“If Derek’s friend is coming, I want Ciara to come too!” Sharlee protested.

“It’s too late to arrange that, Sharlee,” Mrs. Jeter said. “But we can take Ciara along another time, okay?”

“Awww… ” Sharlee pouted and folded her arms across her chest.

“If I’m going to coach you and Dave,” said Derek’s dad, “then Sharlee’s going to be my assistant coach. Right, Sharlee?”

“Yay!” Sharlee said, suddenly forgetting to be sad. “I get to tell Derek what to do!”

They all laughed, and Derek said, “Thanks, you guys—that’s awesome! I’ve got to go call Dave and let him know!”

“Tell him to get here at eleven thirty,” his mom called after him. “We’re heading over to the college around noon.”

After lining everything up with Dave, Derek said good night to everyone and went upstairs to work on his essay before bedtime.

“ ‘My Animal Encounter’?” he said to himself as he stared at the empty page in front of him. “I’ve never had any pets. We don’t live in the woods. What am I supposed to write about?”

He sighed deeply, but he knew it was no use to moan and groan. Complaining to his empty room wasn’t going to get him out of it. He looked at his alarm clock—the red numbers said 9:30. Derek blew out another breath. He was going to have to find something embarrassing to share, and fast.

AARRGH! His mind was a total blank!

He knew there must be dozens of times he’d crossed paths with animals—at the zoo, around the neighborhood—so why couldn’t he think of any now, when he needed to?

His mind was running through memories, one after the other. They started to blend together… and at some point, they turned into a dream.…

Derek shook himself awake and stared at the alarm clock—it was past ten!

His brain was totally fried. There was no way he could possibly write this stupid essay when he was this tired!

Still, he knew he had to try. He’d already committed tomorrow morning to reviewing for the test.

Make something up! he told himself. But even that proved difficult.

Finally, around ten thirty, he remembered the time he and a couple of his friends found that stray cat near the Mount Royal Townhouses’ maintenance shed. They named her Miss Jiggy, built a little house for her out of pieces of wood and asphalt shingles, and brought her food and water every day. This went on for almost a week. And then one day Miss Jiggy simply disappeared. The boys went crazy trying to find her, but they never did—until months later, when Derek saw Miss Jiggy looking at him from the neighbor’s kitchen window—wearing a satisfied cat smile and a jeweled collar around her neck!