by Lara Bergen
“That’s a record!” said Jack.
“That is gross,” said Mindy.
“No, that’s awesome!” said Dean.
Toby, of course, said nothing. He looked happy. But uncomfortable, too. He couldn’t even chew.
Awesome? Toby? Sophie didn’t think so!
She sat down and grabbed her own fries. And Kate’s. And she began to stuff them into her mouth.
“Count,” she mumbled to Kate.
“Uh, one … two … three …” Kate began.
Soon all the girls were joining in.
“… eleven … twelve … thirteen …”
Then the boys were counting, too.
“… eighteen … nineteen … twenty …”
Sophie took another fry and put it into her mouth. She really wanted to chew. But she was so close — she couldn’t stop now! If this was what it took to be awesome, then this was what she would do.
“… twenty-one … twenty-two …” The voices were getting louder.
Sophie picked up another French fry. So what if her jaw was burning? She was going to break Toby’s record.
She was going to be awesome!
She wanted to smile. But she couldn’t. So she wiggled French fry number twenty-three instead.
“Hey! That one doesn’t count!” shouted Toby. By then, he had emptied his own mouth. “It’s too small!”
“Way too small!” agreed Archie.
Sophie wanted to frown. But she couldn’t. So she glared at Toby and Archie instead.
Then she quickly picked up another fry and began to shove it into her mouth.
“… twenty-thr —”
Suddenly, the voices around her stopped. It was like someone had hit the “mute” button, or — Or!
There was something else that could make the lunchroom get quiet.
Sophie slowly turned.
Sure enough, it was Principal Tate.
Uh-oh …
“Miss Miller,” said the principal. He was looking down his long nose at Sophie. His eyes were very serious. “Do I need to remind you of the importance of table manners?”
Sophie looked up at him with a wide, stuffed mouth and even wider eyes. She had never, ever had the principal speak to her before. But she had seen him speak to other kids (like Toby and Archie) a lot. So she knew that when he asked you a question, you’d better answer.
But how was she going to answer him with twenty-three French fries in her mouth?
She figured the best thing to do was just shake her head.
“I didn’t think so,” said Principal Tate. “And I hope that I also don’t need to remind you of the consequences of poor manners.”
Consequences! That was not one of Sophie’s favorite words.
“Such as sitting out recess?” the principal went on. He raised one eyebrow, then the other.
How did he do that? And how was Sophie going to get rid of her French fries, she wondered. Chew? No. Spit? She wished.
She shook her head again and felt warm drool run down her chin.
“I know you wouldn’t like that,” said the principal. “And neither would I. That’s why I suggest you carefully remove those extra French fries from your mouth. And from now on, please eat them as they should be eaten: one at a time.”
This time Sophie nodded. And Principal Tate nodded back.
“Very good, Miss Miller,” he said. “Enjoy your lunch.”
Sophie did not enjoy her lunch, of course. She did not enjoy everyone snickering at her. And she did not enjoy staring at her pile of spit-covered fries.
She was glad when lunch was over and it was time for recess. But still, she wasn’t awesome yet. And it was hard to be very glad without that.
“Come on,” said Kate as they hurried outside. “Let’s play our game.”
For two weeks, they had been playing the same recess game every day: International Superspy and Wild-Animal Emergency Vet.
Sophie always looked forward to it. Kate was the vet, specializing in big cats and dolphins. And Sophie was the spy, on a tough, top secret case.
But not today, she decided.
“I can’t play. I need to think,” she told Kate.
“Think? About what?” asked Kate.
Sophie looked at her. “About how to be awesome!”
“Oh, right,” said Kate. She twisted her mouth to the side and looked thoughtful. “Hey! How about Sophie the Big Mouth? Get it?” She laughed. “French fries. Big mouth.”
“Very funny.” Sophie sighed. “But I could have set a new French fry record,” she added. “Besides, Sophie the Awesome is the perfect name for me. I know it! I just have to find the right thing to be awesome at. Something that won’t get me in any more trouble.”
