As for Sharlee, she didn’t seem the least bit anxious about performing in front of a crowd of people. She was her usual bubbly, talkative self, making them all laugh.

When she stepped out onstage with the rest of the dancers, her family stood up in the audience and clapped and whooped for her. She turned and waved, beaming her happiest smile. But in doing so, she fell out of rhythm with the other dancers.

Derek thought this little slipup might rattle his sister. But no—not Sharlee. Instead of checking the other kids to get back in sync with them, she kept right on with what she was doing.

And far from being tentative and halfway with her dance moves, she threw herself into it as if she were the only person on the stage!

The audience loved it—and not just her own family, either. At the end, when the dancers took their individual bows, Sharlee got the biggest ovation of them all!

Afterward, the Jeters went out for ice cream sundaes to celebrate. And none of them mentioned the fact that Sharlee had been out of rhythm.

So what if she’d done some little thing wrong? There was so much she’d done right!

This hit home to Derek as he sat there, fighting off ice-cream brain freeze. It wasn’t being perfect that mattered; it was being totally committed.

Sharlee couldn’t have pulled it off if she’d been afraid to fail! If even a brief moment of doubt had interrupted her flow, she wouldn’t have succeeded in winning over the audience.

Derek stored this important nugget of wisdom away in the back of his brain. He knew it might come in handy—and soon.

For days now, Derek had been feeling more and more confident. Coach Nelson had given him renewed hope of making the team—and his neck was hardly bothering him at all!

On top of everything, his dance with Vijay was looking like a winner—especially now that Gary’s fantastic monster bit had been added into the mix!

He’d seen how Sharlee had overcome a gaffe at the very beginning of her performance and gone on to steal the show. So Derek knew that if something went wrong during their “Thriller” routine, he could still overcome it.

And yet…

He lay in bed in the darkness, the same old fears beginning to creep back into his brain. He kept hearing Gary’s mocking voice in his head, and it just would not shut up.

Tomorrow was Thursday—Derek’s big chance to make the team. But to succeed, he’d have to impress the coach with more than just his character—against a team of older kids who’d already proven they were the best in town—good enough to be on the traveling team!