“Whatever,” said Rosemary T. “My mom made me come down here to return a book.”
Miss Purvis stuck her paw through the crack in the door and yowled louder.
Rosemary T.’s voice moved away. “It’s trying to scratch me!”
“No she’s not,” said Erin.
“Yes, it is!” yelled Rosemary T. “Close the door so it can’t get out.”
I picked Miss Purvis up and pulled her paw inside. Erin shut the door.
“Don’t open the door until I’m gone,” yelled Rosemary T. “I’ll leave the book on the mat.”
Aunt Flora came up from the basement. “What’s going on?”
“Rosemary T. was just here,” I said, “and we had to answer the door.”
“Of course,” said my aunt.
“And since we couldn’t both give her the silent treatment,” said Erin, “I talked.”
“And then Miss Purvis scared her away.” I rubbed my chin on top of Miss Purvis’s head, and she started to purr.
“Oh dear,” said Aunt Flora. “Miss Purvis, you are a bad cat.”
“No, she’s not,” I said. “She’s a great, great, great, great cat, with a great big capital G.”
Chapter 7
Orange Crocs
I was very, extremely nervous to go to school on Monday for two reasons. One, it was the day for the classroom spelling bee; and two, I would have to see Rosemary T. I wanted to keep ignoring her and giving her the silent treatment, so I hoped she wouldn’t push me too far. I really did not want to have a what’s what if I could help it.
When I got to the playground, Erin ran over right away. “Are you all r-e-a-d-y. Ready?”
“I think so,” I said, “but I’m not for sure.”
Our class lined up to head into the school, and Charlie bounced his basketball right up behind us. “Rosemary T. told everyone playing basketball that your mom and dad are gone and there’s crazy, weird stuff going on at your house.”
We all three laughed the whole way into class.
“Good Monday morning,” said Mr. Harrison. “Before we start our classroom spelling bee, we have a little business to attend to. Our special visitor tomorrow is Rosemary T.’s dad, and on Wednesday it’s Jack’s grandfather. Unfortunately, our special visitor for Thursday had to cancel. If any of you knows someone who might like to come and fill in, let me know.”
I raised my hand but kept it hidden up inside my sleeve. A lot of the purple was gone, but not all of it. “My aunt might. She’s a dental hygienist, and she’s taking care of us while my mom and dad are gone.”
“Not her aunt!” Rosemary T. whispered very loud so I could hear.
I looked over at her table, and now she was whispering quietly to Rosemary W. and Hannah and Abby. They started giggling.
“Having your aunt visit would be excellent,” said Mr. Harrison. “Let’s talk more about it after recess. Now, everyone, please get out a piece of paper and a pencil.”
The spelling bee started with everyone taking a regular old spelling test at their desks. We did a self-correct when it was over and had to be very honest. If we missed less than five, we got to be in the front-of-the-class spelling bee.
The smart boys’ table got to all be up front, including me. So did Erin and Kristy and Olivia. Charlie and Jack from the loud sports boys’ table were up front and so was the whole Rosemarys’ table. There were two arty girls and two stamp-collecting girls and last but not least was quiet Zachary.
We just lined up however we wanted to, and Erin and Abby made a space for me in between them.
“Cinderella’s not wearing her shoes,” Rosemary T. tattled.
I ignored Rosemary T. and didn’t look at her at all, but I did race back to my table and put my orange Crocs back on.
The spelling bee started, and two people got out before I even got my first word.
“Okay, Cinderella,” said Mr. Harrison. “Your first word is coach.”
“Coach,” I said. “C-o-a-c-h. Coach.”
“Good,” said Mr. Harrison. “Erin, your first word is dream.”
“Dream,” said Erin. “D-r-e-a-m. Dream.”
“Good,” said Mr. Harrison.
Erin and I smiled at each other.
Four more people got out before my next turn.
“Cinderella, your word is camera.”
“Camera,” I said. “C-a-m-e-r-a. Camera.”
