The summer holidays eventually came to an end and the new school year started. Frankie and Pete live in the village; while I catch the school bus into town. I saw them waiting for me as I got off the bus and we went to face the new school together. They are good friends and it would not have occurred to them to go in without me.
Most of the kids in Year 7 we knew from primary school. There were a few new kids who started to drift together in the first recess. I couldn’t wait to get to the Clarion office and start my new career. When I got there a note on the door said that the editor would be interviewing at lunch time on Wednesday for new staff and if people were interested to put their names on the list below. There were two names there already – Tommy Connor and Ben Ng. I knew Ben from primary school but I didn’t know Tommy Connor. I added my name to the list and resigned myself to wait till Wednesday.
When I got there at lunchtime the next Wednesday, Liam was already there talking to a few kids, Ben and Tom included.
“Come in,” called Liam to me as I hovered at the door. “Name?”
“Jasmine Nix.”
“Okay, Jasmine take a seat and we’ll get started. Let me say first that I am very pleased to see so many people interested in our little newspaper. I am Liam Costigan. I am in year 11 and I’m the editor. We usually don’t have Year 7s on the team. We like to see what they can do first. So you would see yourselves as freelance reporters. It’s up to you to find a story, write it up and submit it to me. If I like it and there is room I will publish; if not bad luck. You will have to be persistent as this is a very competitive paper.
“Secondly, I have a few words of advice. Keep your articles short and concise. Tell us who, what, when, where, how and why and you will have the essence of a story. Okay? Off you go and don’t come back till you have something to show me.”
I spent the next fortnight observing, photographing and drafting up pieces I thought would be good for the paper. But I was not satisfied with any of them. The kitten up the tree outside the Library was helped down by two year 8 girls. I was there. I was there when the lunches were late from the tuck shop because the pie oven had broken down. And I was there when Jason Parsons got his hand stuck in the grate over the storm drain trying to retrieve his locker key. None of these satisfied my thirst for a great story. It wasn’t until the Principal announced that the regional finals of the spelling bee were to be held in Bungendore that I felt I had got my first break. Frankie’s cousin Charlotte was a great speller and was a shoe-in to win. I could get my first scoop interview and photograph next Friday night when she won. If she won that is. I won’t spoil the story by showing you my article which incidentally didn’t make the Clarion that week. Liam said my competition was a bit strong – Liam’s own story on money missing from the senior lockers and Ben’s on the favourites for selection for the Touch Footy team made the feature articles, the rest of the paper was filled with regular columns and ads.
Liam also said that the story was a bit bare. “So and so came first in the Regional Spelling Bee held last Friday night at the Palerang Council Offices defeating a strong field of 36 local students to take out the prize.” “That’s just too bare Jasmine. We need some padding. Better luck next time.”
“Okay, I had reported just the facts but I had talked to a few people about what happened in the lead up to the Spelling Bee finals and the story behind the facts is much more interesting. This is what happened.
THE SPELLING BEE
(Charlotte’s Story)
Charlotte was a great speller. This was due to three facts about Charlotte that could not be denied. She loved reading; she hated exercise; and she was very competitive.
Charlotte was undeniably the best speller in her class. She went to St Benedict’s College in Queanbeyan and was in year 7. She had been the best speller in her Primary School, St Raphael’s and she was used to winning these contests. Of course, she worked at it. She read constantly. When the girls were playing netball, she was hiding in the shelter shed reading the Lord of the Rings. During class time in the pool, she could be found under the spectator stands practising spelling four-syllable words out of the dictionary. And, walking home from school with her brother Wesley, who was in Year 8, was a hazardous experience as he often had to pull Charlotte back onto the footpath after she had stepped out into traffic, her nose deep into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Charlotte was an amiable girl, easy to like, but capable of stating her mind and sticking to her principles. She had thick glossy black hair, which in bright sunlight glowed golden in places. She had a round cheerful face which matched her general all-round roundness. There was another fact about Charlotte which could not be denied. She loved her food, not just sweet things by odd things, like vegetables. She loved broccoli and could be seen sitting in the library with a book in one hand and a raw piece of broccoli in the other.
All-in-all, Charlotte was not your average year 7 girl.
