“I’ll ask him. If he says no, that’s it.”

“Yes… that really will be it. I think we will have to withdraw from the competition in that case.”

Wow. Derek hadn’t thought of it quite like that till now. After they’d put in so much work—and had so many great ideas… to just drop out at the last minute would be a crushing blow!

Derek would survive. After all, he’d still be on the AAU under-12 basketball team. With Dave.

But where would Vijay be? This talent show was going to be his new claim to fame at Saint Augustine’s.

Derek couldn’t let his buddy down—he had to find a monster!

He was pretty sure Dave would say no, though.

And who was he going to ask then?

“I’m really sorry, Derek. I get it about Vijay. I wish I could help you both. But there’s just no way. I can’t. You don’t understand the feeling I get in the pit of my stomach whenever I even think about it!”

“I do understand,” Derek said. “I mean, I’m that way myself when it comes to getting up in front of the class and giving a speech. Don’t you remember in fourth grade when—”

“That was before I moved here, remember?”

“Oh. Right. Of course. Well, it happened, believe me. And it wasn’t pretty. I can get up there if I’m dancing, but don’t ask me to talk.”

Dave gave him a smile, and Derek went on. “Look, I know how you feel, believe me. But you can’t let your fear stop you, Dave! If you want to ever get past it and succeed, you can’t be afraid to fail.”

“You sound like your mom or dad,” Dave said.

Derek felt himself blushing. He’d heard that advice from one or both of them, for sure.

But he wasn’t just repeating it from memory. He believed it. He’d wanted to back out of this talent show early on himself, hadn’t he? But he’d stuck with it, and he was glad he did!

At least, he had been glad—until now.

“Sorry, Derek. I really am sorry. I owe you one—just… not this one.”

Derek sighed deeply as he watched Dave walk away down the hallway.

“Hey, Derek. What’s up?”

Derek swung around and found himself face-to-face with Sam Rockman.

“Oh—hi, Sam!”

“You okay, man?”

“Yeah! Fine! Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know.… I mean, we’re on the team together, dude! Is that great, or what?”

“Yeah!” Derek high-fived Sam, who was obviously in a great mood.

“So your mom decided to let you play, huh? That’s fantastic!”

“Yeah! And it’s only because of you, dude. If not for you, I’d have been all scheduled up with tutoring, extra homework—ugh! I can’t thank you enough.”