"Okay," began Mr. Pony, as we all listened in with some combination of excitement, nervousness, and apathy. "There are fourteen of you in class today, so we'll divide into six groups of two, and two extras, at first." Some of our eyes darted around the classroom, sizing up all of our potential competition. "For each group, I'll read a word off one of these cards here - " Mr. Pony thumped a thicc stack of index cards on their desk next to the easel pad " - and everyone will get a chance to spell it until it is spelled correctly. If you do not spell the word correctly while someone else does, you will be eliminated."

William raised his hand stiffly. "What happens if no one spells the word right? Or if everyone does?"

"Then we just move on to the next word," replied Mr. Pony, picking up the stack of index cards. "Why do you think we have so many of them?"

"Oh, tru," said William, scratching his shaggy bowlcut a little embarrassedly.

"With no 'e'," added Kiki, raising her finger as if she were about to give a lecture on environmental policy.

"...And we'll just keep going until there's only one person left!" continued Mr. Pony. "So, if there's no other questions, I'll announce all of the groups." They procured some glasses that looked like the kind an accountant would use for reading documents, and began calling names off a slice of paper held in front of them. "Group 1: Kristy and Eli, Group 2: Skylar and Jeremy, Group 3: Jordan and Jacques, Group 4: Tiffany and Randy, Group 5: Jenny and Owen, and Group 6: Julia and William. Kathleen and Rachel, you two will join groups later." As we heard out names called, we looked across the room towards our next opponent. I was up against Jacques first, meaning that I caught his unblinking eyes looking back at my unbespectacled ones. My nervousness abated a little – I didn't really have a sense of how good Jacques was at spelling, but surely I'd have a better chance against him than I would the girl sitting across the table from him.

"All right, now everyone get in your groups and line up at the front of the room," instructed Mr. Pony. "We'll have people sit back down as they're eliminated, so the winner will be the last one standing." The sound of chairs scraping against the floor resounded as everyone got to their feet at once and ventured forward. Jacques and I approached each other and stayed close, making me suddenly conscious of how short I was in comparison to him.

"Up first is Group 1," said Mr. Pony, so Kristy and Eli stepped forward. "Kristy, your first word is rock."

"That's easy," stated Kristy, crossing her arms and laughing bromeantically. "r-o-c-k."

"Correct," said Mr. Pony, licking their thumb and flipping to the next card. "Eli, your word is taxi."

Eli gulped and adjusted his helmet. "t-a-x-i."

"Correct." Mr. Pony turned back to Kristy. "Could."

"C-o-o-d."

"That's incorrect."

Kristy was taken aback. "What? Really? How do you spell it then?"

Mr. Pony turned to Eli. "Well, I can't just say now, since Eli hasn't had his chance to spell it yet. Eli, can you spell could?"

"C-o-u-l-d."

"That is correct! So that means Eli is the winner for this group. And that's basically how the whole spelling bee works!"

"Wait," inputted Kiki suddenly. "Did he win the whole thing just like that? I didn't even have a chance to go."

"Oh, no!" reassured Mr. Pony. "That was just the first group. Everyone's going to have a chance to win, so if you haven't been eliminated, please stay at the front of the room."

"So does that mean I'm done?" asked Kristy, a little disappointed.

"For now," answered Mr. Pony. "So please, go back to your assigned seat. But don't worry, even if you lose here, there's still two more practice rounds after this."

"Man," she said, trudging back to the third table. "That's a real bummer."

"A-and I stay up h-here?" asked Eli.

"Yep!" Mr. Pony nodded. "Go to the back of the line. You'll eventually go against the winners of other groups. Okay, Group 2! Skylar and Jeremy."

After seeing one of the group stages in action, I was starting to get a pretty good understanding of how the spelling bee worked. Though the rules seemed a little complicated, I wasn't too worried about that since we had been able to figure out Tienes el Gato and the Class Swap just fine for the most part. My mind also flashed back to how Owen had interfered with those group activities, and the faces he had made while doing so. I wondered if he'd try something similar this time. Almost involuntarily, I made a noise that sounded like a mix between Kermit the Frog and Hank Hill.

