by Lara Bergen
And by now, Mia was probably crying her eyes out. And her parents had probably called Sophie’s house. And Sophie’s mom had said, “She’s not home yet.” And Mia’s parents had said, “She’ll never get away with this. We’re going to call the police —”
WEE-oo! WEE-oo! WEE-oo!
Wait! What was that? WEE-OO! WEE-OO! WEE-OO!
It was a siren! And it was getting closer—fast!
Sophie was wrong. Mia’s parents weren’t thinking about calling the police.
Mia’s parents had called the police!
Sophie could feel her dad pulling over. He probably thought they were stopping him, like on their trip to Washington, when he had driven a little too fast. She wondered what he would do when they said that she was the one under arrest.
He would be glad he hadn’t bought her ice cream. That was for sure. He’d probably make her give back her root beer lollipop, too. Honestly? That was fine with her.
And then Sophie started to wonder: What would the police do with her? What were the consequences for doing dares? Would the judge be easy? Or tough?
After all, she had just done what Mindy had told her to do. Daredevils had to do things they didn’t want to sometimes … right? Yes, of course.
But what if the judge didn’t think so? What if they took her away?!
It was too horrible to think about. But Sophie couldn’t stop.
“I’m sorry, Dad!” she cried out. The words jumped right out of her mouth. “I didn’t mean to do anything bad! Don’t let them put me in jail! Please!”
That was when the siren sound passed by them and faded away.
Sophie looked out the window to see a fire truck speeding down the street. It wasn’t a police car after all!
Phew! She sighed. She was still free.
Then Sophie saw her dad’s face. It was worried, and puzzled, and a few more things, all at once.
“What are you talking about, Sophie?” he asked.
Sophie looked at him and gulped.
Where should she start? Sophie wasn’t sure. So she just skipped to the end part.
“I have Mia’s present. In my bag,” Sophie told her dad.
Then she closed her eyes and waited. What would he say back?
But all he said was “Did you forget to give it to her?”
“No, Dad.” He didn’t understand. “It’s not my present for her. It’s Kate’s,” she said.
“Oh … So did she forget to give it to Mia?”
Sophie shook her head. “No, Dad.” Then she took a deep breath. “I kind of … took it … from the gift table … at the party,” she confessed.
Okay. Now her dad’s forehead was wrinkling. He was getting it at last.
“Why did you take Mia’s present?” he asked.
“Because Mindy VonBoffmann dared me to.” Sophie’s voice sounded very small. “And now that I’m a daredevil … I kind of … had to, Dad. You know?”
“You had to take Mia’s present?” Her dad looked her straight in the eyes.
Sophie looked straight back at him. “Yeah,” she said. “Didn’t I?”
Her dad rubbed his chin for a minute. They were still stopped on the side of the road, so he turned the car off. He took off his glasses and cleaned them. That meant only one thing, Sophie knew. It was time to Have a Talk.
“Being a daredevil, Sophie — what exactly does it mean?” he asked.
Was that a trick question? Didn’t everyone know?
“It means doing things that no one else would dare to do. No matter what they are.”
“But don’t you think there are sometimes good reasons why people don’t do things?” her dad replied.
Sophie thought for a minute. “Do you mean because they’re chicken?” she asked.
“No.” Her dad shook his head. “I mean sometimes people don’t do things because they know they’re not right.”
Oh.
“In fact, I always thought you were that kind of person,” he went on.
“I am, Dad!” Sophie told him. Or at least … she used to be. She looked down at her tote bag. It was not the bag of someone who always did the right thing.
“I’m sorry, Dad.” She sighed. “I made a big mistake.”
He reached over and took her hand. “We all do. It’s okay.”
That made Sophie feel a little better. But she knew she had a long way to go. She’d never truly feel better until Mia had her present back. And she knew the longer she waited, the harder it would get.
“Dad?” She winced. It almost hurt to say what came next. “Do you think we could make one more stop on the way home?”
Mia’s house was outside of town, on the same big road as their school. Sophie didn’t know the number of her house. She just knew that it was yellow. And there was a big basketball hoop in the driveway.
