me: Chap 4.

Angel: My turn!

Total: Wait till the end.

me: About Sam, he's by-by in this chapter! It's the talent show!

Angel: Yay! So is Max still mad at Fang? Or did her mom's death sort of take over?

me: Dr. M's death. And there's a little shocky! Think about it, I bet you can't guess it.

Total: Then get on with the talent show!

me: Okay then. Enjoy!

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"Ready, Max?" I asked. The Martinez kids had come over to get to the talent show. Max was reviewing her music, I Miss You by Miley Cyrus, dedicated to her mother. I saw Max tearing up just looking at it. But she chose to do it. I wasn't going to fight.

She looked up and tried to smile. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Mom!" Iggy shouted. "Where's the glass jar?" Iggy was reviewing the things in his magic box for the hundreth time, literally. It wasn't his first talent show, but the first time he got to bigger magic then making someone in a box disappear or pulling a bunny out of the hat.

"In the bottom!" Mom yelled. Iggy was trying to line things up in the order he was going to use them. First things on top, last things in the bottom. I didn't really think it mattered, but you don't mess with Iggy and his magic. Iggy sighed with relief when he found that stupid jar.

Nudge crossed her arms. "I still think I should be able to sing!"

Mom laughed and put her hand on Nudge's shoulder. "It's a Chester B. High talent show. You're in sixth grade."

"Three years away! Close enough! And even if I was singing to Max's playing?" She had been complaining about this for the past hour and a half. Angel and Kara were playing Rock Paper Scissors at the table, Ella was helping Iggy with his magic stuff. Gazzy was sitting on the couch listening to his iPod.

I sat on the couch beside Max. A piano was being pulled from the music room, and we didn't have a keyboard, so she was just air playing, starting over everytime she messed up. She was even mouthing the words to the song, her eyes closed as if it would bring her mother back to life.

Dr. M's funeral was scheduled for Saturday. I knew that was going to be tough for all three of them.

"Well, we better go," Mom said, grabbing her keys. Iggy loaded his magic box in the back after making sure he had everything, again. Max kept her music and was reviewing it the whole way to school. I sat beside her and watched.

"I need to...go talk to the principal about the science test tomorrow," I said as we loaded out of the car. I weaved through the parked cars, running between lines to keep from being hit with moving ones. There were several dozens in the parking lot already, and the show wasn't for another hour.

I met them at the gym entrance, where Iggy was filling out his name in talent in the sign-in sheet. Max's hand trembled as she filled it out, clutching her music like it was her life. Then we walked through towards the auditorium, where the stage was. Iggy ran ahead, and Max and I hung around back.

"Max!" a voice yelled when our families were out of view. We both turned. There was a boy about my age, his hair long and black, his left ear pierced with an earring shaped like a skull. He had black converse on, black skinny jeans, and a black hoodie over a black T-shirt. The guy was emo! Even more then me!

Max bit her lip. "Hey, Sam." Sam. That was her boyfriend, the guy who wanted her to go to a club the first time we met her. He walked up to her and gave her a kiss. "How did you know about this talent show?"

Sam shot a half smile and shrugged. "I have connections, Max." He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. Max looked away. "Who's this?" he asked seeing me. His eyes narrowed. This was a guy you couldn't help but hate.

"Oh, this is Fang. He's my friend from school. Neighbor."

"Is he your boyfriend?" Sam hissed.

"No, no, no! Not at all!"

But Sam shoved Max aside. Literally. Her back slammed hard into the wall. She groaned, sliding to the floor. My jaw and fists clinched. "What do you think you're doing with my girlfriend?" Sam hissed. His breath showed he'd been drinking. I almost gagged.

"She's a friend, chill!" I yelled. Max's head was turned away like she didn't want to see what was happening. Or she was really in pain. I shook my head and shoved past him towards her. He grabbed my arm and I turned fast enough to duck as his fist flew over my head.

"Why you checking on 'er? Eh?" he hissed.

"Because she's my friend and you're being a jerk!"

He scowled. "What are you sayin?"

"I'm saying you're treating her like trash! And dude, take a breathmint! I can tell you've come from the bar!" This may be a very bad idea. I've seen people like him on TV. Drunk and crazy. These people can be voilent.

He tried to punch me again. If he wasn't so drunk he would have hit me. There was a shadow walking down the hall. "Coach!" I yelled. Football coach. He looked up and came running. Sam was still trying to hit me, but he was easy to dodge.

As soon as the coach took over Sam, I ran to Max. Coach grabbed his walkie talkie. "Call the police. We've got a drunk tresspasser." I grinned.

"Max?" I asked, leaning down beside her. She looked up. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. Oh, so now that guy's hurt her and made her cry. If a teacher wasn't right there I would have punched Sam square in the face. "I'm fine. Let's go." She grabbed my hand and I helped her up, picking up her music. We made our way to the auditorium.

"Are you sure you're aloud to be here?" she whispered. We were backstage where about two dozen more kids were getting their acts ready. Most of the girls were flipping through CDs to sing or dance, and who knows what the guys were doing. Max sat her elbow on the side of the shiny piano.

"Yeah. That's what I asked the principal. He said it was fine." The music teacher walked out on stage and tapped the microphone. "You ready? You're sixth."

