The Spelling Bee Competition

“The Spelling Bee Competition” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Arisha Asif, Arab Unity School, Dubai, UAE.

The Spelling Bee Competition

* A normal day at school. Everyone was gossiping unnecessarily, moved here and there in class. All in silence when Mrs. Maryam entered.*

“All right girls, I have a few announcements to make, so listen carefully. There are a few exciting competitions coming up, so if anyone wants to take part, they can. First of all, there is this emirates literature festival coming up which gives people a chance to write a short story on memories and as you are 12-14 years of age, your word limit has to be a maximum of a 1000 words. Anyone interested?” she said.

*Nobody raised their hand. The pupils were least bothered of what the teacher was talking about.*

“WOW!” she exclaimed. “I’ve got some lazy students in my class. Anyways I will move on, so there is this spelling bee coming up and if someone wants to take part, they will certainly need to ask the details to the supervisor. Anyone?” she uttered.

*A girl named Zara Khalil raised her hand.*

“Miss, I would like to.” said Zara.

“Alright, take the form from the deputy head and make it sign from your parent, the deadline is 16 November after that, no student will be allowed to register. So make sure you give it before that date.” said Mrs. Maryam.

“Okay miss. Thank you!” said Zara.

“No problem! Alright so now your subject teacher will be arriving at your class soon and I will be coming in the……. 4thperiod. Is that right?” she asked.

“Yes miss!” the class said.

*As soon as the teacher left, Zara rushed to the deputy head and she had to wait in line as there were other people in queue to get the spelling bee form*

“Oops! It’s time for my period to start. I’ve got to hurry!”

“People please move, I’m late today. Miss May I have the form?”

*Zara took the form and ran to her class (9-F). The teacher stared at her (and my! was she ticked at her! )*

“Students, what time is it? I think Zara came a little late today don’t you think?” said the teacher.

“Miss I had to—”said Zara.

“SIT DOWN AND STOP BACK ANSWERING ME!” said the teacher. Zara felt humiliated and sat down silently.

*Subjects went on and on and teachers came and went. When it was home-time, Zara told her bus-friends that she was participating in the spelling bee.*

One of her bus friends said, “Finally! I have someone who is participating like I am, I thought I was the only one!”

“Oh that’s tremendous!” said Zara.

*Then came Zara’s stop. And she was too thrilled to show her parents. As soon as she reached home….*

“Mom! I want to participate in the spelling beecompetition. ” Said Zara.

“Are you sure you can do this? If you can, I will sign it.” Her mom explained.

“Yes! I can do it!” exclaimed Zara.

*The next day Zara happily went to the deputy head and returned the form filled. After some while, she received the book in the class which included the 500 words she had to revise.*

“I can still keep hopes high to win, as 500 words are not that difficult” Said Zara.

*Zara kept studying and studying and tried really hard to master all her words. Jumbled words would be easy if she learnt all the words. She knew that she had the potential and strength in her and her self-esteem would never drop.*

30 November,

The day of the spelling bee!

*Zara was all prepared, from top to bottom. She was really looking forward to it. But on the other hand, Zara was nervous and tensed that if she would lose, all her hard work would be wasted.*

In the morning, in class, all students had a field trip to Sega republic, but Zara didn’t go. She really wanted to, but her spelling bee was much more important.*

“Zara! Let’s go! We will have tons and tons of rides, oh yes! The cyclone! Both of us only alright?” said her friend Aisha.

“Oh! Yeah about that! I’m not coming, I’m here in class because as you know that spelling bee is today, enjoy anyways!” said Zara.

“WHAT! NO! THAT ISN'T THE LEAST BIT FAIR! I’M ALL ALONE, I FEEL SO BAD!” wailed Aisha.

“Don’t worry! You won’t be alone, Fatima is there and so many others, you won’t feel isolated.”

“Alright, but I still feel horrible, Anyways good luck Zara!” said Aisha.

*The whole grade 9 left for the trip. So luckily Zara brought a book to keep herself busy as the event started at 11:30 am. But then after a while, Zara got bored of the book so she went to the supervisor’s office and so the supervisor recommended her to go to the library and so she went.*

*After the break was the event. And so all the girls like her, were there. But she was the only one from the secondary section, rest all the girls were from grade 6.*

*Zara was done with all her writing and spellings.*

“I shouldn’t be keeping high expectations, this will make me more over-confident. Well, what’s done is done. Now I can’t change it… if I win, that would be amazing! But if I lose, I shouldn’t be creating a whole fuss about it.”

*a few days later, in the assembly. Zara was standing silently with no expectations when all of a sudden….*

“A proud moment for us all, as we are here to announce that Zara Khalil has won the first place, can I have her on stage please?” said Mrs Roberts [the supervisor].

*she was given a medal and a certificate. Hats off to Zara Khalil!*

“It doesn't matter if you win or lose; what matters is if you learn from it or not.” Zara always Thought that was significant and she learnt a lot from her experience. Her challenges, her struggles to achieve. It surely had paid off!