Sophie the Awesome (2 page)

A
s third graders, Sophie’s class got to walk through the halls alone. This was a “privilege,” Ms. Moffly told them. It made Sophie feel very grown up, and a little less boring. But only a little.

Sophie especially liked being Line Leader. Too bad it was Jack’s turn that week. She really could have been awesome at leading the line. Plus Jack could be so slow. And Sophie could not wait to get to music and be awesome at that. It was all she could do not to say, “Hurry up! Hurry up!”

Sophie knew that it would not be easy to be awesome at music, mostly because of one thing. A thing called “mouthing the words.”

Sophie used to try to sing out loud. She would close her eyes and open her mouth and hope the right sounds would come out. The thing was, they never did. Instead, the strangest sounds came out. Sounds that made people turn and stare. Sounds that didn’t always sound so good.

But today Sophie would sing. And it would be awesome!

Then she walked into the music room and her face instantly lit up. Maybe she would not have to sing, after all!

Sophie looked around at the instruments scattered on the floor. How could she have forgotten? It was Monday, and Monday was Rhythm Day.
Awesome!
Sophie thought.

“Good morning, Ms. Moffly’s class,” said Mrs. Wittels, their music teacher. She had on a blouse with a very big, very pink, very floppy bow. It was exactly the same color as the makeup on her
cheeks. It looked strange. But also fancy. Which was how Mrs. Wittels always looked.

“Good morning,” replied a few students. Most were already busy diving for the instruments on the floor.

“Please don’t touch the instruments until I tell you to!” Mrs. Wittels called.

“Awww!” groaned the class.

On Rhythm Day, no one had to sit at a desk. They all got to sit in a big circle on the floor. They didn’t have to tell Mrs. Wittels if a note was an A or a B or a Z. A quarter, a half, or a double. Instead, they each got to make up rhythms for the rest of the class to follow. And they got to play all kinds of awesome instruments — bells and maracas and triangles and cymbals and sand blocks and tambourines and tom-toms and castanets and claves.

And best of all, they didn’t have to sing!

Sophie scooted down in front of the biggest, most awesome tambourine in the room. This was just what she needed!

“Are you ready to make some
rrrhythms?”
trilled Mrs. Wittels.

“Yeah!” the whole class cheered.

“Then let’s get started,” the teacher said. “Who would like to be first?”

Sophie’s hand was already up and waving. “Ooh!” she called. She couldn’t help it. “Ooh! Mrs. Wittels, pick me!”

Of course Mrs. Wittels didn’t. Mrs. Wittels liked kids to make
musical
noise, but she did not like them to talk much.

“Mindy,” she said, casting a quick look at Sophie. “Thank you for
quietly
raising your hand. Please give us a rhythm to follow.”

Mindy sat up straight and smiled. Sophie just rolled her eyes. Then Mindy held up a bright, shiny triangle and tapped out a gentle
ting, ting, ting-a-ling-a-ting-ting.

“Very nice,” said Mrs. Wittels, nodding. She raised her arms like a conductor. This was her signal for the rest of the class to follow. She closed her eyes. “And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a—”

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG-A-CLANG CLANG!!!!!
went Sophie on her tambourine, feeling especially awesome.

Mrs. Wittels’ eyes flew open. “What was
that?
Archie? Toby?” She turned to the usual suspects in the class and frowned.

“It wasn’t me,” said Toby, pointing to his drum.

“That was Sophie M.,” piped up Mindy matter-of-factly. “And it wasn’t even right.”

Grrr!
Sophie wanted to growl at her very much.

“Sophie,” said Mrs. Wittels. She shook her head. “Please don’t play so hard. You could break the tambourine.”

Hmm.
Sophie doubted that. She had seen Archie do much worse. Her hand was another story, though.
Ouch!
She shook it out and hoped it wasn’t broken.

“Let’s switch instruments now, shall we?” Mrs. Wittels suggested. “And, Mindy, why don’t you choose who leads the rhythm next.”

The kids set down their instruments, and a few raised their hands, hoping Mindy would pick them.
But Sophie didn’t bother. Instead, she scanned the floor for a new instrument. Something awesome, but with a little less pain and more gain. Besides, she already knew who Mindy would pick.

“Lily,” said Mindy.

Of course.

Lily Lemley looked nothing like Mindy VonBoffmann. But she tried as hard as she could.

She wore a headband, just like Mindy. Every single day. Unless Mindy didn’t wear a headband. Then Lily took hers off.

She wore mismatched socks, just like Mindy. Even though Sophie and Kate had totally thought of doing it first.

She had the same shoes as Mindy. And the same backpack. And the same TV show lunch box. And the same “I love Disney World” sweatshirt. Even though Sophie knew for a fact that Lily had never gone there. Not once.

