Free Akeelah and the Bee by James W. Ellison Page A

water with ‘acorn.’ And the wily Dylan answers with a body blow—‘beacon’ for twenty! And now…a first-time player in our group—Akeelah Anderson.” Everyone’s eyes moved to Akeelah’s board and watched as she quickly assembled “placebo,” using all her letters. They all seemed stunned.
    “Holy cannoli!” Javier yelled out. “A bingo right off the bat! Akeelah uses all her letters, getting fifty extra points, for a whopping… eighty-two big ones.”
    The partygoers murmured their approval. Dylan was not well liked and he had lorded it over the others for too long. They were eager to see someone bring him down to earth.
    Dylan shook off his surprise at Akeelah’s fast start and concentrated on his letters.
    “What will Dylan do?” Javier said. “He’s fighting the clock. You can cut the tension with a butter knife, folks.”
    Dylan looked up, his eyes bright with fury. “Shut up,
Mendez. How can anybody think with you babbling away?”
    Javier made a face when Dylan turned back to the board. There was a tense moment as the clock ran down to the last seconds, and then Dylan smiled as he slowly spelled out the word “sharpens.”
    “Shazam!” Javier shouted. “Dylan gets his own bingo for seventy-six points. The old master coming up with new surprises.”
    Dylan stared at Akeelah with a smirk and she let out a long breath as she squinted at the board with fierce concentration. She couldn’t believe he had countered her brilliant opening move so effectively, wiping out most of her advantage. She wasn’t aware that Kiana and Georgia had come around the corner of the house and joined the other kids clustered around the picnic tables watching the games.
    Dylan moved from board to board, making his moves quickly, almost disdainfully. One by one he eliminated the other players, building lopsided scores at each table. Polly, who was way behind, made a sudden comeback, enough to draw a frown from Dylan. But she, too, fell short.
    Dylan now sat across from Akeelah (no longer standing, as he had at the other boards—a symbol of disdain for their abilities) at the only remaining Scrabble game. Twenty minutes of hard concentration had brought a sheen of sweat to his face.
    “It’s come down to this, folks,” said Javier. “Having crushed all five other opponents, Dylan has only Akeelah
to beat. But she’s ahead by seventeen points with only a few letters left. Is this an upset in the making? Stay tuned. Don’t you dare turn your dial….”
    Georgia whispered to Kiana, “What kinda birthday party is this?”
    “You got me,” Kiana whispered back. “Why am I not surprised my sister’s playin’ Scrabble? That’s all she ever does.”
    Dylan, fighting against time, spelled the word “lucid.”
    “Yowza!” Javier shouted. “Using the triple-word score, Dylan charges ahead by thirteen. This is a horse race, folks.”
    Akeelah chewed the inside of her cheek and tapped her foot on the ground. Her eyes were inches from the board as she analyzed the various possibilities. Dylan nervously glanced behind him to see his father standing with his arms crossed, looking none too pleased. Dylan smiled but there was no return smile from Mr. Watanabe.
    Akeelah shuffled the letters on her rack as she continued to think.
    “Just go,” Dylan hissed.
    She looked up to see him staring dead in her eyes, and she saw something in his expression that was unfamiliar. Not the old arrogance, the feeling that he was invincible. Was it fear? Was it possibly even respect?
    She looked back at the board and spelled out the word “funnel.”
    “Hoo- ya ,” Javier exclaimed, bouncing on his feet with excitement. “Akeelah’s back in the lead by seven and has
two tiles left. But this could be Dylan’s final play. What’s he gonna do?”
    Kiana, who understood the game but seldom played, smiled broadly at her sister’s move. Mr. Watanabe continued to glower as his eyes roved over the board. Dylan, beads of sweat on his