Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel is the seventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The book was officially released on November 13, 2012. The book covers the months from January to Febuary. The book's 7 page sneak peek was released in September 2012. Gary Heffley was the main antagonist, this one of the only books to based on a specific event, its main event is the Valentine's Dance in the gym.

Characters
Main and Major Characters


 * Greg Heffley (Main Character)
 * Rodrick Heffley
 * Rowley Jefferson
 * Gary Heffley
 * Manny Heffley
 * Susan Heffley
 * Mad Pantser (Major Antagonist)
 * Abigail Brown
 * Frank Heffley
 * Eugene Ellis
 * Ruby Bird

Minors with big roles

 * Laurel Stringer
 * Mr. Stringer
 * Wesley Stringer
 * Mrs. Stringer
 * Vice Principal Roy

January
Greg talks about his baby days and explains that before being born, he was in a dark place swimming and napping anytime he wanted, until being waken up by classical music that his mother Susan would send through the parental speakers. Susan would also tell Greg about her life through the speakers too and Frank would also tell him about his day at work. Greg then got tired of it and got out three weeks early. Then he explains how everything he got was a hand down from his elder brother Rodrick. Susan used to not let Greg crawl a lot and that resulted in Greg being way behind his playmates in the physical things. Greg finally learned to walk, but was in pre-school by the time and was still quite behind his classmates. His classmates could do things like use zippers and buttons and many other things. Greg was unable to, so he tried to slow them down by giving them wrong information. However the teacher thought he wasn't learning well and called Susan and told her. Susan made him skip to kindergarten,but he was behind there so he had to go back to preschool.

Greg then explains how his younger brother Manny's social skills are bad as he watches The Snurples, a show in which the characters have their own gibberish language and he also made imaginary friends to escape danger and get extra dessert.Manny also doesn't interacts with other kids as he is scared of them. Greg then talks about the family resturant, Corny's where there is a rule about not wearing a tie and they get in Children's alley because of Manny and the place is quite a madhouse as it has kids playing and flinging food around and the tables are never cleaned.Greg was doing housely chores until he heard a knock and found his Uncle Gary at the door. Gary had bought some Boston counter shirts after loaning some of Frank's money, but the shirts had a typo and he needed a place to stay in. Living with Gary was bad for the Heffleys,his nightmares made Manny shift his bed away from the wall and whenever Rodrick is kicked out of bed in morning he has to sleep on the up part of the couch.

Greg explains how Gary has been trying to get a job but is leaving it in a few days.One of Greg's teacher,Mrs Moretta announced in Phys Ed that the ballroom dancing unit is starting and people should find a partner by writing there names in slips and submiting them.Greg explains he will be fine with pairing with anyone except for Ruby Bird, a girl in Greg's school who has a bad habit of biting people and was suspended for biting Mr. Underwood in the elbow.It was the partner announcment day,in Greg's favor Ruby was paired with Fregley.But he and four other kids were partnerless.The teacher paired them up with each other.It was a special assembly in the school,a hyptonist called "Amazing Andrew" came to the school,his finale was hypnotizing a line of eighth grade into thinking their arms are linked together and would unlink if he says "Cucumber",a lot of people started doughting if he is actually real or the eighth graders were faking.The Vice Principal, Mr. Roy announced that a student council elections will be held because the previous members were missing the meetings.

He also made a rule that a person with 3 or more detentions will not be allowed.Greg had got 3 detentions, so he thought of getting Rowley to somehow get selected and Greg would control him.But it turned out that the speech was only the one for presidents and Rowley got social chairperson by default since nobody else ran for it.Eugene Ellis won it by promising better toilet paper.In the student council,the teacher Mrs Birch told them that it was expensive to fill all toilets with expensive papers,so she made an announcment that a fundraiser will be done.Greg explains how Gary has been hitting everyone for loans and he would waste the money he earns on scratch cards.

February
The treasurer, Javan Hill went to use the faculity bathroom and found expensive toilet rolls in the bathroom. Eugene then confronts Mrs. Birch. Mrs. Birch made a rule that people will bring their own rolls.It was the first day when people where allowed to bring the rolls,but some kids got too much and had to carry their supply everywhere they went.The principal made a rule that only 5 rolls are allowed,while Greg had twenty.To save them,Greg took the cleanest stall in the toilet and slipped in old shoes and his toilet paper in,making it look occupied.It went fine until Greg forgot to pick a shoe and people found his stash and stole it.

