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

no.”
    â€œ
D-I-D-G-E-E-R-I-D-O-O
.”
    â€œHa! Stumped you!”
    â€œIs that the old, crusty coach coming through?”
    â€œNah.” He smiled. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t totally perfect.”
    He smiled at me again and so I smiled back.
    And then the bell rang.

    The next afternoon, when I returned to Ms. Lawson’s room for the spelling bee participants’ meeting, the four eighth graders had already claimed the couch. Coco’s sister, Emma, sat to the far left, twirling her blond hair in her fingers and occasionally sucking on the ends. I didn’t have any friends there, of course, so I took a seat next to Dev. He had a notebook in front of him with the words “spelling bee” written in straight, square letters. He bounced his pen on the paper,making the button on the end click, click, click like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle wheel. I imagined the letters were little soldiers marching to this furious beat.
    â€œSo,” Dev said, but then his voice trailed off. It was like he knew he should say something to me, but didn’t know what. Was he angry, I wondered, that Coco was working with me?
    â€œSo,” I said back. “Do you watch the bee?”
    He hesitated. “Well, yes, I went with—I mean, wait, do you mean the county bee? Or the one on television?”
    â€œThe one on television. The Scripps National Spelling Bee.”
    He shook his head. “I never expected to be here,” he told me. “I don’t actually know what I’m doing here at all.”
    â€œSecret speller,” I murmured.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNothing. Just something Ms. Broadcheck said. About secret spellers. It doesn’t matter.”
    Dev nodded, though, as if he understood. “When Ms. Lawson said we had to take this test, I figured Coco would be here.”
    â€œBecause of his sister?” I prompted.
    â€œSure, I guess. And his brother, Clint. But more just him. You know, Coco.”
    I didn’t really know Coco, but I supposed it didn’t surprise me that he’d be expected to do well on the test. He was probably the smartest boy in our grade. Smartest after Lucas, anyway, who at that moment was crouched on thechair of one of Ms. Lawson’s chair-desks reading a graphic novel about Zeus and biting his fingernails.
    As if he could sense me looking at him, he raised his eyes to look at me. “I’m going to write my own graphic novel of Greek mythology. I’m just checking out the competition.” Then he ducked his head again. I heard a snicker from a seventh-grade boy who was so big, his legs stretched way out into the aisle in front of him.
    Dev placed his pen down in the center of his notebook. “Last year I went with him to watch Emma, and he was right next to me writing the words down in a book for her. Only he wrote them before the spellers said them. And he got them all right. Every single one. So how come he isn’t here?”
    I didn’t have a chance to ponder the question. Dr. Dawes, our principal, and Ms. Lawson came into the room together. Ms. Lawson carried a stack of papers. As she began passing them around, I realized Charlotte wasn’t there. So maybe she had dropped out, after all. Good.
    â€œWelcome, spellers!” Dr. Dawes exclaimed. “This is going to be an exciting few weeks for you!”
    I don’t know if she expected us to break into applause or war whoops of excitement, but we remained silent. The big seventh grader—Max, I think that was his name—scuffed his work boot against the floor. That was about it.
    The door opened, and there was Charlotte, small and tentative. She surveyed the room. There were two open seats in the circle that Ms. Lawson had created. One next to me.One next to Lucas. I saw her weighing her options. Her gaze drifted over to the couch. She was small. She might be able to fit there. If they let her in. She took