"Are you all right, Jordan?" asked Jacques next to me.

"Yeah," I dismissed. My mind had to think quickly of a response that wouldn't make him worry about me, but was also true as to not make him say 'BAAAAH'. "I'm… uh, just nervous is all."

"Yeah, same," he said. His unblinking eyes burned intensely. "But still, good luck in our round later. May the best man win." I nodded, realizing that even if some of my classmates weren't terrific spellers, many of them were still drawn to the competitive nature of the spelling bee.

Mr. Pony's voice snapped me out of my thoughts again. "Nope, that is incorrect! Skylar, can you spell value?"

"V-a-l-u-e," she answered.

"Yes! Okay, you win Group 2." Skylar headed to the back of the line where Eli was while Jeremy shrugged and strode back to his seat. I aspired to be as unbothered as he was, but I couldn't be. For some reason, I felt like I had something to prove.

"Group 3, you're up." Jacques and I stepped forward.

"Ooh, Jor-bah and Jacquesypoo," remarked Owen. "Who's gonna win?"

"Jordan," began Mr. Pony. "Your word is most."

"M-o-s-t."

"Correct. Jacques, your word is face."

"F-a-c-e."

"Correct." Mr. Pony looked back at me. "Green."

"G-r-e-e-n."

"Correct. Timer."

"T-i-m-e-r."

"Correct. Brake."

I opened my mouth to speak but caught myself at the last minute. "Hold up," I asked. "Break, like break a leg, or the kind of brake that's in a car? Cause there's a difference."

Mr. Pony nodded slightly in approval. "The car one."

"B-r-a-k-e."

"Correct." I let out a sigh of relief. That one almost tripped me up. "Jacques, your word is weird."

"W-i-e-r-d."

Mr. Pony glanced down at the card briefly. "That's incorrect."

"Ooooh..." went some people from behind us.

"Jordan, can you spell weird?"

A nervous bead of sweat dripped from my forehead. I thought I knew how to spell weird, but now I guessed not. I knew there was that whole 'i before e except after c' rule, but if what Jacques had just said was wrong, that would have to mean it wasn't like that for some reason, right? In my mind, I took the word Jacques had just spelled, switched the first and second letters, and sent it to my mouth-box. The sweat drop landed on the toe of my black loafer.

"W-e-i-r-d." I said, making sure to emphasize the difference between the 'e' and the 'i'.

"That is correct." I let out another sigh of relief. "Jordan wins group 3."

"Ohhh!" went some people from behind us.

"Aww," said Jacques, closing his eyes and hanging his head for a second before looking towards me, grinning, and arching his eyebrows diabolically. "Good game, Jordan." He extended his fist for a fist bump.

I gladly obliged. "You too, man. I just got lucky is all."

His eyebrows arched even higher, but this time it was out of curiosity. "What do you mean, lucky?"

"I thought it was spelled w-i-e-r-d too. But if you got it wrong with that, then it had to be different."

"Ahem," coughed Mr. Pony loudly. "As much as I appreciate the display of sportsmanship, we've got a pretty tight schedule to get through. Group 4, you're up."

My opponent vanquished for the time being, I joined Skylar and Eli at the back of the line thinking that I hadn't really earned the win against Jacques. If I had gotten 'weird' first, it would have been me and not him sitting in that seat. I was only able to spell it correctly with the prior knowledge that what he had said was wrong, meaning that I hadn't even proven that I was a better speller than Jacques, just a better process-of-eliminator.

"Okay, Tiffany, your word is cold."

"Hold up, teach," said Kiki.

"T-teach?" replied Mr. Pony, tilting their head to the side, putting a hand to their cheek, and sweating profusely.

"Can you call me Kiki instead? It's a nickname everyone calls me. I don't really go by my official name."

"Oh, ok. Sorry... Kiki." said Mr. Pony, relaxing a little. "Just as long as you call me Mr. Pony and not 'Teach'".

"No prob, Mr. Pony," said Kiki with a subtle smile, which eventually faded into a thoughtfully vacant expression. "Uh, what was my word again?"

"Cold."

