Fabulous Five 012 - Katie's Dating Tips Read Online Free Page B

mother was pointing to next.
It was Tony Calcaterra. Oh , no , she thought. He's probably going
to bring up changing the dress code so that boys can wear earrings.
    "I'd like to talk about the rotten food in the
cafeteria," he said with a frown.
    A cheer went up from the class, and Matt Zeboski, who sat
next to Tony, clapped him on the back.
    "And do you have a plan for making it better?"
asked Willie.
    "Yes, I do," said Tony.
    Katie perked up her ears in surprise. It sounded to her as
if Tony had been thinking about this problem for a while.
    "I think the cooks should have a taste test, you know,
with samples of all the different kinds of food they make, and let students
taste them and vote for what we want them to serve."
    There was total silence for an instant as everyone thought
over what Tony had just said. Then they began cheering. Some kids hooted and
stamped their feet. Katie couldn't help but join in the cheering. She had to
agree with Tony. The food in the cafeteria was awful.
    Willie held up her hand for quiet. "Okay," she
shouted. After everyone had stopped talking at once, she continued, "While
Wakeman Junior High is certainly a good school, I think everybody agrees that
there are a few things that need improving. So now let's put all this energy to
work accomplishing that. Suppose you each wrote down your complaints and worked
to explain your feelings the very best you could. Who would you want to read what
you had written?"
    "The teachers," shouted Marcie Bee.
    "Mr. Bell," added Dekeisha Adams.
    "The members of the school board," interjected
Beth.
    "You're all right. Now, where would all of them be able
to read something written by students?"
    Katie did a double take. It was so obvious that she couldn't
believe she hadn't thought of it before when she was campaigning for one cause
or another. "The Smoke Signal !" she called.
    "That's right," said Willie. "Your school
paper, The Smoke Signal. And your assignment for tomorrow is to write a
letter to the editor explaining the best way you can what you think is wrong
with this school and how you propose to improve it."
    Willie was a hit. The kids not only liked her, they were
leaning forward to hear her instructions on writing letters to the editor. They
were asking questions, sometimes interrupting each other in their excitement.
Katie let out a huge sigh of relief and sank back in her seat. Maybe having her
mother at school wasn't going to be so bad after all.

CHAPTER 6
    After school, Katie and her friends crowded into Bumpers,
the fast-food restaurant decorated with relics from an old amusement-park bumper-car
ride. It was the junior high hangout, and today everybody was talking about
their letters to the editor for Willie's writing class. Just as The Fabulous
Five sat down, Kaci Davis called to Katie from a couple of tables away.
    "Hey, Katie. English class was a blast today. Your mom's
terrific. I mean it!" she said with a big smile. Kaci was a ninth-grader
and a member of Teen Court with Katie. She was not only captain of the
cheerleading squad, but she had also been queen of just about everything at Wakeman
Junior High, so her opinion counted with most kids. Even Katie liked her, in
spite of the fact that Katie thought beauty contests were dreadfully sexist and
should be outlawed from the face of the earth.
    "Thanks," Katie called back across the tables.
    "I heard Taffy Sinclair telling Mona Vaughn she's going
to suggest that they redecorate the school," said Beth. "She wants
the classrooms and the gym painted brighter colors."
    "Oh, brother," said Katie.
    "I've decided that what this school needs is coed gym
classes," said Melanie.
    "Eeeeek!"' shrieked Jana. "There's a boy in
my shower!"
    "Get serious," grumbled Melanie over everyone else's
laughter. "We'd still have separate locker rooms."
    "I heard that a bunch of kids are going to write about
the awful food in the cafeteria," said Christie. "Tony Calcaterra is
going around saying that there's a better