Bee in Your Ear (4 page)

“I'm not,” Kate said aloud. “I know how to spell. I do. I do. I do...”

The next thing Kate knew, it was morning. The sun lit her room and warmed her face like a summer day.

Kate opened her eyes and remembered. Today was the spelling contest.

“Good morning, Kate,” called her mom. “Time to get ready for school.”

Kate leaped out of bed. She looked in her closet and chose her new black pants and pink shirt. She slipped them on and joined her mom in the kitchen.

“Cereal?” asked her mom.

“Just a little,” said Kate. “I'm too nervous to eat much.”

But to Kate's surprise she finished all the cereal in her bowl and her entire glass of chocolate milk.

“You'll do well,” said her mom when they reached the school. “Dad and I will see you in two hours. But remember, no matter what happens, we're proud of you and we love you.”

“I love you too,” said Kate, giving her mom a hug.

Kate walked down the hall to her classroom. It was noisier than usual.

Jake was nowhere in sight.

He can't be late today, thought Kate. Not today of all days.

And he wasn't. Jake made it to class five minutes before the bell.

“I was almost late,” he told Kate. “My baby sister, Melanie, hid my left shoe under her crib. Luckily she didn't hide it very well. I saw the toe peeking out.”

Kate laughed. “Oh, Jake!” she said.

“It's true,” said Jake. “I promise. Ask my mother.”

“I believe you,” said Kate. “That excuse will be on page twenty-three of our book. I will draw a funny picture of your sister hiding your shoe.”

“Good morning, class,” said Mr. Bolin. “And good morning, spelling club members. I see you're
all here on time.” Mr. Bolin winked at Jake. “I hope you're all ready.”

“I hope so too,” Kate whispered to Jake.

Kate's stomach churned as they walked down to the auditorium where the spelling bee was to be held.

Kate sat in a chair on the stage beside Jake and the eight other participants. They waited for everyone else to file in.

Kate looked for her parents. They were sitting in the back with Jake's mom. In front of them sat Violet's dad.

“Look, Jake,” said Kate, pointing to the back.

“Oh, no!” said Jake. “My mom's brought my baby sister. I hope she doesn't make noise. I'll forget everything if she starts to scream.”

“Good morning, students, staff and guests,”
said Mr. Bolin, walking to the front of the stage. “Welcome to our spelling club's spelling bee. All the participants have worked hard learning their words. Now it's time for them to share their skills with you. So let's begin.”

Mr. Bolin called on Lila first. She spelled the first word with ease.

One by one the ten participants spelled their first word correctly. In the second round, two participants misspelled words. They left the stage and sat in the front row of the auditorium.

In round three, Lila misspelled the word because and sat down in the front row. By round five, the group on stage was down to five people.

Kate took a deep breath. At least she'd made it this far. So had Jake and Violet.

Kate glanced at Violet. She was wearing a bright red dress with a big velvet bow in the back and shiny black patent shoes. She was smiling, but it wasn't a real smile. It was like a smile on a plastic doll.

Kate had never seen Violet look nervous before. Maybe she had spelling butterflies too.

In round six, another girl missed a word. Only four were left on stage: Kate, Jake, Violet and Ben.

“Knife,” said Mr. Bolin to Ben. “I use a knife to cut my meat. Knife.”

“N-i-f-e,” said Ben.

“I'm afraid not,” said Mr. Bolin. “It's k-n-i-f-e.”

“Oh,” said Ben in a small voice, and he walked off the stage.

It was Violet's turn.

“Flour,” said Mr. Bolin. “I used flour in my cake.”

“Fl... “ began Violet. She stopped and bit her lip.

“o...” said Violet, stretching the o out like a rubber band. And as she did, she glanced down at the front row.

Kate looked down at the front row too. Lila was mouthing u-r to Violet. Violet and Lila were cheating!

“u-r,” said Violet loudly.

“Correct,” said Mr. Bolin.

Violet smiled. Violet's dad gave her the thumbs-up sign and smiled too, as if he'd just spelled the word right himself.

Kate didn't know what to do. She couldn't shout, “Stop. Violet cheated!” What if no one else saw her cheat? What if they thought Kate had made the whole thing up because she wanted to win instead of Violet?

“Kate,” said Mr. Bolin.

Kate walked to the front of the stage.

“Write,” said Mr. Bolin. “I like to write my ideas down on paper.”

“W-r-i-t-e,” said Kate.

“Well done,” said Mr. Bolin.

It was Jake's turn.

“Sea,” said Mr. Bolin. “I like to swim in the sea.”

“S...” began Jake.

“Jake! Jake!” shouted a high-pitched little voice from the audience. It was Jake's sister, Melanie. She bounced up and down, waving and calling Jake's name.

Jake's face turned as red as his hair, but he continued.

“S-e-a,” he spelled.

“Right,” said Mr. Bolin.

Jake's mom took Melanie into the hall.

“Phew,” whispered Jake.

“Violet,” said Mr. Bolin.

Violet walked to the front again.

“People,” said Mr. Bolin. “There are a lot of people in the auditorium.”

“P-e,” Violet began. Then she coughed. “P-e,” she began again, stretching the e out like a wad of gum. As she did, her eyes darted down to Lila.

Lila held her left hand against her face like a fence. Then she pursed her lips into a p.

“P,” said Violet, “o-l-e.”

“I'm afraid not,” said Mr. Bolin. “P-e-o-p-l-e.”

Kate gulped. She couldn't believe it. Violet had cheated again, but this time cheating had made her lose!

Violet stared at Mr. Bolin as if he'd hit her with a book. She stumbled down the stairs and sat in the front row. Her dad looked as stunned as she did. He stood up and walked out of the hall. Kate didn't know if Violet saw her dad leave. Violet's eyes were glued to her black patent shoes.

Kate and Jake spelled the next five words correctly.

“Kate,” said Mr Bolin. “Please spell the word plane. The sentence is: We fly in a plane.”

“P-l-a...” spelled Kate. Then she stopped. She tried to picture the word in her mind but
she couldn't. Then she remembered how she and Jake had pretended they were flying like airplanes across the basement as they sang—

“P-l-a-n-e,” spelled Kate.

“Correct!” said Mr. Bolin. “Jake, your word is knot. I have a knot in my shoelace.”

“N,” said Jake. “No, k. No, wait. N or...maybe ...it's...”

“Choose,” said Mr. Bolin.

“Okay. Okay,” sputtered Jake. “N-o-t.”

“I'm afraid not,” said Mr. Bolin. “It's k-n-o-t. Congratulations, Kate. You're the winner of our spelling bee and Jake is the runner-up.”

Kate gasped. “I...I...” she stammered as the audience burst into applause.

“Aye, aye, Kate M'Mate,” said Jake. “You won.”

“And here's your ribbon,” said Mr. Bolin, and he handed Kate a gold ribbon. Then he turned to Jake. “Here's your ribbon, Jake,” he said and he gave Jake a silver ribbon.

Jake beamed.

“As for your prize, Kate,” said Mr. Bolin, “it's two tickets to Mel's Marvelous Monkey Show.”

“Thank you,” said Kate, grinning. “One ticket for me and one ticket for Jake!”

“Hey! Thanks, M'Mate!” said Jake. “I love monkeys!”

“Me too,” said Kate. And she and Jake took a final bow together.

Frieda Wishinsky
is the author of many popular books for children, including
A Noodle Up Your Nose
, also about Kate and Jake and Violet (Orca, 2004),
Just Call Me Joe
(Orca, 2003) and
Each One Special
(Orca, 1998). Frieda lives with her family in Toronto, Ontario.