They drove by and she saw it. “That’s it!” she yelled.
Her dad stomped on the brakes, made a U-turn, and pulled in.
Together, they walked to the front door. Sophie squeezed her dad’s hand. He squeezed hers back, nice and hard. Then Sophie reached out and rang the bell.
Mia’s mom answered the door. “Why, Sophie! Hi!” she said.
“Hi, Mrs. Carr.” Sophie bit her lip. “Um … is Mia here?”
“Why, sure. She’s in her room. Go on up,” Mia’s mom said. Then she turned to Sophie’s dad. “We have a lot of leftover basketball cake. Would you like a piece?” she asked.
(So, it was a basketball cake. Sophie would have to tell that to Kate.)
The grown-ups went into the kitchen, and Sophie started up the stairs. She knew which room was Mia’s — the first one on the right.
She poked her head in. “Mia?” She waved.
Mia’s room wasn’t super-girly. (Just like her. No big surprise.) The closest thing to a doll was a model skeleton on her dresser, next to a big fish tank.
Mia looked up. She was sitting on her bed with a pile of opened gifts on her right. On her left were neat rolls of ribbon and pieces of wrapping paper all folded up.
“Hi, Sophie! What are you doing here? Hey, I just opened your gift. Thanks a lot!”
She held up the present that Sophie had picked out herself.
“It’s a friendship bracelet kit,” said Sophie.
“I know! I love it!” Mia replied.
Then Mia held up a harmonica. And a big book about the stars. Plus a card game that Sophie liked a lot. And a puzzle that looked very hard.
“Wow …,” Sophie said when she found out all those gifts were from boys.
Mia also showed her a sparkly pink pillow. It was shaped like an M.
“It’s from Mindy,” Mia told her. Sophie could tell she thought it was too much.
Sophie kind of did, too. But she also kind of liked the sparkles (a lot!).
Sophie waited for Mia to tell her, “The only gift I don’t have is Kate’s….” But Mia never did. So finally, Sophie brought it up herself.
“Did you know you had one more gift?” She reached into her bag and pulled out the silver gift. It was a little soggy from her towel.
“Wow, Sophie!” said Mia. “You didn’t have to bring me another one. But thanks! That’s really nice!”
Sophie shook her head and looked down. “No. It’s really not,” she said. “Because it’s really not from me.”
Mia’s forehead crinkled. “Who’s it from?”
Sophie sighed. “It’s from Kate.”
Mia made an I-don’t-get-it face. So Sophie started to explain.
Of course, it wasn’t easy. Explaining was almost as hard as taking the gift in the first place had been. But by the time she was done, she was happy that she did.
It felt good to give Mia her gift back. And something else felt good, too. When Sophie said, “I’m really sorry, Mia,” Mia said, “It’s okay. Besides, it was all Mindy’s idea. Why do you think she’d make up such a mean dare?”
“I don’t know,” Sophie said. She really didn’t have any ide
a. “It’s like sometimes she just does things to make trouble between friends.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Does Mindy even know what a friend is?” Then she held up Kate’s present. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s open it!”
Sophie watched her untie the bow carefully and roll the ribbon up. Then Mia found where the paper was taped and used her fingernail to pry it off.
Sophie could hardly stand it. How could anyone be so slow?
At last, Mia peeled back the paper. Inside it was a box. And in the box was a small gum ball machine.
“Wow! This is cool!” said Mia.
“Yeah, it is!” Sophie had to agree.
Mia offered her a gum ball, and Sophie picked a red one. But before they could try out one of Mia’s new games, it was time for Sophie to go.
“Sophie, I’m really proud of you,” her dad said as he drove her home.
“You are?” Sophie leaned forward. She was surprised to hear that. “Even after I did Mindy’s dare?” she asked.
“Well, no. I’m not proud of you for doing that,” he said. “But I am proud of you for making it right. And for doing it all on your own.”
Sophie smiled. Yeah. Come to think of it, she felt pretty proud of herself, too.