"C-o-l-d."

"Correct. Randy, your word is drop."

"D-r-o-p." The way he pronounced 'r' made it sound more like 'aouwr'.

"Correct." Mr. Pony paused for a second. "Kiki. Your word is basis."

"B-a-s-e-s."

Mr. Pony blinked. "Uh, let me repeat that. Basis. Your word is basis."

Kiki nodded. "Yeah, b-a-s-e-s. As in the bases are loaded."

"That's incorrect," said Mr. Pony.

"What? That's wack," shot back Kiki. "I spelled it right!"

Randy crossed his red-and-black-flanneled arms in front of himself. "The word is basis, right? As in, the basis of an opinion."

"Yes," said Mr. Pony.

"Wait, that's what you were saying? I know how to spell that," insisted Kiki.

"B-a-s-i-s," said Randy.

"Correct," said Mr. Pony.

"That's what I would have said!" said Kiki. "C'mon, Mr. Pony."

"No," canceled Randy. "If you aren't sure, you need to ask, or you risk spelling the wrong word."

"That's not fair," inputted Kathleen, leaning forward and pumping her fists downward angrily. "How was she supposed to know that ahead of time?"

"It's totally fair," retorted Randy. "It's in the ru-ules."

"Well then the ru-ules are dumb!" she retorted right back. "It's a spelling bee, not a... following the rules bee!"

"Indeed," inputted Rachel. "However, it is also a spelling bee, not just spelling."

"Huh?" Kathleen put a finger to her chin. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Rachel continued. "The spelling bee itself measures not one's spelling ability, but rather one's ability to succeed in the spelling bee. And that includes more than just spelling."

"What are you saying?" asked Kathleen, her anger giving way to confusion. "Are you on my side or his?"

Rachel closed her eyes and smiled her grandmotherly smile. "We are practicing for the spelling bee, correct?"

"...Yeah?" responded Kathleen.

"Mr. Pony," said Randy on the side. "We should hurry along, if we don't want to get behind schedule."

"Not now, Randy," declined Mr. Pony softly and putting their hands to their mouth. "This is what's known as a teaching moment."

"If we were just practicing spelling," resumed Rachel, "we would be just be individually rewriting all of these words on a paper. Is that something you want?"

"No!" said a shocked Kathleen.

"That'd take forever," agreed Kiki, eyeballing the thicc stack of index cards. "That's, like, 2 whole assignment books."

"The spelling bee is much more than just spelling," repeated Rachel, before pondering quickly and adding "similarly to how a game of football is more than just kicking a ball. So all aspects of it must be practiced, including following the rules."

Kathleen crossed her arms and looked to the side while thinking intensely. Suddenly, her anger flared up again once she got on the same page as Rachel. "But even so, it's just practice," she argued. "We don't need to be so hard on her. Kiki should get another chance."

"I dunno~," inputted Owen in a singsongy voice. "Does the big, bad spelling bee let you have second chances?"

"No," reiterated Randy, although visibly disgusted to be agreeing with Owen. "She could have asked Mr. Pony, but didn't. That's the ru-ules."

"In addition," inputted Julia, "Rachel raises an interesting point. If we are not selecting for the best spellers, but rather the best... spelling bee-ers, to get the best sense of who succeeds in a spelling bee, we should try to replicate a real one as closely as possible during practice."

Kathleen clenched both her fists and her teeth, holding back tears of frustration. "You guys are the worst," she said hoarsely. "This was supposed to be a fun thing, but you had to go and ruin it!"

Owen smiled wryly and put his hands behind his head.

"Kathleen, it's chill," reassured Kiki, reaching up to put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not that important."

"I'm really sorry, Kathleen," comforted Mr. Pony, "but sometimes, you just don't get a second chance. It doesn't always work like that."

Kathleen didn't even turn to look towards the teacher. "This is a practice spelling bee."

"Yes," agreed Mr. Pony sympathetically. "So out of any time to not get a second chance, now would be best, rather than for something more important, right?"

