Dave was there, too, along with his parents—and Chase! Derek hadn’t realized they would all be there to see the show. “Just because I was too chicken to get up there didn’t mean I wasn’t going to come root for my best bud,” Dave told him.

“Thanks,” Derek said. “I wish you would have been in it, though—it would have been so cool.”

“Yeah? I don’t think so. Anyway, Sam was mind-blowing! Who would have thought he had it in him?”

“I know! Right?” Derek had to laugh along with Dave at the thought. “He wasn’t my first choice, believe me—or even my second.”

He didn’t tell Dave who the second choice had been. He figured Gary was feeling bad enough already. Why make it worse by telling more people?

“Nice trophy!” Dave told Vijay, who had come up beside them. “Wow—you guys are so multitalented! Who knew?”

“That’s just it,” Derek said. “You never know until you try. Right, Vij?”

“You can say that again!” Vijay agreed, giving the trophy a kiss.

“So, who’s going to get to keep it?” Dave asked. “Too bad they only gave you one.”

Derek and Vijay looked at each other. “You keep it, Derek,” Vijay said.

“No, Vij. This whole thing was your idea.”

“No, Derek, we both came up with lots of good ideas!”

Then both boys came up with the same solution. “Sam!”

“You’re going to give it to Sam?” Dave said, surprised. “But he only had that short bit at the end. Sure, it was amazing, but—”

“He saved our act,” Vijay said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have won.”

“Come on, you guys,” Derek said, “let’s all go get some dessert—we’ve got a lot to celebrate!”

Derek lay in bed with the lights out, feeling like he had a bowling ball in his stomach. Of course, it was only four scoops of ice cream, along with a big helping of satisfaction. He might not be able to eat again for a week—but tonight’s celebration had been worth it!

He’d never imagined, way back during the summer, when he’d fantasized with his friends about talent shows and basketball teams, that he would be here in early October with a golden trophy and a spot on the basketball team!

None of it had been easy, either. Almost everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong.

He might easily have failed to make the team—in fact, he almost had.

He and Vijay might have had to cancel their routine when they couldn’t find a monster—but they’d found Sam in the end.

They might have forgotten or blown a dance move in the middle of the performance—but they hadn’t.

And if they had? If he had failed at one or more of his efforts?