"Costume," our teacher, Mrs. Shaw, said. "Zachary Jones, please spell the word costume." That word is easy! I thought. Our class was having a practice spelling bee. It was my turn next. Zach scratched his wavy brown hair. He took a deep breath, then spelled: "C-o-s-t-o-o-m." Mrs. Shaw shook her head. "I'm afraid that is wrong." She pushed her black-rimmed glasses higher onto her pointy nose. "Zach, please sit down."
Zach took a seat with the other kids who were already out of the bee. I smiled at my twin sister, Ashley, who sat in the second row. She is a good speller, but she got a really tricky word wrong. "Your turn, Mary-Kate," Mrs. Shaw said. "Spell costume." "C-o-s-t-u-m-e," I spelled quickly. Ashley gave me a thumbs up.
I made it through three more rounds. The words got harder and harder. Soon my friend Samantha Samuels and I were the only ones left.