The student council starts thinking up ideas for a fundraiser, but Eugene and Javan couldn't come up with good ones, so Eugene assigned it to the vice-president Hillary Pine, who along with the secretary Olivia Davis came up with an idea. Hillary reported back and said that a Valentine's Day dance will be the fundraiser instead of the motocross/wrestling event that Eugene and Javan had planned. After the dance news was announced, everybody became excited about the dance. Many boys decleare that they won't go to the dance, but they changed their minds after the first row of Candy Grams (a invitation to the dance with candy on it) was delivered and the kids who didn't get them, had started getting jealous of the ones that did. The boys started behaving well in front of the girls and they also had a big rush at Candy Grams in the break.

In Phys Ed,a kid called Anthony Renfrew pantsed Daniel Revis when he was shooting free throws in basketball.Daniel pantsed Anthony back,and the "pantsing fever" began. All boys wouldn't even stand up, and so the Vice Principal, Mr. Roy got angry and lectured the boys and said whoever pantses someone will be suspended. Iroonically, during his lecture a kid pantsed the vice principal and ran away before he could be seen.The kid started refering him as the "Mad Pantser".Greg got an idea of asking his Uncle Gary for tips as he has been married 4 times.He told Greg to buy a lot of Candy Grams and send it to himself,which might make the girls think he is a hot propety.He for a few days used his lunch money to buy the grams. Greg thought of writing to Adrianne Simpson,but also wrote a note under it "Ps If the answer is no,please hand this to Julia Barros,who is two seats to your left" so he doesn't waste it on one girl,but they both rejected him.

His other campaigns were also failed as he was not brave enough to talk to the girl or he was rejected.Greg was worried about Evan Whitehead,a boy who claimed to have kissed many different girls,however he was sent home due to chicken pox and Greg is afraid that he might have infected some girls.Gary told Greg to get a wingman,Greg chose Rowley to become one.But Rowley was telling obvious fibs about Greg to the girls.Greg thought of calling Alyssa Grove who broke up with her boyfriend,she wasn't their,so Greg tried to leave a message,but since Rowley was there making funny faces,he and Rowley were just playing with the phone.Then at Dinner Alyssa's father came and complained to Frank that Greg and Rowley sent 20 Prank messages to his machine.Greg tried to get some clothes,but his mother refused to do so.Greg looked around the house,Rodrick's wardrobe had clothes with a different taste then the ones he likes.He found a Leather Jacket in his father's wardrobe and liked it and asked Frank if he can borrow it,Frank told him he can,but Susan denied as she thought he would damage or lose it.After taking a shower,Greg sneaked out of the house wearing that Jacket.At school he was gaining a lot of attention,but during the homeroom class,his mother came into the class and took the jacket from Gregory and gave him her coat to wear.After this incident,he thought of getting a girl from Church.Susan had recently become friends with Mrs. Stringer and she invited her family over for dinner.They had a boy called Wesley,who is about Manny's age and he also bullied Manny and a girl called Laurel who is about Greg's age and according to Greg she is attractive.When the Stringers came,Wesley terrorized Manny,which caused Manny to skip dinner and go to bed.When they were talking,Mrs. Stringer told her she needed a relaible baby-sitter for Wesley,Greg volunteered and Mrs. Stringer was impressed and told him to come tommorow.Greg was dropped at the Stringer's home at 6:30 PM,Mrs. Stringer told Greg that when she will come and when to put Wesley to sleep.After she left with her husband,it was just Greg and Wesley.Wesley told Greg to get his bike from the garage,Greg refused as it was cold,but he said he would ride it inside,but Greg denied.Wesley became angry,but cooled down and asked Greg to get his coloring stuff from the laundry room.Greg went inside the room,and Wesley locked the door and started riding his bike.After half-an-hour,Greg finally escaped from a door and was outside the house,he thought of catching Wesley by suprising him.He jumped into a room,it was Laurel,it was cold so Greg slept in the bed,but the Stringers came home and presumably fired Greg.After blowing his chances,Greg lost hope,but Rowley reported that Abigail Brown said that her boyfriend Michael Sampson can't go to the dance due to family obligations and she got a dress.Greg and Rowley asked Abigail if she would like to go with them as a dance group,Abigail agreed.

