Twice the Talent by Belle Payton Page A

waved Ava over when she climbed off the stage.
    â€œDon’t tell me you saw that,” Ava said.
    â€œMost of it,” said Alex. “I can tell it’s not easy.”
    â€œThat’s an understatement,” Ava said with a sigh.
    Then Alex had an idea. “Hey, you should ask Coach for help,” she said. “He’s a good dancer, and he grew up in Texas, so he probably knows how to line dance.”
    â€œThat’s what Tommy said,” Ava told her.
    â€œIf both of your siblings are giving you the same advice, you should probably take it,” Alex said.
    Ava sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. I just wish I had never gotten into this in the first place!”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN
    The next day at school Alex looked around anxiously for Max. She had no idea what had happened after he’d made his confession. Had he been suspended?
    She finally saw him in the hallway on the way to social studies. His hair was a mess, there was a hole in the bottom of the T-shirt he was wearing, and his shoelaces were untied—so he looked pretty much the same as always. Alex couldn’t tell if something bad had happened or not.
    She wove through the crowd to talk to him, but Max saw her out of the corner of his eye and actually broke into a jog to avoid her. He obviously didn’t want to speak to her. He quicklydarted into class. When Alex entered, she saw that he had his notebook open and was pretending to study something very intently.
    Alex tried to approach him again at lunchtime, as he walked out of the lunch line. But he made a sharp turn in the opposite direction, and Alex didn’t follow. He was clearly avoiding her, embarrassed by what had happened.
    But Alex really wanted to thank him. Copying her homework—that had been wrong. But telling the truth to keep Alex out of trouble—that was really brave. She didn’t want Max to walk around thinking she was angry with him.
    This is exactly like my Lindsey problem, Alex thought. Max won’t even talk to me! Things were getting pretty frustrating.
    Her twin noticed something was bothering Alex on the bus ride home.
    â€œYou’ve got that look on your face,” Ava said. “And you’ve only told me three things that happened to you today, when normally at this point you would be up to ten things.”
    â€œHa-ha,” Alex said drily.
    â€œYou look like you’re trying to figure out a problem,” Ava said. “What’s bugging you? The Lindsey thing?”
    â€œWell, that, and then this thing happened with Max,” Alex said, and she told her sister the whole story.
    â€œWow, Al, and you’re not mad at him?” Ava asked.
    Alex shook her head. “No. It was brave of him to tell the truth, and anyway, I think there’s a reason he’s cheating and it’s not because he’s lazy. Tommy thought there was something up with him too, when we gave him a ride home last week, and he thought I could figure it out. But I haven’t been able to.”
    â€œWait a minute. You know where he lives?” Ava asked.
    Alex nodded. “Yes.”
    â€œSo go over there and talk to him,” Ava suggested. “He probably doesn’t want to talk about it in school, where everybody can listen.”
    â€œAve, that’s a great idea!” Alex said. “He’s in Magnolia Terrace. It’s not that far. I’m going to ride my bike over there as soon as we get home. Thank you. That’s great advice.”
    â€œWell, I owe you one,” Ava said. “You and Tommy.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Alex asked.
    â€œI’m finally going to take your advice,” Avasaid. “I told Coach I needed help.”
    â€œYou know, sometimes I wonder how people manage who don’t have a twin,” Alex remarked. “I mean, look at us. We’re solving each other’s problems!”
    The bus came to a stop near the Sacketts’ house.
    â€œNot