Nicole

Just call her Lil Girl, although she ain't so lil any more! The 16-year-old brainiac was the first student in the history of Glenn Westlake Middle School to advance to the prestigious Illinois Music Educators Association competition without taking private lessons. She certainly is a whiz on her viola, and now is taking to the streets with her driver's permit! That talent is just part of Da Mad Skillz of Nicko.

Nickster, the creator of the famous Blue Bullet marble roller coaster, is a "Lost" fanatic with the rest of her family. She doesn't miss a single episode, and she's a big fan of the mysterious John Locke. She likes to be frightened, but please don't show her any pictures of Michael Jackson because that freaky-looking dude really terrifies her. She says he resembles a female clown. An old People magazine cover with MJ's nasty face remains floating around the house, occasionally turning up in Nicki's room when you hear her scream.

Although Nicole has no Picks titles in her seven-year career, she came within one victory of tying for the 2002 championship. Her 14-0 record in Week 14 of 2007 ranks as the best ever. Lil Girl also is the owner of the best two-week stretch in history, going 24-3 in 2001. If that isn't enough, she even boasts the most dominant week ever by beating her rivals by a combined 36 games in Week 1 of 2005. Wow!

Let's get to Lil Girl's favorite things. She really loves jamming on Guitar Hero, devouring Chips Ahoy cookies, riding the New York City subway, guessing Culver's flavor of the day, motoring on boogie boards, posting videos on YouTube, mailing letters with a smile, reading Harry Potter books, experiencing the superfast action of Night Stalker on ancient Intellivision, gulping chocolate milk, watching Jim Halpert in "The Office," exploring Robot World, hosting slumber parties, acting like a Pit Bull, making tasty brownies, building sand castles along the ocean, admiring George Clooney, hibernating in front of her laptop computer, riding tubes on the lake, posing with the Statue of Liberty, inhaling Nestle Crunch Bars, wandering from the dinner table and mastering classroom assignments.

One of the goofy things about Lil Girl, besides being called Douglas on occasion, is her habit of always asking questions two at at time. There's never one question by itself, and never three or more. Always two. That's weird.