"Nope," said Ted. "It'll be about someone much closer to you. In fact, it will be a biography of someone in your class." More groans. "But everybody in this class is a bore," said Alan. "Nobody in here is an astronaut or a rock star." "Especially you," Dave said to him.

    "But that's the point," said Ted, ignoring Dave. "I want you to figure out how to create a fascinating biography of one of your fellow students. As I said yesterday, it's my belief that everyone's life is interesting. We all have our own stories, but we rarely have the chance to share them." "I know Cokie's story," said Alan. "Born under a rock. Raised by emus. Destined for mediocrity." Cokie shot him a Look.

    Ted raised both hands. "Enough," he said. "Let's be serious here for a minute. Does everyone under- stand the assignment? What I want you to do is learn the biographer's craft. It's not as easy as you might think. It involves not only interviewing your subject but using other sources. You'll talk to their friends and family, check published sources such as the school newspaper or the yearbook, and follow up any interesting leads you find: I want you to present the whole person in this biography." This was beginning to sound like fun. Being a biographer, I realized, was not too different from being a detective. And I'm a pretty good detective, if I do say so myself. My friends and I have solved a few very interesting cases.

    "Mr. Mor - I mean, Ted?" Rachel had raised her hand. "How do we decide who we're going to write about?" "Aha, good question," said Ted. "You don't. I do. In fact, I already have. Right now I'm going to pass back a sheet that gives all the details of this project, including pairings of biographers and subjects. I pulled names out of a hat last night, so it's totally random. You and your biography partner will each write about the other. You're going to get to know each other very, very well." I thought I heard a smile in his voice, but when I glanced at Ted his face was serious. Then I looked down at the paper that had landed on my desk, courtesy of Cary.