I always had my queens with me. For some reason, Rosemary wasn’t willing to beat me up when other people were around, watching. I wasn’t sure why. Although I suspected it was because she didn’t want any witnesses who could testify against her. I saw that in a movie once. Just as things sort of started looking up, Mrs. Hunter made the announcement that there was going to be a special all-star finalist spelling bee. The final ten from the fourth-grade spelling bee would be going up against the top ten fifth-grade spellers. The winner of this spelling bee would be the top speller in our school and would go on to represent Pine Heights in the district spelling bee, and if they won that, in the county, and if that, the state, and if they won that, the country. And after that, the world. If there was such a thing as a spelling bee for the world. Which, if there isn’t, there totally should be. And since I’d made the final ten of the fourth-graders, that meant I was going to be in this all-star finalist Pine Heights spelling bee.
