Sophie the Awesome (4 page)

S
ophie 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 can’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?

S
ophie 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.

“Favorite color?” she asked Toby, trying not to look at him.

“Red,” Toby said.

Sophie sighed a bored sigh.
Of course,
she thought.

“Favorite ice cream?”

“Chocolate.”

“What?” Sophie must have heard him wrong.

“Chocolate,” Toby repeated.

“I thought you hated chocolate,” said Sophie.

Toby shrugged. “Not anymore.”

Sophie frowned as she wrote down
chocklit.
Something about it didn’t look right. But she left it and moved on.

“Do you have any pets?” Sophie asked. She pictured Toby’s two cats and his dog, Barnaby, in her head.

“Two cats,” he said.

“And one dog,” Sophie added. She rolled her eyes.

But Toby shook his head. “No. Just two cats,” he said. He looked at his lap and took a deep breath. “Barnaby … died this summer.”

“Really?” Sophie said. Oh. “I’m so sorry….”

Good old shaggy, smelly Barnaby. Dead? She hadn’t known.

“He was old,” said Toby softly. Then he frowned. “Are you done?”

“Uh, not quite,” Sophie told him. She tried to read her next question, but it was hard. She was still so stunned.

“Um …” she said at last. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Sophie held up her pencil. “A baseball player, right?”

“Maybe,” said Toby. “Or maybe a reporter.”

Sophie could feel her jaw drop. “Really? Me too!”

“Or maybe not,” Toby said. He made a face and tilted his chair back. “My turn.”

“Hang on!” Sophie said. She looked down at her paper. She still hadn’t asked the last question she had added:
Who is the most awesome person you know?
It had been perfect for Kate, her best friend in the world. But Toby?

“Ask your dumb question already!” he groaned.

“Never mind,” mumbled Sophie. “Go ahead.”

Toby grinned. Of course he had made up very different questions. They included:

“What’s your favorite football team?”

“What’s your favorite baseball team?” and

“Who’s your favorite basketball player?”

Talk about dumb questions!

She answered, “Giants,” to them all.

“There is no player named Giants,” said Toby.

“Prove it,” Sophie said.

“Whatever,” Toby said back, slouching in his seat. “Okay. Last question. Do you have a nickname? Sophster? Sophmeister? Sophoraptor?” Toby laughed and put down his pencil. “Never mind. I know you don’t.”

Sophie looked at him. “Oh, yeah?” she said. She did too have a nickname. And it didn’t sound like a dinosaur’s name, either. “Sophie the Awesome!” she blurted.

She grinned with satisfaction. Then she noticed Toby’s face. Before, it had looked grumpy. Now it looked like it would burst with laughter.

And then it did. Toby totally cracked up!

“Toby!” called Ms. Moffly from across the room. “Please lower your voice. And sit down!”

Oh, no,
Sophie thought. This was not good. Not at all.

O
h, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! What had Sophie done?

She had gone and put her precious new name in the grubby hands of Toby Myers. That was what!

She heard Ms. Moffly tell the class that their interview time was over. And she watched Toby go back to his desk and start laughing with Archie right away.

Of course he was making fun of her. Sophie could just tell. She wanted to scream! This was not at all how Sophie the Awesome was supposed to start!

Of course, it wouldn’t have been so bad if she had set the jump-rope record. Or if she had done
anything
awesome so far that day. Then her awesomeness would have been proven. But Sophie could feel it in her guts. She should have waited till the next day to tell everyone her new name.

She had made a BIG mistake.

Maybe, if it was almost three o’clock, Ms. Moffly would let them wait and do their reports tomorrow. Sophie looked at the clock. It was only two-fifteen.

Sophie’s stomach got all knotty as Ms. Moffly called the first group up.

“I interviewed Mindy,” said Jack.

Mindy stood up and took a bow, and Lily applauded loudly.

“Anyway,” Jack went on, “I asked her if she has any brothers and sisters. She doesn’t. I asked her what her favorite sports are. She said gymnastics and ice-skating.”

“And horseback riding!” Mindy added.

“You didn’t say that,” said Jack.

“I just remembered,” said Mindy.

“And horseback riding,” Jack repeated. “And I asked her how many teeth she lost. Six.”

“That’s all?” called out Archie. “I’ve lost eight.”

The whole class giggled.

“I meant eight,” said Mindy quickly. “Is it my turn now?”

“Yes, Mindy,” said Ms. Moffly. “Thank you, Jack. And, class, please be respectful. You all know better than to interrupt.”

The whole class nodded. That didn’t stop the giggling, though.

There was giggling when Mindy said Jack had never had a dessert that was on fire before.

There was giggling when Grace said Ben’s favorite cartoon character was Tweety Bird.

There was giggling when Eve said that Dean was afraid of butterflies.

There was even giggling when Sophie A. said that ants on a log were Kate’s favorite snack. Sophie did not know what was so funny about that. Those things were good!

Sophie could only imagine how much giggling there would be when her nickname came up. It would ruin the whole name thing! Inside, her whole body groaned.

