“I’ll… be making my decisions tomorrow regarding the under-twelve team,” he said. “You can check the sheet in the lobby here after six p.m. Right now, though, I’ve got things to take care of with this team. So… ”

“Right,” Derek said, getting the picture. The rest of this practice would be private—and he and his parents weren’t invited to stay.

Derek had been hoping the coach would tell him right there and then whether he’d made the team. Now he’d have to wait another whole other day!

He wasn’t sure he could take the suspense.

Chapter Thirteen UPS AND DOWNS

“Now, when he sings about the number on the dial, we should find a phone and pick it up—but the wire is just dangling, right? And the monster’s getting closer and closer!”

“Right!” Vijay agreed. “So we’ll need a phone with a ripped cord—and we can do some moves with it that’ll be funny.”

“And the monster can be holding the other part of the cord where he ripped it!” Derek threw in.

He and Vijay were going through their piece for the fifth time that afternoon, making little tweaks here and there. Each time, they would come up with new bits to add, to make the story clearer and funnier and scarier.

Vijay had learned all the moves Derek taught him, so now the two boys could move in unison or mirror each other.

Vijay’s moves were harder for Derek to master—mainly because he’d gotten a late start and was only now beginning to learn them. Besides that, he was still going easy on his neck—just to make sure there was no problem when showtime came.

One more week. It felt like the show was right around the corner, but in reality he and Vijay would have plenty of time after school next week to practice. Derek felt pretty confident that they would do well—or at least not embarrass themselves. He’d been worried about that at first—in fact, it was only when they’d seen Gary do his thing that Derek stopped worrying about how it would go.

Gary’s entrance was going to be the cherry on top! In fact, it would be sure to cause a total sensation!

So far, Gary had rehearsed with them only the one time, but his part was easy. There were no real break dance moves he had to do—just come onstage with a monster outfit and a ripped phone cord, and look and act scary. And then, of course, break into that crazy chicken dance!

“Shall we try the whole thing one more time?” Vijay asked, ready to hit the play button again.

“I don’t think so, Vij,” said Derek, looking at the clock on the living room wall. It was after five already. The team roster would be posted by six, the coach had promised.