***********************
In Ms Tucci’s English class, the highlight of each Tuesday for Charlotte was the weekly spelling bee. After one such event which was won again by Charlotte, Ms Tucci called her aside and said, “Charlotte, you are really very strong at spelling. How would you feel about trying out for the chance to represent St Benedict’s at the Regional Spelling Bee next month?”
“But that’s for years 7 to 9, isn’t it? Would I have a chance to win?”
“Whoa,” said Ms Tucci, “don’t get too far ahead of yourself. We are just talking about trying out here. You’d have to get through some stiff competition from the other classes first.”
“Right, like Damien in year 8. He’s new but I hear that he is already boasting that he is going to win the Regionals.”
“Yes, Damien, among others. Are you game?”
“Yes, Yes, I am,” said Charlotte determinedly, after a few seconds, but already the butterflies were beginning to flutter in her stomach.
******************************
Damien had arrived at St Benedict’s from a Sydney school for the start of First Term. His dad was in the Defence Forces and had just taken up a senior position at the recently opened Defence Operational HQ outside of Bungendore, about 15 kms east of Queanbeyan. Damien’s dad expected great things from his only son, both on the sports field and in the classroom. He was a dad who took pride in his understanding of psychology and wanted to nurture a supportive relationship with his son. Failure on Damien’s part was not part of the long term plan and was ignored and not discussed at all, just as he and Damien’s mother had done when Damien was a toddler, when tantrums were handled with withdrawal of attention and love and good behaviour was rewarded. Damien’s dad never discussed Damien’s slight deafness in one ear, leaving Damien’s mother to look after his needs in this area such as taking him for hearing aid fittings and doctor’s appointments. Damien admired his father and wanted desperately to please him, which goes someway to explaining what happened during the matter of the Regional Spelling Bee.
The first time Charlotte and Damien clashed in the trials for the representation of St Benedict’s in the Regional Spelling Bee happened at a school assembly. Twelve students from years 7 to 9 had put up their hands to try out. Eventually two students were to be chosen to represent St Benedict’s. This day, being the fist trial, was designed to select four students from the twelve. The final selection was to be made the following week.
The format was simple. All participants were given a word to spell one after the other. If the word was not spelled correctly that student dropped out till 4 remained. Charlotte was sitting 5th in the row of students set up across the stage in the assembly hall heads turning in unison to listen to the student whose turn it was to spell, rather like those clowns at the Show.
“Ascending” “A S C E N D I N G” “Correct”
“Distraught” “D I S T R O R T” “Incorrect – please move your chair back.
“Perpendicular” “P E R P E N D I C U L A R” “Correct”
“Paroxysm” “P A R C K Y S M” “Incorrect – please move your chair back”.
Then it was Charlotte's turn.
“Restaurant” “R E S T A U R A N T” “Correct”
This continued till there were four students left, Charlotte, Damien, Alice form Year 9 (whose aim in life was to be a Professor of Ancient History) and Bindi from Year 8 (whose parents, since having migrated from India, were her keenest tutors and supporters).
After assembly, her older brother Wesley loped up to Charlotte’s side to congratulate her. Wesley was one year older than Charlotte and in his offhand way looked out for her. His great love in life was sport; any sport really would do but he was particularly fond of athletics, where he could leave schoolwork behind and throw himself wholeheartedly into physical movement.
“Well done, Charlotte,” whispered Wesley. It wouldn’t do for the boys to hear him actually say anything encouraging to a girl, even if she was his sister.
Before Charlotte could reply, she saw Damien and his sidekick Jason looking at her. Damien was saying in a voice intended to be heard by her: “Tubby over there hasn’t got a clue. She should study more and eat less, then she might have a chance.”
Charlotte felt herself turn bright red and tears sprang to her eyes. Wesley took one look at her and made to go after Damien with a hot angry look in his eyes, but Charlotte held him back.
“I won’t let him know I heard. He’s just a bully. Please, Wes, let it go.”
“All right, just this once but if he has another go at you he is dead meat,” growled Wesley, looking daggers at Damien.
**************************
The day for the first trial dawned. It was a clear early autumn day and there was that first fresh chill in the air that Charlotte loved. She was very happy living the Queanbeyan in south east New South Wales where there were four very distinct seasons. Autumn was her favourite. So it was with a good feeling she stepped out onto the stage for the final trial. The other three were already seated and she had to pass Damien to get to her seat. She thought she heard Damien whisper, “Why don’t you just roll across the stage”, but she couldn’t be sure and firmly decided to ignore him and think only positive thoughts.
