Read Online The Friendship Riddle by Megan Frazer Blakemore - Free Book Online

the teachers’ room if anyone needs me.”
    â€œI’m not a shoo-in,” I said as soon as Ms. Lawson was out of the room.
    He put up his hands. “Don’t tell me that Lucas is going to win. Step one is to banish that attitude.”
    â€œIf he’s seen a word, he knows it. And we have the list, so he will have seen all the words.”
    â€œEveryone makes mistakes.” He held up the printout of the study words. “These words are just the start. The final list may contain words that aren’t here.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œThis is probably a better place to meet, anyway. You want to be able to practice projecting. Let’s get started.”
    â€œAre you really sure about this? I don’t want you to lose your friend.”
    Coco smiled. “Dev wouldn’t ditch me over this.”
    â€œAnd you really think Adam will help him? I mean, the other day at lunch, about the time stop thing—”
    Coco shook his head. “Dev’s still upset about Brain Camp. He really wanted to go, but his parents wouldn’t let him. That’s where I first met Adam, in that science-fiction class. I actually signed up for one on anatomy, but that one was filled up. Anyway, my mom says that Dev is confusing the two—he’s mad at Adam because he’s mad about Brain Camp.”
    â€œWhat do you think?” I asked. I wondered if Alan and Eliot were giving Charlotte some silly story like that about me.
    He shrugged. “Dev and I go way back. Adam, my helping you with spelling, none of that’s going to change our friendship. I mean, we were friends in preschool.”
    â€œSo were Charlotte and I,” I said.
    â€œCharlotte Diamond? Really?”
    â€œWhat’s the first word?”
    â€œUm, how about ‘aviary’?”
    â€œOkay. A-V—”
    â€œNo!” Coco shook his head, the flop of hair swinging from side to side. “You have to say the word first.”
    â€œYou don’t actually,” I told him. “Not at the local level, anyway.”
    â€œBut you will when you make it to the Scripps Spelling Bee. And, anyway, if you’ve heard the word wrong, the judges can correct you before you start to spell.”
    I liked how sure he was that I would not only win our school bee but also make it all the way to Scripps. “Okay, I guess. Aviary. A-V-I-A-R-Y. Aviary.”
    â€œYou need to ask for the definition or country of origin, too.”
    â€œDid I get it right?”
    â€œSure, but you should still ask.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause you might think you know, but not really know.”
    â€œThat’s just stalling.”
    He shook his head. “Country of origin is really useful. It helps you know the root words.”
    I frowned.
    â€œIf this were a sports movie, I’d say, ‘It’s my way or the highway!’ you know. I’d be the crusty old coach pulled out of retirement, and you’d be the young whippersnapper with an attitude, and I’d train you into shape, and you’d make me realize that my heart wasn’t so hard, after all.”
    â€œWow. That was detailed.”
    â€œMy dad likes sports movies. A lot.”
    â€œDoes he know you’re coaching me and not your sister?” I had seen the final list, and Emma was one of the eighth graders to qualify.
    He checked the list. “Your next word is ‘alabaster.’   ”
    â€œAlabaster,” I began. Then I stopped myself from spelling it. “Country of origin?” I asked.
    He told me Middle English.
    â€œAlabaster.
A-L-A-B-A-S-T-E-R
. Alabaster.”
    â€œGreat!”
    We went through a dozen more words. I didn’t get any wrong. “You’re really good at this.”
    â€œThe practice still helps.”
    He glanced down at my book. “Harriet Wexler. She writes all those fantasy books, right?”
    â€œIt’s more than just fantasy,” I told