And now we go to 'Spelling Bee', which I'm going to put back in a character I introduced long ago, but haven't got around to her since then! That's right, I'm bringing in... well, you can probably guess as you read the chapter! Anyway, enjoy!

"Art?"

"Art. A-R-T. Art."

"Correct. Foliage."

"Foliage. F-O-L-I-A-G-E. Foliage."

"Correct again. Rein?"

"Definition, please?"

"The leather strap used to control a horse."

"Rein. R-E-I-N. Rein."

"Correct!" I smiled as I clapped for my friend, Phoebe. Both of us were over at my house as I was prepping her up for the spelling contest. I was reading through a dictionary to look up words that seemed good to test her on.

"You know, it's not entirely necessary." Phoebe glared. "I know all the words, I can spell them all out."

"I know, but I want you to do good at that spelling bee! It's for all of our third grade class, if you get in, you'll be in the National Finals for the National Spelling Bee, and I want you to do really good!" I said.

"You know, you COULD just do it yourself." Phoebe raised an eyebrow.

"Right, but I can't spell any of the harder words." I explained.

"Spell surveillance." Phoebe looked up, as if to test me, taking away the dictionary from me. "Without looking it up."

"Surveillance. S-U-R-V-A-L-L-E-N-C-E. Surveillance." I said as I looked up to Phoebe.

"Actually, the correct spelling is S-U-R-V-E-I-L-L-A-N-C-E." Phoebe corrected me. "Let me try another word. Spell translucent."

"Translucent. T-R-A-N-S-L-O-O-S-A-N-T. Translucent." I said simply.

"The correct spelling is T-R-A-N-S-L-U-C-E-N-T." Phoebe explained. "Wow, you are a horrible speller. Spell cat."

"Cat. C-A-T. Cat." I shrugged.

"Well, you can do simple, small words that you know the meaning to, anyway..." Phoebe shrugged. "But what makes you think I can do good? There COULD be other spellers that are better than me in our class."

"But just imagine the possibilities, Phoebe?" I smiled as I patted a hand on her shoulder. "You could get yourself a good trophy, you could make your parents proud, and best of all, you can try your very best!"

"Are you sure you're helping me because I want to try my best, or is it because you want the money that goes with it?" Phoebe said, unsure.

I looked at the girl, as if offended. "Why, Phoebe, are you implying that if you win, I would take advantage of you and get that five hundred dollars? Seriously, Phoebe, whatever you do with that money is up to you!"

Phoebe sighed. "I'm sorry, Rhonda. I guess I don't know why I'm being so suspicious."

"You're probably just nervous, that people would become better than you at spelling." I smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I promise you, Phoebe, no person is a better speller than you, and if there was a better speller, than he or she would have to be on equal ground!"

Phoebe paused... as she smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not going to let my nerves get the best of me." She handed me the dictionary back. "Give me another word."

"All right... spell 'thesaurus'." I said, looking up a word in the dictionary.

Phoebe, filled with confidence, took a deep breath.

"Thesaurus. T-H-E-S-A-U-R-U-S. Thesaurus."

"That's correct, Phoebe." Miss Slovak smiled as Phoebe gave a small smile as we all clapped for her. She sat down in one of the chairs nearby as I saw Gerald taking his turn. "Okay, Gerald, your word is 'trauma'."

"Drama. D-R-A-M-A. Drama."

"No, I'm sorry, Gerald, wrong word. The word is 'TRAUMA', not 'DRAMA'."

"Man!" Gerald groaned as he went back to his seat.

"Sheena?" Miss Slovak announced as another one of our classmates, Sheena, came up to the podium. "Your word is 'jacuzzi'."

"Jacuzzi. G-A-C-U-Z-I. Jacuzzi."

"Sorry, Sheena, I'm afraid that's wrong." Miss Slovak shook her head.

"Oh well." Sheena shrugged as she went back to her seat.