She looked around the yard as she talked. At the basketball court. And the jump-rope corner. And the jungle gym.
“That’s it!” Sophie said. The jungle gym! There were a million ways to be awesome there! She took off, with Kate right behind her.
The school’s jungle gym was brand new that year. It had a straight slide and a twisty one. It had a rope and a rock wall and a regular ladder to climb up. It had a corkscrew thing to twirl down, and a real fire pole. Plus monkey bars to swing across. And not one, but two forts on stilts on either side.
The jungle gym was something Sophie was very good at. And it was something she could be awesome at if she tried!
She jumped up and grabbed the monkey bars. After a few tries, she swung herself up and happily looked down from the top. Awesome!
“Hey, over here!” she called to the rest of the playground. “Look how high I am! Isn’t it awesome? Check it out!”
But nobody heard her. The basketball players were too busy. And the jump-ropers were too loud.
“Check what out?”
Sophie turned to see Kate right beside her.
“How did you get up here?” Sophie asked.
“I followed you,” said Kate.
Sophie sighed. “You’re not supposed to follow me. I’m trying to be awesome,” she said.
“Oh,” said Kate. Then she looked around. “You might have to try a little harder. This is pretty easy.”
“Oh,” Sophie said. She was pretty sure that Kate was right.
She looked around the jungle gym. “What if I climb to the top of the fort?”
That was not easy. In fact, it was so hard no one had ever done it before. Sophie would be the first. And it would be awesome!
“Mmm, I don’t know,” said Kate.
Just then, a voice called up to them from below.
“Hey, Kate! Hey, Sophie!” It was Ben. “Want to play tag with us?”
Ben was Sophie’s favorite boy in their class, by far. Mostly because he was nice to girls. But also because he wore cool glasses and had a real air hockey table at his house. Plus he did not hang out that much with Toby. That was the best thing of all about Ben.
He was playing tag with Eve and Mia.
“The slide is safety,” Ben called up.
“I’m not It!” Kate hollered. She turned to Sophie. “Come on, let’s go!”
“Not now,” said Sophie.
“Why not?” asked Kate.
“Because I have a plan!” Sophie pointed to the fort roof. “I can’t waste time playing tag. No one can be awesome at that,” Sophie said matter-of-factly.
“You never know,” said Kate. She looked up at the roof, too. “Besides, don’t you think that looks kind of scary? What if you fell again?”
Sophie chewed on her fingernail. Kate could be right. But what about being awesome? And why couldn’t those jump-ropers be quiet? They really made it hard to think. And she was so tired of that song!
Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish,
How many pieces do you wish?
It rang out all the way across the yard. Mindy, Lily, Sophie A., Sydney, and Grace were jumping and chanting to the beat. Sophie liked to jump rope sometimes. But they did it every day.
Sophie glared at th
em, just out of habit. Then her glare turned into a grin.
That was it!
She gave Kate a hug and climbed down from the jungle gym. “You go play tag,” she said. “I’m going to jump rope instead!”
Sydney was jumping when Sophie walked up to the group.
“Forty-one … forty-two … forty—Aw, too bad,” said Lily, Sophie A., and Grace as Sydney tripped on the rope.
“My turn!” said Mindy.
“Hi, guys,” said Sophie. “Can I jump, too?”
“Sure,” said Sydney. She moved aside to make room for Sophie.
“Hang on!” said Mindy. “I said it’s my turn.”
“But you already went once,” said Sydney. “Sophie M. just got here. Let her go.”
Mindy’s pinchy lips got pinchier. “Oh, fine.” She turned to Sophie and shrugged. “Your turns never take long, anyway.”
Normally, this would have bothered Sophie. But this time, she smiled. She knew something that Mindy didn’t. She was about to break Mindy’s all-time jump-rope record!
“Hey, Mindy,” Sophie said as she took her position. “What’s your jump-rope record again?”
Mindy, who was now holding the rope, got a gleam in her eye.