Though it was clear to me that she still felt strongly about the issue, Kathleen sighed and conceded defeat, knowing that she'd never convince Randy, Rachel, Owen, Julia, and now even Mr. Pony themself otherwise. "Fine," she said, before stepping away from the action to cool off.

"All right then, let's keep things moving," prompted Mr. Pony. "Group 5, please step forward."

"Oh boy, it's my turn!" cried an excited Owen as he sprung to the space in front of the easel pad. "Heheh. Sorry Jenny, but I'm takin' you down! This is gonna be easy!"

Jenny seemed to be a mix of amused, skeptical, and mildly annoyed, but chose to ignore Owen's trash talk and focus on the task at hand. "I'm ready whenever you are, Mr. Pony."

"All right then, your word is flat."

"F-l-a-t."

"Correct. Owen, your word is like."

Owen grinned and put his hands behind his head. "P-a-n-d-a."

The whole room fell into a shocked silence. Even Mr. Pony needed a second to process this answer, which was so out of the bounds of what they had expected.
"Uh, no. That's wrong." said Mr. Pony. "You… did hear the word I said, right?"

"Yeah," he replied. "You said panda."

"BAAAAH!" said Jacques from his seat.

"Hey!" inputted a still-salty Kathleen. "I thought we just said no second chances, right?"

"I'm not going to give him one," said Mr. Pony, "I was just… surprised by his answer is all. Jenny, can you spell like?"

"L-i-k-e."

"Aw man!" said Owen. "You got me!"

"That's correct," said Mr. Pony, replying to both of them somewhat. "Jenny, go to the back of the line. Owen, you may be seated."

Jenny joined Eli, Skylar, myself, Kathleen, Rachel, and Randy in the slowly dwindling group. "That was so weird," she said, mainly to me, I think. "Did he do that on purpose?"

"Obviously," replied Randy, making me think that maybe she wasn't talking mainly to me.

"But why?" I asked, looking over to the second table where Owen had now joined Jacques and was intensely focused on writing something in his assignment book.

"I think it was supposed to be a joke," guessed Skylar, "but it fell a little flat. Hey, look, it's William and Julia now!" she turned our attention back to the main event.

"Correct." Mr. Pony turned back to William. "Your word is water."

"W-a-t-e-r."

"Correct. Julia, your word is point."

"P-o-i-n-t."

"Correct. Rescue."

William's eyes widened. "Uh, r-e-s… q?"

"That is incorrect. Julia?"

"R-e-s-c-u-e," answered Julia without even opening her eyes.

"Correct. Julia wins for Group 6."

"Dang it!" said William disheartenedly. "I was ready for this, too!"

"Well," remarked Mr. Pony, "You did last the longest out of everyone who lost. No one else made it through four words so far."

"Really?" he asked. "Awesome, so I'll probably win next time, then." his spirits somewhat lifted, William returned to his table to sit across from Kristy, though it seemed like some of us had our doubts.

Mr. Pony shuffled the deck of index cards. "All right," they said, addressing the eight left standing, "you lot have made it past the first round. The next few rounds are going to be just like the first, except you form new groups every time, and the words are going to be a little harder." I could feel the tension rising again. Mr. Pony made a few adjustments to their slice of paper, and then turned back to us.

"This time, there's only going to be four groups of two. Group 1: Eli and Skylar, Group 2: Jordan and Kathleen, Group 3: Rachel and Randy, and Group 4: Jenny and Julia." We all shifted around to get in our groups. "Are you lot ready to begin the second round? Does any group volunteer to go first?"

Kathleen turned to look up at me with her blue eyes. "Let's go first, Jordan," she said.

"What? Us?" I was both startled and taken aback.

"Yeah," she added. "We have to go eventually, so we might as well do it now. It'll be like ripping off a band-aid."

"I'm not really sure that's a good comparison..." I tried to reply, but it was too late.

"Mr. Pony, Jordan and I are going first!" she announced.

"All-righty!" said Mr. Pony, putting their hands on their stomach. "Then step right up!"

I guessed there was no more prolonging the inevitable, and in a way, that eased my nervousness a bit. I strode forward side by side with Kathleen, not sure which one of us was to return, but ready to receive whatever spelling words might come my way.