Sophie was still feeling proud — and daring — on Monday morning, when she walked into room 10.
That was why she was so happy to see Mindy. She walked up to her at the coatrack.
“Good morning, Mindy,” she said with a grin.
Mindy turned. She was grinning, too — at first. But then her grin started to fade, and Sophie was pretty sure she knew why. It was because Sophie was holding hands with Mia and Kate.
The three of them looked at Mindy. And Mindy looked back.
“I thought …,” Mindy started. But then she stopped. Her lips were pinched.
Sophie nodded. “I know.” She helped Mindy finish: “You thought Mia and Kate would be mad at me for doing that dare. But I just wanted you to know that everything worked out okay. I took the gift to Mia later. And then I went and told Kate the whole story.”
Mindy’s mouth fell open. But nothing at all came out.
That was when Lily ran up, breathless. “Sorry I’m late, Mindy,” she gasped. “Did you have to hang your coat up all by yourself? I just couldn’t find my headband anywhere. Hey, what did I miss?”
Kate and Mia put their arms around Sophie. “Oh, nothing,” they said. Then they all walked away together. Sophie had to say, it was pretty great to have good friends!
“I’m glad you told me everything this weekend, Sophie,” Kate said.
Then Mia reached into her pocket. She pulled out two colorful braids. They were friendship bracelets she’d made that weekend — and there was one for each of them. Mia helped them tie them on. Sophie loved hers. It was purple and green.
Eve ran up. “Hey, Sophie. Are you still doing dares?”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah.” Then she held up a finger. “But now I do have rules.”
Eve giggled. “Okay. Well, guess what. Sydney has one for you.” She waved and called Sydney over. “Hey, Sydney. Tell Sophie your dare!”
Hang on.
Something about the way their eyes shone made Sophie put up her hand. “My rule is I’ll do any dare unless it hurts someone,” she said.
“Oh, this won’t hurt,” Sydney assured her.
“Okay, then.” Sophie took a deep breath. She stood up very straight and tall.
Sydney snickered. Eve did, too.
“I dare you to kiss Toby Myers!” Sydney said.
Kiss? Toby Myers?!
Sophie looked around for a place to throw up.
“Well?” Sydney tried to ask, but she was laughing too hard by then.
Sophie didn’t even have to think. Her answer came out fast. “Forget it. I quit. I’m done. I am not a daredevil anymore,” she announced.
Eve looked disappointed. Kate and Mia laughed, but they looked a little disappointed, too.
But Sydney looked happy. “Hey, I found a dare you couldn’t do!”
Sydney was very happy after that. And Sophie supposed she was, too. She was glad she didn’t have to do things she didn’t want to do anymore. But she missed that tingly feeling she got from the good dares. And she missed being special. Being Sophie the Nothing again was hard.
She was thinking about that later as she walked out to the bus. And that was when Sophie saw Ms. Moffly walking out, too, carrying a big box.
Ms. Moffly’s face looked like the box was heavy. Sophie knew what that was like. Sometimes her mom made Sophie help her carry groceries from the car. And sometimes Sophie got the milk and the orange juice in one bag. Talk about heavy! That could break off an arm.
Sophie ran up to Ms. Moffly. She put her hands under the box. “Can I help you, Ms. Moffly?”
“Oh, thank you, Sophie,” Ms. Moffly panted. “You’re such a sweetheart!”
A sweetheart …
Sophie the Sweetheart?
Sophie wasn’t sure if she was glowing. But she kind of thought she was!
She started to say, “You’re welcome. I am a sweetheart. How did you know?” But before she could, two more hands reached for the box. Sophie looked up. They were Mr. Bloom’s.
Mr. Bloom was another teacher (a teacher who wore jeans and no tie). He taught Hayley’s fifth-grade class. And he rode to school on a bike, like a kid.
He had his helmet on now, in fact. So Sophie couldn’t see much of his hair. But she could see the deep dimples on each side of his big grin.
“Here, Lila. Let me help you,” he said.