I probably never talked about Sheena. Well... we don't mention her quite a lot. Sometimes, we would see her being a peace-giver, but most times, she often hangs out with the geeks. While she's not a person I talk to as often, she's still a respectable member of our group. After all, Sheena does have some interesting qualities. What those are, we see glimpses of them every now and again.

"Rhonda?" Miss Slovak said as I came up. "Your word is... 'knoll'."

I sighed, not knowing what that word is. I only had one option. "Could I have that in a sentence, please?"

"I walked up the small 'knoll' and back." Miss Slovak said.

I sighed, trying to spell as best as I could. "Knoll. N-O-L. Knoll."

"Sorry, Rhonda, wrong spelling." Miss Slovak shook her head.

I knew I wasn't going to get it anyway. I decided to sit back in my desk as I watched Arnold coming up.

"Arnold?" Miss Slovak said. "Your word is 'nuclear'."

Everyone noticed that Arnold was in that trance once again. Miss Slovak looked over in concern. "Arnold? Arnold? Arnold!"

That snapped Arnold out of attention as he looked up. "Oh, sorry. What was the word again?"

Miss Slovak sighed as some of the kids laughed a bit. "Nuclear."

"Oh yeah. Nuclear. N-U-C-L-E-A-R. Nuclear."

"That's correct." Miss Slovak smiled as he joined Phoebe in the stands. I noticed Phoebe staring in surprise and then her eye was twitching a little. Miss Slovak paused. "Hmmm... this is interesting. Seems we have two of the best spellers in our third grade class. But to be sure... Phoebe, come on up."

Phoebe nodded as she went up. "Yes, Miss Slovak?"

"Spell the word 'Larynx'." Miss Slovak said.

"Larynx. L-A-R-Y-N-X. Larynx."

"Correct." Miss Slovak said as Phoebe went to sit down. "Arnold, spell the word, 'impromptu'."

"Impromptu. I-M-P-R-O-M-P-T-U. Impromptu." Arnold said, confidently.

"That is correct. Phoebe, spell the word 'parquet'." Miss Slovak said as Phoebe went up.

"Parquet. P-A-R-Q-U-E-T. Parquet." Phoebe said in confidence.

"Correct again. Arnold, spell 'sequoia'." Miss Slovak said.

"Sequoia. S-E-Q-U-O-I-A. Sequoia." Arnold smiled, Phoebe frowning a bit.

I watched intently as the spelling match went on for a few minutes. Pretty soon, Miss Slovak nodded as Arnold just finished up the last word he spelled... correctly. "No doubt about it, you two are the best spellers here in our third grade class. I'm going over to Principal Wartz and he'll see what he thinks. I'll be back a minute, class."

As Miss Slovak left the classroom, Arnold and Phoebe went back to their seats as Phoebe was angrily muttering next to my seat. I smiled as I whispered to my friend, "Phoebe, you're not being competitive, are you?"

"What, me?" Phoebe tried to put on a fake smile. "Why would I be competitive? Especially when you learn that another best speller in our class happens to be the one YOU happen to have a crush on!"

Fortunately, Phoebe whispered the last part as she pointed to me. I looked at her in the eyes. "Phoebe, so what if Arnold is equally a good speller? I still have confidence in you! Besides, you shouldn't try to be so competitive. It's not healthy."

Phoebe took a few deep breaths as she calmed down. "I guess you're right..."

"I know I'm right." I smiled.

"...but I can't help but shake the feeling that Arnold may as well be my competition... plus, I wouldn't be surprised if you rooted for him!" Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Come on. Sure, I'd like to cheer for Arnold, but you're my main bet. Besides, I want this to be YOUR moment." I assured her. "Be confident in yourself, don't be competitive! Just have fun and do your best!"

"Thanks, Rhonda." Phoebe smiled as Miss Slovak went back in the classroom.

"After some careful consideration, by chance, it seems that both Arnold and Phoebe are the best spellers in the entire school! That means that both of them are eligible for the citywide spelling bee on Saturday! Winner of the spelling bee will receive five hundred dollars."

