Part 2


Second Grade

By the time you reached second grade, you and Josh had become best buddies. Your old best buddy, Lance, was just a distant memory, and even though you and Josh didn’t see each other that often, you still considered the two of you to be the best of friends.

He’d even come over to your house to play cars one day, crouching on the floor of your bedroom and vrooming his right red car right along with your blue one, laughing when you crashed it into the wall and made your best explosion sound.

“You’re pretty great for a first grader, Justin,” he’d tease during recess, and you’d blush and kick sand at him.

Nick didn’t bother you at all since you became friends with Josh. Josh had told him that if he didn’t leave you alone, he’d make sure that his friend Joey Fatone would hear about it, and everyone knew that Joey Fatone was a bully.

Well, everyone thought he was a bully, anyway. You knew that he was just big, and that made everyone afraid of him.

He really wasn’t so bad.

Second grade wasn’t so bad, either. Your teacher, Miss Groveland, wasn’t as nice as Mrs. Milner, but she was all right. She liked you a lot, because you were the best speller in the class.

You beamed every time she wrote your name on the #1 Speller Board, right next to the grinning bumble bee, who was holding a blue ribbon.

“Justin, may I see you for a moment?” she asked one day in December, and you looked up from your math assignment to nod. Setting down your pencil, you stood and walked quietly to her desk, smiling back when she smiled at you.

“Yes Mrs. Groveland?”

“Justin, the school’s annual spelling bee is next week,” she started, still smiling. “And Iwas wondering if you’d like to participate.”

Your eyes got wide and your heart sped up, nerves already kicking in.

“Um…I…I guess…maybe…” you stuttered.

She patted you on the shoulder and nodded. “I’ll give you some time to think about it, ok?”

You nodded, thankful that she could read your mind.

“Can you let me know by the end of the day?”

“Um…sure.”

She smiled again, then waved you back to your seat.

You tried to concentrate on taking away apples from oranges, but all you could think about was spelling the word

“L O S E R” in front of the entire school.

Josh knew right away that something was up. At recess, he jogged up to you, his dark hair bobbing in the wind, and frowned. “What’s up, kiddo? You look mad.”

“Not mad,” you said, kicking at a rock. “Mrs. Groveland wants me to be in the spelling bee.”

His face lit up, and he grinned from ear to ear, clapping you on the back. “That’s great, Justin! That must mean you’re really smart.”

You rolled your eyes at him even though you were blushing like crazy. “Yeah, but I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous, Justin. I’ll be there in the crowd cheering you on, so you don’t have to worry about being scared.”

“But everyone will be staring at me!”

“Just picture them in their underwear.”

You pulled a face, then burst out into a fit of giggles, clutching your stomach tightly. “Why would I wanna do that?”

“Because then you won’t be so nervous!”

You thought about it for a second, and decided that he was probably right. A hundred people in their underwear was pretty amusing.

“Ok.”

“You’re gonna do it?”

“Yeah.”

“All right!” he said, clapping you on the back.

Now, a week later, standing on the podium, you were grinning at him wildly, clutching your trophy in your right hand.

You fingered the engraving on the gold plated base. “Spelling Bee Champion”.

Josh was giving you the thumbs up.

“Congratulations!” he mouthed, but you lost him in the crowd when your mom ran onto the stage, pulling you into a tight hug and telling you how proud she was of you.

“Honey, you did such a wonderful job!” she exclaimed. “You’re going to be the best speller in the county, and then the best speller in the state, and then, you might even get to go to the national spelling bee!”

You paled, and she noticed.

“Justin? Honey, what’s wrong?”

“There’s more spelling?”

She laughed and patted you on the forehead. “Yes, Justin. Now that you’ve won your school spelling bee, you get to compete in the county spelling bee next week.”

“I do?”

“Mm hm. And after that, if you win, you get to compete against kids from all over the state!”

“Mom…”

“Isn’t that wonderful?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s just wonderful, honey!”

She looked so happy and so proud that you didn’t have the heart to tell her that you were scared to death.

When you found Josh in the crowd, you told him.

“I don’t want to do it anymore!”

“Why not?”

“It’s all the way in a different city, and I’m scared, and all those other kids are going to be so much smarter than me!”

“Justin, you’re a way good speller!” Josh exclaimed. “You don’t have to be scared, because you’re way smarter than all those kids.”

“I am not,” you said, trying to hide your grin. You couldn’t help it. You always grinned when he complimented you.

“You are too, and I bet you’ll win that county spelling bee?”

“You think?”

“I know.”

Turns out that he was wrong.

You didn’t win the county spelling bee, but you took third place, which was still just as great, you thought, because you beat sixth graders to get that trophy, and that was quite an accomplishment.

You gave up spelling at the end of second grade, finding something that you loved a whole lot more.

Music class.



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