Rumors in Talent

"A TALENT SHOW?!?!" Everyone heard Casey scream throughout the whole school.

"Whoa Case! Calm down!" Emily Davis; Casey's best friend, yelled, covering her ears.

"I'm sorry; I have just always wanted to be in a talent show! At my old school, we never had one!" Casey said, excitedly. Emily laughed; her friend did have a pretty good voice. They walked in their homeroom right on time for the bell.

"Hey Derek, I bet you ten bucks you wouldn't try out for the talent show" Sam teased his friend while they were walking down the hallway. "Make it twenty and it's a deal!" Derek yelled; he was always up for a challenge.

"Are you serious? Dude, only girls do that junk, you aren't a girl, are you?"

"No, but like I always say, I am up for any challenge!" Derek said, yelled, high-fiving his other friend Ralph as he walked past.

"Whatever dude, I know you won't! I mean, Casey's trying out, and you know she has a great voice! No offense, but she is so going to beat you!" Sam said, watching Derek turn down the hall toward his 2nd period class.

"That's what you think!" Derek yelled, running down the hall. Sam rolled his eyes; he knew Derek had a plan.

"No way!" Casey yelled, and once again, the whole school could have heard her. She was about to sign her name on the talent show sign-up, but while she was looking the names over, she saw someone's she never would have thought she would see on it. It was Derek's. "How could he? He knows how much I love to sing! I am so going to get him!" After she signed her name on the "Solo" side, she went to the cafeteria, toward Derek's table. When she reached it, she grabbed Derek by his collar and started walking out the door.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Derek yelled, trying to break free.

"What the heck are you doing?! You know I was going to sign up for the talent show! How could you put your name on that sheet! You don't even sing!" Casey yelled.

"Well sorry if I don't take singing lessons every weekend, but all I wanted to do was…" Suddenly Derek remembered that the reason was to bug Casey.

"Was what?!" Casey yelled "To bug me? I thought so!" She shoved Derek onto the ground "Face it Derek, you know I am going to beat you!" She yelled in his face. She started walking toward her own table, near Emily.

Derek rolled his eyes and started walking back to his table. "I need to win that talent show, I need to beat Casey!" Derek thought. Suddenly his brain turned on; he had a better idea, and it was to simply start a rumor. "Maybe after this idea, I will most defiantly win, because Casey probably won't even have the guts to be in the talent show"

"Oh my god Casey! I can't believe you would even think of doing that!" Casey heard everyone say that as she walked through the school doors.

"What are you talking about?" Casey asked, confused.

"We all know you were going to lip sync in the talent show! Don't lie! Derek even said so!" Kendra yelled, walking up to Casey.

"Oh, and you believe Derek?" Casey asked, stunned.

"Um, yeah I do!" Kendra said laughing. "For some reason, this seems like a stunt you would pull, to win." Kendra laughed and walked away.

"Oh my god!" Casey yelled. She slumped onto the ground against her locker. "I can't believe him!"

No one would talk to Casey all day. When she would look at someone, they would just turn their head. "Everyone seriously believes this rumor?" Casey asked herself "I can't believe it!"

As she sat down with Emily (the only person who would talk to her) Derek walked by "I can't believe you would do that Casey!" he said, with a smirk on his face. Casey just stared at Emily, pretending he wasn't there.

"I guess we have a clear winner for the talent show now!" Derek yelled, so everyone could hear. Kendra smirked. "Yah that winner will be me!" Derek just ignored her.

"You stupid brat! I can't believe you would stoop this low to kick me out of the talent show!" Casey felt tears forming in her eyes. "Congratulations! You won! I am officially not doing the show now! I hope you're happy!" Casey couldn't take it anymore, she started crying as hard as she could, and ran out of the cafeteria to the bathroom. She went into a stall and slammed the door shut. She cried as hard as she could. Derek knew that singing was her life, and he just had to take that away from her too. He had taken everything away from her ever since she moved into his home. Casey wished thousands of times that she could push a "replay" button and replay everything up until her mom was about to say "yes" so George when he proposed to her. Her life would once again be normal if she could do that.

"Casey?" Emily interrupted her thoughts as she walked into the bathroom. Casey came out of the stall, her face was red, but she wasn't crying.

"I hate him Emily, and I always will." Casey said, seriously.

"I don't think you will hate him forever Casey" Emily said, trying to calm her down.

"Yes I will, he has taken away my life Emily"

"Well do you want to know what I think Casey? I think that you should do the talent show"

"You're not serious are you?" Casey asked, stunned.

"Yes, I am! Just forget about Derek, Casey! Do what you want to do!"

"Thanks Em, I think I will! Derek won't get in my way this time!" Casey yelled. They both laughed. They started walking out the door just as the last bell rang.

"I guess there is only one person doing the talent show in this house!" Derek yelled as Casey walked through the door.

