“Don’t you know anything? It’s Jar-El, the final boss!”

“Huh?”

“From DoomMaster,” Gary explained, as if Derek were a two-year-old and didn’t know his fingers from his toes.

“Oooh. Okay,” Derek said doubtfully. “Gotta say, I’ve never heard of Jar-El—or DoomMaster. Just so you know, though—I am not going to be de-feat-ed on this test. Not by Jar-El, and definitely not by you, Par-Nell.”

Smack-talking was one thing, but actually beating Gary out on a test that measured everything they’d ever learned? That was going to take a lot of extra studying between now and the twentieth!

“Here’s something else to take home,” said Ms. Terrapin, handing back another bunch of papers. “Applications for the Fall Talent Show.”

“Yesss!” Vijay Patel said, pumping his fist. He looked across the room to Derek, waving the form at him excitedly and pointing at it with his other hand.

Derek had completely forgotten about the Fall Talent Show. Now he remembered that he and Vijay had talked about it over the summer—or written about it, to be more accurate.

Vijay had been halfway around the world in India last summer, attending a family wedding with his mom and dad—which was why he hadn’t joined Derek and Dave at the lake.

Vijay had written though—all about his gigantic family and Indian wedding customs. He’d also suggested the two of them work up a break dance routine for the Fall Talent Show.

Derek had sort of said “okay”… then proceeded to forget all about it. But obviously Vijay had not forgotten. Not at all.

“All right, class, you can start packing up your things,” said the teacher. “The bell’s about to—and there it goes,” she finished as the bell chimed in right on cue.

“Better start cramming, Jeter,” Gary said. “Oh no! Is that sweat on your forehead? You wouldn’t be worried, now, would you?”

“Not a chance,” Derek shot back, showing more confidence than he felt. “Forget Jar-El—I am Je-Ter, and you are going to find out who’s the real final boss.”

“Wait up, Derek!”

Vijay came up to him as he was repacking his book bag in the hallway.

“Hi, Vij.”

“So cool, right? You and me in the talent show?” He put out his hand for a high five.

“Definitely,” Derek said.

Truth was, the idea of the two of them break-dancing onstage did seem like fun. It definitely would make everyone at school stand up and take notice. He and Vijay sometimes fooled around with dance moves when they were over at each other’s houses—but nobody at school knew either of them were into it.

If Derek wasn’t all that enthusiastic right at the moment, it was because his mind was focused on outscoring Gary on the big test. Creating a talent show act definitely was going to infringe on his study and review time.