by Lara Bergen
“So?” Sophie’s mom said.
Sophie had to change the subject. She pointed at her brother. “Look out,” she said. “Max is going for the cat food.”
Sophie’s mother chased after Max, while Hayley grabbed the last two apples out of the fruit bowl. She took a bite of one and handed the other to Kim.
Sophie sighed. The apples were the green kind, her favorite. She would have liked one just then.
“Hey, guess what, Mom,” Hayley said. She took another juicy bite and chewed it. “Mr. Bloom brought in a pet for our classroom. Guess what it is!”
“A hamster?” asked Kate. Sophie knew she loved those. She had five … no, six … no, eight?
“No.” Hayley shook her head. “A snake. A corn snake, actually. And guess what we named him?” She shared a smile with Kim. “You never will.”
“Rumplesnakeskin,” Sophie said.
Hayley stared at her. “How did you know?”
Sophie shared her own smile with Kate. “Just smart, I guess.”
(That and she had heard Hayley talking about it on the bus home.)
Their mom came back with Max. “How wonderful!” she said. She got a big smile on her face. “You know, I used to love catching snakes when I was your age.”
Kate’s eyes got big. But Sophie was not surprised at all. Her dad hated creepy-crawly things, but Sophie’s mom did not mind them. Spiders. Crickets. Bats. If any critter ever snuck into the house, she was always the one who caught it.
Sophie thought that must be why she was so good at catching Max.
“I hope you got to hold the snake. Did you?” Sophie’s mom asked Hayley.
Hayley and Kim nodded.
“Was it gross?” Kate asked.
“No,” said Hayley. “It was great. Rumplesnakeskin’s not gross at all, or slimy. He’s soft and smooth. But snakes can still have germs. So you have to wash your hands after you touch one.”
Washing hands. Humph. That did not sound great to Sophie.
“And I bet you guys didn’t know this!” Hayley went on. She looked down at Kate and Sophie. “Snakes smell with their tongues, not their noses. And they sleep with their eyes open.”
“Why?” Kate asked. “Are they afraid your mom is going to catch them?”
Sophie’s mom laughed, but Hayley shook her head.
“Because they don’t have eyelids, of course,” she told Kate matter-of-factly.
“Really? No eyelids? That’s weird!” Kate said. Sophie had had enough of Hayley’s snake lesson. Plus she knew that any second now, Max would get down and start banging things again.
She grabbed two bananas from the fruit bowl. They were too green for Hayley, but that was just how Sophie liked them.
“Come on, Kate. Let me change my shirt. Then we can go out to the playhouse,” she said.
“Hang on!” Sophie’s mom said. “Don’t you want to take a shower?” She lunged for Max as he pulled open the fridge. “Not so fast, young man!”
Sophie felt her pigtails. They were stiff and crunchy, and she knew they were bright blue. But now that the paint was dry, it didn’t feel that bad.
“Nah. I’ll take one later,” she said.
Sophie had wasted too much time already. She still had to make a heroic plan!
She pulled Kate toward the stairs. “Yell if you need a hero!” she called back over her shoulder.
As soon as she had changed, Sophie led Kate outside to her playhouse. She had the bananas in her pocket and Tiptoe in her hands.
Sophie’s playhouse had been Hayley’s, until she got too big for it. Now Sophie was getting too big, too. She had to duck when she went in. But there was still just enough room for two third graders inside. And it was still Sophie’s favorite place to have long, important talks with her best friend.
It used to be Sophie’s favorite place to play Hansel and Gretel with Toby. But that was back when they had been little. Back when they had been best friends.
Sophie sat down on a small wooden chair and let Tiptoe tiptoe around her feet. Then she reached for the pencil and notepad on the counter.
“Okay,” she said, trying to be businesslike. “What are some other things I can do to be a hero?”
“Hmm …” Kate thought for a second. Then she leaned out the little playhouse window. “Ooh, check out that giant spiderweb!”
Sophie watched her friend. “Hey! That’s it!” she said.
“What?” Kate said.
“You pretend to fall out the classroom window tomorrow, and I’ll catch you!” Sophie said.
