AN: Hello everyone, have a nice Thanksgiving to everyone who will be celebrating tomorrow. Thank you again to everyone for following, favouring, and reviewing this story. Here's the next chapter everybody, enjoy. Don't forget to Review. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Castle or it's characters. I do not own American Idiot by Green Day.

Winter Talent Show

I was walking through the halls at school with my best friend Mike, heading home after a long day of class work. As we walked down the hall, I noticed a big poster stapled to the wall. I stopped Mike and we looked at the poster covering the wall. It said, "WINTER TALENT SHOW! Friday February 3, 2012. Sign up now in room 215. First place winner or winners will receive a $50 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble."

"Wow, a talent show," I said.

"Pretty cool. Are you going to enter?" Mike asked.

"I don't know, maybe. I've been practicing my guitar a lot and my lessons have been going really well. It might be fun."

"Yeah. Hey, maybe we can do it together."

"How?"

"I've been working with my dad's drum kit. He's taught me a few things, maybe we can be a band."

"That would be awesome. Let's go sign up. Maybe we'll win."

"Yeah, let's do this."

We went to room 215 and outside the door was a clipboard, holding the sign-up sheet. There was already about 15 names occupying the sheet and I was a little nervous on competing in front of people and with other possibly talented kids.

"We got this Emmy. We can beat these people," mike tried to assure me.

"It's not about winning, it's about embarrassing ourselves in front of everyone," I said.

"Yeah, I guess if we suck, we'll be the laughing stock of the whole school."

"Exactly, that means we have three and a half days to get our act ready and make it perfect."

"We can use my basement it pretty big, and my dad has his drums there."

"Okay sounds good."

"How about today?'

"I can't, I have to talk to my aunt first."

"Oh all right. We'll start tomorrow.'

"Sounds good."

I wrote our names on the sign-up sheet and for the first time in a while, I had butterfly's fluttering in my stomach. I've never performed or did anything in front of an audience before and if I don't get over my stage fright by Friday, it could be a disaster. We left school and went our separate ways. As I was heading home, I wondered about our act and what our song should be.

I decided to divert my walk and head to Castle's place. I think he could help give me some advice about facing an audience, since he does a lot of book signings and public speaking. I got to Castles apartment and knocked on the door. It opened to reveal Alexis, smiling cheerfully down at me and I returned it.

"Hi Alexis, is your dad home?" I asked.

"Not right now. What's up?" she asked.

"I need help."

"What kind of help?"

"I joined a talent show with my friend Mike and we're going to form a band, but the thing is I'm really nervous."

"Oh, you've got pre-performance jitters."

"Yeah."

"I could help with that. I am a performer after all," Mrs. Rodgers said as she came to the door.

"Really you'll help me?" I said with joy.

"Certainly anything for you."

"Cool."

They invited me in and Alexis and I sat on the couch while Mrs. Rodgers started her speech.

"Well, I used to get very nervous when I was on stage and performing, but after years and years of doing it I go a little bit better. I still get nervous when I'm up on stage, but I learned to channel my nerves and make a pre-performance ritual before I go on. Usually it helps keep me calm, and then once I'm out there, I'm as good as gold," she said.

"A ritual?" I asked.

"Yes, something that will help calm your nerves. Something you like, maybe a favorite song or squeezing a stress ball."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Don't worry Emily. You'll do great. We'll all be there routing for you," Alexis said.

"Yes, we will. That reminds me of another thing, if you're too nervous to look at the audience point your focus on something else, or someone special that makes you feel comfortable," Mrs. Rodgers said.

"Okay, thanks you guys. I feel a little better and now I have great tips from a professional. I can do this," I said.

They smiled and Mrs. Rodgers said, "Yes you can Emily."

"Do you know what song you're doing yet?" Alexis asked.

"No, I have so many in my head, but I don't know which one we'll be able to figure out and be good at by Friday. Hopefully we'll pick a good one," I said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you two will figure it out," Alexis said.

"Do you have a band name?" Mrs. Rodgers asked.

"Uh…I forgot about that. We have to have something awesome, so they'll remember the name," I said.

"You two have a few days to figure it out, but it seems like a lot of pressure," Alexis said.

"Yeah," I said wide eyed, thinking about only having a few days to pull this off.

"Don't worry yourself Emily, Once we were able to pull off a while performance in one day and we barely knew what we were doing. I'm sure three days will be plenty of time," Mrs. Rodgers said.

"What's going on?" Castle asked as he came in.

"Hey dad, we're helping Emily getting over her stage fright and getting ready for the talent show at her school," Alexis said.

"Oh, nice to see you mini Beckett. So you entered a talent show?" he asked.

"Yeah I did. Me and my friend, Mike are going to be a band and rock the stage," I said.

He chuckled and said, "Well I'll be rooting for you two. I bet it'll be amazing. When is it?"

"Friday," I said.

"We'll be there," he said.

I smiled and said, "Thanks everyone. I should probably head home before Aunt Kate gets mad."

