Summary

September

It is the start of a new school year and Greg’s mother has bought him another journal. Greg tells her that he doesn’t want to carry around a book that says "diary" on it because he will get beaten up. Rodrick validates that claim as he spies Greg with the diary and calls him a sissy, then flattens him to the ground. Greg writes that over the summer Rodrick had gotten hold of the last journal and that it had been horrible.

In fact, Greg shares, his entire summer was horrible. His family hadn’t gone anywhere or done anything fun. He’d been forced to join the swim team and his father had not told him about the starter gun. When it went off at the first meet Greg was so worried about where the bullet would come down that...