“I am going to win today”, she said firmly to herself as she sat down.
Mr Phillips the headmaster called the assembly to order.
“Now, now, that’s enough. Please pay attention. We have this morning four of our best spellers ready to do battle to win what I must say is a very prestigious opportunity to represent St Benedict’s.
“We must nominate a first and second speller so we will continue with the usual format till there are two remaining, then those two will continue till we can separate a first and second.
“So let’s get started and I hope you all find the battle to come as spellbinding as I do.”
This brought a low murmur from the assembly. Not everyone found spelling spellbinding and an equal number groaned at the pun.
*************************
Later that afternoon Wesley found his sister sitting on the steps at the front of the college.
“Second place. That’s all I could manage,” Charlotte wailed. “I feel so ashamed. I tried so hard, but Damien was better.”
“Yes, but you’ll do better at the Regionals,” Wesley said trying to comfort her.
“I’m not going. I can’t do it. Damien – of all people! It’s too humiliating.”
Wesley looked at his sister.
“You know, if you give up now, you’ll regret it later and he’ll have won. You’ll never stop him bullying you then.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, I’ve never been a quitter. I suppose I could give it a go. I couldn’t do any worse I suppose.”
Wesley’s handsome face broke into a smile, “That’s the way. Com on let’s go home. I have to get to training.”
***************************
The Regionals were to be held at the new Palerang Council offices n Bungendore at 7.30 the next Friday night.
Wesley, Charlotte and their parents drove the 20 minutes to Bungendore in the family car. They had spent a lot of time in Bungendore over the years. Their cousin, Frankie (Frankie’s mother and Charlotte’s mother were sisters) lived there with her mother and grandmother and Wesley and Charlotte often spent a week of the school holidays with Frankie and her friends, Pete and Jasmine.
The night was cold, crisp and clear. They parked the car across the road next to the park and walked across to the entrance to the Council offices. They had worn coats and scarves and pulled them tight to fight the cold wind that was blowing. Once they entered the doors an official walked up to them and directed Wesley and his parents to the seating area set up towards the back of the long foyer area where the spelling bee was being held. She led Charlotte to the participants’ table to sign in.
“Go, Charlotte!”
Charlotte looked towards the back of the crowd where she could see Frankie, Pete and Jasmine holding up a sign, which read:
“1 2 3 4 who r we going 4
5 6 7 8 who du we appreci8”
Charlotte winced when she read the sign but waved to her cousin and her friends. She felt she was going to need all the help she could get tonight.
*****************************************
The Mayor stood and talked about the need for good basic skills to be taught in schools, especially English and how events such as this continued a tradition of correct use of the language. He then asked everyone to turn off their mobile phones. Almost everyone in the audience and on the stage rustled around and brought out their phones to turn them off, some obviously very reluctant to do so.
The MC for the night was the Head Mistress of Canberra High School and she now stood and spoke to the contestants. There were 36 contestants, two from each of the schools in the region. She explained that this was a knock out competition. Each contestant would be given a word to spell. An incorrect spelling meant that student was out. This would continue until only one remained – the winner.
Charlotte was seated second from the right in the third row and could see back to where Frankie and friends were seated. She noticed that her mother had taken a seat next to her sister and that Wesley was between Frankie and Pete. Jasmine was on the other side of Pete looking shyly at Wesley. Wesley was talking to Pete but avoiding Jasmine’s eye with great care. “Interesting”, thought Charlotte, then immediately forgot the audience as the MC announced dramatically, “Let the spelling begin!”
One by one each student stood to spell the indicated word. By the end of the second round there were 24 contestants left. Charlotte was nervous but focused and didn’t even register the sly look and smirk that Damien gave her as she sat down after her turn.
Two more rounds left seven contestants. It was time for a half hour break. Charlotte made her way to her family and Pete who was holding his mouth as if it was hurting him.
“Pete’s had braces fitted just today and they seem to be giving him some trouble,” explained Wesley.
“Not all the time, just sometimes,” murmured Pete opening his mouth to show his bright and shiny new braces, then remembering, quickly covered his mouth with his hand before he snapped his mouth shut.
