Several other students performed songs. An Asian boy awkwardly sang “You Give Love a Bad Name,” three girls sang “When It’s Over,” and a short girl with red hair sang “Don’t Speak.” Then, a boy with longish brown hair stepped onto the stage.

“Oh my God, that’s Louie,” Emily whispered to Ophelia. Ophelia noticed the girl’s unusually pink cheeks.

“You like him, eh?” Ophelia whispered in response, lightly elbowing the blushing girl in her side.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Your face is red like a fire truck.”

“Uh…” Louie said. “This is a song for a… well, it just has special meaning for me.” He nodded for Angela to play the song.

Emily squealed a little as he started singing. “Oh wow, I love this song!” she remarked to Ophelia.

“Sure, if you like songs from Disney films. But it is a good song,” Ophelia replied, chuckling to herself. While “Stand Out” may not have been her favorite song, it was enjoyable enough. Louie finished his song and then walked offstage, but not without casting a quick glance in the direction of Emily and Ophelia, something that did not go unnoticed by Ophelia, though she decided to let it go without comment for now.

“Okay, guys, lunch period is almost over, so we’ll have to start packing things up in a bit. I want to thank you all for your participation, and I hope you will continue to support us,” Charise called out to the audience. She turned to the newscast members and said, “We’ll pack up. You guys go take care of business.”



Tiffani took her seat in English class. For the first time in a while, she was in a good mood, and it wasn’t because of food. Then, something happened to ruin that good mood.

Three cheerleaders sat across from her: Sawyer McNamara, Veronica Chandler, and Heather Finn, three of the most popular girls in the school. Sawyer brushed back her long black hair and peered at Tiffani, eyes narrowed.

“Hey, Tiffani,” she drawled, a smirk on her lips. “You’ve been replaced on the squad.”

“What?!” Tiffani cried out. “By who?”

“Sherrie Aldrich,” Heather replied, peeking out from beneath her red bangs.

“Sherrie? As in, my best friend?” Tiffani gasped.

“Yeah. Sucks to be you,” Veronica sneered.


The clips of the students singing karaoke was played midway through that class. Everyone laughed at the bad singing and murmured excitedly about the good singing. However, there were three clips at the end that were a surprise to everyone, including the Clique News Crash members.

The first clip showed Charise singing “Let It Be.” She was incredible.


The second clip was of S singing “She Will Be Loved” in an equally incredible voice.


The third clip was of Dunstan singing.


After only about three seconds of listening, Ophelia looked over at Emily with an expression of pure horror.

“What’s wrong?” Emily asked.

“This is not good. He’s singing that song and…” Ophelia bit her lower lip.

“You’re getting upset over a Jet song?” Emily asked. "It's not that bad of a song."

“Not that. The person singing it. I just have this bad feeling…” Ophelia trailed off.

"You mean, aside from the fact that he was apparently just wandering around campus all day, since he wasn't in the auditorium with us?" Emily asked.


Her fears were not unreasonable, because after Dunstan finished singing, he said, “Charise, do you want to be my girlfriend?”

“No,” Ophelia whispered. “Please, don’t have said yes.”

“YES!” Charise cried out on the screen, flinging herself into his arms. The tape cut off there.


“I hate that man,” Ophelia growled under her breath.


Across the room, AJ turned to Tiffani and said, “That reminds me; wanna go do something this weekend?”

“Sure!” Tiffani squealed.

Angela, several seats behind, silently witnessed this, her eyes narrowed and an expression of bitter envy on her pretty face.