The kids applauded as Arnold and Phoebe smiled. They seemed to be pretty confident. As was I. For Phoebe and Arno- uh, Phoebe! Yeah, only Phoebe!

Man, my mind is starting to jumble up.

"Need any help on practicing for the words?" I asked as me, Nadine and Phoebe started to walk home.

"No thanks, I think with all the words you helped me with, you did more than enough help." Phoebe said.

"Well, we just want to be sure so you'll be prepared on Saturday." Nadine smiled.

"Thanks girls, but really, I got this." Phoebe smiled.

"Just want to be sure." I said. "Wouldn't want you to get too nervous."

"Really, Rhonda, I'm fine. If I can't handle it, who can?" Phoebe smiled. "Well, I better get home to practice. See you girls!"

I smiled as me and Nadine waved to our departing friend. As soon as she was out of earshot, I quickly became worried as I turned to Nadine. "Nadine, quick, I need advice."

"Oh brother." Nadine sighed. "Let me guess, you're torn between Arnold and Phoebe in terms of who to cheer for for the spelling bee."

"How did you guess?" I asked.

"Lucky guess." Nadine shrugged. "Look, Rhonda, you have nothing to worry about. Besides, there's like, ten contestants from each different school competing in the spelling bee, Arnold and Phoebe happen to be two of them. If one of them gets out before the final two, just root for the other."

"That's still complicates things." I sighed. "Either way, I feel guilt."

"Look, don't worry about it." Nadine assured me. "You want Arnold to do good, I understand that. You also want Phoebe to do good. I understand that too. Look, my advice... just cheer for both, but mostly cheer for Phoebe to make it seem like you are supporting her. If she fails..."

"And I know she won't." I said.

"...then just root for Arnold. It's still a win-win situation." Nadine smiled.

I sighed. "I... I need a lot to think about. I'm going to the park to clear my head."

"I'll be heading on home, then." Nadine said as she started to part ways. "I'll see you around, Rhonda."

I sighed as I kept walking.

I found myself sitting on the park bench just thinking about what to do... I sighed, not knowing what to do.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?"

"No, go right ahea-" I looked up, instantly knowing the voice... and recognizing the face. "Olga? Is that you? You may not remember me, but I'm..."

"Rhonda, of course!" Olga gave off a perfect smile as she sat next to me.

All of a sudden, my head started to ache again. I didn't pay it any mind though. "So you do remember?"

"How can I forget?" Olga smiled. "We met each other in the library last. I believe we were studying the different sea creatures. How'd your report go, by the way?"

"Oh, not too bad." I shrugged. "A, at the most."

"That's great!" Olga smiled. "I got an A on my report as well."

"What are you doing out in the park?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, I just got done with my recent year of community college." Olga explained. "I'm still waiting on my report card, so until I get my grades, I'll be happy. But as usual, I know what my grades are going to be."

"Straight A's?" I guessed.

"Oh, yes. How'd you know?" Olga asked.

"You are a Pataki, and as I hear your dad say in those beeper commercials, 'Patakis are always perfect'." I shrugged.

"Yeah..." Olga sighed... though I noticed the tone was a little sadder than usual, but she went back to her chipper personality. "What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, I'm just doing some thinking." I explained. "I have these two friends, see, and I want to root for them at the spelling bee tomorrow, but..."

"Oh, the Spelling Bee!" Olga instantly smiled. "I remember my first time when I went to the Spelling Bee tournament. Daddy would never stop bragging about the win, though I don't blame him, it was one of my best moments."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow. "So, you entered the same spelling bee and won?"

"Of course." Olga smiled. "Though I was a little nervous, I managed to get through it just fine. My final word was 'Qualm'. Q-U-A-LLLLLLLLLLL-M. Qualm."