Charlotte was shocked at the change the braces made to Pete’s appearance but quickly hid her reaction and patted him on the arm.
“You’ll soon get used to them and then you’ll have beautiful straight teeth,” said Charlotte kindly.
“Yeah, sure,” mumbled Pete trying to speak without opening his mouth.
Charlotte then hurried back to the stage where the contest was about to be resumed.
Round after round went by till there were three left, Charlotte, Damien and a Year 8 from Yass named Bruno.
Charlotte - "Fricassee" "F R I C A S S E E" "Correct"
Damien - "Coagulate" "C O A G U L A T E" " Correct"
Bruno - "Eviscerate" "E V I S C E R A T E" "Correct"
Charlotte - "Peccadillo" "P E C C A D I L L O" "Correct"
Damien - "Renaissance" "R E N A I S S A N C E" "Correct"
Bruno - "Diaphragm" "D I A P H R A M N" "Incorrect, please move your chair back.
This left Damien and Charlotte.
“Under the rules, we will now continue with the two contestants till only one is left standing,” explained the MC.
Charlotte looked to the back of the hall and was surprised and concerned to see Wesley and Pete pushing their way out of their row and heading towards the corridor which ran down the spine of the offices.
“I can’t stand this,” moaned Pete cradling his mouth tenderly.
“Every time Damien gets up there is this awful buzzing in my teeth.”
“Are you sure? Every time Damien gets up?” asked Wesley urgently shaking Pete’s arm.
“Yes, I said so, didn’t I?” said Pete testily as he made his way to the exit. “I have to leave. I’m going to have these braces off, before I go bonkers.”
“Pete, not just yet,” said Wesley grabbing his arm. “If your braces hurt every time that Damien is given a word, maybe there is a reason for that. Maybe someone is sending Damien a signal or something and your braces are picking up on it. Let’s look around and see if we can find anything that might explain this.”
“You do it Wes, I have to leave; they’re killing me,” Pete moaned and stumbled towards the exit.
Wesley watched Pete leave and then frantically started to search the empty offices. It was in the staff kitchen that he found Jason sitting at a table with his laptop and a communicator. As Wesley pushed open the door Jason looked up timidly into a very angry face. Meekly Jason handed the laptop and communicator to Wesley.
“Through his hearing aid, I suppose?”
Jason nodded. “He really wanted to win.”
****************************
For the past few rounds Damien and Charlotte had been in turn correctly spelling their words.
It was Damien’s turn again. “Please spell ‘diarrhoea’.”
Damien repeated the word and then lowered his head and gently tapped his hearing aid. “Could you repeat the word please,” he requested.
“The word is ‘diarrhoea’. You must now spell the word.” “D I A R H E A,” stammered Damien.
There was whispering in the crowd. They could feel the end was close.
“Incorrect. Now if Charlotte can spell the word correctly she becomes our Regional Champion.”
Charlotte stood up. “Diarrhoea – D I A R R H O E A”, she spelled in a firm voice.
“Correct. Charlotte is our new Regional Champion”.
The crown erupted with cheers and clapping as Charlotte accepted her award.
***********************
Outside, Pete was waiting when Charlotte, Wesley, Frankie and Jasmine emerged. Jasmine had her camera and set about taking photos of Charlotte with her award.
“It’s funny, just after I got outside the buzzing stopped and it hasn’t started again,” said Pete cheerily.
“Are we still on for the house with nine doors?” he asked Frankie and Jasmine.
“I guess so,” said Frankie and Jasmine just nodded.
“What’s all this about?” Wesley asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing, just something we are looking into. We’ll tell you about it next time, but now we have to hurry,” replied Frankie. And hurry off they did.
Charlotte and her parents made their way slowly to the car. Wesley was a few metres behind. As he passed a large oak, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was Damien.
“I suppose you’ll tell everyone about the hearing aid?” Damien asked grimly.
Wesley looked at Damien and his anger died. “I won’t tell if you promise never to tease my sister again. Deal?”
“Deal,” said Damien and offered his hand. They shook on it.
Wesley watched Damien walk over to the black car with the Defence insignia, where Damien’s mother gave him a hug. His father walked straight past him around to the other side of the car and got it.
Wesley felt something like pity for Damien, but quickly shook off this slightly embarrassing feeling and sprinted lightly to his parents’ car.
