The Spelling Bee
Nadine was so anxious that her teeth were almost chattering. The lights were down in the room, so all those familiar faces that she had counted on when she felt bad were nowhere to be found. It was the school spelling bee, and at Davidson Middle School, the spelling bee was a big deal.
She heard her name called and was about to turn backstage when she looked at her hands, which had grown a little shaky and sweaty at this point. Nadine then thought about how for weeks, those hands had been carrying small index cards with words, their pronunciations, places of origin, and example sentences. Then, she remembered her mother quizzing her and her English teacher encouraging her to sign up for this competition. She didn't quite feel confident, but she did feel ready.
She walked out on the stage and received her first word. It was filled with so many syllables and seemed very unfamiliar. A few months ago, she might have completely frozen. However, she calmly asked for the place of origin and her months of practice seemed to take over from there.
2
The setting of the passage mainly affects the plot by
A.
showing that schools promote competition.
B.
describing how overconfidence affects performance.
C.
influencing the narrator to take a new course of action.
D.
creating a challenge that the narrator must overcome.