Sophie the Zillionaire

by Lara Bergen

  BAKE SALE TODAY!

  CHOCKLIT CHIP COOKEES!

  #5 – CHEEP!

  Kate scratched a freckle on her chin. “Are you sure you wrote that right?” she asked.

  Sophie studied her sign. “Maybe that’s not the way you spell ‘chocolate.’ But it’s close enough,” she said.

  Kate shook her head. “I don’t mean that. I mean the price. Five dollars for one cookie?”

  “Well, yeah!” Sophie nodded hard. “Don’t you want to make as much money as we can?” she asked.

  Kate shrugged. “I guess so. It just seems like a lot,” she said.

  Sophie looked at the sign. Hmm. Maybe Kate was right. Maybe that was a lot. For one regular cookie.

  So she added two words.

  DEELISHUS!

  and

  SPESHUL!

  “Better?” Sophie asked Kate.

  Kate grinned. “Yes,” she said. “Uh … but are you sure you spelled those right?”

  “Who cares?” Sophie waved her hand. That was not important when there were cookies to make!

  The girls headed into the kitchen. Sophie put on an apron. She gave Kate one, too.

  Then Sophie pulled out her cookbook. It was the one just for kids. She turned past the Stone Soup. And the Easy-Cheesy Carrots and Peasies. But she stopped at the World’s Best Rocko-Chocko Chips.

  Yes!

  “Okay,” Sophie said. “We need some butter….” She opened the fridge.

  Just then, her mom walked in.

  “Guess what? Dad took Max to the playground. So I’m all yours. How can I help?” she asked.

  Sophie waved her mom out of the room. “You can’t,” she said.

  Her mom looked surprised. “Are you sure?”

  “I am very sure,” Sophie said.

  She was very sure that she and Kate could make the cookies all by themselves. And she was very sure that she did not want to split the profits with anyone else. Not even her mom.

  “Okay …,” her mom said. She used that voice that sounded like she did not really mean it. “But call me when it’s oven time. You girls do need help with that.”

  “Fine,” Sophie said, blowing her bangs off her forehead.

  She rolled her eyes as her mom left.

  “Moms,” she and Kate both said.

  Then they got baking.

  They mixed everything the book said to mix, step by step by step. They also mixed in some eggshells. (That was an accident. They got them out, mostly.) Then all they needed were chocolate chips!

  “Hey!” Sophie said, poking all around the pantry.

  “Hay is for horses,” Kate joked.

  “No, hey is for ‘Where are the chocolate chips?!’” Sophie said.

  She poked around some more. Kate poked, too. Where could they be?

  Sophie checked all the cabinets. And the drawers. And the fridge. But there was not even one chocolate chip!

  “What do we do?” Sophie cried.

  “Well … I guess we could put in something else,” Kate said. “Do you have any other kind of chips?”

  Sophie shook her head. She did not.

  She guessed she could use some of her money to buy more chocolate chips at the store. But she really did not want to.

  One thing was for sure: When Sophie was a real zillionaire, she would always keep chocolate chips around. A whole cabinet full!

  “I know! How about we put in gum?” Kate suggested.

  Sophie shook her head again. “I don’t have any. And besides, you’d have to keep chewing the cookies forever then. That might be sort of gross.”

  “We should have made Rice Krispies Treats, I guess,” Kate said.

  Sophie started to sigh. But then she stopped. “Hey!”

  “Hay is for —” Kate said. But Sophie held up her hand.

  “Horses. I know,” Sophie said. She grinned. “But listen to this. We know Rice Krispies are good in treats. Do you think they’d be good in cookies?”

  “Yes!” Kate’s eyes lit up.

  They ran to the pantry and grabbed the cereal box. They dumped a few Rice Krispies into the dough. Then they dumped in a lot. Then they stirred and stirred until they couldn’t feel their arms anymore.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Kate asked.

  “I think so,” said Sophie. “It’s oven time, Mom!”

  While the cookies baked, Sophie fixed her sign. She crossed out CHOCKLIT CHIP and wrote RICE KRISPEE. And she added TOP SECRET RESSIPY across the top.

