Derek bit his lip. He felt for Sam. Part of him wanted to help. On the other hand, his own schedule was already crammed chock-full.

Of course he had to review the test material anyway. Derek had been thinking of studying with Vijay, who was one of the best students in the class. Studying with Sam would definitely slow down Derek’s pace—and eat up more of his scarce time.

“Well, I’m kind of booked this weekend… ”

“Next week, then? After school?”

“I guess.” In the end, he found he couldn’t say no. “Well, we’d better get to class,” he said with a sigh.

“Right,” said Sam. And off they went.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Jeter!”

Gary Parnell was staring at the application form in Derek’s hand. “You? In a talent show? I think that’s called an ‘oxymoron.’ ”

“Why? You don’t think I’ve got what it takes?” Derek shot back.

“Tsh!” Gary shook his head. “Okay, let’s hear it. Are you going to hit a baseball into the audience?”

“I might, if you don’t quit yapping.”

“Seriously, though—what other talents do you fantasize that you have?”

“Oh, I’m not going to spill the beans—not to you, anyway. I’ll just say this—Vijay and I are going to get huge cheers.”

“Vijay? Oh, please—this is just too good!”

“What about you, Gary? You too chicken to apply for the show? Or do you only sing in the shower?”

“I would not be caught dead on that stage, competing with the rest of you suckers. No way! I am so totally beyond that.”

“Yeah. Beyond the beyond.”

“But I’ll tell you one thing, Jeter,” Gary said as Derek got up from his desk to hand in the application. “I’m going to park myself right there in the front row. I want to get a good close-up view of you when everyone is laughing at you!”

Derek ignored him—or at least he didn’t answer Gary or even turn around to dignify that last rude comment. He knew Gary was that way about everything—except for the things he liked, like math, chess, and now computer games.

Still, what if Gary was right about Derek and Vijay’s dance? What if they did bomb up there onstage?

Gary, in his sneaky way, had somehow succeeded in planting a tiny seed of doubt in Derek’s brain.

Suddenly, agreeing to be in the talent show seemed like a bad idea. Still, he’d promised Vijay he’d do it. Second thoughts or not, Derek was going to get up there on that stage and give it everything he had.

“Class,” said Ms. Terrapin when they’d all settled back in their seats, “Since I know you’re all working hard reviewing the material in your booklets, I’m going to go light on homework this weekend—”