Her eyes widened. "No, I'm not." She paled as she saw through the curtian that a boy opened. All three hundred seats. Full. And she knew that. "I can't do this, Fang! I've never played in front of anyone but my music teacher! Much less a crowd!"

"And me, Max. You played in front of me. Just imigine you're back in your living room, playing for me. For your mom."

Her eyes dropped and she wiped the bottom of her eye with the back of her hand. She nodded. "Okay. But what about my dedication speech? I'm gonna crack! I don't even have anything ready!" She put her elbows on the piano and put her forehead in her palms.

"Max." I put my arm around her shoulders. "I'll be right here. Just look at me and say it to me."

She nodded. The first girl, a ballet dancer, bowed the crowd and popped her tape from the radio and ran back. The next boy, a rapper, walked on stage and put in his CD. Only four more ahead. I decided not to tell Max.

It seemed like the rapper had just turned off his music when the music teacher said, "And now, on piano, Max Martinez!" The crowd bust into claps.

I nudged Max and two strong boys rolled the piano on the stage. Max gave me a worried look. I nodded and she walked out. She sat her music on the stand and looked up at me. "I would like to dedicate this song to my mother, a firefighter, who was killed earlier this week." Her face turned rock hard. Mothers gasped and husbands comforted. She gave me another worried look and looked to the audiance. I wanted to scream at her to stop, that it was only going to make her more nervous.

I followed her eyes to our families, all sitting there watching, even Kara. They gave a supportive grin and thumbs-up. Max swallowed and placed her hands. With the first cord I looked back and nodded to a boy standing behind me with a guitar like Miley Cyrus plays in the song. He tossed it too me. Max was too consumed in the music to noice.

My heart pounded. I waited until she was done with the into before hitting my first cord. Max's head popped up and I grinned. She grinned back and looked back at the music. I stepped out on stage. The audiance clapped again. Someone, probably Gazzy, screamed 'Go Fang!' and Kara yelled 'Go Max!'

Max started tearing up in the first thirty seconds of the song. She looked up and gave me another smile. I hit a D cord and smiled back. I looked out in the audiance. Girls were mouthing the words to the song, mothers were tearing up, people swayed to the beat.

Slowly we started to stop, slowing down, and came to a hault. She looked up and grinned. I returned it as the audiance burst into appluse and stood up. Yelling for more. I couldn't even hear myself think. Almost everyone backstage was broght to the curtain to watch, and they cheered. A few jealous girls stood behind with their arms crossed. I saw Iggy give us both a huge grin and a thumbs up.

We both walked backstage, leaving the piano on the stage. I gave the guitar back to the boy, who had a huge grin on his face, and turned as Max threw herself on me. "Fang! Thank you!" she said. She was crying, I couldn't tell if it was from happiness or sad for her mother.

"You did it, Max!" I whispered, rubbing her back.

She pulled away and looked around. Everyone was, luckily, too focused on their acts again. A boy with a one-man-band was out there now, sounding like a dying cat. No one was really baying attention. The only grin on everyone's face was probably from our act, considering how women were still sobbing and girls were still silently singing the words. "Where's Iggy?"

"Getting ready for his act. Come on, we can watch it with the crowd now." We slipped out of the backstage door and walked down the hall. "So what's the deal with you and that jerk Sam?" I asked.

Her happy look turned sad and I immidiatly wished I hadn't mentioned it. "It's....a long story. I'd rather not talk about it."

With all that was going on in her life, her mom dead and her dad in jail, she didn't need any more pain. I decided to drop it. "I'll be happy if he goes to jail," she whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing!" But I knew I heard it right.

Iggy's act went great. He let Nudge be his volunteer, and she was happy about that even though she wasn't singing. He got a standing ovation. Our families showered us in congrats and hugs and telling us we did a fantasic job, but with Mom, she would say that even if I was the boy with the horrible one-man-band.

We stayed with them until the last five acts, before they called the winner, and we ran back to backstage. "I bet you'll win," Iggy told us.

"I don't care if we place or not," Max said. "You should get first."

"I don't care, either. We had fun with it. That's the whole point of the talent show, have fun."

The music teacher called everyone to stage. Me, Max, and Iggy stood beside each other, waiting for her to say the first, second, and third places. I felt Max tense beside me as she got the clipboard with the winner's names on them from the judges. "Now, we'll start with third place," she said. "Third place is Manson Barkaletie, hip-hop dancer!" A boy somersaulted to her and took the bronze medal, the crowd cheering.

"Second place is, Iggy Griffiths and his magic act!" The crowd bust into applause and stood again as Iggy took the silver medal. Max gripped my arm. "And, in first place, with their piano and guitar duo" --We weren't the only ones with piano, guitar duos, the Simpson twins also did it with Summertime by Kenny Chesney--"Max Martinez and Fang Griffiths!" Or maybe it is us. We walked up and Max took the gold medal. The crowd stood up and cheered. I grabbed Max's wrist and held up the medal.

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me: And there we go. And Sam is in jail, btw.

Angel: For what?

me: Abusing, drinking, agression, all that junk. Anyway, bye bye Sam!

Total: Good!

Angel: My turn!

me: Fine. Go.

Angel: REVIEW!