“Oh, thank you,” Ms. Moffly said back.
Sophie wondered if she would call him a sweetheart, too.
She held her breath and waited … but Ms. Moffly didn’t. Sophie sighed, relieved. She wanted to be the only sweetheart around.
Or wait … did she?
Maybe not!
Maybe it would be nice if Ms. Moffly called Mr. Bloom sweetheart — in a different kind of way.
And maybe Sophie the Sweetheart could help that happen….
How sweet would that be?
Preview
Sophie’s new name is
going to be super-sweet!
Take a peek at Sophie’s next adventure….
Dear Ms. Moffly,
I love you.
Will you marry me?
Sinseerly, Mr. Bloom
There. Sophie put down her pen. That should work! She grinned. Then she turned to her best friend, Kate Barry. Did she agree?
It was all part of their big plan. A plan they’d just made that afternoon in Sophie’s room. A plan to get their third-grade teacher, Ms. Moffly, to marry the fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Bloom.
At first, Kate had thought it was a little crazy. “Ms. Moffly? And Mr. Bloom? Doesn’t he wear jeans? I don’t think Ms. Moffly even has those.” Then Sophie explained how much the two had in common: “They both teach at Ordinary Elementary School!”
And she explained how cool it would be if they got married: “That means a wedding! And of course that means we get to go!”
“Oh!” That made Kate’s eyebrows bounce. Then she thought of something, too. “Hey! Know what else that means?”
“What?”
“It means a honeymoon!”
Sophie nodded. “You’re right! Do you think we’d get to go on that, too?”
“Probably not.” Kate giggled and rolled her eyes. “But it might mean no school.”
Oh. Well, that was almost as good. It fact, it was pretty great. But not as great as the other thing Sophie was hoping for: an awesome, perfect name!
Sophie was tired — exhausted even — of being Sophie the Most Average Girl in the Whole School. And she was determined to start being Sophie the … Anything Else. Just something that made her stand out from the rest of the world.
And now she had the best idea! She had gotten it at the end of school that day. Ms. Moffly had been struggling with a box, and Sophie had
run up to help.
“Sophie, you’re such a sweetheart,” Ms. Moffly had told her.
And that was it!
Sophie the Sweetheart! Who could ask for a better name than that? All she had to do was keep being sweet and helpful to Ms. Moffly. And everybody else.
Sophie figured it wouldn’t be too hard. At least not as hard as living up to some other names had been. She was pretty good at being sweet, really. She just forgot now and then. But this time she would remember, every second of every day. And what could possibly be sweeter than helping Ms. Moffly get a sweetheart of her own?
“So do you think it’s enough?” Sophie asked Kate. She held the letter up for both of them to read.
Kate nodded. “Yeah, it sounds good.” Then she frowned. “But what about the handwriting?”
Huh? Sophie studied the page. “I tried to be so neat. And look, there’s a heart above the ‘i.’”
She could have written it in cursive, she guessed. But those f’s were so hard to make!
“I think it might be too neat,” Kate said. “Grown-up writing never looks as neat as that.”
Oh … right. Sophie thought about her mom’s handwriting. That was a mess.
“Okay.” She reached for a clean sheet of paper. “Let me try again.”
“Hang on. There’s something else,” Kate said.
Sophie’s pen froze.
Kate went on. “I wonder if we should use first names. Like maybe say ‘Dear Lila,’ instead.”
“Good idea!” said Sophie. Why hadn’t she thought of that?
“‘Dear Lila …’” She started writing. Then she stopped. “Uh-oh. Do you know what Mr. Bloom’s first name is?” she asked Kate.
Kate did not. Too bad.
But someone else does! Sophie remembered when that someone walked in right then.
“Hayley!”
Sophie’s big sister just happened to be in Mr. Bloom’s class. Sophie waved her pen as her sister brushed past her bed. “I have a very important question for you!” she said.
Hayley kept walking toward her dresser. “No, I will not play Monopoly with you,” she said. “You guys always gang up against me, and anyway, I’m way too busy right now. I have to change for ballet.”