"Okay, good luck mini Beckett," Castle said.

"Good luck Emily," Alexis and Mrs. Rodgers said.

"Thanks guys, bye," I said.

I left Castle's place and headed home, thinking about everything that could make our band win that competition or at least not embarrass ourselves. I got home and when I walked in my aunt was sitting on the couch and gave me a stern look.

"Where were you Em?" she asked.

"At Castle's," I said as I sat next to her.

"Why were you there?"

"I needed to learn how to deal with my stage fright. I joined the talent show with Mike."

"You joined the talent show?"

"Yeah, will you come?"

"Of course. When is it?"

"Friday."

"Okay, I'll definitely come to see you."

"Thanks. Can I go over to his house after school for the next few days, so we can practice?"

"Yeah, definitely. Practice makes perfect."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"Do you want to help me make some dinner?"

"Sure."

We made some dinner and during the meal we discussed the pointers I received from Mrs. Rodgers and what I plan on doing for the talent show. My aunt also gave me some of her own advice and I took it gratefully.

The next day came around and right after school I headed home to grab my guitar case, then I went straight to Mike's house. When I got there, Leon opened the door and smiled sweetly at me.

"Hi, Emmy. I heard you and my brother were entering the talent show," he said.

"Yeah, it's going to be awesome."

"I bet it will. Come on he's down in the basement."

I followed Leon down to the basement and I saw Mike looking over his dad's drums. His dad had a whole bunch of awesome musical equipment in his basement and it was awesome.

"Hiya Mike," I said.

He smiled and said, "Hey Emmy. You can plug your guitar into my dad's amp."

"Wow, your dad has a lot of band equipment," I said.

"Yeah, our dad was in a band before we were born, but it never took off like they wanted it too," Leon said.

"Oh, I understand," I said.

"Well I'll let you two kids practice. Have fun," Leon said and left the room.

I set up my guitar and rested it against the wall.

"So Mike, what should our band name be?" I asked him.

"Hmm… I don't know," he shrugged.

"Me either."

"How about our names?"

"Nah, to bland. We need something to pop."

"True, this is hard."

"Tell me about it."

"How about Wicked Kids, but Kidz with a Z?"

"Huh, interesting. We'll keep it in mind. How about Searching Darkness?"

"That sounds cool."

"True, or Angels of My Heart?"

"Nah, seems girly."

"Does not."

"Does too."

"Okay fine."

"Ooh, how about Impaled by Darkness?"

"Ooh, I like that Mike. Okay, so we have our band name."

"Sweet. Okay so let's practice our entrance."

"Okay."

We pretended to enter onto the stage and I went to grab my guitar and stand at the mic, while Mike sat at his dad's drums and held his sticks.

"What are you going to say? We have to have some cool introduction," Mike said.

"Hmm… I'll figure something out, let's try it again," I said.

We started over and when I was at the mic, I said, "Good Evening Everybody! We're Impaled by Darkness and we're going to rock out tonight with one of my favorite songs…"

"That's cool. I like it," he said.

We went over it a few times until we felt like it was a really great intro.

"Okay before we think about a song what are we going to wear?" Mike asked.

"Maybe, a red tie, white T-shirt, black leather jacket, black jeans, and black sneakers. I'm going to where my beanie," I said.

"Okay cool, I'll spike my hair."

"Nice, we have our style," I said.

"True now we need a song," Mike said.

"Yeah, what should we do?"

"I don't know. Something awesome."

"Yeah, something we can rock out to."

"Yeah."

The rest of the day we thought about the song we were going to do and how we should do it.

The next two days went by fast and every day I went over to Mike's house to practice our performance for the talent show. It was finally here and we were standing in the back with the other acts, waiting to get up on stage in front of friends, family, and classmates. I was really nervous, but I tried to remember everything Mrs. Rodgers taught me.

I just jumped around backstage and hummed some rock tunes in my head. We were going to blow the audience away, or get suspended because we may or may not have a few choice words in the song.

"Hey Emmy, are you ready to rock this stage?" Mike asked.

"Definitely! We're going to kill it," I said.

"Yeah, we are."

"Is your family out there?"

"Yeah, is yours?"

"Yeah, even Castle and his family is here and a few people from my aunts precinct."

"Awesome."

Our principal came over to us and said, "Emily and Mike, you're up next. Go wait by the entrance of the stage."

"Okay," we said.

We stood by the entrance of the stage, waiting for our time to go. I fixed my black leather jacket and red tie while waiting. I stuck my hand into my pocket and almost forgot what I had in there. I pulled out the black eyeliner and tried to find a reflective surface.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked.

"Putting on eyeliner, you should too," I said.

"No way. I'm not wearing makeup, that's for girls."

"Come on, it's a part of our look. And if Billie Joe Armstrong can do it so can you."

"Okay, fine."

I put some eyeliner on him and he looked awesome.

"You look great," I said.

"Thanks, you too," he said as he loosened his red tie a bit.

