Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman

the rules of badminton.
7. Wesley says amazing things in his sleep!
7. He solves math problems.
    7a. and brainteasers.
8. I tried some cool hairstyles that lots of girls said looked cute.
8. One is named for Julius Caesar.

Chapter 15
THE POSTCARD WALL
    Dear Gabe,
    Hi from Disneyland. I no Disney is lame but I used to come here alot when I was a kid so my mom wanted to come 1 more time b4 we move. C the picktur on the front that is space montin. that ride is still good I rode it 3 times!! Its pitch black in their but not really scary. I like getting ur letters from camp it sounds like the funnest. can u beleve the wedding issoon. after disney I have to pack all my stuf t0 move but I got a space moantin poster to put in our new room. talk 2 u soon!
    from Zack
    â€œIs that a postcard, Gabe?” asked Nikhil. “Add it to the postcard wall!”
    â€œI think the postcard wall needs a theme song,” said Wesley. He sang, “
Postcard waalll, poooostcard wall.
”
    â€œWait,” said Nikhil. “We should only sing the postcard wall theme song when we add a postcard to it.”
    â€œOkay, but let me practice.
Postcard waalll, poooostcard wall. Gabe’s adding a postcard to the postcard wall.
” Wesley looked at Gabe, who was staring blankly at the back of his postcard. He sang, “
Gabe’s not adding a postcard to the postcard wall. He’s not even listening to the postcard wall song.
”
    That was true; Gabe wasn’t listening. He was trying to figure out what to do with this postcard. The picture of Space Mountain was cool, and the fact that Zack said “our room” made Gabe’s heart race with excitement. But Zack’s spelling was so poor. And so was his grammar. And even hishandwriting—it looked like he’d written it with the wrong hand. What if one of his bunkmates turned it over and saw how badly his stepbrother wrote?
It’s okay,
he thought.
What’s the big deal? It’s not like
I
spelled “mountain” two different ways—both wrong—even though the correct spelling is printed right on the postcard, just a few inches away.
    He stood up and walked over to the postcard wall with his postcard.
    Nikhil poked Wesley. “Sing it! He’s putting it up.”
    Wesley cleared his throat. “
Postcard wall, postcard wall.
”
    All the postcards were taped on the top so you could flip them up and see the messages. Nikhil’s eight-year-old sister had written with her postcard upside down, but Gabe remembered that her grammar was better than Zack’s. Even Wesley’s cousin in China had better spelling than Zack, and he was only just learning English. Gabe felt a funny, hollow feeling as he held Zack’s postcard. It was similar to how he felt back in New York City with Zack, when he’d worn his skeleton pajamas—only the reverse. Here at camp, could it be that
he
was embarrassed to have a stepbrother like
Zack
?
    David entered their section of the cabin and knockedon the side of Nikhil’s bed. “Dinnertime,” he said. “Come on, guys, line up.”
    Nikhil looked at his watch. “But it’s only five fifty,” he said. “My watch hasn’t even beeped the five-minute warning yet. And it can’t be wrong; it had the same time as the computer this morning—I checked. Just to be safe.”
    â€œYour watch is right, Nikhil,” said David. “But the camp director wants everyone there a little early today. She has an announcement.”
    Wesley dropped the book he was holding and stood up, ready to go. “Come on, guys. Announcement!”
    â€œMaybe it has to do with Color War,” said Nikhil.
    â€œBut the algorithm doesn’t have it breaking until next week,” said Gabe.
    â€œThe algorithm could be wrong,” said Wesley.
    â€œGuys,” said David, “let’s go.”
    With their hurry to get out and their conjecture about what the