kind?" said Chas indignantly. "I don't remember reading that in the rules."

"Well, that's what would be in the rules if I were in charge of them."

"But the teacher said we're supposed to be nice to Melinda."

"Melinda? Melinda who?" asked Drew, who pretended not to know that she had a name.

Chas growled, "Melinda Cavanaugh. You should know that!"

"You know, guys," said Melinda to Chas and the others. "I like the fall season."

"What are you talkin' about? We're in school," said Betty as she looked at Melinda.

"I know, but fall is my favorite time of the year: jumping in the leaves, carving pumpkins, Thanksgiving dinner…"

"She has a point, Drew," said Stu.

But as Melinda smiled and everyone else gathered around her, Drew again glared at her. "How dare those idiots surround New Kid?" he thought. "But I'll show 'em…"


The next morning, Charles, Drew, and Melinda were in the classroom as the teacher gave roll call in alphabetical order: "William Baker?"

"Here," said William.

"Megan Bell?"

"Here," said Megan.

"Melinda Cavanaugh?"

"Here," said Melinda.

"You mean, New Kid!" chortled Drew out loud.

This drew the ire of the teacher who shouted, "Andrew Pickles! I told you to be nice to Melinda, now shape up! Also, you're not the next pupil on the list!"

Drew crossed his arms and sulked on his seat as the teacher continued his roll call: "Ralph Emerson?"

"Here," said Ralph.

"Gordy Fawn?"

"Here," said Gordy.

"Charles Finster?"

"Here," sighed Chas.


During recess, Chas and Melinda were running towards the jungle gym with Stu, Didi, Charlotte, Howard, and Betty, so that they all could play on it.

But little did they know that Drew was watching them from a bush at a distance.

"Look at those fools," he said to himself. "They think they're so smart, thinking that playing with New Kid is a good idea. Well, what do they know? I'm gonna humiliate this new kid like never before!"

He then poured a bucket full of water onto some dirt and mixed it into a mud puddle. "There, I made mud. What humiliates a girl more than getting dirty? All I gotta do is watch from a safe distance…"

And he fled and hid himself in the bush again to watch.

Meanwhile, Chas, Stu, and Howard were in one group, while Didi, Betty, Melinda, and Charlotte were in another group, with Charlotte playing with her new doll.

"Say, Didi, what do you think the boys are thinking about?" asked Melinda.

"Oh, I don't know," shrugged Didi. "Probably playing in the mud or something."

"That sounds awesome!" Betty cried out with delight. "I wanna play in the mud!"

Didi looked at her in disgust and said, "No way, Betty, that's filthy!"

"But it'll be fun!"

Turning to Melinda, Didi asked, "What do you think, Melinda?"

Suddenly, Melinda tripped on a rock and fell into the mud puddle Drew had made earlier. How Drew laughed out loud and shouted, "She looks like a giant mud pie!"

Everyone else looked on in curiosity and confusion, but Melinda sat up and said to the others, "It's all right, guys. When I was living at the farm, I always loved playing in the mud with the piggies."

"See? It's fun, Didi," said Betty.

Didi then turned to Charlotte and said, "Charlotte, I think it's time for tea."

"You said it, Didi," Charlotte replied.

And Didi and Charlotte went to a safe distance to play tea party with their dolls.

Chas, Stu, and Howard looked at Melinda and Betty wrestling each other in the mud, and Chas asked, "What do you think they're doing?"

Howard replied, "I think they're playing in the mud."

Stu was astonished and cried, "Cool! I never heard of a girl who liked mud… except for Betty! Care to join us, Chas?"

"No, I don't like getting dirty," Chas replied. "Melinda can have fun without me."

"Okay, suit yourself," said Stu as he jumped into the mud with Melinda and Betty.

Upon seeing Melinda playing in the mud with Stu and Betty, Chas rolled his eyes and said to himself, "Oh, great! Another Stu!"

As for Drew, he growled in defeat, for his plan to humiliate Melinda, the new kid, had backfired once again.


Two days passed by, and Drew tried everything: rope snares, "kick me" signs, even a bucking horse, the very one who had humiliated Drew at the previous year's horseback-riding competition. But every attempt to make Melinda look bad backfired. Chas stepped into the rope snare, he removed the "kick me" sign from her and replaced it with a "say 'Hi, Melinda' to me" sign, and what's more, Melinda, being a farm girl, knew how to tame and control a bucking horse.

Finally, on the third day, Drew was so infuriated at his multiple failures that he decided to take the direct approach, even though he wasn't supposed to because Melinda was a girl and Drew was a boy.

During recess, Melinda was playing in the jungle gym with her friends and she was about to slide down the slide, only to be met with Drew Pickles.

"Hi, Drew," said Melinda.

"All right, New Kid!" shouted Drew as he glared at Melinda. "It's my turn!"

For once, Melinda was scared. "Actually, it's my turn."

"Oh, no, it's not!" said Drew as he shoved her aside, to everyone else's shock.

Poor Melinda was so upset she nearly cried.

As all the students on the playground looked on, Chas was indignant. "You can't do that to a girl!" he cried. And he stepped up to Drew and shoved him down the slide, with Chas swiftly following.

Everyone who saw this chanted, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

And fight Chas and Drew did. At first, Chas didn't seem like much of a fighter, so everyone feared that Drew might gain the upper hand.

"Face it, Finster!" shouted Drew. "You're a scaredy-serf! A big, fat scaredy-serf!"

This made Chas so discouraged he was about to give up. But then, he saw Melinda look at him with a smile on her face. She encouraged Chas by exclaiming, "Don't be scared, Charles. You're big, and you're brave, like a knight in shining armor. You're a big, brave knight! Say it, and keep saying it!"

And Chas began to say to himself, "I'm a big, brave knight. I'm a big, brave knight. I'm a big, brave knight…"

And so, he set his own fears aside and began to beat Drew up. After about a minute, both boys had been beaten into a pulp, although Chas had clearly won the fight, as Drew was crying like a baby.

Chas was confused. "What did I do?" he asked.

Melinda slid down the slide, approached him, and said, "Don't you see, Charles? You saved me."

Suddenly, Chas crouched down in pain. "Then how come I don't feel so good?" he asked as he fell to the ground.


The next day, Chas and Drew returned to the school grounds with bandages all over their bodies. Drew had a broken arm in a sling, while Chas had a broken leg and crutches.

Melinda again came to Chas and said to him, "I knew you were a big, brave knight, Charles."

Chas blushed bright red. "Please, call me Chas! Charles is such a geeky name!"

"Well, I love it, Charles," Melinda replied. "I just wish I could repay you for standing up to Drew for me."

Chas replied, "I know. My dad tells me that violence should never be a man's first choice in resolving conflicts, but that defending someone you like is a noble thing to do."

"Why don't you go to Kelso's with me? I'll treat you there with a strawberry milkshake."

Chas smiled and said, "Gee, thanks, Melinda!"

"You're welcome," Melinda replied, and she went off to play with Betty again.

Chas sighed, until he noticed Stu and Drew chanting, "Chas and Melinda sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Hey!" Chas cried out to the Pickles brothers. "Just because I like Melinda doesn't mean I like like her!"

"Yeah, ya do!" Drew laughed until he felt some pain from his broken arm. Then he groaned, "I'm not gonna try anything like pickin' on a new kid again…"

Meeting Melinda Cavanaugh was a great joy for young Charles Finster. It was clear that he was starting to become attracted to her, and over the years, his affection for Melinda would get deeper and deeper, but that's another story…