Free Beware the Ninja Weenies by David Lubar

scent of chlorine in the air. No pool smell. If anything, the air smelled of salt and seaweed.
    Joey put his goggles back over his eyes and rolled forward, starting another slow crawl. He knew it was pointless, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do.
    Joey swam. Around him, the water lapped at his arms and legs, patient, waiting.

 
    BEDBUGS
    â€œ Don’t let the bedbugs bite,” Dad said as the bus pulled into the rec center parking lot.
    I laughed, even though it wasn’t really funny. Behind Dad, Grandma gave me a wink and a nod. I winked back and patted my pocket to let her know I had the bottle.
    â€œHave fun,” Mom said. “Be careful.”
    â€œI will.” I figured that answered both her sentences. Around me, a herd of kids charged toward the bus as the doors opened.
    â€œThis is going to be great,” Bobby Epstein said as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me into the mob.
    â€œFor sure.” I pushed my way onto the bus, along with the rest of the kids. Our youth group was going to New York City for an overnight trip. Today, we’d get to go to the science museum, and then have dinner at a real New York restaurant. Tomorrow, we’d see a Broadway show in the afternoon before heading back home.
    It was about a two-hour ride from South Jersey up to New York. Most of us had been to the city before, but Bobby was just about the only one who had ever stayed there. Him and Trent Parnell.
    â€œWe stayed at the Ritz,” Trent said. “It’s the most expensive hotel in all of New York. We had a suite. That’s a whole bunch of rooms, all just for us. I had my own bed. It was king size. There was a TV in every single room. Even the bathroom!”
    I didn’t bother listening. Trent always bragged about having the most expensive or the biggest or the best of everything.
    â€œMy dad and I stayed at the YMCA. It was fun.” Bobby held up the sheet of paper that listed our schedule. “I don’t know this hotel.”
    â€œIt’s whatever Mr. Drampner picked out,” I said.
    Mr. Drampner was in charge of the youth group. He ran the sports and picked the movies for movie night. He did a pretty good job, but sometime he’d try to get the cheapest stuff to save money. I glanced at the sheet in Bobby’s hand. I’d never heard of the hotel, either. But that didn’t mean anything. There were a zillion hotels in New York.
    After we came out of the tunnel, we headed downtown. It took a long time to get through the city traffic to our hotel.
    â€œIck,” Trent said as we got off the bus. “This place is a dump.”
    I had to agree—it didn’t look very nice from the outside. The windows were dirty, and the walls were covered with graffiti. It was a little better inside.
    â€œAt least it seems kind of clean,” Bobby said.
    â€œI guess it’s not bad.” The rugs were worn out and the wall paper was peeling, but someone had vacuumed recently, and there wasn’t any sort of bad smell.
    Mr. Drampner got the room keys and handed them out. We were staying two kids in a room, except for Trent, who made a big fuss about not wanting to have to share a room since he had his own room at home. Luckily, there was an odd number of kids, so he got to be by himself. Bobby and I stuck together, of course.
    â€œCool!” Bobby said when we went into our room. “It’s got a big TV.”
    He bounced on one of the beds.
    â€œCareful,” I said. “Check it for bedbugs.”
    â€œAre you serious?” he asked.
    â€œFor sure.” After Grandma had warned me about bedbugs, I’d actually looked them up online. It was a big problem in some hotels. And not just in cities. They were showing up all over the place. “The thing is, you don’t even feel it when they bite you. But you’ll itch like crazy later.”
    I pulled back the bedspread and checked the sheets. “They say you