I breathe heavily as we're down to the last two teams.

    "Team 369."

    I jump out of my seat, ecstatic, while Vicky sophisticatedly stands up next to me.

    I clasp my hands in front of me, getting fidgety with all the attention, and smile at everyone around the room, beaming from ear to ear.

    Vicky casually fixes his blazer and spikes his hair, listening intently to the woman on stage.

    I look up at the stage as well, and now that the tension of moving on to the next round is gone, I take in a couple of small details.

    There is a large podium placed behind the woman speaking, on the center of the stage, double the size of a normal speaking podium, from where, I assume, the teams are supposed to spell their words.

    A long, white table is placed on the ground in front of the stage, where four black clothed adults sit — papers in front of them, pens in their hands, water bottles and cups of tea or coffee placed next to them — presumably the judges.

    I see a couple of camera flashes around the room coming from behind me, and turn around to investigate the matter.

    At the back of the auditorium, there are lots of cameras shooting the Bee, and a score of magazine and newspaper reporters covering the event.

    I tune back in to the woman's words, which request the eliminated teams to leave, and dejected faces trail out of the auditorium.

    "I shall now announce the rules for the oral rounds," she announces in her sonorous British accent. "Teams will be called up one by one and given a set of five words to spell. Each team will have sixty seconds — exactly one minute — to spell each word. Within this time, you may ask for the definition, usage in a sentence, word origin, part of speech, or for a repeated pronunciation of the word.

    For the first two rounds, you must get four out of your five words correct to continue on to the next round. From the third round onwards, it will be a knockout round — you get one word wrong, you're out.

    That is all. Are you ready for the oral rounds?"

    A cheer echoes around the room, and the oral rounds commence.

    The teams are called up one by one, and the difficulty level kicks up a notch, but now, I'm not worried.

    With Vicky in your team, there is absolutely no need to worry.

    Our team is called up towards the end, and when we are, we stride confidently onto the stage and take our place behind the podium, with Vicky in front of the microphone.

    At the judges' table, a stern-looking man speaks up. "Team Victorya, your first word is asphyxiate."

    Instantly, Vicky requests, "May we have the definition, please?"

    "To kill someone by depriving them of air," the man reads off a paper.

    Without hesitating, Vicky spells out, "A-S-P-H-Y-X-I-A-T-E, asphyxiate."

    "That is correct. Your next word is colloquialism."

    And again, without even consulting me, Vicky spells it out.

    I sort of feel like a fool standing up here, but at least Vicky is getting the words right... right?

    The next two words are gynecocracy and obstreperous, and we get through those in the same fashion, with Vicky spelling them out correctly without any consultation.

    The last word is zeitgeist.

    A look of uncertainty passes over Vicky's face, but he quickly masks it. "May I know the word origin, please?"

    "German."

    "Z-E-I-T-G-I-S-T, zeitgeist," he spells, not very certainly this time.

    'Wait a minute,' I think to myself. 'If it's German, it should be spelled with an E before the I.'

    But, of course, Vicky didn't ask for my opinion.

    "That is incorrect," the man declares, causing Vicky's confident smile to waver. "The correct spelling is Z-E-I-T-G-E-I-S-T."

    After a pause, he adds, "That is the end of your first set of words. You may take your seats."

    "Thank you," Vicky says confidently, seemingly unperturbed, then turns around to step off the stage.

    Once we get down, his confident facade drops.

    "Dammit," I hear him mutter to himself, as we walk towards our seats. "Focus, King."

    As we sit down, I place my hand on his and say softly but firmly, "Vicky, just because you have to recite the spellings, doesn't mean you have to think of them too, okay? We, right here, are a team. We work together. So consult me next time. We have sixty seconds... let us use them."

    Realization dawns on his face, and he nods at me apologetically.

    Proud of my little speech, I sit back and relax, watching the rest of the teams quietly, grateful for the rules of the competition: we did get four out of our five words correct, so we still get to move on to the next round.

    Once the round terminates, the British woman announces the eliminated teams, and they trail out of the auditorium.

    The next round commences, this time with only seventy teams left.

    I look around the room at our competitors, and gladly note that our friends, The Choueifat Rockstars, are still in the running.

    This time, when our team is called up on stage, things go way more smoothly.

    Vicky and I discuss the spellings before announcing them, and we end up getting all five of our words correct.

    After a while, the disqualified teams are announced, and the third round commences, with only forty-five teams remaining.

    The male judge announces, "Henceforth, the rounds are all knockout rounds... you get one word wrong, you're out."

    No pressure.

    The next couple of rounds go by fairly quickly, the fourth one with thirty teams left, and the fifth one with seventeen teams leftover.

