I hop in the black, leather passenger seat of our white Lamborghini and hug my mother. She wears a light pink top with red polka dots, which has a red belt in the middle. She has paired it with a pencil skirt of the same pattern as the top, and white Chanel heels. My mom is the epitome of class!

"Hey, honey! How was your first day of school? Did you make any friends?" Mom starts her barrage of questions.

"It was great! Yeah, I made friends. And guess what... I'm the lead singer of the senior band!" I squeal.

My mom hugs me again. "That's great!"

We set off towards home. There is silence for a few minutes, and I begin to think about when I should tell her about the Spelling Bee.

'After dinner, when she is watching her favorite soap opera,' I think to myself. Yes, definitely.

After a pause of a few minutes, mom speaks again.

"Did you see any boys you like?" she asks teasingly.

"Mo-om," I drawl, blushing.

I will tell her about Noah, but not yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour after dinner, I walk into our living room. At the front of the room, there is a large television along with built-in video game consoles. There is a large red couch in front of the television, along with two smaller couches 90 degrees to it on each side. A black recliner chair sits on the side of the room. All along the walls of the room are book shelves, filled with books of all genres and sizes.

As usual, Mom is perched on the recliner, with a green blanket covering her, watching a re-run of Desperate Housewives.

I take a deep breath and gather up my courage, then walk up to my mother.

"Mom?" I ask cautiously, trying to get her attention.

"Mmm," she mutters, waving her hand at me to be quiet.

"I have to tell you something important about school."

That seems to get her attention.

Sighing, she pauses her show, then turns toward me. "What is it?"

"Umm, see, Maple Marshrup Academy hosts a Spelling Bee every year between all the eleventh and twelfth grades in all the schools of Abu Dhabi. And it is compulsory for everyone to participate. But mom, I can't participate!"

"I see. And why is that?" my mother asks patiently, as if she's talking to a kid.

Oh no! I forgot about the why!

"Because... umm... because... because..." I stammer.

"Well, are you going to go on?" my mom asks, losing her patience.

"Because I'm going to have a lot of school work," I blurt out. Seriously?? Couldn't I come up with anything even a little better??

"Ohhhh. And does this Spelling Bee count in your marks?" Mom asks in that sickly sweet tone again.

In a small voice, I respond, "Yeah. It counts 40% of our English score."

"Well then, it's settled. No matter what excuse you come up with, you're going to participate in this Bee. I'm sorry Rhea, but you're a straight-A student. I can't let you blow 40% of your score for a mere Spelling Bee."

"But, mom..." I whine.

"Rhea, end of discussion," my mother says firmly, then turns around and goes back to her show.

Oh boy, what am I going to do now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning, I hop into the bus to get to school, and find a seat in the fourth row of the bus. I sit down and plug in my earphones, pretending to listen to music so no one will disturb me, but actually I'm thinking about the Spelling Bee.

I thought about it all night and I think I might have a solution. Nah, not a solution. More like a bunch of theories which I hope might work.

Theory #1: On the day of the Spelling Bee, I could fake a fever, headache, or stomach-ache, so that my mom will agree to not let me go.

Theory #2: I could participate in the Spelling Bee just like everyone else, and risk losing my powers.

Theory #3: I could try to reason with whoever is going to take my powers away. I mean, how bad could they be, right?

For the moment, I can't for the life of me decide which theory to go with, but all my theories have one thing in common. They all take place on the day of the Spelling Bee. So, I have decided one thing for now: I will continue the practices with Vicky as normal, and I'll think about the Spelling Bee on the day it occurs. No point worrying about it from now. As they say, cross the bridge when you get to it.

Just as I conclude my decision, the bus pulls up outside Maple Marshrup Academy. I enter the building and look around for Vicky.

He'd texted me last night, telling me he'd be waiting at the entrance of the building where we have all our classes. God knows how he got my number!

I see him leaning against the wall on the right of the entrance, and I walk over to him.

"Hey Vicky," I grin.

"Hello. So are you participating or not?" he asks in a tired tone.

"Yes I am, unfortunately."

"Told you so. You just can't quit this! Believe me, people have tried. So are we on for today's practice?"

"Yeah...no!" I can't believe I forgot! I made plans to go to Noah's party tonight, because I didn't think I would have to continue the practice with Vicky.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm busy tonight. Can we practice tomorrow instead?" I ask hopefully.

"Don't tell me, you're going to Noah Jameson's party?"

I nod.

"Fine, we'll practice tomorrow. But after this, you have to stick to my schedule of practices. After all, the Spelling Bee is in only 4 weeks, and we have to win!"

Wow! No pressure!

"Thank you so much for being so understanding!" I say, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll bring flashcards and my old Spelling Bee word-lists to help us practice. You just have a good dictionary ready. Deal?"

"Deal!" I say, and just like that, without saying bye, Vicky wanders off up the hallway.

'How rude!' I think to myself. I really hope Victor King isn't much of a pusher. Otherwise, these Spelling Bee practices are going to feel a lot like hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day ends quickly and I hop in the 4:00 bus to go home. During the ride, I call Nicole on her cell. After a few rings, she picks up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nicole. This is Rhea."

"Oh, hey Rhea! So, what's up?"

"I just wanted to ask you... Are you going to Noah's party tonight?"

"No way! That party is exclusively for the jocks and the popular kids."

"Well, would you like to go?"

"I'd love to, but how in the world would I get in?"

"Umm... you could go as my guest," I say cautiously.

"Oh really?" she says with a laugh. "And how exactly would you get in?"

"Because Noah invited me."

The line goes silent for a few seconds, and I check the screen of my phone to see if the line got cut.

"Oh. My. God!! Noah Jameson invited you to his exclusive party?!!" Nicole squeals. "This is amazing!!!"

"I know right! And he said I could bring whoever I want. Would you and Cameron like to come with me? I already asked Scott and Dahlia, but both of them said they're busy."

"Yes!! We're definitely coming! But there's one problem."

"What?" I ask, wondering what it could possibly be.

"We have nothing to wear! The party is in, like, four hours. We have to go shopping now! Seriously, why didn't you tell me before?!" Nicole shrieks, freaking out.

"Nicole, chill," I say slowly. "In half an hour, my mom and I will pick you up and then we'll go shopping. We still have a lot of time, all right? Calm. Down!"

"Okay, bye! Gotta go get ready!" she says excitedly, and then hangs up the phone.

This is going to be so much fun!!

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What do you guys think of Vicky? Can you believe Noah invited Rhea to his exclusive party?

Picture up on top is of Rhea's mother's outfit. Classy, don't you think?

VOTE! COMMENT!

~Ananya