  She tried to taste one cookie right out of the oven. It was so hot that it burned her tongue. Ouch!

  She waited for another to cool. Kate did, too. Then they tried again. Yum! The Rice Krispies were good! Sophie missed the chocolate chips, but not as much as she thought she would.

  They piled the cookies high on a plate.

  “Ready to make some money?” Sophie asked.

  “You bet!” Kate said.

  Kate grabbed the plate, and Sophie grabbed the sign and an empty baby wipes box. That was for keeping the money they made in. She hoped it was big enough.

  Their plan was to get the folding table from the garage. They would set it up on the sidewalk out front and sell and sell until every single delicious cookie was gone.

  But before they got to the door, Sophie’s dad came in with Max. Sophie stopped and stared at them. They looked like they’d been swimming — in their clothes!

  “It’s raining cats and dogs out there!” Sophie’s dad said. Then he shook his hair. A puddle was forming under him. Max jumped down and splashed around.

  Sophie’s jaw fell. No, no, no! It could not rain! Not now! Not on her bake sale!

  “No, no, no! It can’t rain! Not now! Not on my bake sale!” she cried.

  “Sorry, Sophie,” her dad said. “I think that will have to wait now.”

  He took off his coat. Then he sniffed. “Mmm, smells good!” He grinned. “Hey, can I have a cookie?”

  “Hay is for horses. But yes,” Kate said. She held the plate out.

  Sophie’s dad reached for it. But Sophie quickly stopped him. She held up her sign. “That will be five dollars, please!”

  Her dad’s jaw fell open this time.

  “Five dollars? For one cookie? That seems like a lot,” he said.

  Sophie shrugged. “It’s for a good cause, Dad,” she said.

  “Really? What?” he asked.

  Sophie raised her chin. “So I can be a zillionaire!”

  “And so I can buy gum,” Kate added, smiling wide. She held out the cookie plate again.

  Sophie waited for her dad to take out his wallet. But his wallet stayed in his pocket. “I might have to think about this,” he said, rubbing his chin.

  But Max did not have to think. He just grabbed a cookie in each hand. Then he ran.

  “Hey! That will be ten dollars!” Sophie yelled after him.

  Sophie had really hoped to make a zillion dollars at her bake sale. Or at least another fifty. But that did not happen.

  She and Kate still set up their bake sale table. But they set it up inside, in Sophie’s front hall.

  And they waited. And waited. And waited.

  Sophie had hoped the mailman, or a neighbor, or even her Aunt Maggie would stop by.

  But then she remembered that it was Sunday. The mailman did not work. And Aunt Maggie went out to eat with the other old ladies at her church.

  At least her dad bought one cookie. Finally. After she let him “test-drive” some.

  Soon it was time for Kate to go home. Sophie counted up what they had: one five-dollar bill in the wipes box and two aches in their tummies. One for each of them.

  Sophie wished they had sold more cookies. And eaten fewer.

  “I guess there’s just one thing to do,” she told Kate. Then she stood up. “Going-out-of-business sale! Everything must go!” she yelled.

  Sophie’s mom popped out of the kitchen. “I’ll give you ten dollars for the whole plate,” she said.

&nb
sp; Kate held her stomach and nodded.

  “Deal,” Sophie said.

  That meant fifteen dollars total. Seven fifty for her, and seven fifty for Kate.

  Kate was happy. She could buy lots of gum.

  But Sophie was not. $69.30 plus her $5.00 allowance plus $7.50 equaled $81.80.

  Sure, it was better. But it was still not enough to make Sophie a zillionaire!

  By Monday morning, Sophie still had $81.80. (Her loose tooth had not fallen out yet. Sigh.)

  Plus it was still raining. And her left rain boot was missing. But at least her stomachache was gone.

  If only Sophie were richer than Mindy already. It was hard to wait to be special. She wanted to be special right now!

  Sophie wondered if she was rich enough, at least, to buy a new pair of rain boots. Her sneakers were all squishy by the time she got to school.