“One hundred and thirty-four!” said Lily, who was holding the rope’s other end.
“Exactly,” Mindy said.
Of course, everybody knew that. Mindy reminded them all the time. She had set the record the year before. And no one in their class had ever beaten it. Not yet. But if Sophie could, she would officially be awesome. Even Mindy would have to admit it.
Sophie took a deep breath. She thought about the times she and Kate had jumped rope at home. There, they each used their own rope. They jumped and jumped for hours. Sophie was sure she’d jumped way more than one hundred and thirty-four times in a row before.
“Okay. Ready,” she said.
Mindy and Lily turned the rope, and Sophie began to jump.
Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish,
How many pieces do you wish?
Sophie tried to focus. Sometimes she didn’t even make it this far. But this day, her legs felt like springs. You can do this! Sophie told them.
The girls around her began to count. The numbers got bigger and bigger.
Twenty-one … twenty-two … twenty-three …
But Sophie was just getting started.
Eighty-one … eighty-two … eighty-three …
“Wow, Sophie!” said Sydney. “Look at you go. Hey, everyone! Look at Sophie! She’s almost at a hundred!”
“Yeah, Sophie A.!” cried a few girls as they ran over.
Sophie almost stopped jumping to correct them. Then they saw who she really was.
“Hey, look! It’s Sophie M.!” they called.
Sophie couldn’t help smiling as more kids began to gather. Soon everyone was cheering, “Go, Sophie M.! Go!”
And she did. Sophie jumped and jumped like she’d never jumped before.
She passed a hundred!
She was going to set the all-time record!
One hundred and thirty … one hundred and thirty-one … one hundred and —
Then the rope caught her leg.
“My turn!” Mindy sang out right away.
Sophie turned and glared at Mindy. This time, it was not out of habit.
“You tripped me!” she cried.
“I did not!” Mindy said. And then … did she smile at Lily? Sophie was sure that she did. That proved it—Mindy had tripped her on purpose!
“I want to go again!” Sophie told her.
“All right, class! Recess is over! Time to come in!” Ms. Moffly’s voice rang out across the playground.
“You heard Ms. Moffly. You don’t want to get in even more trouble,” Mindy said too sweetly.
“But …,” Sophie began.
But nothing. It was too late. Mindy and most of the other kids were already running in.
Kate put her arm around Sophie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said. “You can break the record tomorrow. Look how close you came!”
Yes, she was close. But that wasn’t enough for Sophie.
Close wasn’t the same as awesome. Not at all.
Sophie was the last one to reach room 10 after recess. Partly because her legs felt like floppy fish sticks, and partly because room 10 was the last place she wanted to be.
Sophie would much rather be outside, jumping rope and being awesome. She definitely did not want to be inside, listening to Ms. Moffly tell her how much trouble she was in.
At times like this, Sophie wished she were back in second grade. She missed her teacher, Mrs. Cruz, a lot. It wasn’t that Ms. Moffly was mean. Not exactly. But she sure had a lot of third-grade rules.
“There you are, Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly. She was waiting for Sophie just outside the classroom door. “I believe we have something to talk about, don’t we?”
Sophie sighed. “Yes, Ms. Moffly.” She looked at her teacher’s shoes. They had little heels and were blue and shiny.
“You were jumping in the stairwell?” Ms. Moffly asked.
“Yes,” Sophie said. She thought about how nice it would be to have shoes just like Ms. Moffly’s.
“And I hope you understand now why that is against the rules,” Ms. Moffly went on.
“Yes,” Sophie said. She’d also like those shoes in green, she decided. And maybe red.
“I hope that when you earn back your hallway privilege next week, this won’t happen again,” said Ms. Moffly.
“Yes,” Sophie said. “I mean, no. I mean—What was the question?”
Oops.
Ms. Moffly knelt down until they were exactly nose to nose and smiled. “I’m just glad that you’re okay. No more jumping,” she said.
Sophie nodded and smiled back. Inside, she sighed a relieved sigh.
