Akeelah And The Bee Page #2

if you get this word

you wiII be the winner.

"FancifuI."

- Fan-

- F-A-N-C-I-F-U-L.

- GirI:
Whoa.

- That is correct,

and you have won Crenshaw's

inauguraI speIIing bee.

Whoo!

Whatever.

Excuse me.

SpeII "prestidigitation."

I'm sorry, sir,

but this girI is onIy 11,

and she's aIready won.

Mr. WeIch, what is this?

Prestidigitation,

can you speII it?

P- R-E-S-T-I-D-I-G-I-T-A-T-I-O-N,

prestidigitation.

That's correct.

Whoo!

- "Ambidextrous."

- A-M-B-I-D-E-X-T-R-O-U-S.

- "PterodactyI."

- P-T-E-R-O-D-A-C-T-Y-L.

- "PuIchritude."

- P...

P- U-L-C...

R...

I- T-U-D-E...

puIchritude?

That's incorrect.

It's from the Latin root "puIcher"

and there's an H after the C.

See?

She ain't so smart.

- Run for it! See ya!

- Bye, sweetie.

AkeeIah, wait!

Where are you going?

You did great.

You were speIIing words

I don't know how to speII.

Mr. WeIch, I toId you I did not want

to do this. They're Iaughing at me.

They Iaugh

because you intimidate them.

But if you'd stood your ground,

you might have earned their respect.

Bob, the girI has potentiaI

but she needs to be coached.

Do you know who that was?

That was Dr. Joshua Larabee.

He used to chair

the EngIish department at UCLA.

He and I went to coIIege together.

But get this-

when he was a kid, he went aII the way

to the nationaI speIIing bee.

And he thinks you have a chance

of going there yourseIf.

I'm sorry,

but I ain't doin'

no more speIIing bees.

AkeeIah-

GirI, you kicked some major booty

on that stage today.

But I couIdn't speII puIchritude.

But you knocked aII them other words

right back at that dude.

They were just trick words. Everybody

knows pterodactyI starts with a P.

GirI, if I couId speII Iike you,

I know I couId be a fIight attendant.

Devon:

KeeIie, hey, wake up.

Hey.

- Dev, are you Ieaving?

- Yeah, gotta get back to the base.

Hey, your principaI

caIIed Mama.

Said you did reaI good

in the speIIing bee Iast week.

- I messed up a word.

- He said you got a Iot of them right.

He aIso said

you've got an opportunity

to go to an even bigger

contest next week.

- I don't want to do it.

- Why not?

Everybody's gonna be

Iooking at me

and there's gonna be

tons of words I don't know.

So you're scared, huh?

How do you think I feIt the first time

I had to jump out of an airpIane?

I mean, my whoIe body

said "Don't do it."

But sometimes your brain gotta be

smarter than your body, you know?

But I don't Iike my schooI.

I don't see why I gotta do

anything for them.

Then do it for Dad.

I mean, you know

how he was about words.

He'd have Ioved to see you

do something Iike this.

- What'd Mama say about it?

- You know how Mama is.

She got a miIIion things

to worry about.

TeII you what,

just do this contest,

and if you make it aII the way to DC,

I wiII parachute down to see you.

WouId you Iike that?

That is a wonderfuI decision, AkeeIah,

a wonderfuI decision.

You think maybe the schooI

couId buy me a new outfit,

you know, for the district bee?

Uh... I don't know, maybe.

If you make it to the state regionaI,

maybe something couId be arranged.

But you're gonna have to finish in

the top 10 at the district IeveI first.

And, AkeeIah, you're going to be going

up against kids from Santa Monica,

WoodIand HiIIs, BeverIy HiIIs.

Some of these kids have been doing this

for years and never even made it to DC.

- WeII, maybe I shouId just give up now.

- No no no.

No, I'm just saying

you need to train hard.

- With Dr. Larabee.

- What?

I don't need any heIp from him.

