Katie Mills didn't get to sleep in.
She didn't get any surprise school cancellations. She didn't get an intercom announcement saying buses would be leaving early due to weather. She didn't get to hear her mom come into her room and whisper, "You have a snow day. Go back to bed."
Katie didn't have any snow days this year.
Even when Storm Jonas dumped several feet of snow on the Mills' home and shut down most of the state in January, Katie and her younger sister, Kelly, still had to get up by 8 a.m. and head downstairs to their makeshift classroom.
On national holidays, Debbi, Katie's mom and home-school teacher had to stand her ground. Yes, she knew that most of Katie's friends would be enjoying the day in their pajamas. But no, they couldn't take a day off.
They had a schedule to follow. Debbi knew if they stuck to the strict academic calendar, she could have her girls finished by the beginning of May. They needed to get done early. They needed to keep the last week of May free because, hopefully, they'd have somewhere to be.
nnn
For years, Katie would sit in the crowd and watch her older sister Erin spell. Erin, six years older, had won her first spelling bee in the fourth grade. She came home and told her parents, "I won the school spelling bee. So here's the list of words I need to work on for the county bee."
That first year, as one of the youngest competitors, Erin earned third place in the Gazette-Mail's Regional Spelling Bee. The Mills of Raleigh County have been a spelling family ever since.
Erin finished second in the regional bee her seventh grade year. And by the time she was in the eighth grade, she walked away the champion of the 2010 regional bee.
Katie stayed at home and watched her sister compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on TV. Her mom and dad weren't able to send the entire family to Washington D.C. But Katie made a promise to herself then, at the age of 8, that she'd give her family a reason to return to D.C.
nnn
Katie got out on a word she knew. She only put one "z" in "quizzically" instead of two. She second-guessed herself, she said.
The error landed her in fourth place in last year's regional bee.
For this year's regional competition, Katie said, she's never been more nervous. She knew this was her last chance to get to D.C.
When she's on stage preparing to spell, Katie doesn't try to buy time by asking the judges for the word's origin or definition. If she knows the word, she'll just spell it, she said.
During this year's regional bee, held March 12 at Capital High School's auditorium in Charleston, Katie didn't ask for a single definition. In fact, she didn't ask the judges for any form of help. She knew the words, so she spelled them.
She even flew through her final word "peccadillo."
Katie didn't cry when she won. But her family did. She met them after. They still had tears in their eyes.
nnn
The Mills left for Washington, D.C. Saturday. They wanted to get there early to do some sightseeing.
They join 284 other spellers and their families from across the country who are making their way to the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center. The resort is hosting this year's bee. It's located in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of D.C.
On Monday, the spellers and their families will enjoy a day at the National Zoo. The competition will begin early Tuesday with the preliminaries test. Students will be tested on their spelling and vocabulary knowledge. Round two of the preliminaries, a traditional oral spelling test, will be held Wednesday morning. Spellers who spell correctly in round two will advance to spell in round three. Both round two and three will be televised on ESPN 3 Wednesday.
Scores from the preliminaries test and spelling rounds will be tallied to determine who advances to the semifinal round. The semifinals will be held Thursday and aired on ESPN 2 starting at 10 a.m. The final round will be held Thursday evening. ESPN will air the finals starting at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Katie is one of five spellers competing from West Virginia. She is joined by Andrew Gould of Weston, Lucas Mooney of Charles Town, Asritha Sure of Morgantown and Mariana AlKhouri of Wheeling.
nnn
On a recent Thursday, Katie is manning the stove. She's in charge of pouring the crepe batter into a pan and carefully flipping the thin, pancake-style dessert. Her older sister Erin is home from college. Her younger sister Kelly pulls a container of chocolate mousse she made from the fridge.
The girls learned how to make the French dessert this year. Kelly's really gotten into cooking. And they've both been asking their mom when they can make them again.
After finishing their semester exams the day before, Debbi finally agreed. It was May 12, and they were already done with school. The crepes were a sweet treat.
Debbi watched her daughters work in her family's large, open kitchen. She looked happy, kind of relieved. She said it was hard being in charge of the school calendar.
"I felt like the biggest bully," she said.
When Raleigh County got a ton of snow, she had to tell her girls, "I know it's the fourth snow day in a row, but we don't do snow days."
No, they do spelling bees, national spelling bees.
Katie's appearance in the national bee is sponsored by the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the West Virginia Automobile and Truck Dealers Association, Sheetz and WSAZ.
For live, up-to-date coverage of the bee and Katie's progress, follow @WVFlipSide on Twitter. To find a complete television-coverage schedule, head to spellingbee.com.
Reach Anna Patrick at anna.patrick@wvgazettemail.com or 304-348-4881.