Olga held out the L when she spelled it as she continued, "The L was silent, but I got it! Daddy and Mommy were very proud of me for doing my best. In fact, the Spelling Bee trophy was just the first of many trophies I've collected. I've collected plenty more afterwards."

"Your mother and father must have been very proud of you, Olga." I smiled.

Olga paused as she looked down, "I... guess you could say that."

I noticed once again Olga seemed a little sad, but she went happy again as she said, "Anyway, since I'm not going to be in community college again until next year, I've decided to do a few things around the area. It's funny you brought up the spelling bee, Rhonda."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to be the main host on the show. Even though I'm too old to be a contestant, I can still take part in the spelling bee by being a hostess. Daddy's going to be there too, promoting his beepers." Olga explained.

"Wow..." I said in amazement. "So, you're going to be a host!"

"I sure am!" Olga smiled. "Say, would you like to sit up on the front seat on Saturday and watch how I do my hosting skills? I bet you'd love it."

"Sure, Olga, I can definitely do that!" I smiled.

Olga smiled as she gave me a ticket. "That's great. Here's one of my reserved seat numbers. Daddy already has his reserved seat, and I needed another person to fill that in... and since you have friends in the spelling bee, I'm sure they would love to see your face at the front seat when you're rooting for them."

Oh right, my friends. I yelped, but smiled, "Thanks, Olga!"

"Anytime!" Olga smiled as she got up. "Well, I better be going. Daddy needs to make sure I'm prepared for Saturday. Heaven knows I'll need it."

"Okay, then." I smiled as I got up. "I'll see you around, Olga!"

"Bye, Rhonda!" Olga smiled as she and I went separate ways.

And just like before, when we left our separate ways... that head ache instantly disappeared. It was nice of Olga to give me a VIP seat in the front row... but I was still having trouble on who to root for. I thought back to Nadine's words, on just cheering for both, but mostly cheer for Phoebe, and in case Phoebe loses, root for Arnold. I paused... and smiled. I knew what I had to do!

It was Saturday, the big spelling bee was about to occur. I came in with Phoebe by my side as I smiled to her. "Hey, Phoebe, do your best out there! I'll be in the very front row, cheering you on!"

Phoebe smiled as she hugged me. "Thanks, Rhonda."

"No problem." I said, patting her head as she let me go and went off. I looked around for my seat until I found it on the front row. As I got comfortable, I saw Olga talking with another person, presumably her dad. I recognized the man with the green shirt, brown khakis and grey hair anywhere. My parents always described the man, and heck, I even saw him on TV quite a few times, promoting those beepers he's selling. Bob Pataki, or as the people of the big business like to call him, Big Bob Pataki. For reference, I'm going to call him Mr. Pataki.

Olga turned and noticed me as she smiled. "Oh, there she is now."

Olga then took her father over to meet me. "Daddy, this is the girl I was talking about, the Lloyd I mentioned."

Instantly as soon as they came near me, the head ache twinged up again. Seems it was going a little half full. I ignored it as best as I could as I nervously said, "How do you do, sir?"

Mr. Pataki kept an eye on me as he said, "So, you're the Lloyd's precious little girl, huh? My business rival's little girl, acquaintances with my own, hm?"

"Uh... yes sir." I said, looking at him straight in the eyes. I don't know why, but inside, my heart was beating at a faster rate, and my head still ached.

"Hmmm... tell your folks Big Bob Pataki is keeping a close eye on them." Big Bob said as he just departed. My heart rate depleted to its normal rate, but the headache was still there.

Olga sighed as she sat down. "I'm sorry, Daddy does this to most of my friends."

"That's all right, I kind of expected that reaction." I sighed. "My parents... don't really get along with the Patakis. I really don't know why."

"Maybe one of them was friends with the other at one point, but felt betrayed?" Olga guessed.

"Maybe..." I shrugged. "I don't really know. I don't follow their business politics as much."

"Yeah, I don't either." Olga sighed. "It won't change the small friendship we have going, will it?"

I smiled a bit as I said, "Oh no, Olga. It's perfectly fine. We can still see each other."