“Great job tonight, Charlotte,” said Wesley. “You got just what you deserved.”
*********************
Most of the kids in Year 7 we knew from primary school. There were a few new kids who started to drift together in the first recess. I couldn’t wait to get to the Clarion office and start my new career. When I got there a note on the door said that the editor would be interviewing at lunch time on Wednesday for new staff and if people were interested to put their names on the list below. There were two names there already – Tommy Connor and Ben Ng. I knew Ben from primary school but I didn’t know Tommy Connor. I added my name to the list and resigned myself to wait till Wednesday.
When I got there at lunchtime the next Wednesday, Liam was already there talking to a few kids, Ben and Tom included.
“Come in,” called Liam to me as I hovered at the door. “Name?”
“Jasmine Nix.”
“Okay, Jasmine take a seat and we’ll get started. Let me say first that I am very pleased to see so many people interested in our little newspaper. I am Liam Costigan. I am in year 11 and I’m the editor. We usually don’t have Year 7s on the team. We like to see what they can do first. So you would see yourselves as freelance reporters. It’s up to you to find a story, write it up and submit it to me. If I like it and there is room I will publish; if not bad luck. You will have to be persistent as this is a very competitive paper.
“Secondly, I have a few words of advice. Keep your articles short and concise. Tell us who, what, when, where, how and why and you will have the essence of a story. Okay? Off you go and don’t come back till you have something to show me.”
I spent the next fortnight observing, photographing and drafting up pieces I thought would be good for the paper. But I was not satisfied with any of them. The kitten up the tree outside the Library was helped down by two year 8 girls. I was there. I was there when the lunches were late from the tuck shop because the pie oven had broken down. And I was there when Jason Parsons got his hand stuck in the grate over the storm drain trying to retrieve his locker key. None of these satisfied my thirst for a great story. It wasn’t until the Principal announced that the regional finals of the spelling bee were to be held in Bungendore that I felt I had got my first break. Frankie’s cousin Charlotte was a great speller and was a shoe-in to win. I could get my first scoop interview and photograph next Friday night when she won. If she won that is. I won’t spoil the story by showing you my article which incidentally didn’t make the Clarion that week. Liam said my competition was a bit strong – Liam’s own story on money missing from the senior lockers and Ben’s on the favourites for selection for the Touch Footy team made the feature articles, the rest of the paper was filled with regular columns and ads.
Liam also said that the story was a bit bare. “So and so came first in the Regional Spelling Bee held last Friday night at the Palerang Council Offices defeating a strong field of 36 local students to take out the prize.” “That’s just too bare Jasmine. We need some padding. Better luck next time.”
“Okay, I had reported just the facts but I had talked to a few people about what happened in the lead up to the Spelling Bee finals and the story behind the facts is much more interesting. This is what happened.
THE SPELLING BEE
(Charlotte’s Story)
Charlotte was a great speller. This was due to three facts about Charlotte that could not be denied. She loved reading; she hated exercise; and she was very competitive.
Charlotte was undeniably the best speller in her class. She went to St Benedict’s College in Queanbeyan and was in year 7. She had been the best speller in her Primary School, St Raphael’s and she was used to winning these contests. Of course, she worked at it. She read constantly. When the girls were playing netball, she was hiding in the shelter shed reading the Lord of the Rings. During class time in the pool, she could be found under the spectator stands practising spelling four-syllable words out of the dictionary. And, walking home from school with her brother Wesley, who was in Year 8, was a hazardous experience as he often had to pull Charlotte back onto the footpath after she had stepped out into traffic, her nose deep into Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Charlotte was an amiable girl, easy to like, but capable of stating her mind and sticking to her principles. She had thick glossy black hair, which in bright sunlight glowed golden in places. She had a round cheerful face which matched her general all-round roundness. There was another fact about Charlotte which could not be denied. She loved her food, not just sweet things by odd things, like vegetables. She loved broccoli and could be seen sitting in the library with a book in one hand and a raw piece of broccoli in the other.
All-in-all, Charlotte was not your average year 7 girl.
***********************
In Ms Tucci’s English class, the highlight of each Tuesday for Charlotte was the weekly spelling bee. After one such event which was won again by Charlotte, Ms Tucci called her aside and said, “Charlotte, you are really very strong at spelling. How would you feel about trying out for the chance to represent St Benedict’s at the Regional Spelling Bee next month?”