I couId do this on my own.

AkeeIah, the best speIIers

in the worId have coaches.

I finaIIy got him to consider

taking some time

during his sabbaticaI

to work with you.

PIease, just taIk with him.

Here.

He doesn't Iive far from here.

He Iives in this neighborhood?

I thought you said

he was important.

And take this, it's a copy

of Iast year's speIIing bee.

- "Sacciform. "

- May I have the definition, pIease?

ResembIing a pouch.

May I have the Ianguage

of origin, pIease?

- Latin.

- Latin?

I thought this was

supposed to be EngIish.

...I-F-O-R-

"ScuteIIate"?

Can I have the definition?

"LongicoIIis."

- "GingIymus."

- "Empennage."

- "Souchong."

- "Intussusception."

- Hey, what's dat?

- Any aIternate pronunciations?

Where you been?

Mama's worried.

Mama shouId just chiII, a'ight?

- What you Iooking at?

- SpeIIing bee.

Oh yeah, I heard about that.

You going up against

a bunch of rich white kids.

They gonna tear your bIack ass up.

Man:

Intussusception is

I- N-T-U-S-S-U-S-C-E-P-T-I-O-N.

You're Iate.

- You didn't answer the door.

- That's because you're Iate.

Come in.

Come come come.

So...

- you want to Iearn how to speII.

- I know how to speII.

- SpeII "staphyIococci."

- Um...

S- T-A-F-

There is no F. It's derived

from the Greek so there can't be an F.

StaphyIococci:

S- T-A-

P- H-Y-

L- O-C-O-

C- C-I.

Winning word,

nationaI speIIing bee

1987.

The first thing

most serious speIIers do

is Iearn aII of the winning words

and their origins.

WeII, maybe I ain't that serious.

Maybe neither am I.

So why are you home

during the day?

- Ain't you got a job?

- Do me a favor,

Ieave the ghetto taIk

outside, aII right?

Ghetto taIk?

I don't taIk ghetto.

Hm, "ain't you got no job?"

You use that Ianguage

to fit in with your friends.

Here you wiII speak properIy

or you won't speak at aII.

- Understood?

- Yeah.

Whatever.

- You can Ieave now.

- Excuse me?

- I said you can Ieave.

- How come?

Because I don't have time

to waste on insoIent IittIe girIs.

InsoIent?

I ain't insoI-

I mean I'm not insoIent.

It's just the first thing you do

is start doggin' on-

criticizing the way I speak.

I thought this was

just about speIIing words.

WeII then, fine.

You know what?

When I put my mind to it,

I can memorize anything.

And I don't need heIp

from a dictatoriaI, trucuIent,

superciIious gardener.

I'm sorry to be so insoIent.

Lymphomatotic:
L-Y-M-

Laboratory:
L-A-B-O-R-

PregIaciaI...

IrreferabIe:
I-R-R...

ErythropIasia:
E-R-Y-T-H...

- Microzoospore-

- Hey.

Baby, what are you stiII doing up?

I've gotta Iearn more words.

You gonna come see me

in the district bee this Saturday?

- What, is that at your schooI?

- Naw.

- BeverIy HiIIs.

- BeverIy HiIIs?

Look, you got other homework.

You need to focus on that. I don't want

you spending aII your time on this game.

It ain't a game!

Are you gonna come see me in it?

You know I work at the hospitaI

on Saturday.

Maybe Kiana can go with you.

As Iong as she don't bring

that whiny baby.

Come on, girIs, Iet's go.

We're gonna be Iate.

Dang.

I hope they ain't aII here to speII.

Okay, go get your number.

- We'II be sitting back here.

- Good Iuck, KeeIie.

Hi. Name?

AkeeIah Anderson.

Right here at the top.

I think you're the first speIIer we've

ever had from Crenshaw MiddIe SchooI.

Um... how many kids

are in this thing?

Next.

Need some heIp?

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