Another twinge of pain acted up in my head as I groaned.

"Oh, that's good." Olga smiled as she looked at her watch. "Oh, look at the time, I should get going and host this. See you later, Rhonda."

I waved to Olga as my headaches stopped. I wonder why I keep getting these headaches. Is there something in this room I'm allergic to?

Anyway, pretty soon, the seats were pretty much filled up as Nadine sat behind me. "So, a VIP seat from Olga, huh?"

"Sorry I didn't tell you. If I knew, I would have taken you." I said guiltily.

"That's okay, Rhonda." Nadine smiled. "At least I'm right behind you. Besides, we're both here to support our school, after all, mostly Phoebe!"

"Right." I said, smiling. "And I know exactly who to root for!"

I smiled as I put on a button that said 'To Phoebe and Arnold!'

"Going for both, huh?" Nadine smiled. "Well, best of luck to the both of them."

"Yep." I sighed, smiling as I relaxed in my chair.

Pretty soon, the spelling bee was about to begin as Olga came up to the podium. "Greetings all, and welcome to the City Spelling Bee Finals. I'm your host, Olga Pataki."

A lot of applause was heard as Olga smiled. "Please, please, you're too kind, really. Anyway, here are the contestants for our spelling bee. From PS 113, he's a Grade A student from his class, please welcome, "Larry Larabee"!"

Everyone applauded as this Larry came in.

"Next up, from PS 114, three students that have managed to get where they were in terms of academics, and may as well be on their way to an early grade, from the second, fourth and fifth grade respectively, please welcome... Kyle Glacis, Ray Sparkle and Yolei Fisher!"

Everyone applauded as two boys (Kyle and Ray) and a girl (Yolei) came in and took their seats.

"From PS 116, these two girls are smart for their age and they're twin sisters! Please welcome Penelope and Hermione Richter!"

Everyone applauded as two twin sisters came in as they giggled.

"From PS 117, he seems to be raised up as the perfect boy, and confidentially, I don't blame him." Olga said, muttering the last part so that nobody heard it, but I did. "Please welcome, "Seymour Stump"!"

Everyone applauded as a brown haired boy with glasses and a white and red striped shirt came out.

"From PS 118, from the school I personally graduated from, no bias here, here are Phoebe Heyerdahl and Arnold..." Olga paused. "Just let me get my thumb out of the way, there we go... Arnold Shortman!"

Everyone applauded, especially me, as Arnold and Phoebe came out.

"Well, there goes a potential running gag that would have been funny." I heard Curly's voice sigh.

I did a double take as I saw Curly sitting next to Nadine. I then whispered, "What are you doing here, you psychopath?"

"What? Can't a guy root for his fellow students?" Curly shrugged.

I just rolled my eyes as I sat down, sighing. I swear, that kid...

"And finally, from PS 119, hailing from the second grade, the smartest kid in the world, I like to see him try... please welcome, "Taylor Grizzikoff"!"

Everyone applauded as this Taylor kid came in.

"All right, the spelling bee rules are simple." Olga smiled. "One at a time, I will call your names. I will then give you a word. You do have the option to ask for a definition AND to ask me to use it in a sentence. If you spell the word wrong, you are out of the game. Last speller standing wins the trophy and the five hundred dollar prize. Are we all settled in, spellers?"

The ten spellers nodded as they took their position. They were ready as ever.

"We did a random number generator to see who gets to go first, and Taylor, you are lucky number one." Olga said as Taylor nodded as he walked up. "Okay, Taylor, your word is 'glacial'."

Taylor gave a smirk. "Glacial. G-L-A-C-I-E-L. Glacial."

A hornbuzz sounded as Taylor jumped.

"Oh, so sorry. But that's incorrect." Olga shook her head as we heard some of the audience members groan. "I'm afraid you are out. Next up is Yolei Fisher."

Yolei nodded as she came up.

"Yolei, your word is 'absurd'."

