Note: The challenge that this story was written for involves selecting a very unusual/esoteric word from a list and incorporating that word into your story. For mine, I incorporated multiple.

Just a heads-up that you may encounter some bizarre words that you’ve never heard of before! Enjoy!

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Okay, SERIOUSLY?! It’s not THAT hard, is it?! O-R-G-I-L-L! I can’t believe they spelled my last name wrong on my stupid nametag! That’s… irony, right? Or coincidence? I always get those two mixed up… Anyway, these knuckleheads (K-N-U-C-K-L-E… don’t forget the K!) are such a JOKE!

This is gonna be a piece of cake. You’ve got this in the bag, Tori. You’re better than all of them. And they all know it, too. And once you get the trophy, it’ll be on to regionals and then NATIONALS and then it’s nothing but fame and fortune and adoring fans for your ENTIRE LIFE. (Or at least making the front page of the newspaper. That’d be SO COOL!)

Ugh. I hate waiting. I wish they wouldn’t make me sit here for FOREVER while all those other kids stand up there and look like the biggest idiots EVER. Just get it over with already! Pull them off the stage and put them out of their misery. We all know they’re gonna end up like all the others. The ones who can’t spell their way out of a paper bag.

Everyone else always talks about the winners. But not me. I remember the LOSERS. The ones who totally blew it and missed their chance. Because it’s funny. And because I know I’m never gonna be like them.

How old was I when I first started watching? 4? I think it was 4. Maybe. Or 5? Anyway, that year was the 18th Annual Newcrest County Spelling Bee. And the big loser that year – the first one I ever saw – was Chester Fields. 10 years old. Born in Appaloosa Plains. Big buck teeth and the funniest accent you’ve ever heard in your LIFE.

His word was ‘yokel’. Y-O-K-E-L. Except he mixed up the E and the L. HAH! I wonder what ever happened to him… I bet he’s still cleaning stables or something.

Look at this next kid! How old is she anyway?! Aren’t you supposed to be at least 8 to qualify? She reminds me of Sonya Waite. She was last year’s loser. I don’t remember how old she was. But she was short and scrawny and got disqualified (D-I-S-Q-U-A-L-I-F-I-E-D) because she waited around too long to spell her word. Just stood there wasting time… On an easy word like ‘lollygag’! What a dummy!

And she wasn’t the only one who got disqualified. This other kid was the same age as me when he lost… And this time, I’ve gotta admit, his word was a LITTLE tricky (Not for ME though. E-P-I-Z-E-U-X-I-S). He didn’t even TRY to spell it though. All he did was just keep saying it, again and again until his time was up. ‘Epizeuxis. Epizeuxis. Epizeuxis.’ It was like part of his brain broke or something! And with a dumb name like Johnny Johnson, well… Maybe he really DID have something wrong with his brain.

Oh my God, is that Delilah Delano’s little brother? Now there’s another loser with one of those weird names. (It’s called alliteration, right? A-L-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-I-O-N). She’s one I almost felt BAD for. I think it was two years ago now. She was shaking the WHOLE time she was up there, and puked ALL over the stage, right after she totally blew it trying to spell ‘collywobbles’. I guess I’d get sick too, if I sucked at spelling as much as she does.

HAH! They just called her brother’s name… Declan Delano. Is that family for real?! The only name I’ve ever heard that’s worse than that is… Well… Oh come on, Tori! Can’t you remember? Guess not. He was another one of the losers, actually. And his name was SO weird. Everything about him was, really. I don’t know if dad’s TV was broken or what, but this kid almost looked… GREEN. Not like Delilah-right-before-she-puked green. GREEN green. Weird, right? And stupid too, I guess. I mean, he spelled ‘xenology’ with a Z!

Let’s see… Who am I missing? Oh! Duh! Probably my favorite loser of all, Killian Saunders. She went to the same school as me, but she was two years older. And she was almost like… an inspiration or something. Killian won our school spelling bee EVERY year. But when she finally made it here… It was awful.

She sneezed, right in the middle of spelling ‘kerfuffle’ (K-E-R-F-U-F-F-L-E). The judges SWEAR she was missing an F. Killian blamed it on the sneeze, but they wouldn’t back down. And neither would she, I guess. She started screaming and yelling, right there on the stage until they had to DRAG her away. Crazy, right? She was never allowed to compete again…

FINALLY! Only one more… Then it’s my time to shine! I hope dad remembered the camera. And I hope I look good on TV. Mom even let me wear some makeup. I wonder if Hunter’s watching… He promised he’d watch. He’d BETTER watch. Or I won’t let him hold my hand ever again!

“Victoria Orgill”

That’s me. Victoria. From the Latin word for victory. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.

This is it. Time to show all those losers how it’s done!

“Victoria, your word is… Hubris.”