Kate looked at her funny. “I don’t think so,” she said.
“Why not?” Sophie asked. “I promise I’ll catch you. And even if I don’t … we’re on the first floor.”
Kate crossed her arms and looked at Sophie the way her mom sometimes did.
“Okay. Fine,” Sophie said. She knew it wasn’t the best idea. But it was something.
“Besides, I’m your sidekick,” Kate said. “I need to be beside you, not hanging out the window.”
“You’re right,” Sophie said, scratching her crunchy, paint-covered head. She drew a big curly question mark on her paper. “But my next heroic deed has to be something good, like the firefighters talked about this morning.”
Kate nodded. “Right,” she said. “Like the school catching fire so you can save everyone or something.”
Sophie’s felt her eyebrows jump up. “Exactly!” she said.
“But we don’t want the school to catch fire,” Kate said quickly.
“No. Of course not.” Sophie shook her head. “But what if I pull the fire alarm anyway? What if I tell everyone I thought there was a fire? And that I was trying to save them?”
She could almost hear the cheers. She could imagine Principal Tate giving her a great big medal!
Then she saw Kate shake her head.
“If you pull the alarm, ink will spray out. And you’ll get kicked out of school,” Kate said.
“Oh … too bad,” Sophie said. She sighed.
She put down her notepad and picked up Tiptoe.
Would she ever think of some way to be a hero again?
What were other hero things firefighters did? If only she had some Jaws of Life! Or was it Jaws of Death? (And what were they, exactly?)
“Ouch!” Sophie cried all of a sudden. Tiptoe had grabbed her hair.
She reached up and gently pried the kitten’s claws loose. The dried paint made it harder. Then a thought hit Sophie smack in the middle of her blue head.
“Come on, Kate! It’s time to rescue a kitten from a tree!” she said.
They ran outside, and Sophie tried her best to get Tiptoe to climb the pine tree.
Then the maple tree.
Then the elm tree.
But Tiptoe did not want to climb any tree at all.
In fact, the more Sophie tried to help her, the more tightly Tiptoe clung to Sophie. Sophie was glad the kitten’s claws were so tiny. Or they might have hurt. A lot.
Oh, well. Sophie sighed. She set Tiptoe down on the grass beside her. Then she pulled the bananas out of her pocket and handed one to Kate.
Sophie peeled hers with a frown and gloomily took a bite. Then she chewed it, thinking hard. And slowly, she began to smile.
Sophie pulled the peel all the way off her banana. Then she held it up in front of Kate’s face.
“I’ve got it!” Sophie declared. “This is just what I need to be a hero!”
The next day, in the lunch line, Sophie took a banana. It had some brown spots. But for once, that was okay.
Sophie and Kate sat down, but not at their usual table. They sat at the one by the trash can, near the tray rack.
Sophie quickly ate her banana. It tasted better than it looked. At the same time, Kate dug into her food. It was her favorite: breakfast for lunch.
“Are you really going to do it?” Kate asked. She slurped some syrup off her spoon.
Sophie nodded. When the coast was clear, she tossed her banan
a peel onto the floor.
Then Sophie stuck a finger into her syrup and licked it. But she was too excited to eat more. Besides, she liked pancakes with chocolate chips. But plain? Not so much.
Sophie sat back and waited. She had everything planned out. All the students had to walk by her to put away their trays. She just needed someone to slip on the banana peel. Then Sophie would jump up and save the person. She would be a hero again! (And she’d drawn an H on another shirt to be ready.)
It was hard for Sophie to wait for everyone to finish eating. But at last, some kids got up to clear their trays.
Sophie moved to the edge of her seat. “This is it!” she whispered to Kate.
Except it was not. Because nobody slipped.
Sophie stared hard at the floor, and even harder at the banana peel. At least a hundred feet stepped over it—but not one touched it.
“I can’t believe it!” Sophie told Kate.
“I know,” Kate said. “Hey, are you going to eat that?” She pointed to Sophie’s pancakes.