“But that’s for years 7 to 9, isn’t it? Would I have a chance to win?”
“Whoa,” said Ms Tucci, “don’t get too far ahead of yourself. We are just talking about trying out here. You’d have to get through some stiff competition from the other classes first.”
“Right, like Damien in year 8. He’s new but I hear that he is already boasting that he is going to win the Regionals.”
“Yes, Damien, among others. Are you game?”
“Yes, Yes, I am,” said Charlotte determinedly, after a few seconds, but already the butterflies were beginning to flutter in her stomach.
******************************
Damien had arrived at St Benedict’s from a Sydney school for the start of First Term. His dad was in the Defence Forces and had just taken up a senior position at the recently opened Defence Operational HQ outside of Bungendore, about 15 kms east of Queanbeyan. Damien’s dad expected great things from his only son, both on the sports field and in the classroom. He was a dad who took pride in his understanding of psychology and wanted to nurture a supportive relationship with his son. Failure on Damien’s part was not part of the long term plan and was ignored and not discussed at all, just as he and Damien’s mother had done when Damien was a toddler, when tantrums were handled with withdrawal of attention and love and good behaviour was rewarded. Damien’s dad never discussed Damien’s slight deafness in one ear, leaving Damien’s mother to look after his needs in this area such as taking him for hearing aid fittings and doctor’s appointments. Damien admired his father and wanted desperately to please him, which goes someway to explaining what happened during the matter of the Regional Spelling Bee.
The first time Charlotte and Damien clashed in the trials for the representation of St Benedict’s in the Regional Spelling Bee happened at a school assembly. Twelve students from years 7 to 9 had put up their hands to try out. Eventually two students were to be chosen to represent St Benedict’s. This day, being the fist trial, was designed to select four students from the twelve. The final selection was to be made the following week.
The format was simple. All participants were given a word to spell one after the other. If the word was not spelled correctly that student dropped out till 4 remained. Charlotte was sitting 5th in the row of students set up across the stage in the assembly hall heads turning in unison to listen to the student whose turn it was to spell, rather like those clowns at the Show.
“Ascending” “A S C E N D I N G” “Correct”
“Distraught” “D I S T R O R T” “Incorrect – please move your chair back.
“Perpendicular” “P E R P E N D I C U L A R” “Correct”
“Paroxysm” “P A R C K Y S M” “Incorrect – please move your chair back”.
Then it was Charlotte's turn.
“Restaurant” “R E S T A U R A N T” “Correct”
This continued till there were four students left, Charlotte, Damien, Alice form Year 9 (whose aim in life was to be a Professor of Ancient History) and Bindi from Year 8 (whose parents, since having migrated from India, were her keenest tutors and supporters).
After assembly, her older brother Wesley loped up to Charlotte’s side to congratulate her. Wesley was one year older than Charlotte and in his offhand way looked out for her. His great love in life was sport; any sport really would do but he was particularly fond of athletics, where he could leave schoolwork behind and throw himself wholeheartedly into physical movement.
“Well done, Charlotte,” whispered Wesley. It wouldn’t do for the boys to hear him actually say anything encouraging to a girl, even if she was his sister.
Before Charlotte could reply, she saw Damien and his sidekick Jason looking at her. Damien was saying in a voice intended to be heard by her: “Tubby over there hasn’t got a clue. She should study more and eat less, then she might have a chance.”
Charlotte felt herself turn bright red and tears sprang to her eyes. Wesley took one look at her and made to go after Damien with a hot angry look in his eyes, but Charlotte held him back.
“I won’t let him know I heard. He’s just a bully. Please, Wes, let it go.”
“All right, just this once but if he has another go at you he is dead meat,” growled Wesley, looking daggers at Damien.
**************************
The day for the first trial dawned. It was a clear early autumn day and there was that first fresh chill in the air that Charlotte loved. She was very happy living the Queanbeyan in south east New South Wales where there were four very distinct seasons. Autumn was her favourite. So it was with a good feeling she stepped out onto the stage for the final trial. The other three were already seated and she had to pass Damien to get to her seat. She thought she heard Damien whisper, “Why don’t you just roll across the stage”, but she couldn’t be sure and firmly decided to ignore him and think only positive thoughts.
