The Girls Take Over by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Read Free Book Online Page B

points for not drowning? Didn't she get any credit for grabbing on to a floating tree limb and using it to hold herself up?
    “And after I told them—I don't know how many times—to stay away from the river when it's high!” Mrs. Malloy had said, over and over again. “All they were going to do, they said, was have a bottle race. Caroline, what possessed you to get so close to the water?”
    All Caroline could say under Eddie's stern gaze was that she had been trying to fish something out. She didn't say what. How could you tell your parents that you had made a deal with the Hatfords and were trying to cheat before they did?
    But all the girls, not just Caroline, were groundedfor a week. Eddie was being punished because, as the oldest, she had not stopped her youngest sister from doing something dangerous, and Beth was being punished for going along with the others.
    “School and baseball practice only,” their father said. No bookstore, no playground, no drugstore, no library, and no friends invited to the house.
    “At least they didn't say we couldn't talk to each other,” said Caroline. “Now, that would have been unbearable.”
    “Oh, I don't know, Caroline,” said Beth. “I think I could enjoy a whole week of reading uninterrupted.”
    “Yeah, I could enjoy a Caroline-free week, come to think of it,” said Eddie, grinning at Beth.
    Caroline flounced off, knowing in her heart of hearts that if she weren't around, her sisters' lives would not be half as interesting as they were.

    The Friday after her scene in the river, however, Caroline found that school had become a lot more interesting, for Miss Applebaum announced that the county spelling championship would take place at the end of the month, right there in the auditorium of Buckman Elementary.
    “This is why we have been working so hard on our vocabularies,” she said. “This is why I've asked you to look for new words in the dictionary and include at least five new ones in every book report you write. It's why I've asked you to use a new word each night at the dinner table. For the next week I would like you to usea new word each time you ask a question in class, and if you can't see that word in your head—if you aren't sure how to spell it—then look it up and make sure.”
    Caroline promptly raised her hand. “Miss Applebaum, I surmise that our esteemed parents will be in close proximity when we congregate in the auditorium for our spelling bee?”
    Wally turned and stared at Caroline with a look of disgust on his face, and some of the kids laughed, but Miss Applebaum was smiling. “Very good, Caroline! Yes, the countywide spelling bee will be held on the last Saturday of April, and of course parents are invited. For the very laws of our land are written in sentences, and sentences are composed of words, which must be spelled correctly if they are to mean anything at all.”
    “Do we have to take part in the spelling bee?” asked another girl.
    “Let's try to use a new word in that sentence, Kimberly,” Miss Applebaum said. “Can you ask that question another way?”
    “Are you going to force us to be in the spelling contest?” Kimberly wanted to know.
    “Every class in every school in the county will have its own spelling bee next Monday, and yes, I expect you to take part in that,” Miss Applebaum said. A low moan traveled around the room. “But,” the teacher continued, “only the top student in each class will be the finalist in the county wide spelling bee.”
    Caroline smiled smugly. She knew who number one would be. Her only possible rival might be Wally Hatford. He wasn't so good in math, and he was pretty horrible at music and art, but he could ace every spelling test that came along. She didn't know how he did it.
    At lunchtime, when Wally was putting his books away, Caroline leaned over his shoulder and said, “Isn't this exciting, Wally? Wouldn't it be great if one of us was the finalist for our room?”
    “No,”