All the eighth graders with top grades in English were called to the library after lunch. The language instructor, Ms. Fontz, watched us trickle in as she studied an attendance list on her clipboard. The room was packed full with about forty students, whispering quietly to each other. Ms. Fontz raised her square glasses and spoke crisply, without raising her voice. The confused mutterings stopped. “Cumbertown Middle School is going to hold a spelling bee. Today’s preliminary spelling bee will help us determine how many students will be entered in the contest.” She paused for a moment as a new ripple of whispering filled the library.
Silence fell as she continued, “Please line up alphabetically by last name. When I call your name, come up front to the microphone and I will give you a word to spell. This test will show that you can not only spell, but do so in front of an audience. When you have finished, you will go stand together by the library counter. I want the Zs over the corner to your left, and the As in the corner to your right. Go ahead now and organize yourselves.”
Most of us had been in class together for years and knew almost everyone else’s surname. There was some confusion as the middle of the alphabet section set themselves in order. Quiet discussions emerged abruptly and died just as quickly, “Is your name spelled E-I or I-E?” “What’s your last name again?” An orderly line slowly emerged.
The Competition Begins
Ms. Fontz addressed the end of the line. “Cale Zwiebel, please come up to the front. I want you to spell the word I give you, and say the word when you are finished spelling. You may ask me to repeat the word or use it in a sentence. Your word is ‘ricotta.’”
“R-I-C-K-O-T-T-A, ricotta,” stammered Cale. He was not used to being the first one called to the front of the class for anything. Ms. Fontz nodded, giving no signal whether he had been right or wrong.
“Please go stand by the counter. Next, Paul Zimmer.” As he stood awkwardly in front of all his classmates, Ms. Fontz said, “Your word is ‘submersible.’”
“S-U-B-M-E-R-S-A-B-L-E, submersible.” I reflected that the pressure must be getting to Cale and Paul. They were not stupid and probably would have spelled those words correctly on a written test. As Ms. Fontz worked her way up the roster, it began to dawn on me that everyone was spelling incorrectly. Their words weren’t insultingly simple, but they weren’t challenging enough to explain the losing streak either. Was it just nerves? It seemed unlikely, as our lead cheerleader Kristina fumbled the word “pariah.” A girl who can shout, “B-E A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E!” to a full stadium should be immune to the spelling bee jitters.
Maybe it was just that nobody wanted to be in the real spelling bee. I imagined the skinny blonde boy next to me dressed up in his best suit under a stagelight. I could see his adoring father filming his darling as he regurgitated difficult words. The picture struck me as unpleasantly old-fashioned. At least that’s how I felt, and some of my class might have felt the same way. But that alone couldn’t explain our ongoing losing streak. Was there an unspoken agreement that we were all going to mess up our words so there wouldn’t be a spelling bee?
The Top Student
I kept a close watch on our class’s top English student, Jennifer LaCombe. She was a brilliant perfectionist who could speak well in front of crowds. She was also immune to unspoken social agreements against showing off, even when that meant being on the receiving end of others’ jealousy.
When her name was called, Jennifer walked confidently up to the microphone. I wondered if she noticed the full attention she was receiving, how most of us had snapped out of our anxious or bored states to watch with bated breath. “Your word is déjà vu.” Sort of tricky with the space in the middle, but surely she would get it right.
“D-E-J-A-V-U, déjà vu.” There was an immediate change in the atmosphere, like after the discharge of a bolt of lightning. The impending sense of pressure was gone. If Jennifer was free to mess up her word, so were the rest of us. I was hardly surprised as the rest of our class proceeded to botch their spellings. However, the change in the atmosphere had affected me differently.
Why should I intentionally mess up just because the rest of them were either too scared or didn’t care? There was certainly going to be no real spelling bee after this, so there was no risk in being correct. Even if the rest of them had succumbed to the peer pressure, I was going to be no such fool. I was going to take my stand for truth, accuracy, and integrity.
Jonafree’s Mistake
My name was called, “Jonafree Almasy,” and I walked anxiously but intently to the front of the library. “Your word is ‘intellect.’”
Easy as pie! I began reciting, “I-N-T-E-L,” and the room started moving in slow motion. Was it nerves? Was it peer pressure? Was it a spiritual force? Was it a magic spell? I could not, to save my life, remember how many Ls I had spoken aloud. One or two? If I said “L” again and spelled “intelllect,” I felt that I might die from embarrassment. But if I had said only one L, it would be incorrectly “intelect.” Well, it was better to risk spelling it with one L rather than three. All these thoughts raced through my mind in the fraction of a second. I hesitantly spoke, “E-C-T, intellect.”
As I stepped away from the microphone, my mind cleared. Of course, I had spelled it wrong. What a terrible word to misspell! “At least I am in good company,” I mused as I joined the rest of the class. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the library or residual nervousness, but we were dismissed and left the library in silence – as if spellbound. Had this outcome been actively decided by each participant? Had it only been an unwilling response to some strange subconscious force? We never could tell.
Cumbertown Middle School continued to hold spelling bees for future classes, but there was no further talk of a spelling bee for my class. Together, we had all failed at the impossible spelling bee.
This story is based on actual events, with slight embellishment. The town name and character names have been changed to protect their real-life counterparts.