Erin got her next word right, which was thumb; but Abby and Hannah and three other people got out before it was my turn again.
My next word was February, and I got it right and remembered to add the capital and the weird r. Erin’s next word was foreign, and she missed it. Alas. She walked to her seat and looked at me all sad, and I looked back at her just the same.
“Rosemary W.,” said Mr. Harrison, “your word is spoil.”
“S-p-i-o-l,” spelled Rosemary W.
“That is incorrect,” said Mr. Harrison. “Please sit down.”
I was very happy about that, even if that wasn’t very nice. If my best friend was out, at least Rosemary T.’s best friend was out too.
When it was my turn again, there were five of us left: Logan, Rosemary T., Charlie, Zachary, and me. That meant maybe we’d be having a paleontology party or an I Believe in Unicorns party or a basketball party or an I Can’t Decide Yet party since me and Zachary still couldn’t decide. I guess any of them would be okay, but I really wanted to win. I wanted Erin and me to get to pick a fun theme and plan everything out. And I wanted to beat Rosemary T.
“Cinderella?” said Mr. Harrison.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was a million miles away.”
“Sometimes that happens,” said Mr. Harrison. “Your word is witch.”
“Could you use it in a sentence, please?” I asked.
“The witch cast a spell on the teacher so she could win the spelling bee.” Mr. Harrison bounced on his toes and smiled big.
“Abracadabra.” I waved my hands at him.
Everyone laughed, especially Mr. Harrison.
“This is serious!” Rosemary T. stamped her foot. “You shouldn’t make jokes during a spelling bee.”
“So sorry,” said Mr. Harrison. “Do you want me to repeat the word, Cinderella?”
“Nope, that’s okay. Witch. W-i-t-c-h. Witch.”
Charlie got out next by forgetting one of the t’s in attitude, and Logan got out by giving ceiling an ie instead of an ei. That left Rosemary T., Zachary, and me, all on our way to the big spelling bee on Friday. And that was vexylent and awshucksible at the same time. And awshucksible is another word I invented that means “aw, shucks, that’s terrible,” FYI.
At the end of school, Kristy and Olivia ran up to me and Erin on the playground. “It’s all up to you, Cinderella,” they said.
“What is?” I asked.
“The spelling bee,” said Kristy.
“You have to beat Rosemary T. and Zachary,” said Olivia.
“We don’t want to have an I Believe in Unicorns party,” said Kristy. “And we bet your I Can’t Decide Yet party will be way more vexylent than Zachary’s.”
I gave her a thumbs-up for saying my word, and she gave me a thumbs-up back.
“I wish I didn’t get out.” Erin had been saying that all day.
“Me too.” I’d been saying that all day too.
We lined up against the fence with all the other kids that were getting picked up by car. The Rosemarys were lined up near us and were busy whispering and pointing. Me and Erin were busy ignoring them with a capital I.
“Good job on the spelling bee today, girls.” Mr. Harrison stopped in front of us on the way to his car. “Cinderella and Rosemary T., I hope you’ll make our class proud on Friday.”
“We will,” I said.
“I will,” Rosemary T. said at the same time. “Do you believe in unicorns, Mr. Harrison?”
A loud, sputtering sound came from around the corner, and Aunt Flora’s car appeared. “Would you look at that!” sa
id Mr. Harrison.
“That’s my aunt’s car,” I said.
“I haven’t seen an Opel GT in years.”
“It sounds like a helicopter,” I said, “so we call it the Flying Machine.”
The Rosemarys started giggling, but it didn’t sound nice.
Aunt Flora pulled up, and Mr. Harrison opened up the passenger door.
She looked at him very surprised. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, Aunt Flora.” I climbed into the backseat. “This is my teacher, Mr. Harrison.”
“Hello,” said Mr. Harrison. “We’re inviting visitors into our classroom this week, and a little bird told me you might be able to come in Thursday and talk about the dental world.”
“I’d love to,” said Aunt Flora.
“Great!” Mr. Harrison looked all around inside the car. “I didn’t think Opel GTs had backseats.”
