There are all kinds of news. Good news, bad news, breaking news, news on television, news from papers... you get the point. Sometimes news is exciting to reveal, and sometimes your sister ruins said news. Well, either way, news is worth sharing.
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I plop down into our normal seat, and wait for my sister. Cynthia and JoAnna both get on, still no Allie.

"Hey, have you guys seen Allie?" I ask.

"Um, no. Actually, I haven't seen her since lunch." Hailey shrugs. "She's usually one of the first kids on the bus, though."

The bus lurches forward, and the school becomes smaller and smaller as we drive down Main Street.

•••

I let myself into my house and hear my mom's voice. "Is that you, Laura?"

"Yeah," I call back to her. She comes into the living room. "Great. Your sister left school early today. She was sick."

That explains it. "Oh..." I'm ready to tell my mom the big news of my spelling bee win, but then Allie's voice erupts from the kitchen.

"Mom, my stomach's starting to hurt again."

My mom is at her side in a second. "Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie." I make my way to the kitchen.

My mom sits beside her at the table and begins to braid her long locks. "Well, tell me about your day before I picked you up."

Allie starts talking, but all I can notice is how my mom listens. Her eyes are filled with a genuine, real look of love. Her blonde curls shake with her nodding head as she takes care of our sick Allie. As she sweeps back her hair, her hands do it with care. She used to be a nurse, but now she just stays at home with us. She must have been the perfect caregiver, though.

"Oh yeah," Allie's voice brings me back, "I won my class spelling bee, and I get to represent 5th period English in the school bee."

I feel the smile fall off my face. I'm competing against Allie? She won too?

I probably should have been happy. Said something like: "we can do it together". But I just kept thinking how this was supposed to be my thing. Laura the speller. Not Allie. Most certainly not Allie.

My mom springs to her feet. "We better get you some medicine so you can be at the bee tomorrow!" She opens the medicine cabinet. "Let's see what we've got."

"Mom." My voice is barely more than a murmur. She turns towards me. "What is it, dear?" I look at my sneakers. "Um, I'm actually in the bee, too. For 3rd period."

She smiles broadly. "Oh my goodness. This is great news! My spelling twins." She comes over with a medicine bottle.

"You girls are both going to be the greatest spellers your school has ever seen. You can be... the Spelling Sisters!"

Allie sips her medicine. "I love it. Let's do this, Laura."

"Yay." I try my best to sound enthusiastic. "We are both spellers."

I turn on my heel and I'm about to open the door to our room. But instead I find myself crossing the threshold of our guest bedroom.

Why do we share a room?