The Talent Show by Dan Gutman

tell?” Paul said.
    â€œCross my heart and hope to die,” Richard said.
    â€œIf you tell, worms are going to crawl into your body,” Paul said. “They’ll live in your intestines.”
    â€œWe won’t tell,” the others said.
    â€œOkay, here’s the secret,” Paul whispered. “We’re gonna play ‘Stacy’s Mom.’”
    â€œGet
out
!” Elke said, punching him on the arm.
    â€œIt’s true,” Paul insisted.
    The others collapsed into giggles.
    â€œReally?” asked Julia. “Isn’t that the song they said you weren’t allowed to play?”
    â€œYup.”
    â€œThen why are you going to play it?” asked Julie.
    â€œBecause we like it,” Paul said, “and because we want to stick it to the Man.”
    â€œWhat man?” asked Richard. “Mrs. Marotta isn’t a man.”
    â€œYou know,
the Man
,” said Paul. “The grown-ups. The judges. Authority. The censors. People who try to tell you what to do and how to run your life.”
    â€œ
That’s
the Man?” asked Richard.
    â€œYou learn fast, Raccoon.” said Paul.
    â€œAren’t you worried that you’re going to get in trouble?” asked Julia.
    â€œSure, I’m worried,” Paul said. “I’m no rebel. I never did anything like this before.”
    â€œReverend Mercun is going to freak out, you know,” Julia said. “He’ll probably pull the plug on your amps in the middle of the song.”
    â€œLet him,” Paul said. “Maybe that will get us on the TV news.”
    â€œYou won’t win the talent show if you do that, you know,” Elke pointed out. “They’ll disqualify The BluffTones.”
    â€œI don’t care,” Paul replied. “Does it even matter? Everybody knows you’re gonna win, anyway.”
    â€œThat’s not true!” Elke protested.
    â€œOh, please,” Paul said. “Sure it’s true. You’re the most talented kid in town. Everybody knows that.”
    Elke was about to say something, but she stopped. She looked like she couldn’t decide whether or not to tell them something.
    â€œCan I tell
you
guys a secret?” she finally said.
    The others leaned forward.
    â€œGo ahead,” Julia whispered.
    â€œI don’t want to win,” Elke said.
    â€œWhat?” Paul said, flabbergasted. “Are you kidding me? Why not? You’ll get that cool car. Even if you can’t drive it, you could sell it. It’s worth thousands of dollars.”
    â€œYou’re going to be famous, Elke,” Julia told her. “Everybody says so. You’re going to be the next Justin Chanda.”
    Elke sighed and shook her head.
    â€œI don’t want to be famous,” she told them. “My
mom
wants me to be famous. I just want to sing. I love to sing. But I don’t want to be a celebrity. I don’t want to have people following me around all the time, taking pictures and bothering me. Having to get my hair done all the time. I wish I had your courage, Paul.”
    â€œMy courage?” Paul said. “What do you mean?”
    â€œYou know, the courage to stick it to the Man.”
    â€œWho’s the Man?” asked Richard.
    â€œMy mom is the Man,” Elke explained.
    â€œYour mom is a man?” asked Richard.
    â€œNo silly,” Elke said. “My mom tells me what to do. At least until I’m eighteen.”
    â€œSo how could you stick it to the man, anyway?” asked Paul.
    â€œI could just not show up,” Elke said. “I could ditch the whole talent show. That would show her.”
    â€œWhat?!” Julia said. “Are you serious? Would you actually do that?”
    â€œMaybe,” Elke said. “Shhhh. If my mom finds out I’m even thinking about this, she’ll kill me.”
    â€œIt’s a bad idea,” Paul said, shaking his head. “I hope you won’t