NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

Beatrice was going through the interview questions when Sam walked in. He looked at her serious face and looked at the questions in her hand.

"Haven't we gone through those already?" he asked curiously.

The questions were simple and were rather open-ended. Both of them agreed that they would have some basic questions to start the ball rolling, then essentially question them based on the answers given.

What was essential was that the questions would not be too rigidly followed. The objective was to get a gist of their characters and whether they would be suitable for the post that was being offered. Thus, the top of the list first had what they were looking for:

1. Secretary : eye for detail / able to take down minutes accurately / organised

2. Treasurer : basic maths / integrity / meticulous

The basic questions would be:

(a) Why do you think you would be a good Secretary /Treasurer? / What does it take to be a good Secretary / Treasurer? / what skills are required to be a good Secretary / Treasurer ?

(b) Why do you want to be a Secretary / Treasurer?

(c) What is the latest novel that you have read? Summarise it / what is your favourite scene and why?

On top of that, they would be giving a short test to the more promising interviewees i.e. the secretary-to-be would need to jot down minutes that Beatrice and Sam would be role-playing while the treasurer-to-be would need to do basic accounting from a list of finances they had.

The trick lay in being able to bring out the skills of the other person. Even though the questions seem to be something straight-forward and easily memorised, candidates would not normally be prepared for them to be questioned on their answers. It went beyond what they prepared for and that brought out their true personality.

"What is it that you're really worried about?" Sam asked. He observed Beatrice when he asked the question and noticed that she jerked a bit, as if surprised that he figured something out. That made Sam more confident that it wasn't the questions. So what was it?

Beatrice finally put down the paper and faced him, saying seriously, "I think Kyle is up to something."

"Up to something? Like what?"

"I don't know. I have been trying to figure that out myself," Beatrice confessed.

"So why do you think that he's up to something? Is it related to this interview?"

"Yes. When I asked him whether he was sure that he didn't want to participate in the interview, he just ... smiled. It wasn't just any smile ... it was THAT smile," Beatrice tried to explain.

"What smile?" Sam prodded.

"Like he was up to something," Beatrice replied.

"There's such a smile?!"

Beatrice actually named all of Kyle's smiles. There was the Colgate Smile, that he used to dazzle people. There was the Million-Dollar-Watt Smile that she saw for the first time earlier today with Janice. There was the Joker Smile, that he used just before he face-slapped someone. Then, there was his Macbeth smile, that gave him a totally innocent appearance but in truth, he was scheming something.

She couldn't tell Sam that Kyle gave the Macbeth smile now, could she? So she just nodded.

Sam nodded his head then shrugged. "If he is going to do something, then he will. We'll just conduct the interview as normal."

Beatrice nodded but still felt uneasy.

**--**--**--**--

2.15pm

Francis took note of the candidates who showed up for the interview. There were ten chairs lined up against the wall outside the Student Council room entrance and all the shortlisted candidates were sitting there. As expected, all were present. She smiled at them and said encouragingly, "I wish you all the best for the interview."

Everyone smiled back, some nervously sitting and thinking of what to say. It was only a student council member position, but it would also make their cv much more impressive with it. They looked at the back of the retreating current Secretary of the Student Council and wondered briefly what it was like.

At exactly 2.30pm, Francis called the first candidate to come in. When the person entered the Student Council room, he saw a large desk right at the end with Beatrice and Sam sitting there. A chair was located right in front of the desk and he sat down nervously. He was surprised to see them there, as he actually expected it to be Hank and Claude.

"Ben Stilk," read Beatrice from the list.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied and Beatrice's eye twitched. Did she look THAT old or something? Keeping a straight face, she asked, "Why do you think you would be a good Secretary?"

Ben smiled confidently, as it was a question that he had expected, and answered, "Because I am meticulous and detailed."

"In what way are you meticulous? Give me an example of the last time you were meticulous," asked Sam.

Ben was stumped for a while and his eyes darted to the left and right, his head lowered a bit as he tried to think. The more he tried to think of something, the more he couldn't think of anything.

Sam quietly observed the sudden drop in confidence and the way Ben's eyes darted around. It was obvious that Ben was trying to figure out some sort of scenario to give, as in truth, he wasn't as what he claimed to be.

Beatrice was slightly miffed. One question and the guy was already speechless? Was this the caliber of the candidates? She noted that he wasn't the sole person that passed all of Kyle's first stringent filtering but she didn't think that he would be THAT bad.

"Take your time," Beatrice said, trying to ease the situation but it only served to make him more nervous. He was kicking himself now for trying to use such big words to be impressive. What was being meticulous really mean? Detailed about stuff? What sort of stuff? What sort of details? What did it really mean??

Ben gulped and knew he had to answer something. Anything.

"Well, just the other day," he began, his mind furiously thinking, "I helped my mum do her groceries. Without a list!"

Beatrice and Sam looked at him in amusement but in his eyes, they appeared to be impressed. He smiled widely, happy with his answer.

"What was the last novel that you had read?" Sam asked.

"I don't read novels," Ben replied.

"Oh? Why is that?" Beatrice asked.

"Well, I felt that novels were too unrealistic and childish," Ben explained with a puff of his chest, "I have outgrown such things."

Beatrice and Sam looked at each other briefly and as if of one mind, they thanked him at the same time.

Beatrice said, "That was enlightening indeed."

Sam coughed and continued, "We will get back to you as soon as we have made our decision."

That's it? Ben was surprised. He must have really impressed them. Luckily he remembered that point. It not only showed how meticulous he was, but also that he was a filial son. This was great.

He walked out with a confident smile and when the others furtively tried to get him to tell them what happened, he just shook his head. Why should he help his competitors, right? He just wished them all good luck and walked off.

Inside, Beatrice and Sam were shaking their heads in disappointment. Nothing needed to be said. Beatrice jotted down a few thoughts about the interview and set Ben's paper aside. Although he was not impressive, she hadn't seen the others. She decided to reserve judgment until then.

Unknown to the both of them, Kyle was laughing silently in the bathroom that was connected to the Student Council room. They were lucky that this was one of the few rooms in the school that had an adjoining bathroom. Though it was small, it was sufficient for their use and extremely convenient. Especially when they had do projects late into the night.

Kyle could hear everything that was happening and simply bided his time. There were a few candidates that he had some reservations about but he had nothing other than his suspicions. Thus, he wanted to test them during the interview. Beatrice and Sam could handle the skills part.

While he ... needs to be certain of some things. The last thing he needed was a member that had ulterior motives. The Student Council was responsible for a lot of things in the school and his members would need a clear head. He specifically chose the seniors for that reason but he was also aware that they could be susceptible to their younger siblings or friends.

In short, he didn't need someone who was there because of him. He wasn't being conceited but it was a real possibility. So how was he going to ensure that there was no ulterior motive? Kyle grinned. He actually got the idea from George Micheal.

To be more specific, what George Micheal had done when they were interviewing people for his music video for 'Careless Whispers'.

Of course, Kyle wasn't really going to do exactly what George did ... but it was close. The idea was generally the same.

Kyle laughed to himself. It wasn't so much the reaction of the candidates that he was being so gleeful about. It was Beatrice's reaction that he wanted to watch more.