"It's that time of year again," he said. "The 12th annual Huckabee Middle School Talent Show will be presented next Saturday evening. Participants may register in the office until five o'clock sharp on Wednesday, at which point entries will be officially closed. I sincerely hope everyone has been practicing--and good luck!"
   
Jimmy reached over his desk and gave Bo a hard jab on the back of the shoulder.
Bo ignored it.
  
 "All right, that's you!" Jimmy said. "You figure out what you're gonna play yet?"
   
"Quiet down please!" said Mrs. Matters, but the whole class was stirred up now and making noise, with school about to be dismissed for the weekend.
  
 "I'm not playing," Bo said, still facing forward.
   
"You keep saying that, but I'm telling you, dog, you're good."
   
”Yeah well, you know so much about it, why don't you get up there then?"
   
Jimmy laughed and stuck Bo again with his knuckles, digging in.

"What I'm thinking, what I'm starting to put together here," Jimmy said, "you're scared."

Bo whipped around.

"What?!"

"You heard me B."

"You're full of it," Bo said. "You better not say that again."

"You're afraid everyone's gonna laugh you off the stage. Just like what happened to Mackie last year."

"What happened to Mackie has nothing to do with it," Bo said. "At least he was good before he had his problem. I'm not GOOD. Lay off!"

Jimmy was standing up, zipping his backpack.

"You can play, and you know it," Jimmy said, smiling. "But you're scared. You're a scardie-dog."

Bo gritted his teeth. He stared down at his desk and felt a rush of heat in his face.

What he wanted to do was put Jimmy in a headlock and teach him a lesson, but when he looked up, there was Jimmy disappearing out into the hall, laughing and bobbing his head and doing his stupid "cool walk", just as the bell rang.