Yolei paused as if to think.

"A bee! Is you Hardy?" Someone in the middle of the audience was shouting a little.

I groaned. Really? One of the parents in the audience was trying to get this girl to cheat? I caught it right away.

"Absurd. A-B-S-U-R-D. Absurd." Yolei said nervously.

"That is correct." Olga smiled as everyone applauded.

"Honey, I'm not a bee, and my name's not Hardy." a male voice whispered from a couple rows back. When did I get heightened hearing?

"Quiet, just play along with whatever I say." A female voice whispered from the same couple rows back.

Olga then coughed as she said, "Before I move on, I would like to ask the audience to PLEASE, refrain from talking. Okay, next contestant... Phoebe."

Phoebe nodded as she came up.

"Phoebe, your word is 'sanctimonius'." Olga smiled.

Phoebe smiled. "Sanctimonius. S-A-N-C-T-I-M-O-N-I-U-S. Sanctimonius."

"That is correct." Olga smiled as everyone, including myself, applauded. "Next contestant... Penelope Richter."

Everyone applauded as Penelope came up to the podium. "Okay, Penelope, your word is 'resurrection'."

"Resurrection. R-E-S-U-R-R-E-C-T-I-O-N. Resurrection." Penelope smiled.

"That is correct." A ding sound heard as Olga smiled. Penelope took her seat. "Next up is Larry."

Larry then came up to the podium. "Larry, your word is 'resume'."

"Resume. R-E-S-O-O-M-A-Y. Resume."

A hornbuzz sounded as Olga shook her head. "So sorry, that's incorrect."

Larry then left the stage as the audience groaned. "Ray, you are next."

Ray took the stage as he took a deep breath. Olga then said, "Your word is 'tee'."

Ray smiled. "Tee. T. Tee."

A hornbuzz then sounded as a lot of the audience laughed. Olga shook her head. "I'm sorry, tee is three letters, not one. I'm afraid you're out."

"That has to be an epic fail... one for the TVTropes page." Curly shook his head.

"What?" I turned to Curly in confusion.

"Forget I said anything." Curly shrugged.

I just blinked in confusion as I turned back to the stage. Curly was always so weird.

"Okay, Hermione, your word is 'spurious'." Olga smiled.

"Spurious. S-P-U-R-I-U-S. Spurious." Hermione smiled.

The hornbuzz sounded. "No, I'm sorry, you're missing a letter. I'm afraid you're out. Seymour?"

Seymour sighed as he came up to the podium, nervous. "Your word is 'tachometer'."

"Tachometer... uh..." Seymour was a little nervous as his eyes wandered towards... hmm, interesting. He seemed to be wearing an earpiece. "T-A-C-H-O-M-E-T-E-R. Tachometer."

"That is correct." Olga smiled as Seymour sighed in relief. As I watched Seymour take his seat, he seemed to be whispering something in his earpiece. I frowned as I whispered to Nadine, "Nadine, have you noticed some cheating going on?"

"With that Yolei girl and that Seymour guy? Trust me, I have." Nadine nodded.

"So you caught the sentence one of the audience members said." I said as Arnold's name was called up.

"Yep. Once Olga takes the first break, we need to tell her." Nadine whispered.

"Agreed." I nodded.

"Arnold, you're next." Arnold nodded as he came up, Olga smiling. "Arnold, your word is 'philately'."

"Philately. P-H-I-L-A-T-E-L-Y. Philately." Arnold said as I noticed Phoebe was frowning a bit.

"That is correct." Olga smiled as Arnold joined the others, everyone applauding again, including myself. "Final contestant... Kyle."

Kyle smiled as he came up. "Kyle, your word is 'effervescent'."

"Effervescent. E-F-E-R-V-A-S-C-A-N-T. Effervescent." Kyle smiled.

The same hornbuzz sounded as Olga shook her head. "I'm sorry, that answer is wrong."

