Here's another improved chapter. It's also been expanded with more...stuff thrown in for good measure. Huzzah!


A week had passed since Victor Stone's return to the school. He was still adjusting to the change of scenery; from a hospital bed to a lively, buzzing school, but he was coping well. After Gar had practically forced him to join his friends during their drama lesson, and at their table for break and lunch the following day after his return, Vic found their company far more enjoyable than that of his old friends. It was also clear that none of his old associates wanted anything to do with him anymore.

It didn't take long for Vic to become a fully integrated member of the Odds and, despite the fact he no longer had his sports at school, he was happy.

It seemed that things at Jump City High were beginning to calm down again, until they went up one evening after class. And the following morning, a grey and cloudy Thursday, was when the students of Jump first found out about it.

"Do you have a talent in performance? Do you love Disney films? Jump City High is proud to be holding a Disney-themed talent show on December thirteenth for all of the students. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place. First place winners will also be given the chance to perform at the Christmas Dance. Full rules and entry forms available at the reception. Good luck."

Karen, who had said this in a monotonous voice, arched an unimpressed eyebrow at the bright blue poster she had been reading.

"Talent show? Great," said Stormi, sarcastically.

She shrugged. "You never know; it might be fun," Karen said and added upon seeing Stormi's face, "…to watch."

"Hey, you do what you want. I, for one, will be spending that evening at home with a mug of hot chocolate and a box set of Friends."


Elsewhere...

"OMG! A TALENT SHOW!" The screech that emitted from Kitten's mouth could have woken up the dead. Cindy, Daisy and Mandy craned their necks forward excitedly, trying to read the poster over Kitten's shoulder.

"We should so enter!" said Mandy in her high pitched shriek.

"My mother could custom make us cute, matching outfits!" Cindy squealed, mind already filling with several dress ideas; most of which were short and tight.

Daisy gave a scream of excitement. "Like, OH MY GOSH! WE WILL, LIKE, SO WIN!"

"Wait." Mandy frowned and reread the poster. "It's like...only Disney songs."

Kitten sighed in her usual overdramatic fashion. "Ugh. Oh well. We'll think of something. There are loads of super cute Disney songs we can do."

"And, like, loads of animals in Disney films..." Daisy added, turning her wide smile to Cindy who gasped suddenly.

"OMG, I cannot wait to do these outfits. Cat-girls: totally cute."

The four sauntered away from the poster, chattering excitedly about clothes and make up. As soon as they were out of sight, Roy and Garth walked over to see what they had been screeching at.

"Huh, apparently the school's holding a talent show," Roy said after quickly reading the poster.

"A Disney themed talent show," Garth added as Wally and Richard followed them over and also read the poster.

"This is not good," Wally stated, staring in shock at the vibrant piece of paper.

"I know. I mean, Disney? A bit childish isn't it?" Garth asked, looking at Richard.

"Yeah, a bit," Richard agreed.

"No! Not that, that!" Wally pointed to the date on the poster. His friends looked at him blankly.

"The date?" Roy suggested.

"NO- I mean yes!"

"What's wrong with Friday?" Richard asked.

"It's not just any Friday, it's Friday the thirteenth!"

The others exchanged confused expressions.

"Friday the thirteenth!"

More confused faces.

"It's unlucky!"

"Ohhh," they chorused.

"It's not that stupid superstitious stuff again, is it?" Garth groaned.

"It's not stupid!" argued Wally. "Remember that time when I stepped on a crack, and my mum broke her back?'

"But she didn't break her back," said Roy, confused.

"Yeah, but she could've!" Wally then turned and ran down the corridor. "I'm going to get my lucky horseshoe! I'll be back in a minute!"

His friends merely sighed and shook their heads.


At break...

"Hey! Have you guys seen the posters?" Gar asked as he and Rachel arrived at their usual table. Kori and Toni, who were already there, glanced up at him.

"The ones about the talent show?" Rachel asked as they sat down. Gar nodded so she turned to Kori and Toni and explained. "The school is apparently setting up a talent show with a strictly Disney theme."