  In room 10, she hung up her raincoat. Lily had just hung up Mindy’s coat for her.

  “How does Mindy get her to do all that stuff?” Kate whispered to Sophie. “You so couldn’t pay me to!”

  I know, Sophie thought. Then, suddenly, she froze.

  Hang on!

  Getting paid to do things for people? She could do that! Why not?

  Sophie looked at the other kids walking into the classroom. She thought about what Hayley had said about a little money adding up to a lot.

  There were twenty-four kids in Sophie’s class. What if she could make a dollar from every one of them?

  She did the math. (That was another thing about being rich that was fun.) If she added $24.00 to her $81.80, she’d have more than a hundred dollars. Way more!

  But wait. She couldn’t count herself. Of course. And she couldn’t count Kate, either. So that was not as much. But it was still more than a hundred….

  What am I waiting for? Sophie thought.

  She ran up to Ben as he walked through the door. “Hi, Ben!” she said.

  “Hi, Sophie,” Ben answered. He looked very happy to talk to her. And a little surprised, too.

  “Can I hang up your coat for you?” Sophie asked.

  “Uh, sure …,” Ben said. He looked even more surprised as he passed his coat over.

  “Great!” Sophie took his drippy raincoat in one hand. “That will be one dollar,” she said, holding out her other hand.

  Ben looked a lot surprised now. “A dollar? For what?”

  “For hanging up your coat,” Sophie said. She smiled at him, really big.

  But Ben frowned at her. “You never said anything about having to pay.”

  Oops. Sophie had forgotten that part. But why else did Ben think she would hang up his coat?

  “Sorry,” she said. “You’re my first customer.”

  But Ben took back his coat. “I don’t think so,” he said, shaking his head.

  Sophie sighed. She watched Ben walk off. But she wasn’t going to give up. Zillionaires never gave up!

  So she went over to Sophie A.

  And Eve.

  And Dean.

  And Mia.

  And Jack.

  But they did not want to pay her to hang up their coats, either.

  Or shake out their umbrellas.

  Or tie their wet shoelaces.

  Or pull out their chairs.

  Or sharpen their pencils.

  Sophie could not believe it!

  There was only one person who offered to pay her. That person was Toby Myers.

  “I’ll give you a dollar to pick Archie’s nose,” he said.

  Sophie shot him a look.

  “No way! I like to pick my own nose!” Archie declared.

  Boys! Gross!

  Still, Sophie kept trying.

  “I’ll pick out a book for you. For a dollar,” she said to Sydney later in the library.

  Sydney frowned. She shook her head.

  “Fifty cents?” Sophie said.

  Sydney’s head kept shaking.

  “How about a quarter?” Sophie asked. She tried to look super-helpful, like a great book-picker-outer.

  “Why would I pay you to do something that I like to do myself?” Sydney finally asked.

  Hmm. Sydney had a point. Maybe Sophie had a better chance of making money if she offered to do things that people hated doing.

  Sophie picked out her own library book and thought about that a little more.

  She was still thinking back in room 10 as Ms. Moffly wrote on the board. The teacher was writing vocabulary words for the class to copy later.

  They were supposed to write in their journals first. But Sophie’s journal page was still blank. She leaned on her hand. Sure, she had things to write about. But all she could think about was being Sophie the Zillionaire.

  “Has anybody paid you yet?” Kate whispered, leaning over.

  “No. Not yet,” Sophie told her. “But if I could just think of something that nobody wants to do …”

  Kate pointed to the blackboard. Ms. Moffly had made a looong list. “Like copying vocabulary words,” Kate groaned.

  “Hey!” Sophie suddenly said.

  “Hay is for horses!” Kate said back.

  “No! Hey is for ‘That’s what I can do to make money!’” Sophie said.

  It was perfect! The class had the rest of the day to copy their vocabulary words. That meant Sophie had plenty of time to put her plan into action!

  She started by asking Grace and Sydney. It was easy. They sat at her table.

  “Hey, Grace. Hey, Sydney,” she whispered. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll write down your vocabulary words … for a small fee.” That sounded very professional, she knew. She’d heard it on a real commercial.