As Kyle left the stage, Olga smiled. "And just like that, we have our final five. From PS 114, Yolei Fisher, from PS 116, Penelope Richter, from PS 117, Seymour Stump, and from PS 118, Phoebe Heyerdahl and Arnold Shortman. We'll take a short break for a few minutes."

Everyone applauded as they all decided to stretch their legs. I then started motioning to Olga as she noticed. She came over to me as... oh man, the headache was starting up again. "Yes, Rhonda? How's the spelling bee going?"

"Doing good." I smiled. "In fact, you do a great job hosting!"

Olga smiled. "Thanks. I try."

"Anyway, Olga, I wanted to call you here because I'm suspecting there's a little cheating going on within the audience." I said.

Olga frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"I noticed an ear piece on one of the contestants, and one of the members of the audience was speaking a sentence really loud to indicate the actual spelling of the word." I explained.

"Really?" Olga said in surprise as she paused. "I'll talk to the judges and they'll see what they can do. If we catch these same areas again, I'll give a motion to the judges."

I nodded. "Thanks, Olga."

"Hey, I love playing fair. That's how I won the spelling bee when I got the trophy." Olga smiled as she went back.

I sighed and relaxed. Looks like some cheating was about to be busted.

"And welcome back!" Olga said as everyone applauded. "Let us continue on with Yolei."

Everyone applauded as Yolei went up. "Okay, Yolei, your next word is 'poppycock'."

Yolei paused as if to think.

Sure enough, that same audience member was talking again. "Pee! Oh! Pee-Pee! Why? See? Oh... see? 'Kay."

I just face-palmed at that obvious cheating that nobody caught, but luckily, Olga did catch it this time and made a motion to the judges.

"Poppycock. P-O-P-P-Y-C-O-C-K..." Yolei started.

"Oh, I get it, honey." the same male audience member whispered as he was now shouting. "Oh! I see pee-pee too! Oh why? Oh why?"

I just face-palmed at that as well as I heard the female audience member whispered, "Honey, shut it!"

Yolei, however, heard the male audience member as she said, "O-I-C-P-P-2-O-Y-O-Y!"

Olga shook her head as the hornbuzz sounded. "I'm sorry, that's too many letters... and numbers. We'll have to call that a wrong answer."

A security guard then came over as he grabbed the female and male audience member respectively as the female audience member groaned, "Oh, oh, oh."

"O-O-O." Yolei shrugged.

"Yeah, I said that's wrong, you'll have to stop." Olga said as the security guards dragged the female and male audience members (presumably Yolei's parents) away respectively.

Yolei sighed as she left the stage. "Next up, Penelope."

Penelope nodded as she came up. "Penelope, your word is 'rhubarb'."

"Rhubarb. R-U-B-A-R-B. Rhubarb." Penelope said.

The hornbuzz sounded as Olga shook her head. "Oh, and you were doing so well. You're out."

Penelope sighed as she walked off. "Seymour?"

Seymour nodded as he came up. "Seymour, your word is 'pasquinade'."

Seymour adjusted his glasses as I noticed the ear piece was coming loose. "Pasquinade. P-A-S-Q-U-I-N-A-D-E. Pasquinade."

"That is correct." Olga nodded as Seymour smiled and jumped in the air as everyone was about to applaud... but he jumped too high and the earpiece came off. "Whoops?"

"Seymour, honey, are you there? Did you get pasquinade?" A female voice, presumably Seymour's mom, said from the earpiece.

Olga then picked up the earpiece and shook her head. "Tut tut tut... and here I was hoping we'd have a fair competition. Cheating is a bad thing. I'm sorry, Seymour, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave politely. If you don't, well, I'm sure Hines will be kind enough to keep you company."

Seymour yelped as a big security guard came up from behind Seymour and took him away, Seymour was whining and complaining. Olga nodded as she turned to the audience, "And let that be a lesson to everyone... cheating is not the way to go."

