by Nancy N. Rue
She watched, her mind razor-sharp, as Agent Ponytail hugged the neck of Agent-from-Cuba. Agent Ponytail appeared to be the slobbery type. Agent-from-Cuba obviously was not.
“Psst — here comes Darbie!” Fiona hissed.
Agent Shadow swiveled her gaze to the figure getting out of a BMW. She was the newest agent to be recruited into this gathering.Recently arriving from Northern Ireland, she would have much to add to the mission internationally speaking, especially when Agent Shadow determined just what the mission was — which would come later. It always came later.
Refreshed from her short break from the camera, Agent Shadow snatched it back from Agent Big Words and zoomed in on the subject striding up the walk. She was swinging her arms and her reddish hair and taking in everything with flashing black eyes.
“Agent Irish will be helpful in giving each of our agents new names and identities,” Agent Shadow told herself. “Once we figure out what dangerous, risky, and utterly vital mission we’ll be on.But first I must see just how observant she is. Can we remain hidden — or is she just as sharp as her file says she is?”
Even though Agent Shadow burrowed herself deeper into the treacherous tangle of brush, she could see Agent Irish growing bigger in her lens — and bigger — and bigger —
“Don’t be thinking you’re sly, you two,” Darbie said, her nose pressed against the camera lens. “You’re just a bit obvious.”
“But we got you on film!” Fiona said. She crawled from behind the bush, shaking tiny blue blossoms from her hair. Sophie wriggled out after her.
“Our next Corn Flakes production should be a spy film, I think,” Sophie said.
“My mom could make us trench coats,” Maggie said.
Fiona bunched up her lips. “That’s better than dance dresses.”
“DANCE dresses?” Kitty’s clear blue eyes were lighting up like tiny flames. “That’s right — the sixth-grade dance!”
“You knew about it?” Fiona said.
“Of course she did. So did I.” Maggie shrugged. “They do it every year.”
Darbie gave a grunt. “You won’t be seeing me at a dance. Those Corn Pops already made me feel like an eejit about my dancing when I first came here.” Eejit was idiot in Darbie’s Northern Irish accent. It was one of her favorite words. “I’d rather be making a spy flick,” she said.
“Exactly,” Fiona said.
Sophie looked at Kitty, who was poking at a weed growing up through a walkway crack with the toe of her pink flip-flop.
“You WANT to go to the dance, Kitty?” Sophie said.
“Kind of,” Kitty said. “It would be fun to be all, like, dressed up. We don’t HAVE to dance.” Kitty’s voice was starting to spiral up into a whine. Whining was one of the things she did best.
“You just want to get dressed up and go stand around?” Fiona said.
“Maybe we could just dance with each another — ”
“And pretend we’re agents in disguise, keeping the Corn Pop organization in our sights,” Sophie said.
“That definitely has possibilities,” Fiona said, rubbing her chin. “What if we could foil their plans with their ‘dates’?”
“Define ‘foil’ ” Darbie said.
“I think that means mess them up,” Sophie said.
Darbie giggled. “You mean, like mix them up so they end up dancing with each other’s boyfriends?” she said.
“The only thing is,” Sophie said, “we can’t be hateful to the Pops just because they’re hateful to us. Corn Flake code.”
“I know — bummer,” Fiona said. She sighed. “But you’re right. We’ll have to think of some other mission.”
“Whatever it is, we can’t let them see us filming them,” Darbie put in.
“WE don’t have to dance with any boys though, do we?” Maggie’s voice was thudding even harder than usual.
“Absolutely not,” Darbie said. “We’ll have nothing to do with those blaggards.”
Blaggards, Sophie thought, repeating the word blackguards in her mind the way Darbie had pronounced it. With her Irish accent, Darbie could make anything sound exciting and exotic and worth doing.
“We might look a little suspicious not dancing with ANY boys,” Kitty said. “It’s not like ALL of them are blackguards.”
“The Fruit Loops definitely are,” Fiona said with a sniff. She dropped down on the grass and the rest of the Corn Flakes joined her.
Darbie nodded slowly. “But those boys that are always raving on about computers — they aren’t THAT bad.”