“They didn’t come with them,” said Aunt Flora. “But the person I bought it from had kids, so she had one installed.”
“Lucky for me and Tess,” I said.
“Could you make the headlights pop up?” asked Mr. Harrison.
My aunt pulled hard on a lever, and the headlights rolled open.
Mr. Harrison whistled, and a car honked behind us.
“Sorry!” He shut the door and waved, and we drove off.
Chapter 8
A Long Story
“I talked to my mom and dad last night, and they changed their flight so they can be home for the spelling bee,” I told Erin. “They might be a little late, though, so I can’t get out too early.” We were hiding under her umbrella, waiting for the start-of-school bell. If it had been raining just a little bit harder, they would have opened the doors early and let us in. This was just a little bit of rain, though, that we call dribbly-spit, so we were stuck outside.
“Did you study last night?” Erin had loaned me her big book of spelling words so I could keep practicing.
“Yep,” I said. “I had my aunt quiz me for almost a half hour, and I started reading my mom and dad’s big, huge dictionary too. I’m up to academic.”
“Great,” said Erin. “You have just got to win that spelling bee!”
The bell finally rang, and we were first in line.
Charlie got in line behind us. “I forgot to ask you yesterday; how’s the purple?”
I pushed the sleeves of my raincoat and sweatshirt up. “I’m almost back to normal.”
“You could never be normal.” Jack got in line behind Charlie.
“She means a normal color,” said Charlie. “You should have seen her on Saturday after the Purple Potion disaster.”
“What potion disaster?” Rosemary T. and Rosemary W. got in line behind Charlie and Jack and of course butted into our conversation.
I pulled my sleeves down and faced forward.
“The potion disaster she had with her aunt,” said Charlie. “Tell her, Cinderella.”
“I happen to be ignoring Rosemary T. and giving her the silent treatment at the moment,” I said.
“Why?” asked Rosemary T.
I kept facing forward.
“Why are you?” asked Charlie.
“It’s a long story,” I said, “so I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Tell me!” demanded Rosemary T.
“She can’t tell you,” said Jack, “because she’s giving you the silent treatment.”
I gave him a thumbs-up.
“Does this have something to do with your aunt?” asked Rosemary T.
“What does Flora have to do with anything?” asked Charlie.
“All this weird stuff started when her aunt came,” said Rosemary T.
“It started way before that,” said Erin.
I gave Erin a thumbs-up. It was a vexylent thing that she wasn’t giving Rosemary T. the silent treatment 100 percent of the time, because sometimes it was almost impossible to do.
“The Rosemarys are getting on my nerves,” said Erin.
We looked over to where they were eating at the other third-grade lunch table. Even though we were sitting as far away from them as we could, we could still see they were whispering and staring at us.
“I guess it’s getting a little awkward,” I said. “Maybe giving Rosemary T. the silent treatment isn’t helping her get back to normal.”
Erin dipped a Tater Tot in ketchup and handed it to me. I made a cheese cracker sandwich and handed it to her.
“Thank you,” we both said at the same time.
“Does anyone want to trade a pretzel for something?” asked Kristy.
“How about an apple slice?” said Olivia.
“How about a cheese and cracker?” I said.
She handed us both a pretzel, and we handed her back an apple slice and a cracker sandwich.
“To ignore someone and give them the silent treatment is one of the worst things ever!” Rosemary T. said very loudly. “It’s babyish and childish.”
I looked over and saw she had a crowd of girls all around her. Hannah and Abby got up from the table and walked over.
“Rosemary T. sent us over to ask you why you’re giving her the silent treatment.”
I sat there and felt very, extremely awkward and embarrassed and didn’t say anything.
“Are you giving us the silent treatment too?” asked Abby.
“Oh no,” I said.
“Good,” said Abby. “So what’s going on?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
Abby sat down, but Hannah ran back over to the Rosemarys. Kristy and Olivia and their friend Casey, who also loves horses, scooted closer.