Greg took Rowley's father's car as it was a nice car.Greg told Gary about the dance,Gary got excited and volunteered to be the DJ for the dance.Greg bought some Valentine's Choclates for Abigail and wore a suit of Rodrick and sprayed his Great Uncle Bruce's cologne because he thought it was safer then the body spray in Rodrick's drawer.When Greg walked up to Rowley's house,he saw red bumps on Rowley's face and thought it was chicken pox.Rowley freaked out,but Greg put make up to hide his red spots and even made him wear a scarf to hide the make-up and a beach hat to cover the upper ones.Then after they got ready,they got into Rowley's car and drove upto Abigail's.Mr. Jefferson told them that one of them had to escort her,Greg went to do it.When they got into the car,hey saw that Rowley was trying to impress Abigail and was also talking with her.Mr. Jefferson stopped his car near the Vacuum repairs and got his Vacuum and put in the back.

Greg was sitting on the back and his suit jacket was covered with Vacuum smears so he left his jacket when he took them to Spriggo's a fancy resturant.When they came there,the host told Greg it was a rule that males needed to wear jackets.Greg didn't get his from the car and took a subsitute one there.The jacket stunk,he went to the bathroom to try to wash it but it wouldn't,so he left the resturant and forcefully went to Corny's.At Corny's they got a seat in the Adult section since there weren't any small kids with them.The waiteress gave them corn chips to eat.Greg was scared that Rowley might infect Abigail,Rowley was telling them bout a story about a beach house he hired in the last summer.The waiteress came back,Abigail ordered appetizers,Rowley copyed her.When the main course menu came,Abigail ordered the T-Bone steak,the most expensive item,Rowley copyed her again.Greg ordered a plain hamburger,as he wanted to save money.They also ordered desserts,Greg fibbed it was Rowley's birthday so Rowley's cake would be free.The bill was a lot,Greg payed all his money to fill it up.

Then they went to the dance, which has a theme of "Midnight in Paris", and the gym is decorated as if it was a street in France,there was also a long table with snacks,punch and also a chocolate fountain with strawberries for dipping.After handing the tickets,Greg and Abigail took a photo as a couple in a backdrop of Paris and Rowley also got in the picture.Greg noticed Gary Heffley was selling his Boston typo shirts to his classmates,the kid got fooled as the gym was dark.When the dance was starting,some Senior Centre members came in.They told the teacher that they reserved the gym for a meeting before it was reserved for a dance,and had papers for proof.The teacher divided the gym into half to solve the problem.The seniors turned all lights on and also told them to turn the music into almost mute.The boys who acted good infront of girls started cutting loose and started playing with the food and their clothes.The Mad Pantser pantsed Rowley causing Greg to stay away from the stairs.At about 9 PM,Michael Sampson came in with Cherie Bellanger.Abigail was already there and found that Michael lied and started crying,and her friends and Greg tried to cheer her up. The Senior Citizens's meeting ended and they came to their side and ate all refreshments and made song requests and started dancing. At about 10 PM Gary Heffley announced the last song was coming up,Greg was standing in a point and he saw Ruby Bird coming up to him.To escape he grabbed Abigail's hands and took her to an empty spot in the dance floor.They started dancing, but Greg saw a pimple on Abigail's face and Screamed and Abigail felt hurt and she started crying. She was close to Rowley who tried to cheer her up and escorted her to the house.

The book ends with Greg getting chicken pox, Gary winning $40,000 from a scratch card and repayed Frank the money he had owed him and moved out and Greg hearing that Abigail and Rowley became a couple.

