Sophie the Awesome Page 5
She ran as fast as she could after her. Then she lunged for Ella’s backpack and caught it by the strap. She gave it a hard yank. But Ella’s backpack slipped right off her shoulders!
“Ella!” Sophie cried again.
She reached out and grabbed Ella’s shirt. And this time, she pulled even harder.
And this time, Ella stopped, her toes right at the edge of the curb.
The very next second, a car whizzed past them.
“Whoa!” said Ella.
“Wow!” said all the other kids from their bus stop, who had run up. “That was close!”
Sophie took a deep breath. Yes, it was!
Suddenly, Ella turned around and hugged Sophie’s stomach. Hard!
“Sophie, you’re my hero!” she exclaimed.
Sophie looked down at Ella’s sandy-colored head. She winced as Ella squeezed even harder.
“Easy, Ella!” gasped Sophie. “That hurts. Besides, I didn’t really do anything.”
She tried to pry Ella off. But the kindergartner wasn’t budging.
“Yes, you did!” said Ella. “You saved my life!”
“You really did,” said Kate.
Slowly, Ella turned her head to peer down the street. “It’s just too bad you couldn’t save my Slinkys….”
Sophie looked down the street, too. She watched the Slinkys tumble on. They looked like an army of wild, rainbow-colored macaronis.
Then the car that had driven by them stopped at the bottom of the hill. The door opened, and their neighbor, old Mrs. Dixon, jumped out. She began to scoop up all the Slinkys.
“Yay, Mrs. Dixon!” shouted Ella. “Don’t forget the pink one!”
Ella finally let go of Sophie. Whew. Sophie could breathe again. But she still had a tight, warm feeling in her stomach. Sophie could not help but grin. It was a good feeling!
“You know what this means?” said Kate. She grabbed Sophie’s hands and swung them. “It means … knock-knock!”
“Who’s there?” said Sophie.
“Sophie the,” said Kate.
“Sophie the who?” said Sophie.
“Sophie the Awesome!” said Kate.
Sophie had to laugh. But then she shook her head.
“No?” said Kate.
“No,” said Sophie.
Saving Ella’s life was definitely name-worthy. But Sophie had an even more awesome name than “Awesome” now. A name that, she hoped, was a little easier to prove, too.
She put her hands on her hips and stuck out her chin. “It’s Sophie the Hero, that’s who!”
Preview
So maybe SOPHIE the AWESOME
isn’t the perfect name.
But SOPHIE the HERO might be!
Take a peek at Sophie’s next adventure….
Kate left Sophie in the hall and stepped into Room 10.
“Ladies and gentlemen! And everyone else, too,” Kate declared. (Sophie bet she was talking to yucky Toby Myers and Archie Dolan.) “May I have your attention, please?”
Sophie heard the class get quiet, no kidding. Wow! How lucky was she to have Kate for a sidekick? Kate was very good at this!
“What is it?” someone said.
That’s when Kate grabbed Sophie and pulled her into the room.
“I’d like you to meet the one, the only … Sophie the Hero!” Kate cried.
“Sophie the who?”
“Sophie the what?”
Sophie took a bow and cleared her throat. “Sophie the Hero,” she said.
And just as Sophie had hoped, she and Kate got to tell the Slinky story all over again.
And again!
“Wow! You are a hero!” said Eve, Mia, Sydney, and Grace when it was over.
“I am happy to sign autographs,” Sophie said. “Does anyone have a pen?”
“Wait a minute,” said a snooty voice. It belonged to Mindy VonBoffmann. Her name would have been Mindy the Meanie, if Sophie had anything to say about it.
“What happened to the Slinkys?” Mindy asked.
Sophie shrugged. “Mrs. Dixon picked them up.”
“Then isn’t she the real hero?” Mindy said. She crossed her arms and made a face that Sophie’s mom would have called sassy.
“Yeah,” Lily Lemley chimed in. She liked to copy Mindy, so she made her face look just the same. “If Mrs. Dixon saved the Slinkys, she’s the real hero,” Lily said.
“What are you talking about?” Kate said. “Sophie saved a kindergartner! Who cares about the Slinkys?”
“They only cost a dollar or something,” Ben added. “Kindergartners cost a lot more.”
Good old Ben. Sophie turned to smile at him.
She truly felt like a hero. And that felt really good!
But Mindy just shrugged. “I guess,” she said.
“Still, it’s only one kindergartner. It’s not like she saved five kittens from a burning building, like Scarlett the cat. Remember? Now that’s a real hero.”
“Yeah, that’s a real hero,” Lily echoed.
Sophie remembered the story their second grade teacher, Mrs. Cruz, had read to them the year before. It was a true story about a stray cat who saved the lives of all her kittens. When the building they lived in caught fire, she carried them out, one by one.
Okay. Yes. Sophie knew the cat was a real hero. But she was, too!
Before Sophie could say anything, Toby Myers spoke up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told Mindy.
Sophie’s mouth dropped open. She could not believe it. Was Toby standing up for her?
Until last year, this would not have surprised Sophie. Until last year, she and Toby had been best friends. But things changed in second grade. Toby started hanging out with Archie Dolan, and Kate moved to town. Now Sophie and Kate were best friends. And Sophie and Toby could not look at each other.
If they did, they had to stick out their tongues.
But maybe things were changing….
Sophie thought of the day before, when Toby had actually done something nice for her. He had not made fun of that day’s name — Sophie the Awesome — at all.
Was it possible? Could Toby actually be coming to his senses?
“Real heroes save the world from evil aliens and giant asteroids and killer robots!” Toby said. Then he looked at Sophie and stuck out his tongue.
No. Sophie sighed. She guessed he had not changed, after all.
“Yeah!” said Archie. “And heroes have a mutant power.” He pointed at Sophie with a sticky, stubby finger. “What’s your mutant power, Sophie?” he asked.
Toby held his nose. “Super BO!” He laughed.
“Not funny,” Kate said.
But Sophie just rolled her eyes — and secretly sniffed her armpit, just to be sure.
No, she did not have BO. And, yes, no matter what Toby or Archie or Mindy said, Sophie was a hero.
She stuck her own tongue out at Toby.
So there!
Also Available
Finding the right name isn’t easy!
See what else Sophie tries out….
1: SOPHIE the AWESOME
2: SOPHIE the HERO
3: SOPHIE the CHATTERBOX
4: SOPHIE the ZILLIONAIRE
About the Author
Just like Sophie, Lara Bergen would love to find a name that describes her perfectly … but for now she’ll settle with being the author of this great series and many other books for children — and, before that, the proud editor of many more. She lives in the Big Apple, New York City, with the best husband and two children in the world.
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Text copyright © 2010 by Lara Bergen.
&n
bsp; Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Scholastic Inc.
Cover art by Laura Tallardy
Cover design by Tim Hall
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, March 2010
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eISBN 978-0-545-36108-8