And then it was her turn.

“Sophie M.,” said Ms. Moffly, “why don’t you share with us now? And no more giggling, class, please.”

Sophie looked at the clock. It was only two-forty. Could she make her report last twenty minutes? Long enough that Toby would have to wait till tomorrow? She would have to try.

“Sophie?” said Ms. Moffly. The teacher waited, then leaned toward her. “Sophie?” she said again.

There was giggling. Sophie pointed to herself and looked surprised.

“Huh? Who, me?” she said.

“Yes, you,” said Ms. Moffly patiently.

“Oh, sorry.” Sophie shrugged. “I thought you meant Sophie A.”

“No,” said Ms. Moffly. “I think I said ‘Sophie
M.’ And Sophie A. already went.” She cut her eyes across the room. “No giggling, please!”

“So it’s my turn?” said Sophie. She sighed and stood up with her paper.

She cleared her throat.

She counted to three.

Then four. Then five.

“Anytime, Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly.

“Thank you,” said Sophie. “Thank you very, very, very, very, very —”

“Sophie!” Ms. Moffly cut in.

“Much,” Sophie said.

She breathed in. Then out. She looked around the classroom.

“Get on with it!” Archie yelled.

“Archie,” Ms. Moffly said sharply. Then she turned back to Sophie. “It’s okay to be nervous, Sophie. That’s not usually like you,” she added. “But please, just relax and go on.”

Relax. Right. Sophie would do that. She would relax. And go slow.

“Okay … sooooo … I interviewed Toby. Toby Myers. You all know Toby, right?”

“Yes!” the class yelled.

Sophie cleared her throat again. “Okay. Sooooo … I interviewed Toby. Aaaand …”

Sophie carefully studied her paper. Then she picked at some green paint on the back of her hand.

“Yes?” said Ms. Moffly.

Sophie looked at the teacher. “And I found out what his favorite color is.”

“Yes?” said Ms. Moffly again.

Sophie cleared her throat one more time. “Toby Myers’ favorite color is … not blue,” she said.

Giggles popped up all around the room. But Sophie didn’t care. The longer it took for her to give her report, the better.

It was two forty-five. She just had to make her report last fifteen more minutes.

“That’s enough, class,” said Ms. Moffly. “Sophie,
please
go ahead.”

“Toby … Myers’ … favorite … color … iisssssss …” Sophie put a long pause between each word.

“Red!” Toby yelled.

The whole class clapped and cheered.

“And my favorite ice cream is chocolate! And I have two cats! And I want to be a reporter or a baseball player!” he added.

“Toby!” said Ms. Moffly.

“Sorry.” He shrugged. “She was just going so slow. I was trying to help.”

Help? Sophie glared at Toby harder than she’d ever glared before. She could feel laser beams shoot from her eyes. Well, almost. If they really had, that would have been awesome!

“I’m very sorry you were interrupted, Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”

There sure was! Sophie wanted to tell everybody that Toby Myers was a big, giant pain in the neck! She wanted to tell them not to listen to anything else he had to say. She wanted to tell them that no
matter how hard he and the whole class laughed at her that day, the next day she
would
earn her awesome new name.

But she didn’t. She just said, “No,” sat back down, and waited for Toby to ruin her life.

“I interviewed
her,”
Toby said. He pointed a thumb in Sophie’s direction.

“The name’s Sophie Miller,” Sophie muttered.

Everyone laughed.

Toby snuck Sophie a teasing look. He was thinking about her nickname. She just knew it. He was thinking about how he should say it, to make it sound as silly as he could.

Sophie put her head down on her desk.

Why did Toby have to be her partner?

And why did she have to tell him, of all people, her awesome new name?

Why couldn’t she have kept her big mouth shut until the next day?

She did not feel like Sophie the Awesome. She felt like Sophie the Dumbest Girl in the Whole World.

“Anyway,” Toby went on. “I found out that she says her favorite baseball and football teams are the Giants. But she probably doesn’t have a clue, because that’s just really weird.”

“It’s crazy!” yelled Archie.

“Archie! Toby!” Ms. Moffly said.

“Well, it is,” Toby said. “And she says her favorite basketball player is a giant. I mean, they’re tall. But giants? Come on.”

He laughed, and a bunch of the boys joined him.

“That’s enough,” said Ms. Moffly. “And remember, Toby, your job as a reporter is to stick to the
facts.
Are there any other
facts
you’d like to add?”

Toby looked at Sophie.

Her face felt red. She could only imagine what it looked like. She waited for him to say her new name, and for the whole class to laugh. Again.

But Toby just shrugged and went back to his seat. “Nah. Nothin’ else. She’s way too boring,” he said.

Of course, everyone started giggling. Everyone except Sophie. She had never been so happy to be called boring in her whole life!

Had Toby really just finished his report without making fun of the name Sophie the Awesome at all?

Sophie pinched herself.
Ouch!
Okay, she wasn’t dreaming.

She didn’t look at Toby, just in case it might remind him. But she silently thanked him. Who would have thought that Toby could do something so … awesome?