“I am going to win today”, she said firmly to herself as she sat down.
Mr Phillips the headmaster called the assembly to order.
“Now, now, that’s enough. Please pay attention. We have this morning four of our best spellers ready to do battle to win what I must say is a very prestigious opportunity to represent St Benedict’s.
“We must nominate a first and second speller so we will continue with the usual format till there are two remaining, then those two will continue till we can separate a first and second.
“So let’s get started and I hope you all find the battle to come as spellbinding as I do.”
This brought a low murmur from the assembly. Not everyone found spelling spellbinding and an equal number groaned at the pun.
*************************
Later that afternoon Wesley found his sister sitting on the steps at the front of the college.
“Second place. That’s all I could manage,” Charlotte wailed. “I feel so ashamed. I tried so hard, but Damien was better.”
“Yes, but you’ll do better at the Regionals,” Wesley said trying to comfort her.
“I’m not going. I can’t do it. Damien – of all people! It’s too humiliating.”
Wesley looked at his sister.
“You know, if you give up now, you’ll regret it later and he’ll have won. You’ll never stop him bullying you then.”
“Do you think so?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, I’ve never been a quitter. I suppose I could give it a go. I couldn’t do any worse I suppose.”
Wesley’s handsome face broke into a smile, “That’s the way. Com on let’s go home. I have to get to training.”
***************************
The Regionals were to be held at the new Palerang Council offices n Bungendore at 7.30 the next Friday night.
Wesley, Charlotte and their parents drove the 20 minutes to Bungendore in the family car. They had spent a lot of time in Bungendore over the years. Their cousin, Frankie (Frankie’s mother and Charlotte’s mother were sisters) lived there with her mother and grandmother and Wesley and Charlotte often spent a week of the school holidays with Frankie and her friends, Pete and Jasmine.
The night was cold, crisp and clear. They parked the car across the road next to the park and walked across to the entrance to the Council offices. They had worn coats and scarves and pulled them tight to fight the cold wind that was blowing. Once they entered the doors an official walked up to them and directed Wesley and his parents to the seating area set up towards the back of the long foyer area where the spelling bee was being held. She led Charlotte to the participants’ table to sign in.
“Go, Charlotte!”
Charlotte looked towards the back of the crowd where she could see Frankie, Pete and Jasmine holding up a sign, which read:
“1 2 3 4 who r we going 4
5 6 7 8 who du we appreci8”
Charlotte winced when she read the sign but waved to her cousin and her friends. She felt she was going to need all the help she could get tonight.
*****************************************
The Mayor stood and talked about the need for good basic skills to be taught in schools, especially English and how events such as this continued a tradition of correct use of the language. He then asked everyone to turn off their mobile phones. Almost everyone in the audience and on the stage rustled around and brought out their phones to turn them off, some obviously very reluctant to do so.
The MC for the night was the Head Mistress of Canberra High School and she now stood and spoke to the contestants. There were 36 contestants, two from each of the schools in the region. She explained that this was a knock out competition. Each contestant would be given a word to spell. An incorrect spelling meant that student was out. This would continue until only one remained – the winner.
Charlotte was seated second from the right in the third row and could see back to where Frankie and friends were seated. She noticed that her mother had taken a seat next to her sister and that Wesley was between Frankie and Pete. Jasmine was on the other side of Pete looking shyly at Wesley. Wesley was talking to Pete but avoiding Jasmine’s eye with great care. “Interesting”, thought Charlotte, then immediately forgot the audience as the MC announced dramatically, “Let the spelling begin!”
One by one each student stood to spell the indicated word. By the end of the second round there were 24 contestants left. Charlotte was nervous but focused and didn’t even register the sly look and smirk that Damien gave her as she sat down after her turn.
Two more rounds left seven contestants. It was time for a half hour break. Charlotte made her way to her family and Pete who was holding his mouth as if it was hurting him.
“Pete’s had braces fitted just today and they seem to be giving him some trouble,” explained Wesley.
“Not all the time, just sometimes,” murmured Pete opening his mouth to show his bright and shiny new braces, then remembering, quickly covered his mouth with his hand before he snapped his mouth shut.
Charlotte was shocked at the change the braces made to Pete’s appearance but quickly hid her reaction and patted him on the arm.