We got ready and the principal started to announce the next act, "Up next we have a rock band coming up, so please welcome, Emily Beckett Roswell and Mike Mulligan."

We ran out on stage and I put my guitar over my head and grabbed the mic from the stand.

"Hey everyone, we're Impaled by Darkness and we have an awesome song for you guys tonight. We're going to be playing American Idiot by Green Day. Hope you enjoy," I said.

I put the mic back on the stand and let out a short breath. I looked out into the crowed and saw my aunt and everyone else who came out to support me. I felt really good that everyone was here to cheer me and Mike on, and I wouldn't have thought I'd be able to have support like this.

I got my bearings and nodded subtly at Mike and I started strumming the guitar making a lovely sound of one of the best songs ever. After a few strums of my guitar, Mike joined in banging on the drums both of us rocking out on stage, not caring about anyone but ourselves.

"Don't want to be an American idiot!" I sang.

I jammed out and stopped at the next line, "Don't want a nation under the new mania!"

I joined back into the beat and stopped once more lifting my hand with my pick, singing, "And can you hear the sound of hysteria?"

I joined in again and stopped again, hearing Mike rock those drums, and sang, "The subliminal mind fuck America."

I could see the audience eyes grow wide, but I continued, it's not that bad. I continued strumming the guitar like I was the best rocker in America and banging my head like there was no tomorrow.

My legs joined into the action, my left leg going up and down to the beat of the songs. I sang the next lyrics with enthusiasm, "Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alienation. Where everything isn't meant to be okay."

I went to the next lyrics and sang, "Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. For that's enough to argue."

I stopped my guitar again and Mike was beating the drums and keeping a great steady rhythm flowing through him. I jumped up started jamming on my guitar, letting the music flow and making me feel it pulse through my veins.

I stopped again and sang into the mic, "Well maybe I'm the faggot America."

I started playing again and then stopped to sing the next lyrics, "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda."

I started strumming again and stopped, "Now everybody do the propaganda."

I started again and stopped once more for the next part of the song, "And sing along to the age of paranoia."

I started playing again and sang into the mic, singing the chorus of the song, "Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alienation. Where everything isn't meant to be okay."

I sang the next part moving my head back and forth, "Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. For that's enough to argue."

I stopped and let Mike drum again for his short solo. Then I joined in and rocked on for my part. Since the next part was a long instrumental part, I decided to take on the stage and get down with the song. I strummed the guitar like I was crazy and spun around the stage.

I ran back to the mic to sing again and sang, "Don't want to be an American idiot. One nation controlled by the media. Information age of hysteria.

We both stopped playing our instruments, so I can sing the next line, "It's calling out to idiot America."

"Welcome to a new kind of tension. All across the alienation. Where everything isn't meant to be okay."

"Television dreams of tomorrow. We're not the ones who're meant to follow. For that's enough to argue."

I let him drum a little and joined back in to help end the song. We jammed a little longer, he stopped drumming for a second and I played a little bit of my guitar and they he joined back in and we ended the song with a nice cut off.

When it ended the audience was completely silent and if there were crickets, I'm pretty sure they'd be chirping right about now. When I thought all hope was lost, Castle stood up and clapped, followed by my aunt, and Castle's family, the precinct, and the rest of the audience. They erupted into cheers and loud claps, filling my heart up with pure joy.

Mike came up to me and whispered, "We totally rocked it."

"Yeah we did," I whispered back.

We gave a quick bow and left the stage. When we went back stage, the principal came up to us after he introduced the next act.

"You two did very well, but I'm going to have to disqualify you two," he said.

"Because of the profanity?" I questioned.

"Yes, sorry you guys, but those are the rules. Don't give up though, you two are very talented."

"Thanks," we said in unison.

Eventually the talent show ended and the person who one juggled some flaming balls on top of a unicycle. It was pretty amazing, it was too bad that we got disqualified, but it was totally worth it. I went out to the front of the school where I found Castle and his family with my aunt Kate waiting for me.

"Amazing job Mini becket. We have a true rocker on our hands," Castle said.

"Thanks," I said.

"Yeah, it was really good. Makes me afraid for when she hits the rebellious teens," my aunt said.

"She's going to be a handful," Castle said.

"Nice job Emily," Alexis said.

"Thanks," I said.

"Very well done, you seem to have had a great stage presence, with no fear at all," Mrs. Rodgers said.

"Yep, thanks to your great advice. I felt really composed," I said.

"Well I'm glad it helped," she said.

They said their goodbyes and headed home and we did too. On our way to my aunt's apartment she spoke up, "You know why you were disqualified, right?"

"Yes, I know. I totally understood, but I love that song. Plus a standing ovation is way cooler than winning some prize," I said.

My aunt smiled over at me and said, "I'm glad. Just for the record, no more bad words."

"Okay, I'll try."

"Emily…"

"Okay, I won't use any bad words until I'm 16."

"More like 21."

"But Aunt Kate."

"21."

"Fine."

We got home and I crashed on my bed, dreaming about having an awesome band someday.