Olga then turned towards Arnold and Phoebe. "And just like that, we have our final two. We need to take a break for a few moments, just to inspect the other two. We'll be right back."

Everyone applauded as the lights went off. I sighed in relief as I turned to Nadine, "Well, looks like we got rid of a few cheaters."

"Yeah... but NOW you're stuck between a Final Two of Phoebe and Arnold. Which one are you rooting for?" Nadine smirked.

I gulped, now realizing I had no idea. "I hate you, Nadine."

"Love you, Rhonda!" Nadine smiled.

I sighed as we looked up at the stage.

After being assured that Arnold and Phoebe had no devices on or were cheating with audience members, they went on with the match. This match presumably went on for at least... an hour or so. Some of the audience had already left, but the faithful ones for PS 118 and a few spelling bee fans stayed behind as we watched Phoebe and Arnold battle in out in a battle of wits.

Olga nodded as she pulled out the next word. "Arnold, your next word is... 'onomatopoeia'."

Arnold seemed a little nervous at first, but then looked towards the audience as he smiled. "Onomatopoeia. O-N-O-M-A-T-O-P-O-E-I-A. Onamatopoeia."

Everyone applauded as Arnold took his seat.

Phoebe was now confident she had this as she went up, taking a deep breath. I think she saw me in the audience as I gave her a thumbs-up. Phoebe just smiled.

"Okay, Phoebe... your word is... 'translucent'." Olga smiled.

Phoebe gave a smile as she coughed. "Translucent. T-R-A-N-S-L-O-O- oh no!"

I gasped as did Nadine as Phoebe facepalmed, the horn buzzed. Olga shook her head, "I am so sorry, you were so close. But that doesn't mean you were a formidable competitor. I applaud that, as do the winner! Congratulations, Arnold!"

Everyone applauded as Arnold smiled, being handed the trophy.

"What happened? You were doing so well!" I asked as me and Nadine joined Phoebe.

"I don't know what happened. I guess seeing you there reminded me of the times you were helping me out, and I was confident too... I knew the correct spelling, I knew it... but then I thought back to the one day I gave you the word... and... I guess I was thinking of how you spelled it." Phoebe sighed. "That's how it came out."

"I'm so sorry." I sighed as I hugged my friend.

"Hey, don't be." Phoebe smiled. "I tried my best, and that's all that counts. Besides, at least Arnold was willing to give me the trophy."

I smiled as Phoebe held up the big trophy. Nadine smiled as she said, "I'm glad you're not taking your loss too hard."

"Well, what can you do?" Phoebe shrugged.

"Well, second place isn't so bad. Come on, let's go get a frozen yogurt on me!" I smiled as Nadine and Phoebe cheered. As I decided to walk off, I noticed Olga coming out. "Just a moment girls!"

I then ran towards Olga as Olga smiled. The headache twinged again, but I ignored it. "Hey, Olga, I want to say, thanks again for letting me sit in the front row, seeing how everything works."

"Anytime." Olga smiled. "I'm just glad we could meet up again. By the way, if you want to see me again, if it's just for anything, let me know."

Olga then wrote down an address and gave it to me. "This is where my parents and I live. If you want to see me anytime, just talk to me."

"I'm not sure if your parents will allow me in, since I am a Lloyd, but..." I started.

"I'm sure I can get Daddy to raise some... exceptions." Olga shrugged. "Well, I'll see you around!"

"Bye, Olga!" I waved as Olga left, and as before, that headache was gone. I then turned back to my friends as I said, "Okay, girls, how about that frozen yogurt, hm?"

"All right!" Phoebe smiled. "But afterwards, I want to know about what Olga just gave you."

"Oh, no worries." I smiled. "We'll have a lot to talk about."

And so, me, Nadine and Phoebe spent the rest of the day hanging out together. Sure, Phoebe may have lost, but at least she did her very best.

There's the twenty-seventh episode! How do you like it? There's a reference to the show 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' in this fic... even if you don't like the show, look for it anyway. Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!