Flashbacks
These are the flashbacks shown throughout the book,these are arranged in the order they were shown.
 * The first time Greg went to Corny's, he did not look at his seat and ended up sitting on a open faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
 * Susan once took Manny to the ball-pit at Corny's, Manny went into the plastic tubes and was too scared to come down on his own,so Susan made Greg go their,when Greg got to the top of the tubes,there wasn't any ventilation there so Greg's socks become dirty,a kid vommitted and all the kids ran away,Greg found Manny but Greg also got scared and a waiter came to save both of them and this caused Greg to throw away his favourite jeans because even after washing them with bleach three times,they weren't cleaning.
 * (this was shown in the middle of the flashback when Manny gets stuck in plastic-tubes)Greg tells about how he is bad at mazes and how he and Susan went to the Corn maze in Reynold's farm an autumn ago,they got stuck their,Greg couldn't help them escape so Susan called somebody from 911 to rescue them.
 * Greg says about how on a new year's eve Susan wanted Manny to feel what its like staying up at midnight without letting him stay late so Susan turned all the clocks three hours ahead ,Susan and Frank started counting with Manny,Greg thought it was midnight for real and he joined them,Greg slept at 10:30 thinking it was 1:30,this caused Greg's time shedule of the year messed up by three hours.
 * Gary had once taking a job as a test-subject for a company which made pepper spray,he got fed up of the job and quit before lunch time.
 * A summer ago,Frank (Greg's father) had a "Bring your child to work day",all the kids went to the cafeteria and there the grown-ups had things to entertain the kids,later Frank took Greg to his office,Frank was getting disturbed by Greg,so he gave Greg a dollar,Greg bought some jawbreakers and Frank got more disturbed so he made Greg go out.Greg went to the bathroom and stayed almost the whole night until a janitor found him there.
 * Greg talks about how about a year ago he wrote the name of the girl he liked the most named Baylee Anthony,Baylee wrote Bryce Anderson's name,but Bryce got paired up with McKenzie Pollard,Greg got selected with Baylee because he picked her,but Baylee kept complaining and Greg couldn't dance.
 * A assembly guest called Strong Steve came to the school a year ago,he gave kids a lecture about how they needed to stay off drugs and ripped a phone books as his finale.The kids got crazy after him and tore half of the reference books in the library.
 * They also once had a guest called Krisstina who claimed to be a international pop singer and her lyrics were about telling kids too never give-up and follow their dreams,however her world tour tells she has never been out of the state.
 * A police officer also one came and told the kids about narc which was about pretending to be a highschool student and report on teens that were doing bad things.
 * On Greg's first day of middle school,a eighth grader came and told Greg about a secret elevator that goes to the second floor and sold a pass to him for five bucks,it turned out to be the janitor's room,Greg held the pass until he sold it to someother six-grader.
 * A few weeks ago Greg's school had a fundraiser were they sold crunchy chocolate candy-bars,Greg ate about fifteen,until Susan found it out and stopped him,she also wrote a cheque and sent it to the school for money to make up for the candy-bars.
 * Some years ago,Frank bought Gary a winter jacket,while Gary bought him a scratch card which only costed a dollar,Frank was angry,but when he scratched,he got three cherries which were the prize for a hundred-thousand dollar,Frank got excited but found it was a fake gag gift.
 * When Susan was in PTA,she started a petition about making kids wear school-uniforms because she read it makes kid do better in academics,she didn't got much signatures,but it got spread that she was the one who started it,some kids got angry and wanted to beat Greg up afters school,,making Greg wait a half-hour until it gets safe outside.
 * Greg talks about how Rodrick used to give time-outs to Greg even though he wasn't authorized to give him,Greg once broke the wedding photo,Rodrick gave him a half-hour timeout,when Greg's parents came Greg said that they didn't need to give him a time-out because Rodrick already gave him,but they told him only they are allowed to give him time-outs and gave him a double time-out.

Excerpts

 * I looked for a way to escape, but I was trapped. Luckily, Abigail walked out of the bathroom at that exact moment and I grabbed her hand just before Ruby got to me. Abigail's makeup was a mess from all of the crying, but I didn't really care. I was just happy to have an excuse to get  away from Ruby. And to be honest with you, I think Abigail was happy to see me, too, so I led her to an empty spot on the dance floor.


 * I'd never slow-danced with a girl before, So I didn't know where I was supposed to put my hands. She put hers on my shoulder, and I put mine in my pockets, but that kind of felt dumb. So we met in the middle, and that seemed about right.


 * And speaking of Rowley and Abigail, I heard that the two of them are a couple now. All I can say is if that's true, it makes Rowley 'the worst wingman in history.'
 * Im supposed to stay home from school for at least a week. The good news is that with everyone out of the house, I can take a long bath without anyone bothering me.
 * Or at least I THINK I'm alone. Today I had a fresh towel next to the tub, and when I open my eyes it was gone. So either somebody's messing with me or Johnny Chedder is at it again.
 * Everything probably would've been just fine, but at lunch someone threw a roll of toilet paper at somebody else, and within about fifteen seconds it was a total madhouse.
 * I couldn't find any cologne in Rodrick's junk drawer, but I DID find a bottle of that body spray they're always advertising on TV. I was a little nervous about using it, though, because if that stuff really works like they say in the ads then tomorrow night could be a nightmare.
 * I just watched everything play out from my spot against the back wall,wondering why I'd wanted to go to the dance in the first place. I was also to regret not wearing body spray in Rodrick's junk drawer, because Great Uncle Bruce's colonge was attracting people outside my age group.