Sophie slid them over. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks! We sidekicks have to keep up our strength,” Kate said, digging in.
Of course, Sophie was glad that some people did not slip. Like Dean, since he was the biggest kid in her class. Could Sophie really catch him if he fell?
She wasn’t sure about that.
And then there was Mindy, who walked by with Lily. They were pointing and giggling and Mindy’s foot almost touched the peel.
Phew! Sophie was glad it missed! She knew she could save Mindy, but she did not really want to. That would be as bad as saving Archie or Toby, who walked by next.
Sophie held her breath and kept her eyes down. She watched their sneakers step up to the peel … and stop.
“Check it out,” said Archie. “There’s a banana peel on the floor!”
Sophie felt Kate kick her under the table. Her throat got very tight, and her heart beat a little faster. Was Archie going to pick it up and ruin her plan?
But Archie had something different in mind. “Geronimooo!” he yelled as he jumped and landed—SPLAT! — right on the banana peel.
To Sophie’s surprise, he did not slip. He just jumped off.
“Sweet!” Toby yelled.
The boys high-fived and walked away.
“Aw. Too bad,” said Kate.
The peel looked darker and flatter. But more slippery, too, Sophie thought.
“No, it’s okay,” Sophie told Kate. “The next person that steps on it will slip for sure!”
The only thing was almost every kid in third grade — except Sophie and Kate—had already put his or her tray away.
Ms. Moffly was walking around the cafeteria. “Time to go, class,” she called.
Kate licked the last drop of syrup off her plate and stood up. “Come on, Sophie,” she said. “Recess time. We’ve got to go.”
“I know,” Sophie said slowly. And she sighed — half because she had eaten a brown banana for nothing, and half because she had not gotten a chance to be a hero.
Then, suddenly, Sophie saw something that made her grab Kate’s shoulder. Ms. Moffly was headed straight for the banana peel!
“Uh-oh,” said Kate under her breath.
But Sophie shook her head quickly. Kate did not understand. There was a very clear picture in Sophie’s mind — a picture of her saving Ms. Moffly. If she did that, she would be the biggest hero in the world!
Sophie stood up and pushed in her chair. She was ready to spring into action!
But Ms. Moffly did not slip. Instead, she stopped, bent down, and picked up the peel. The teacher shook her head and tossed the banana peel into the trash can. Then she turned and smiled at Kate and Sophie.
“That was close. I might have slipped!” she said. “Now hurry and clean up, girls. It’s time for recess.”
“That was close!” Kate said as they watched Ms. Moffly walk off.
“I know,” Sophie groaned. “If only she had slipped. That would have been awesome!”
Kate looked at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I could have saved Ms. Moffly!” Sophie said. “Then I would have been her hero!”
Sophie sighed as she picked up her tray and walked over to the trash can. “Oh, if only she had sli — AGH!”
And that was when Sophie stepped right on the slippery spot where the banana peel had been. Her feet flew up. Her tray flew back. And she landed—OUCH! — smack on her bottom.
Kate ran to her side. “Are you okay, Sophie?” she asked.
Sophie looked down at the syrupy plate stuck to the front of her shirt. The big H was completely covered.
“I guess. But I might need to use your set of Emergency Clothes today,” Sophie told Kate glumly.
Then Sophie looked up to see the fifth graders coming in. It was time for their lunch. Sophie’s sister, Hayley, was walking next to Kim.
“Hey, Hayley,” said another girl. “Isn’t that your sister?”
Sophie quickly closed her eyes. She did not want to see Hayley laugh. Or roll her eyes. Or shake her head.
But then she felt a hand on her arm. “What happened?” Hayley asked.
Sophie shrugged. “Just trying to be a hero. That, and the floor’s a little slippery, I guess.”
Hayley almost rolled her eyes then. But instead, she helped Sophie up. “Try to be more careful,” she said.
“I will,” said Sophie.
Kate patted Sophie’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure she does,” Kate said. Then she added, “Hey, how’s Rumplesnakeskin?”
Hayley smiled. “Oh, he’s good. But he sure freaked out our student teacher today,” she said with a laugh. Then Hayley gave a little wave, flipped her hair, and went back to her friends.