"Disney theme?" Toni repeated with a small frown. "Isn't Disney for little kids?"

"It most certainly is not!" Kori argued, startling the rest of the table's occupants. "The classic animations of Walt Disney studios are a treasure to people of a wide range of ages. The lessons and themes presented are relatable to all, young to old. To restrict such a bountiful supply of wisdom and wonder to one group of people would be most wasteful."

Toni raised her hands in surrender. "I take it back."


In the library

"Hey! Joseph, man!" Isaiah said, striding into the library. Joseph, who was sitting at a desk near the door with a large book open in front of him, turned and smiled, raising a hand in greeting.

"You heard about the Talent show?" Isaiah asked as he took a seat.

Joseph nodded.

"You should enter," he said. "Everyone knows you're the best guitarist in the school."

Joseph's cheeks coloured. It was true; he was a very talented musician with the guitar as his speciality, but he shook his head. He didn't particularly fancy being ogled at on stage with only a guitar to hide him.

"Why not?"

Joseph shrugged but gave no other communication, instead opting to resume reading his book and ignore Isaiah's pestering.


Period four: Technology

"I wonder whose idea it was to do a Disney themed talent show," Kole wondered as she doodled absentmindedly on the paper she was supposed to be designing a chair on. Their tech teacher had left the room to do something and was yet to return.

"I don't know," Gabby replied quietly while fiddling with her pencil, having long since grown bored of their task.

"It'll mainly be songs, won't it? I can't imagine anyone acting or dancing," Kole went on. Gabby glanced at her paper, taking in the numerous music-related doodles. A rough, cartoony guitar caught her attention.

"Maybe someone could play an instrument? Nice picture."

"Huh? Oh, thanks," Kole said absently as she moved onto a picture of a mermaid. "Hey! Maybe we should enter it!"

Gabby looked at her like she had grown an extra head, face a picture of absolute horror.

CLUNK.

"Ow!" Something hard and heavy hit Kole on the head. She looked up and then behind her, and was unsurprised to find Kitten. The blonde was smirking, slender fingers gripping the large text book she had just dropped on Kole's head. "What was that for?" Kole demanded.

"Oh, I'm ever so sorry," Kitten said as she walked off, though sounded anything but sincere.

Kole muttered something about how Kitten should crawl into the hole from whence she came and die, but was pulled out of this happy thought by Gabby.

"Um, you're joking right?" Gabby asked, sounding a bit worried, "About the talent show?"

"Of course!" Kole grinned. "Like we would actually enter."

Twenty minutes later, the students were released from the classroom by their teacher, who had eventually returned. The swarm of teenagers began walking down the corridor towards the cafeteria for lunch.

"Ugh! I think I've got a bump. What do you think?" Kole asked as she and Gabby walked down the corridor. She ducked her head so Gabby could look at it. "She definitely dropped that book on me on purpose! I hate Kitten!"

"Yeah, you mentioned that earlier...about thirty times..."

Kole took no heed of this and continued to complain about Kitten the entire way to their table.

"Don't do it Gar, you'll only make a fool of yourself!" Toni was saying as Kole and Gabby joined them.

"What's Gar going to do?" Kole asked. Toni sighed heavily, Kori looked slightly concerned and Rachel ignored them in favour of her book.

"I am going to perform in the talent show!" he said proudly, puffing out his chest. Kole raised an eyebrow.

"On your own?"

"No! Duh! I'm doing it with Vic!" Gar jabbed a thumb in the direction of Victor who just happened to arrive at that point.

"Huh? I'm doing the what now?" he asked, confused.

"You're gonna enter the talent show with me!" Gar jumped up and down. Victor didn't look amused.

"No way grass stain. I am not embarrassing myself in front of the school."

"But-"

"No buts."

"But please!"

"What did I just say?"

"Fine…Please?"

"No!"

"Please!"

"NO!"

"Aw! Come on! I said please!"