Sneak Peak
This is a small 15 page peak into the book given by Diary of a Wimpy Kid Wiki,you might need to click on the images to view them more clearly. No more pages will be given. There was also a 7 page sneak peek if you had pre ordered the book from Scholastic.

Major Events and Moments

 * Greg talks about the days when he was a baby.
 * Gary Heffley moves in with the Heffleys.
 * Rowley becomes the Social Chairperson.
 * Eugene Ellis becomes the President of Student Council.
 * Javan Hill becomes the Treasurer.
 * Hillary Pine becomes the Vice President.
 * Olivia Davis becomes the Secretary.
 * The formation of the Dance Committee.
 * Greg tries to get a date for the Valentine's Dance.
 * Greg goes to the Valentine's Dance with Abigail and Rowley as a group of "friends".
 * Gary Heffley wins $40,000 from his lotto scratch card and moves out of the house.
 * Greg gets chicken pox in the end.
 * Rowley and Abigail possibly became a couple.

Trivia and Goofs

 * Holly Hills was rumoured to be Greg's partner for the dance by many fans, but she wasn't even mentioned and only appeared in Greg's relationship chart as liking Bryce Anderson. This could mean Greg has given up on Holly. At the end of The Last Straw it was hinted after Greg wrote the fake letter from Holly Hills that he gave up on her due to being too hard to reach.
 * However, in the Movie Dog Days, Holly might have did became couple with Greg; in the book they didn't become couples which might explain why Holly picked Bryce Anderson.
 * This book has the joint least-months along with Cabin Fever as they both have only two months.
 * The Mad Pantser's Identity is unknown.
 * He could be Anthony Renfrew since Anthony was the starter of Pantsing fever,but it could also be somebody else.
 * There is an exclusive version of this book, which has Fregley's secret note in the back. It's a poem by Fregley that shows why girls (specifically Ruby Bird) must go with him to the dance.
 * Jeff Kinney also announced that Diary of a Wimpy Kid 8 is coming,just after this book was released.
 * Rodrick is shown much skinner then he is in other books.
 * Rowley closes his mouth for the second time in the books on page 166 while eating chocolate,he closed his mouth in the online version,so this can't be considered the first time in the "history",he closed once in Cabin Fever when he was kissing a woman,so It's also not the first in the books.
 * It was revealed that Rodrick might hate Greg because Susan gave Rodrick's pacifier to Greg and Rodrick never wanted to give his pacifier up, but this might not be true because Rodrick doesn't act childish and Greg is not always true.
 * It is unknown what happened to Greg's towel at the end of the story, it might be revealed in eighth book.
 * Rodrick has a much shorter role in this book,in most of the parts when the family gathers together Rodrick is not there.
 * Also, Rodrick doesn't bother Greg, making it the first book to not have Rodrick bully Greg.
 * Rodrick also does not have any dialouge in this book.
 * Greg claims to remember stuff before he was born. However, doing so is biologically impossible. He is most likely writing what he thinks happened.
 * Greg has his covers yanked off the bed by his father to wake Greg up for school. This is the second time this has happened in the series. The first was The Last Straw.
 * Greg weighed only 5 pounds and 7 ounces at birth - the average is 7 pounds and 8 ounces, meaning he was two pounds lighter than average,this hints why he was so thin and another hint is that he was born 3 weeks premature, as well as Greg mentioning that he never met Rodrick until a few days after he was born.
 * The book's title was actually Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Odd Man Out but Kinney changed it to The Third Wheel.
 * This is the second book to have an error in the length of a month. February had 5 weeks instead of 4. The first was Dog Days's June.
 * Rowley and Abigail remain couples in Hard Luck, marking the first time either Greg or Rowley has had a relationship and even more remarkably over more than one book.
 * There are many things featured in this book that are expected to be revealed in the eighth book.
 * In this book even in the flash-backs Greg doesn't has buck teeth,this is the first book to feature a very young  or baby Greg without buck teeth.
 * It covers months of January and February.
 * On Page 102, when Greg states the "motorcross/wrestling event somehow morphed into a VALENTINE'S DANCE", the capital V in Valentine's looks slightly different from other capital Vs in the books.