  “You want us to pay you?” Grace stared at Sophie. It was like Sophie had asked to cut off her head.

  But Sydney slowly rubbed her chin. “How much?” she asked.

  Good question, Sophie thought.

  She looked back at the vocabulary list. Twenty-five words. Ugh. That was a lot!

  She wanted to say, “Fifty dollars.” But she guessed that was too much.

  “Five dollars,” she told Sydney.

  “Five dollars!” Sydney said. Now it was like Sophie had asked to cut off her head. “How about fifty cents?”

  “Four dollars?” Sophie asked, trying again.

  “Seventy-five cents,” Sydney said. She crossed her arms.

  Sophie sighed. Sydney drove a hard bargain.

  “Okay. A dollar. But that’s my final offer,” Sophie said.

  Sydney held out her hand. “Deal.”

  They shook on it. Yes!

  Then Sophie turned to Kate and smiled. If she could have winked, she would have. Maybe when she was a zillionaire, she would get that fixed.

  But for now, she had a paying customer!

  “Oh, okay. I’ll do it, too. For a dollar,” Grace said.

  Oh, boy! Sophie had two paying customers. The money was starting to roll in!

  “There’s just one problem,” Sydney said then. “I don’t have any money with me.”

  “Me neither,” Grace added.

  Sophie frowned. So she had customers. But they were not paying. Now what?

  Then Sydney did something interesting. She wrote three letters on the top of a piece of paper.

  I O U

  $1

  Sydney

  “What’s this?” Sophie asked.

  “It’s an IOU,” Sydney said. “It means I owe you a dollar. I’ll give you this today and bring the money tomorrow.”

  “Me too!” Grace said.

  Hmm …

  Sophie guessed that was okay. And it turned out that Sydney and Grace were not the only ones who said they would hire Sophie. (Hooray!) And they were not the only ones who could not pay her that day. (Oh, well.)

  By lunchtime, Sophie had twelve orders for vocabulary lists. And twelve IOUs.

  She had hoped for a lot more. But there were some kids — like Sophie A. — who liked copying their own lists. And there were some kids — like Toby and A
rchie — who she’d rather not work for. They could copy their own lists. (And pick their own noses, for that matter.)

  And then there was Mindy. She did not need a list copied, either. That was because Lily had already copied one for her. For free.

  By the end of lunch, though, Sophie had decided that twelve lists was plenty. In fact, she was a little worried. What if it was too much? She had copied and copied all through lunch. Now it was time for recess, and she only had six lists done.

  Sophie was a very, very fast reader. But she was a very, very slow writer.

  She shook out her hand. It was sore. Her pencil was dull. And worse than that, her stomach was empty. She had not stopped to eat at all.

  “Come on,” said Kate. “Let’s play. Haven’t you written enough?”

  Sophie gave a big sigh and held up a stack of blank paper. “No,” she said. “I’m only half done.”

  So instead of playing in the gym during recess (since it was still raining), Sophie sat on the bleachers and copied more words.

  Sophie wished she had picked something else to help her earn money. Something quick. Like cleaning out cubbies. She could have done twelve of those in no time. Oh, well. She could do that the next day. If her hand still worked.

  Before Sophie knew it, recess was over. She still had three more lists to go. And that wasn’t the worst part. Sophie had been so busy writing that she had missed seeing Dean’s bloody nose!

  “I can’t believe you didn’t see that!” Ben said. “He ran right into the goalpost!”

  Sophie could not believe it, either. It was not every day she got to see a good bloody nose! It was all anyone could talk about.

  And when Ms. Moffly said the class could play charades at the end of the day, Sophie could not believe that, either.

  “If you don’t still have to copy your vocabulary list,” the teacher added.

  Sophie plopped her head into her hands — for two reasons.

  One was that she was the only person who still had a list to copy. And the other was that she loved charades. And she really hated to miss it.

  At least by the time school was over, she had all the lists done. She passed them out to her friends. They passed their IOUs to her.