"And I said no!"

"Fine. I'll just keep saying please until you agree to do it. So…please?"

"NO!"

"PLEASE!"

"NO!"

This went on for quite sometime. During fifth period Gar kept giving Victor notes which all said the same thing: 'Please?' The teacher was irritated for the entire lesson and gave them extra homework, much to the rest of the class' annoyance. When the class ended, everyone grabbed their things and rushed out, and Gar had gotten back to pestering Victor.

Finally, Victor cracked.

"Okay! Fine! I'll do it!"

"That's great, because I've already filled out and given in the application form!" Gar replied.

Vic slowly expelled most of the air in his lungs - or at least what remained of them - and gave him a stony look. "Just don't make me do anything stupid!"

Gar smiled and tried to pat him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry Vic, I've got it all planned out…"


Period five: French

Joseph was among the first to arrive in at the French classroom. He grabbed a chair at the back and sat down heavily, glad to finally be rid of Isaiah. It was not that he didn't enjoy spending time with his friend, but rather it got tiresome after a while when said-friend had been spending most of the day trying to persuade him to enter the talent show.

A few minutes later, he was joined at the desk by two girls; Karen Beecher and Stormi Rosewood. He knew them well, having had numerous encounters with them, but found both slightly too abrasive to forge close friendships with. Nevertheless, he smiled as they sat down and nodded in greeting.

Eventually, the rest of the class drifted in and sat down. Despite there being no seating plan, the majority of the students took to sitting in the same area and with the same people every lesson. Therefore, Richard, Roy and Wally were unsurprised to find three spots at the back of the room for them to sit. Stormi glanced up as none other than Roy Harper dropped himself in the chair next to her. He turned to her and flashed a smirk.

The lesson began shortly after. Their teacher, a tall, thin man called Mr. Voyage, gave them a short speech about some finer point of French grammar. He then proceeded to hand out worksheets, as he did every lesson, and set them to work.

Most of the class were quietly going about the work, with only the odd loud giggle interrupting the otherwise tranquil environment. Roy, however, infamous for tiring quickly of worksheets, especially French ones, turned to the girl next to him. For a few seconds he watched her, taking in the fine, black hair falling about her shoulder and how her thin lips were pulled in to a straight line of concentration.

Feeling eyes on her, Stormi looked up from her work and was startled to find Roy staring at her. "Can I help?" she asked, eyebrows arched.

Roy let his mouth slide into another smirk. "Hey, name's Roy."

Stormi's expression didn't change. "Yeah," she said. "I know."

The smirk widened. "Oh really?"

"We've met before."

He blinked "We have?" he said as his smirk dropped into a blank look.

Stormi exhaled in irritation. "Last year. I was unfortunately seated next to you in English when we did that book project." She sighed again. "I can't say I'm surprised," she said. "You did spend most of the time on your phone."

"Oh yeah." He leant back in his chair and chuckled fondly. "That's when I was addicted to Ninja Bubbles. Such a good game..."

Stormi turned her attention back to her work. "Moron."

This seemed to trigger something in Roy, who suddenly smacked his pen against his desk. "Now I remember you! What was your name again? Sarah? Stella?"

Stormi raised her eyes, annoyed, but didn't turn her head. "No."

"Uh, Stevie? Come on, help me out here. There was definitely a 'St' noise."

Pencil nearly snapping in her suddenly steely grip, she hissed, "Stormi. My name is Stormi."

Silence, then...

Snort.

"Stormi? What were your parents on when they called you that? I mean, what?"

"Got to hell, Harper."


After school

"You did WHAT!?"

The students in the courtyard turned to stare at Roy as he and his friends walked out of the school building. Roy didn't seem to notice the attention his loud exclamation had caught and continued to glare at Wally.

Richard had his face in his hand. "You didn't think to ask us first?"

He laughed and passed this off with a wave of his hand. "Like your guys would say no."

"Guess what, I'm saying no," said Garth, arms crossed.