“You mean like Nathan and Vincent and Jimmy and the twins?” Sophie said.
“Ross and Ian,” Kitty said.
Sophie peered at Kitty through her glasses. Kitty was looking suspiciously dreamy, and Sophie had a feeling it wasn’t about being a secret agent.
“I can’t keep any of them straight,” Darbie said.
“Nathan’s way skinny and he got first place in the science fair, remember?” Kitty said.
“No,” Fiona said. “Why do you remember?”
Kitty’s cheeks got pink. “His dad’s in my dad’s squadron. I see him at picnics and stuff.”
“Carry on,” Darbie said, pointing at Kitty with a piece of grass.
“Like I said, Ross and Ian are the twins — ”
“Round faces,” Maggie said.
“Not Eddie Wornom-round, though,” Sophie said.
“No — eew,” Kitty said. “What else, Darbie?” Her eyes were shining, and Sophie could tell she was enjoying this role.
This might come in handy when we make our secret agent movie, Sophie thought. She was already thinking of plot twists that could make use of Agent Ponytail’s powers of observation.
“Vincent — which one is he?”
“Curly hair, braces,” Fiona said.
“And he has kind of a deep voice,” Kitty cut in — before Fiona could take her job away from her, Sophie thought. “Only it goes high sometimes.”
“I know exactly who he is,” Darbie said. “He isn’t as much of an eejit as a lot of them.”
“You left out Jimmy Wythe,” Maggie said matter-of-factly.
Kitty shrugged. “I don’t know that much about him. He’s quiet.” She gave a soft giggle. “That kind of makes him mysterious.”
“Or a geek,” Fiona said.
“Okay,” Sophie said. “So when we come up with a mission, if we have to dance with any boys it’ll be just those not-mean ones. Is everybody in?”
Fiona stuck out her pinky finger, and Kitty latched onto it. Maggie hooked onto Kitty’s, and Sophie crooked her pinky around Maggie’s. Only Darbie was left.
“Are we promising there will be no dates for us though?” she said.
“Not a chance,” Fiona said.
Darbie gave a serious nod, and then she curved one pinky around Sophie’s and the other around Fiona’s.
“It’s a Corn Flakes pact then,” Fiona said. “No one breaks it.”
“We better get to work on our culture project now,” Maggie said.
Kitty giggled and hiked herself up onto Maggie’s back, right on top of her backpack. “Can’t we talk about our dresses first?” she said.
“Costumes,” Sophie said. “For the film.”
As the Corn Flakes meandered toward the library door, Sophie held back. She had a feeling this was going to be the Corn Flakes’ most important movie yet — and maybe even Agent Shadow’s most important mission. It was going to take some serious dreaming to get it just right.
And as she watched her fellow agents disappear into the agency building, Agent Shadow glanced back over both shoulders to be sure there was no one from the Corn Pop Organization spying on them even now. An agent could never be too careful.
Sophie Series
Written by Nancy Rue
Meet Sophie LaCroix, a creative soul who’s destined to become a great film director someday. But many times her overactive imagination gets her in trouble!
Check out the other
books in the series!
Book 1: Sophie’s World
IBSN: 978-0-310-70756-1
Book 2: Sophie’s Secret
ISBN: 978-0-310-70757-8
Book 3: Sophie Under Pressure
ISBN: 978-0-310-71840-6
Book 4: Sophie Steps Up
ISBN: 978-0-310-71841-3
Book 5: Sophie’s First Dance
ISBN: 978-0-310-70760-8
Book 6: Sophie’s Stormy Summer
ISBN: 978-0-310-70761-5
Book 7: Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco
ISBN: 978-0-310-71842-0
Book 8: Sophie and the New Girl
ISBN: 978-0-310-71843-7
Book 9: Sophie Flakes Out
ISBN: 978-0-310-71024-0
Book 10: Sophie Loves Jimmy
ISBN: 978-0-310-71025-7
Book 11: Sophie’s Drama
ISBN: 978-0-310-71844-4
Book 12: Sophie Gets Real
ISBN: 978-0-310-71845-1
Available now at your local bookstore!
Visit www.faithgirlz.com, it’s the place for girls ages 9-12.
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