I swallowed. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
Hannah marched back over. “Rosemary T. demands to know the whole long story.”
“Once upon a time,” said Erin.
Hannah made a big harrumph noise and ran back to the Rosemarys.
“There’s that unicorn again,” said Kristy.
We all started laughing.
“Well, I don’t have time to deal with this babyish nonsense right now. Please tell Cinderella that I’m giving her the silent treatment too!” Rosemary T. stood up. “My daddy, the special visitor, is on his way.” She marched out of the lunchroom, and Rosemary W. and some other girls followed. Hannah walked back over to our table.
“Rosemary T. said to tell you . . . ,” said Hannah.
“I heard her,” I said.
“She might not be talking to you,” Erin said, “but she talks so loud it doesn’t matter.”
Hannah’s mouth popped open, and she raced out of the lunchroom.
Abby stood up and looked like she didn’t know what to do for a minute. Then she finally followed after Hannah.
Chapter 9
A Clog with Puppy Teeth Marks
At school on Wednesday, while we waited for Jack’s grandpa to get there, we wrote thank-you cards to Rosemary T.’s dad for coming to visit us.
“Try to win the spelling bee, Cinderella,” said Logan.
“Yeah,” said Trevor. “Whatever your party is, it will be way more vexylent than a unicorn party.”
I gave him a thumbs-up for using my word.
“If Rosemary T. wins, she’ll probably make us swear allegiance to all unicorns before we can start the party,” said Christopher. “If we refuse, she’ll probably send us into the hall.”
“And then some people would start to cry again,” said Trevor.
“That would be awshucksible,” I said.
“What’s that?” asked Logan.
“Aw, shucks, that’s terrible.”
Logan nodded, and we started back working on our cards.
“If Zachary wins,” said Trevor, “his party would probably be okay.”
“Except he might forget to plan it,” said Logan, “like he always forgets his homework and his lunch.”
“Tess forgot her pants the other day,” I said.
The smart boys started laughing very hard.
“Mr. Har
rison,” called Rosemary T. “We are working on something very important right now, and I think everyone should be serious.”
“Oh, I think a little levity is always a good thing,” said Mr. Harrison.
“What’s levity mean?” asked Logan.
“It means ‘humor, lightheartedness,’” said Mr. Harrison.
“Really, really try to win the spelling bee, Cinderella,” Logan whispered. “If Rosemary T. wins, she’ll probably make a rule that there can’t be any levity at her party.”
“Five more minutes, class,” said Mr. Harrison.
“I think hearing about firefighting from Jack’s grandpa will be way more vexylent than hearing about banks,” said Christopher.
I smiled big. My word was starting to get used a lot, and I was very, extremely happy about that.
“Yeah,” said Logan. “But I did like the penny roll thing Rosemary T.’s dad gave us.”
That reminded me. I wanted to ask Aunt Flora if she could bring in some kind of party favor thing to class too. Those penny rolls had been a big hit.
And then Jack’s grandpa got there, and it was time to give him a warm welcome. He clomped into the classroom wearing big boots and a helmet, and right behind him was his dog!
I could not stop myself from staring at that dog. For one thing, I love dogs. But for two things, he was all black, not white with black spots. I started to worry that he’d gotten his fur burned in a fire; and even though it wasn’t time for questions, I almost had to raise my hand and interrupt.
Luckily, quiet Zachary interrupted instead. “He doesn’t look like a firefighting dog.”
“You’re right,” said Jack’s grandpa. “His name is Ashes, and he’s a black Lab.”
“Phew,” I said out loud on accident.
Jack’s grandpa laughed. “Firefighters have all kinds of dogs now, not just Dalmatians.”
“How come?” asked Charlie.
“When firefighters used to get to fires in horse-drawn wagons, Dalmatians were good at keeping the horses calm,” said Jack’s grandpa. “But we don’t use horses anymore, and we don’t bring dogs to fires. Now we can have whatever kind of dog we want.”
The More the Merrier Page 4