A very distinct and faintly disturbing memory from the school bus ride:

A bunch of older girls are crowded in front a little girl, maybe second grade. They are fascinated with how this little girl can spell long, difficult words.

I watch this from the side. 

They give her “dictionary” and she spells it without hesitation. This scares me: how I can I be in school with a girl so much smarter than me?

Then they give her “encyclopedia” and she nails it. At this point, little Jonny is in total despair, there is no hope for me with a girl who can spell THAT.

In the long run, our school success was not that different and we were and are friends.

Of course, to avoid embarrassment I won’t reveal which girl this was, but her last name, at the time, rhymed with achiever…