“Now then,” Ms. Moffly went on. “It’s time to get to work.” She led Sophie into the classroom. “Okay, class. Settle down and get out your notebooks. Archie and Toby, please sit down. We’re interviewing this afternoon, remember?”
Oh, right! Sophie had forgotten. Sydney’s mom had come in the week before and talked about her job. She was a reporter for the newspaper and she interviewed people a lot. That meant that she asked lots of questions. To Sophie, that sounded like a really fun job.
The best part, Sydney’s mom said, was when a reporter got a “scoop.” That meant they got an answer that no one else had ever gotten.
Sophie had asked if it meant they got a scoop of ice cream, too.
“Unfortunately, no,” Sydney’s mom had said, laughing a little.
Still, Sophie liked the sound of a reporter’s job. And so did Ms. Moffly. So much, in fact, that she thought the class should give it a try. They had come up with questions on Friday. And now they were going to try them out on their classmates.
And what better day for Sophie to be interviewed than the one when she became Sophie the Awesome? Or almost awesome, anyway.
She grabbed her notebook, jotted down an extra question, and ran over to Kate. Of course they would interview each other. She could give Kate a really huge, really awesome scoop!
Then Ms. Moffly spoke again.
“Not so fast, everyone,” she said. “I’ve chosen interview partners for you. Grace, you’ll be with Ben. Sophie A., you’ll be with Kate. Sophie M., you’ll be with Toby …”
Sophie didn’t hear a word she said after that.
Toby? Toby! No! she screamed inside her head. She couldn’t even look at Toby. How could she interview him?
She glanced toward Toby’s desk. He was pretending to throw up in his hands.
No. This was not going to work—at all. Sophie squared her shoulders and walked up to Ms. Moffly’s desk.
“Er … Ms. Moffly,” she said. “I need another partner.”
“Excuse me?” said Ms. Moffly.
“You put me with Toby,” Sophie explained. “And I can’t interview him.”
“You ca
n’t?” asked Ms. Moffly. “Why not?”
Why not? thought Sophie. She didn’t know where to begin!
“Because we don’t talk,” Sophie said simply.
“Ah, yes, I’ve noticed,” said Ms. Moffly. “But that’s perfect, don’t you think? You’ll get to know each other better.”
Better? Sophie shook her head. “Oh, I know all about him already,” she said.
And she did. She knew that he was a big, giant pain in the neck.
“I see,” said Ms. Moffly. “But I’ll bet there are some things you still don’t know….”
“No, there aren’t,” said Sophie quickly. “I’ve known him since preschool.” She glanced at Toby again, then turned back to Ms. Moffly and said very softly, “We used to be best friends.”
Sophie didn’t say it, but something had happened the year before. Toby had stopped talking to her—and started laughing at her instead. Now he acted like he hated her. And Sophie didn’t act back. She just plain hated him.
Still, Sophie knew every single boring thing there was to know about Toby. She knew that his favorite color was red. She knew that he loved pistachio ice cream and that he hated anything chocolate. She knew that the scar on his cheek came from tripping in the sandbox. And she even knew his big family secret: His cousin, Dylan, had eleven toes!
But most of all, she knew that he was a big, giant pain in the neck.
“There is nothing,” Sophie told Ms. Moffly, “that I don’t know about Toby.”
“I see,” said Ms. Moffly. She put one finger on the side of her chin, and Sophie admired her pink nail polish. “Well, let’s see how good a reporter you can be, then, Sophie. Try to find out something you didn’t know before!”
She smiled down at Sophie. It was the same smile Sophie’s mom had whenever she gave her a new chore.
Sophie turned and sulked off slowly.
She couldn’t believe it. How could she be awesome now, when she was paired with the worst partner in the class?
Sophie slumped down in the desk next to Toby. She looked at the questions in her notebook, but she didn’t say a word.
“Go ahead already,” Toby groaned.
“Okay, okay,” said Sophie. She knew all the answers already. But since Ms. Moffly was watching, she had to play along.
