Free The Secret Talent by Jo Whittemore Page A

event.”
    I groaned and bowed my head. Leave it to Stefan.
    When he was done talking, all eyes went to me.
    â€œTim?” pressed Mary Patrick. “What’s your sports piece?”
    â€œThat was going to be it.” I pointed to the board. “Adrenaline is coming to town.”
    â€œNot as catchy as Santa Claus,” joked Brooke. At the look on my face she added, “Sorry.”
    â€œDo you have any other story leads, Tim?” asked Mrs. H. “Anyone else you care to interview?”
    I thought for a moment about which sports were ending and which were beginning.
    â€œWell, the track team starts practice right after the holidays,” I said.
    â€œOh! You should talk to Abel,” said Brooke. “He’s hoping to break two different speed records, and he’s been running 5Ks all fall to prepare.”
    I gestured to Brooke. “There’s my idea. An interview with Abel Hart.” I nodded to Brooke. “Thanks for that.”
    Mary Patrick wrote it on the board. “And, Lincoln’s Letters, we’re still waiting on an extra holiday piece from the advice column. In case you forgot while you were playing Santa.” Sheturned and stared directly at Brooke, who stared right back.
    â€œSanta doesn’t give advice; he gives presents,” said Brooke. “But I wouldn’t expect people who get coal every year to know that.”
    â€œOooh!” several people in class said. Others snickered.
    â€œYes, and how is that gift advice going?” Mary Patrick asked, crossing her arms.
    â€œJust fine.” Brooke gave her a confident smile. “We’ve had a few confused kids but tons of interest. You’re gonna be sorry we’re not mentioning the paper. It would’ve been great exposure.”
    Mrs. H cleared her throat. “Ladies, let’s wrap this up.”
    Mary Patrick gave Brooke one last look of disdain and made a few comments about the tone of the next issue before we broke into our groups again.
    â€œWow, Mary Patrick is really against usdoing gift advice!” said Heather.
    â€œThat’s because she doesn’t know how good we are at it,” said Brooke.
    â€œ We don’t even know how good we are at it,” I pointed out. “And we won’t until after the holidays.”
    â€œYeah, but people can at least tell us if they like our gift ideas.” Brooke tore a piece of paper out of her notebook. “Which is why I came up with this survey that we can give people after we help them.”
    â€œOh, this already feels like a bad idea,” said V, reaching for it. Heather and I looked over her shoulder.
    â€œâ€˜Question one,’” I read. “‘On a scale of eight to ten, how satisfied were you with this gift idea?’” I glanced at Brooke. “Don’t most scales start at one?”
    â€œNot if you want to guarantee success,” said Brooke.
    â€œâ€˜Question two,’” read Heather. “‘Aren’t you glad this service was available?’” She frowned. “Seems a little one-sided.”
    Brooke shrugged and smiled.
    â€œâ€˜Question three,’” read V. “‘How do you feel about newspaper columnists who go above and beyond: great, really great, or outstanding?’” She lowered the survey sheet. “We are not handing these out.”
    â€œNot without a few corrections,” said Heather.
    I nodded. “You might as well forge a bunch of good ones if you’re going to do something like this.”
    Brooke’s eyes lit up.
    â€œDon’t even think about it,” Heather said firmly.
    â€œFine, I’ll fix it,” Brooke said, heading for one of the computers on the side of the classroom. “You guys work on this week’s advice.”
    While Mrs. H and Mary Patrick had beentalking, Vanessa had taken the time to sort our advice requests, which she handed to us now. Mine were the