"You quit!" Casey yelled, sarcastically.

"I didn't, but you did! Wait, you did quit, didn't you?!" Derek yelled angrily

"No, why should I?" Casey said, she was enjoying this.

"I can't believe you Casey!" Derek yelled "Why would you want to do it when I was?!" Derek yelled

"Because it is something that I love to do." Casey said, calmly. She started walking up the stairs to her room. Derek wasn't going to get in her way.

"Are you ready Casey?" Nora yelled. It was the day of the talent show, and neither Casey nor Derek quit, surprisingly. "Of course!" Casey yelled, truthfully though, she wasn't. She was a nervous wreck, so was Derek.

"What song are you going to sing Casey? I hope it is "Old MacDonald had a farm" I like that song, and Old MacDonald has the same name as you!" Marti yelled.

"Sorry Marti, I'm not, I am singing "The Way We Were" by Unsensored. I love that song!" Casey said, happily.

"What about you son? What are you singing?" George asked Derek.

"I am singing something so much better that Casey! I am singing "Soulja Boy"" Derek said. Casey rolled her eyes; she despised Derek's kind of music.

"Please welcome, Derek Venturi!" Mrs. Brade; the school's drama teacher, yelled. It was 6:30 and Derek was the second-to-last person to go.

"Thank you Mrs. Brade, have I ever told you how much I love to sing?" This comment seemed to lighten Mrs. Brade's mood. Sam and Ralph began to smirk in the back.

"Soulja Boy Up In This Hoe, Watch Me Crank It, Watch Me, Roll, Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy, then Super Man Dat OHH,Now watch me Yuaaaaaaaa, (Crank Dat Soulja Boy), Now watch me Yuaaaaaaaa, (Crank Dat Soulja Boy), Now watch me Yuaaaaaaaa, (Crank Dat Soulja Boy), Now watch me Yuaaaaaaaa, (Crank Dat Soulja Boy)…"

The whole auditorium began to clap, whistle, and cheer when Derek finished. Everyone loved him, except Casey of course.

"Thank you Derek! Now please welcome, Casey McDonald!" Only some people clapped now, Casey wasn't everyone's favorite, especially after the awful rumor.

"Thank you Mrs. Brade! I will be singing "The Way we Were" By Unsensored."

"Do you remember? The way it used to be, the way things were, the way we were. We were only kids then, all we did was hang out, with Barbie and Nintendo. Now we're getting older, I'm thinking of the times like, all the times we didn't fight…"

Surprisingly, a lot of people clapped. For some reason this song reminded Derek of him and Casey. "Well it is the time to aunnouce our winner!!" Mrs. Brade yelled over the crowd. Casey and Derek crossed their fingers at the same time. "And our winner is…" there was a long pause.

"Will my rumor pay off?" Derek thought

"Will I finally be better at something than Derek?" Casey thought.

"Kendra!" Mrs. Brade yelled. "Congratulations Kendra!"

"WHAT?!" Casey and Derek yelled at the same time.

"Thank you Mrs. Brade!" Kendra yelled.

Casey rolled her eyes, and started to get up and walk out of the auditorium with the rest of the audience.

"You were really good Casey!" Emily yelled "I thought you would have won!"

"Thanks, it was mostly a popularity contest though" Casey said.

"Yeah, it was, which is weird because Derek didn't win." Emily said, amused. "Well, see you tomorrow" Emily said, getting up.

"Bye Em!" Casey yelled

Just as Emily left Derek came over to Casey. "Um, well, my dad, well, he told me, um, to tell you, that…"

"Just spit it out Derek, now isn't the best time." Casey said, bored.

"Sor-sorr-sor-" Derek stammered.

"Sorry?" Casey finished his word.

"Maybe, I guess, ok bye." Derek said, hurrying off.

"Derek!" Casey grabbed him by the arm. "I guess I should say sorry too, I over-reacted." Casey admitted.

"Ya' think? But, you always over-react!" Derek yelled, laughing.

Casey rolled her eyes. "Whatever Derek. Let's go, oh, and you did pretty good up there on stage!"

"Ah, you too!" Derek said, high-fiving Casey, linking arms, they walked out of auditorium.

"I am so happy I won!" Kendra yelled in Casey and Derek's faces, as they were walking out.

"Yah, sure. You know, this relationship isn't working out for me Kendra" Derek said, happily.

"Are you breaking up with me?!" Kendra yelled. Casey smirked.

"Yep, adios, I don't want to date a snob like you. Maybe Lucinda is looking for a guy!" Casey just rolled her eyes. "Come on Derek! Let's go!" She said, smiling. "Did the song you sung remind you of two people?" Derek asked Casey.

"Yah, in a way it reminded me of us." Casey said.

Derek and Casey looked at eachother and smiled, "Maybe fighting over the talent show was for the better" the both thought.