“Exactly!” Derek said. “So that’s how it is with decimal points—if the numbers are to the left of them, they’re whole numbers. If they’re to the right of the decimal point, they’re fractions, or percentages.”

“Oh. Wow—I never thought of it that way before. So, like, whatever is to the right of it is a percentage of one?”

“Yessss!!” Derek cried triumphantly, doing a fist pump. “Sam, we’re definitely making progress. Now, let’s get back to the booklet—”

“Uh… maybe tomorrow,” said Sam. “My brain is totally fried, man. And my stomach’s rumbling too. Gotta get some dinner in there fast.” He grinned at Derek and reached down for his book bag.

He yanked up on the strap, but he’d forgotten to zip up the bag, and as he lifted it, something fell out—a portable CD player. It popped open, revealing the CD inside.

Derek gasped. “That’s it!”

“Huh?” Sam reached down for the CD player.

“Wait, Sam—can I borrow that disc?”

“Thriller? I don’t know, man, it’s my favorite. It never gets old.”

Derek nodded. Thriller, the album, had been at the top of the charts all of last year. Yet Derek had never thought of it till now. And the title song was perfect for him and Vijay!

“Please? I’ll study with you again tomorrow.”

“Well, in that case… okay—but take good care of it. I’ll be wanting it back soon.”

“Can I have it till the talent show?” Derek begged.

“Whoa. That’s three weeks away. Mmmm… ”

Never mind, thought Derek. He could buy his own copy with the money he’d saved out of his allowance. “Okay, just for a couple days.”

“Sure. Here y’go.”

“Thanks, Sam. You’re a lifesaver!”

“Really? Cool! Well, gotta go—see you after school tomorrow!”

“Yeah… tomorrow.”

Derek wasn’t thrilled about doing all this studying with Sam, but he knew he was doing the right thing. And now his generosity had been rewarded—because of it, he’d found the perfect song for him and Vijay!

“Okay, so what songs did you find?”

“Not songs—song. This is going to be the one, Vij. Check it out.”

He popped the CD into his player and put the phone up to it so Vijay could hear. He let it play for half a verse, then paused it and put the phone to his ear. “Well?”

“ ‘Thriller’?”

“What? You don’t know it?”

“Of course I know it—everyone knows it! It was number one all last year—how could I not know it?”

“So, what? You don’t like it? You think people are tired of hearing it?”

“No, I think it’s really cool—it’s kind of a story, right? So we can act it out with our dancing.”

“Like a horror story!”

“Right!”