Whatever The chores never took more than an hour especially if he hurried And he usually saved them until it was nearly the end of the day anyway They wouldn't put too much of a kink into his plans After you're done with breakfast you need to go upstairs and pack your duffel bag Mom said Kevin stopped chewing Where are we going he asked Vacation Disneyland Dad looked nervous again and Kevin felt sick to his stomach
You're going on an expedition he said Kevin couldn't help it he laughed Sure Dad he said taking another bite of pizza For a minute I thought something serious was going on An expedition sure what are we going to climb Mount Everest Find Bigfoot in the forests of Arkansas It's an all boys expedition Dad explained With Nature Crew And just like that Kevin went back to feeling sick to his stomach
He knew all about Nature Crew The boys at his school who participated were the type who took PE class seriously and got perfect grades The group did things related to the outdoors things that Kevin couldn't be less interested in Camping meant bugs sleeping on the ground and smelling like campfire smoke sweat and dirt It'll be a great trip Mom said She was clearly trying to make it sound like fun But Kevin knew
what it really was a punishment You're going to make so many new friends There was the root of it Mom and Dad were always worried about the fact that Kevin had no friends They gave him sad looks on Halloween when he had nobody to trick or treat with Or when he insisted on spending his birthdays alone in his room with an ice cream cake and a new video game And it's not that Kevin didn't want friends He would have loved