bee. That’s how it would get down to the final ten kids who would stand up in front of the whole gym.
Already Mrs. Danielson’s class was down four people and Mrs. Hunter’s class was down five when it was my turn. My heart was beating so hard when Mrs. Danielson got to me, I thought I was going to throw up. Let it be an easy word, I prayed. Easy word, easy word. Really, I had way more to worry about already than letting down my class. I mean, why me? I was maybe already the stepmother of a premature kitten! I didn’t need to lose a spelling bee on top of that already very stressful worry!
“Horse,” Mrs. Danielson said. “Allie, your word is ‘horse.’”
Oh, my gosh, could I have gotten an easier word? Really, I have been reading books about horses since the first grade. I stood up and was confidently about to spell “horse” when I glanced at Caroline and saw her eyebrows sloped downward in concern. Wait a second…why did Caroline look so worried? Everyone knew how to spell “horse.” Mark, in the second grade, could spell “horse.” What was the big deal?
Then I remembered. There were two different versions of the word “horse.”
Wow! I had almost missed my very first word, and because of an easy mistake!
“Could you use the word in a sentence, please?” I asked.
“Your voice is sounding very hoarse today,” Mrs. Danielson said.
Whoa! I had almost spelled the wrong version! I would have missed and been out because of a silly mistake! Good thing I’d looked at Caroline!
“Hoarse,” I said. “H-O-A-R-S-E. Hoarse.”
“Very good,” Mrs. Danielson said, smiling. “You may remain standing.”
I glanced over at Mrs. Hunter and saw her give me a big smile. Phew! I hadn’t let down the class. I sneaked a glance at Rosemary. She didn’t exactly smile at me, but she didn’t look like she wanted to kill me, either. I didn’t really get to see what she thought, though, because Sophie, who was standing on the other side of me from Erica, nudged me and whispered, “Look!”
I looked and saw that it was Prince Peter’s turn, over on Mrs. Danielson’s side of the gym. He stood up and, looking handsome in a green sweater, correctly spelled the word “urgent.”
“Like my love for him,” Sophie whispered to me. “It’s very urgent. ”
Then we both started to giggle, until Mrs. Danielson looked over in our direction and said, “Girls,” in a stern voice. And we both stopped laughing right away. I’m so glad Mrs. Hunter is our teacher and not her. It must be terrible to have a teacher that old, with a neck that wobbles somuch. I would cry every single day if Mrs. Danielson was my teacher.
The spelling bee kept going until soon there were more people sitting down than standing up—and I was one of them! Sophie got knocked out on “excite”—which is a hard word—and Erica missed on “embarrass”—also really hard. I only got “embarrass” right because I guessed after hearing Erica spell it wrong with one “r.” Then later I got “wallaby,” which is a type of macropod, otherwise known as a kangaroo or wallaroo. Really, it isn’t fair to give me any type of animal word because I’ve read every book in the library about them, and I went through an extreme kangaroo phase in the second grade.
Then the next thing I knew, I was in the final ten! I couldn’t believe it! Suddenly, I was walking up to stand in front of both fourth-grade classes, with Caroline and one other kid from our class, a boy named Lenny Hsu. That was it! We were the only ones left from Mrs. Hunter’s class! Everyone else in the final ten, including Peter Jacobs, was from Mrs. Danielson’s class.
Caroline, I could tell, really wasn’t feeling well. She was sweating, and her face looked a little green. I couldn’t believe that a full day after eating all those cookies, she was still sick. Although she had eaten an awful lot of them. Mrs. Harrington is a terrific baker.
And sure enough, two words
Already Mrs. Danielson’s class was down four people and Mrs. Hunter’s class was down five when it was my turn. My heart was beating so hard when Mrs. Danielson got to me, I thought I was going to throw up. Let it be an easy word, I prayed. Easy word, easy word. Really, I had way more to worry about already than letting down my class. I mean, why me? I was maybe already the stepmother of a premature kitten! I didn’t need to lose a spelling bee on top of that already very stressful worry!
“Horse,” Mrs. Danielson said. “Allie, your word is ‘horse.’”
Oh, my gosh, could I have gotten an easier word? Really, I have been reading books about horses since the first grade. I stood up and was confidently about to spell “horse” when I glanced at Caroline and saw her eyebrows sloped downward in concern. Wait a second…why did Caroline look so worried? Everyone knew how to spell “horse.” Mark, in the second grade, could spell “horse.” What was the big deal?
Then I remembered. There were two different versions of the word “horse.”
Wow! I had almost missed my very first word, and because of an easy mistake!
“Could you use the word in a sentence, please?” I asked.
“Your voice is sounding very hoarse today,” Mrs. Danielson said.
Whoa! I had almost spelled the wrong version! I would have missed and been out because of a silly mistake! Good thing I’d looked at Caroline!
“Hoarse,” I said. “H-O-A-R-S-E. Hoarse.”
“Very good,” Mrs. Danielson said, smiling. “You may remain standing.”
I glanced over at Mrs. Hunter and saw her give me a big smile. Phew! I hadn’t let down the class. I sneaked a glance at Rosemary. She didn’t exactly smile at me, but she didn’t look like she wanted to kill me, either. I didn’t really get to see what she thought, though, because Sophie, who was standing on the other side of me from Erica, nudged me and whispered, “Look!”
I looked and saw that it was Prince Peter’s turn, over on Mrs. Danielson’s side of the gym. He stood up and, looking handsome in a green sweater, correctly spelled the word “urgent.”
“Like my love for him,” Sophie whispered to me. “It’s very urgent. ”
Then we both started to giggle, until Mrs. Danielson looked over in our direction and said, “Girls,” in a stern voice. And we both stopped laughing right away. I’m so glad Mrs. Hunter is our teacher and not her. It must be terrible to have a teacher that old, with a neck that wobbles somuch. I would cry every single day if Mrs. Danielson was my teacher.
The spelling bee kept going until soon there were more people sitting down than standing up—and I was one of them! Sophie got knocked out on “excite”—which is a hard word—and Erica missed on “embarrass”—also really hard. I only got “embarrass” right because I guessed after hearing Erica spell it wrong with one “r.” Then later I got “wallaby,” which is a type of macropod, otherwise known as a kangaroo or wallaroo. Really, it isn’t fair to give me any type of animal word because I’ve read every book in the library about them, and I went through an extreme kangaroo phase in the second grade.
Then the next thing I knew, I was in the final ten! I couldn’t believe it! Suddenly, I was walking up to stand in front of both fourth-grade classes, with Caroline and one other kid from our class, a boy named Lenny Hsu. That was it! We were the only ones left from Mrs. Hunter’s class! Everyone else in the final ten, including Peter Jacobs, was from Mrs. Danielson’s class.
Caroline, I could tell, really wasn’t feeling well. She was sweating, and her face looked a little green. I couldn’t believe that a full day after eating all those cookies, she was still sick. Although she had eaten an awful lot of them. Mrs. Harrington is a terrific baker.
And sure enough, two words
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