That was when Sophie smiled the biggest smile she’d smiled all day. Not just because she really loved Hayley. But also because her sister had given her a super-amazing, totally heroic idea!
Sophie and Kate headed outside for recess, but Sophie did not plan to stay for long. She had a different plan: to sneak inside her sister’s classroom while the fifth grade was at lunch. She’d find their snake and borrow it to take back to her own classroom.
Then the fun part would start!
Sophie would hide the snake somewhere Ms. Moffly would surely find it. And when Ms. Moffly did find it—and freaked out! — Sophie would run up, grab Rumplesnakeskin, and save the day. Then she would be Ms. Moffly’s hero!
It was simple!
All Sophie had to do was tell the yard monitor that she had to go inside to use the bathroom. And she would go to the bathroom eventually (to wash her hands when she was done moving Rumplesnakeskin).
“Okay, I’m ready! Let’s go,” said Kate.
But Sophie shook her head.
“You know only one girl can go to the bathroom at a time,” she told Kate. “If we both go, then people will know that something is up.”
Kate nodded.“But what if I really have to go to the bathroom?” she asked. “Then what?”
Sophie bit her lip. That was a good question. “I guess you’ll have to hold it,” she said.
“I’ll try,” Kate groaned, trying not to smile.
“Thanks.” Sophie knew she was very lucky to have such a good sidekick. “Okay, wish me luck,” she went on. “I’m going in.”
Sophie got the bathroom pass from the yard monitor. Then she went back into school and hurried toward the bathroom … but she did not go in.
Instead, she turned right and went up the stairs to Hayley’s classroom.
Sophie slipped inside the room and sighed two big sighs. One sigh was because she had just run up three flights of stairs. The other was because no one had stopped her. Yay!
Then Sophie looked around. Wow. Poor Hayley, she thought. Hayley always made fifth grade sound so cool. But it did not look half as much fun as third. For one thing, there were no games. Not anywhere. Not one. And no reading corner with a cozy rug. There were no self-portraits o
f each student. And no chart to tell you what special job you got to do that week.
All Sophie saw were desks and chairs and maps and charts and boring posters with tons of words. And lots and lots of cursive writing all over the board. Plus thick books that looked like they had four pictures inside — at the most.
Still, Sophie had an urge to sit at Hayley’s desk, just to see what it felt like to be her. But there were no name tags on the chairs to tell Sophie which one was her sister’s.
Oh, well. That was okay. Sophie did not have time to sit. She had to find Rumplesnakeskin.
It was not hard to find his tank at the back of the room. It was big and had a sign on the bottom with his name. But it was hard to find Rumplesnakeskin!
All Sophie could see inside the tank were shredded newspapers, a shoe box, and a bowl of water. She could not believe it! Had someone stolen the fifth graders’ snake before she could?
But then she saw something orange poking out from the shoe box.
“Aha!” she said out loud. “There you are!”
She lifted the top of the tank and carefully picked up the shoe box. Underneath was the snake!
Wow! He’s so pretty! Sophie thought. Rumplesnakeskin was bright orange and white and yellow. And he was all twisted up. He looked like a candy-corn rope. Almost.
The snake’s eyes were open … but he was not moving.
Maybe he was napping. Hooray! That was fine with Sophie. If the snake was sleeping, this would be even easier than she’d hoped!
Sophie had never touched a snake before. She was a little nervous. But if her mom and Hayley could do it, so could she. It was in her blood!
Sophie reached in and picked up Rumplesnakeskin. Hayley was right — snakes were not slimy. They were dry and smooth and scaly.
Sophie held him up to get a closer look. Suddenly, his tongue flicked out.
“Ah!” Sophie yelped. She couldn’t help it. His body began to move and twist and wrap around her arm.
Sophie looked down at her new thick orange bracelet. Boy! The snake liked her—a lot!
Rumplesnakeskin reached his head out. Then he flicked his tongue toward her shirt.
Sophie looked down at the spot near her H. “That’s syrup,” she told him.
