"How did women back then fit through doorways?" Ashley wondered. "Didn't the hoopskirt get in the way?" "Maybe doorways were wider in those days," Phoebe guessed. Ashley sighed. There had to be something exciting about Phineas T. Harrington III! She thought. She opened another book and stared at a portrait on the first page. It was a picture of a dark-haired woman with big, sad eyes. "Who's that?" Phoebe peered over Ashley's shoulder.
"Her name was Lucretia Arsdale," Ashley read. "She used to live on the White Oak Academy grounds before the school was built."
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.