“You’ll soon get used to them and then you’ll have beautiful straight teeth,” said Charlotte kindly.
“Yeah, sure,” mumbled Pete trying to speak without opening his mouth.
Charlotte then hurried back to the stage where the contest was about to be resumed.
Round after round went by till there were three left, Charlotte, Damien and a Year 8 from Yass named Bruno.
Charlotte - "Fricassee" "F R I C A S S E E" "Correct"
Damien - "Coagulate" "C O A G U L A T E" " Correct"
Bruno - "Eviscerate" "E V I S C E R A T E" "Correct"
Charlotte - "Peccadillo" "P E C C A D I L L O" "Correct"
Damien - "Renaissance" "R E N A I S S A N C E" "Correct"
Bruno - "Diaphragm" "D I A P H R A M N" "Incorrect, please move your chair back.
This left Damien and Charlotte.
“Under the rules, we will now continue with the two contestants till only one is left standing,” explained the MC.
Charlotte looked to the back of the hall and was surprised and concerned to see Wesley and Pete pushing their way out of their row and heading towards the corridor which ran down the spine of the offices.
“I can’t stand this,” moaned Pete cradling his mouth tenderly.
“Every time Damien gets up there is this awful buzzing in my teeth.”
“Are you sure? Every time Damien gets up?” asked Wesley urgently shaking Pete’s arm.
“Yes, I said so, didn’t I?” said Pete testily as he made his way to the exit. “I have to leave. I’m going to have these braces off, before I go bonkers.”
“Pete, not just yet,” said Wesley grabbing his arm. “If your braces hurt every time that Damien is given a word, maybe there is a reason for that. Maybe someone is sending Damien a signal or something and your braces are picking up on it. Let’s look around and see if we can find anything that might explain this.”
“You do it Wes, I have to leave; they’re killing me,” Pete moaned and stumbled towards the exit.
Wesley watched Pete leave and then frantically started to search the empty offices. It was in the staff kitchen that he found Jason sitting at a table with his laptop and a communicator. As Wesley pushed open the door Jason looked up timidly into a very angry face. Meekly Jason handed the laptop and communicator to Wesley.
“Through his hearing aid, I suppose?”
Jason nodded. “He really wanted to win.”
****************************
For the past few rounds Damien and Charlotte had been in turn correctly spelling their words.
It was Damien’s turn again. “Please spell ‘diarrhoea’.”
Damien repeated the word and then lowered his head and gently tapped his hearing aid. “Could you repeat the word please,” he requested.
“The word is ‘diarrhoea’. You must now spell the word.” “D I A R H E A,” stammered Damien.
There was whispering in the crowd. They could feel the end was close.
“Incorrect. Now if Charlotte can spell the word correctly she becomes our Regional Champion.”
Charlotte stood up. “Diarrhoea – D I A R R H O E A”, she spelled in a firm voice.
“Correct. Charlotte is our new Regional Champion”.
The crown erupted with cheers and clapping as Charlotte accepted her award.
***********************
Outside, Pete was waiting when Charlotte, Wesley, Frankie and Jasmine emerged. Jasmine had her camera and set about taking photos of Charlotte with her award.
“It’s funny, just after I got outside the buzzing stopped and it hasn’t started again,” said Pete cheerily.
“Are we still on for the house with nine doors?” he asked Frankie and Jasmine.
“I guess so,” said Frankie and Jasmine just nodded.
“What’s all this about?” Wesley asked curiously.
“Oh, nothing, just something we are looking into. We’ll tell you about it next time, but now we have to hurry,” replied Frankie. And hurry off they did.
Charlotte and her parents made their way slowly to the car. Wesley was a few metres behind. As he passed a large oak, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was Damien.
“I suppose you’ll tell everyone about the hearing aid?” Damien asked grimly.
Wesley looked at Damien and his anger died. “I won’t tell if you promise never to tease my sister again. Deal?”
“Deal,” said Damien and offered his hand. They shook on it.
Wesley watched Damien walk over to the black car with the Defence insignia, where Damien’s mother gave him a hug. His father walked straight past him around to the other side of the car and got it.
Wesley felt something like pity for Damien, but quickly shook off this slightly embarrassing feeling and sprinted lightly to his parents’ car.
“Great job tonight, Charlotte,” said Wesley. “You got just what you deserved.”
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