"Hey, weren't you yelling earlier about it being unlucky?" Richard asked, knitting his brow. "Because it was on Friday the thirteenth?"

Wally shrugged. "Yeah well...it's cool. I've got a lucky rabbit's foot to counteract the bad luck. Besides, it's too late." he said with a grin. "We can't turn back now. I suggest we start thinking of what to perform now. Pick one before the best songs are taken."

He was met with unimpressed looks. "You're a dead man, West," said Roy.

"That may be so," replied Wally, "But you'll have to catch me first!" With that he went tearing through the courtyard, bag bouncing against his back with his annoyed friends in hot pursuit.


Meanwhile, at another part of the courtyard, Kole, Jizelle, Gabby, Kori, Rachel and Toni were leaning against the school building, killing a bit of time before for their buses came (or, in the case of Rachel and Gabby who walked, killing time before they had to go home). It was Jizelle who noticed the four familiar figures approaching first and sighed.

"Oh great…them," she muttered darkly, nudging those either side of her and alerting them to the oncoming quartet.

"Listen freaks," Kitten started as she glared at them, stopping a couple of feet away. Daisy, Cindy and Mandy stood behind her, arms crossed. "I'm-"

"We're," Daisy corrected, interrupting Kitten. Kitten stared at her in shock for a few seconds. No-one interrupted Kitten. She let it drop.

"We're going to enter the talent show and we will win. If you even dare to try and enter as well then I'll…I'll do…something…bad."

"Ooh, scary," Rachel said sarcastically. "I'm quivering with fear."

"Why don't you want us to enter anyway? Scared we'll beat you?" Toni asked. Kitten growled.

"Oh please. I just don't want the people to suffer from watching you. So don't even try. I'd say it would also save you from being embarrassed, but you do that every day but just existing." She smirked triumphantly and turned around. "Let's go."

Jizelle glared at their backs as they walked away from them. "She thinks that she can just come over here and tell us what and what not to do?" she seethed.

"Walks around like she owns the place…" Toni added.

"Yeah." Jizelle fisted one of her hands and slammed it against her hip. "I'm really inclined to enter just in spite of her."

"Yeah!" Toni nodded.

"Yeah!" Kole also said, punching the air with her fist to show her enthusiasm.

"Yes indeed!" Kori clasped her hands together and smiled in delight.

"Yeah?" Gabby repeated unsurely.

Rachel sighed.

"Why not?"

Filled with a sudden excitement, they chatted animatedly about the show and possible song choices, with a few throwing in comments about what instruments they could play. Jizelle suddenly stopped mid sentence and frowned. "Oh, I think I left my history book in my locker. I'll just go and get it, be back in a second."

She turned around and walked towards the school building, bumping into Wally West along the way. She sent him an annoyed look and carried on down the corridor. Eventually she came to her locker. She opened it and gasped.

Inside was a red rose.


Competition.

I want you to send in suggestions (via review or PM) of what songs YOU think groups should perform! Obviously it's restricted to Disney songs only (I'll be lenient and allow any song either used in a Disney film, over the credits or as a single released on the Disney channel. And yes, unfortunately Disney films include theatrical abominations like Camp Rock and High School Musical)

I need suggestions for...

Richard's group (Richard, Wally, Roy and Garth)

Jizelle's group (Jizelle, Kori, Rachel, Toni, Kole and Gabby)

Kitten's group (Kitten, Cindy, Daisy and Mandy)

Gar and Vic's duo

And possibly...

Joseph's acoustic guitar instrumental

The Hive Five (Billy, Givon, Mammoth, Seymour and Ahirman)

Any other group you can think of that I've forgotten. Might even do a silly teachers' one of the lolz.

After the competition ends, I will either announce the winners in an author's note (like this one) OR I'll PM the winners. Winners will be those who suggest one (or more) of the songs I end up using (not people who just say they agree with a certain song choice). Winners get the chance to have a character of their own design feature in the talent show (if they so desire).

Flare, the Frivolous