    In the sixth round, with ten teams left, we get a mini heart-attack when we are given the word eudaemonic.

    "May we know the definition please?" Vicky asks over the microphone.

    "Conducive to happiness."

    "Word origin?"

    "Greek."

    In whispered tones, Vicky consults with me, "E-U-D-A-E-M-O-N-I-C?"

    Softly, I whisper back, "I think there's an A-I before the 'monic'."

    "Hmm, you may be right," Vicky whispers thoughtfully.

    "Team Victorya, ten seconds left," the male judge announces.

    "Spell it your way," I whisper to Vicky, trusting his experience in the field of orthography.

    He nods and does so, and we wait with bated breath for the judges to respond.

    "That is correct."

    I heave a sigh of relief, and the rest of the round goes by smoothly.

    By the time the seventh round rolls along, there are merely four teams still in the running.

    We go through it easily, and so do The Choueifat Rockstars, but the other two teams are knocked out.

    Finally, there are only two teams left: Team Victorya and Team Choueifat Rockstars.

    A female judge with red wavy hair and a Scottish accent takes over the microphone.

    "From here on now, we will alternate between the two teams, givin' each team only one word to spell per round. If one of the teams geit their word wrong, an' the other team spells theirs right, they win. I wish you both all the best," she declares, rolling the Rs and speaking in a strong accent.

    We go over to the other team and shake hands, with a hint of rivalry twinkling in our eyes.

    Almost inaudibly, I whisper, "Game on."

    Tension builds up in the air as both teams get word after word correct.

    On the difficulty scale, the words vary from the middle of the scale to shooting out from the top.

    After ten or so rounds of alternating between teams, the judges announce a ten-minute break.

    "I'm gonna go to the washroom, alright?" Vicky murmurs, before rushing out of the auditorium.

    The washroom is located on the other end of this vast floor of the building. I hope he makes it back on time.

    However, just a couple of minutes after Vicky leaves, the judges announce that they have changed their minds, and that we will continue the rounds immediately.

    Anxiously, I wish for Vicky to come back soon, but, of course, wishes don't always come true.

    Team Choueifat Rockstars walks up onto the stage, and is presented with the word succedaneum, meaning 'a substitute'.

    After much consultation with each other, Felicity steps up to the mic and articulates, "S-U-C-C-E-D-A-I-N-E-U-M, succedaneum."

    "That is incorrect," the red-haired lady responds, and proceeds to spell the word correctly.

    Felicity and John's faces fall as they walk off the stage, dismayed.

    "Team Victorya, please," the lady calls out.

    Hesitantly, I walk over to the judges' table and request, "My team member has gone to the washroom. Could we perhaps wait for another minute?"

    "I'm sorry dearie, but you'll have to go up on your own," she responds in her Scottish accent.

    I try again and say pleadingly, "But he's the one who recites the spellings."

    "No matter... you can recite this one instead. Get on with it," she waves me onto the stage impatiently.

    Taking a deep breath, I walk onto the stage and take my place in front of the microphone at the podium, feeling the cameras capturing my every move.

    Just imagine what would happen if I conjured up an object over here... it would go all over the news!

    Calming myself down, I tell myself there is a possibility that the word may not be an object.

    The red-haired woman announces, "Team Victorya, if you get this word correct, you win the Spelling Bee.

    Your word is gneiss."

    The way she pronounces it, it sounds like nice, but there's no way the word could possibly be that easy.

    "May I have the definition, please?"

    "A laminated or foliated metamorphic rock corresponding in composition to granite."

    "Word origin?"

    "German."

    I actually cannot believe how easy this is... the final word in the Spelling Bee!

    Just before I spell it out, I remember that we have a bunch of gneiss stones placed in a clear plate at home, as a decoration.

    If I spell this out, a gneiss is definitely going to appear in front of me.

But Vicky and I have worked so hard for this Spelling Bee... I can't let him down!

    "Fifteen seconds left."

    Thoughts whirring through my head, the seconds on the clock running out, I make a rapid decision...

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What did you guys think of the Spelling Bee? Difficult words? And what do you think Rhea is going to do? First one to guess correctly gets the next chapter dedicated to them.

So here it is... another update just barely on time. The next update will probably be published after two weeks, on Tuesday-Wednesday the 15th-16th of December.

For the early update, let's stick to 8 votes and 10 comments.

This chapter is dedicated to brookelynnevans999 for initially voting on a lot of my chapters... Thank you!!

Once again, all you need to do for a chapter dedication is follow me and vote or comment on most of my chapters.

Picture up on top is of Team Victorya... Thoughts on that?

VOTE! COMMENT! LOVE YOU GUYS!

~Ananya