Lily held up the triangle she’d picked and tapped it.
Ting, ting, ting-a-ling-a-ting-ting.

It was Mindy’s rhythm all over again. Exactly.

Mrs. Wittels shook her head. “Lily, remember when I told you last week to make up your own rhythm?”

“Um, okay,” Lily said.

Everybody waited. And waited a little more.

“Just do
something!”
Mrs. Wittels said.

Lily held up her triangle.
Ting, ting … ting, ting-a-ling-a-ting-ting,
she went at last.

“Wonderful,” sighed Mrs. Wittels. “And-a-one, and-a-two, and-a—”

CLACK, CLACK … CLACK, CLACK-A-CLACK-A-CLACK-CLACK!
went Sophie, banging her claves as awesomely as she could.

She looked around proudly. She’d gotten
that
right, she was sure. But no one seemed impressed. Sophie sighed. How could she really prove her awesomeness by copying someone else’s rhythm, anyway?

She’d just have to wait for her own turn to lead. And, of course, her turn came when it usually
did. Not at the beginning. And not at the end. But somewhere in the middle.

“Sophie M.,” Kate said as soon as her turn was over.

Sophie grinned, and her heart beat faster. She was suddenly a little nervous. But there was no looking back now. Her time to be awesome had come! She dove for the new instrument she’d had her eyes on.

“Are you sure about those?” asked Mrs. Wittels.

Sophie waved her cymbals and nodded. Of course she was sure. Let the world’s most awesome rhythm begin!

CRASH-CRASH-CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH-A-CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH-A-CRASH-A-CRASH-A-CRASH-A—

“Sophie!” cried Mrs. Wittels.

Sophie stopped, mid-
CRASH
, smiling widely.
Mrs. Wittels had noticed her awesomeness! And she wasn’t even done yet.

Sophie made one final
CRASH!
Then she peered around at her classmates. She guessed they were too amazed by her awesomeness to clap. Then she noticed that their hands were over their ears. Even Kate’s.

“Sophie!” Mrs. Wittels repeated. “Please put down the cymbals! That is quite enough!”

Sophie looked up at the teacher. Her face was very white except for the pink circles on her cheeks. Her whole body was shaking. So was her pink bow.

Slowly, Sophie did as she was told. She wondered if Mrs. Wittels was just stunned by her awesome performance. But something in Sophie’s stomach told her no.

Toby lunged for the cymbals. “Do we get to copy her rhythm now?” he asked.

“No!” snapped Mrs. Wittels. She snatched the cymbals away. “I think we’ve had enough rhythm for one day.” She rubbed her forehead. “We have
ten more minutes, class. Let’s just sit quietly until then, shall we?”

“But I didn’t get a turn!” Jack complained.

“Me neither!” said Grace.

Mrs. Wittels held up her hand. “We’ll start with you next week.”

“Thanks a lot, Sophie,” groaned Dean.

Sophie sighed and looked at the floor. So maybe she wasn’t awesome … at music.

But that was okay. She had ten whole minutes to figure something else out!

“L
ook out!” hollered Sophie. “Coming through!”

At last, music was over. The final ten minutes had felt like a year. But now Sophie’s class was on their way back to their classroom. And Sophie was on her way to awesomeness. She was sure of it.

She grabbed the stairway banister and swung herself down to the landing.

“Ouch!” someone yelped.

“Oh, sorry,” said Sophie.

She hadn’t meant to land on Sophie A.’s foot. But had Sophie A. seen how far she’d jumped?

“Did you see how far I jumped?” Sophie asked her.

“No,”
Sophie A. said.

“I did, and that was nothing,” said Toby, trotting down the stairs behind them. He grabbed the same banister and leaped over the landing. “Check
that
out!” he said.

Then he ran back up the stairs and did it again.

Sophie gave him an I’ll-show-you face and ran back up, as well.

“Hey, guys, you better stop that!” Grace said. She was the class Caboose that week. That meant she walked at the end of the line wherever the class went. “You know you’re not supposed to goof around on the stairs.”

“Yeah,” added Mindy, who was not the Caboose. Sophie thought that meant she should really keep her mouth shut. But she never did. “Cut it out, or I’m telling Ms. Moffly when we get back to the room,” Mindy said.

“Me too,” said Lily.

“You’ll make us lose our hall privilege,” Mindy went on.

“Yeah, you will,” said Lily.

But Sophie wasn’t goofing around at all. She was trying to prove a point: that she was awesome … at jumping down the stairs.

“Hey, everybody!” she called out. “Look at this!”

“Mindy and Lily really will tell on you,” Kate warned her in a low voice. “You know they will.”

But Sophie didn’t care. She backed up to the second, then the third, then the fourth step. She waited for a minute, until almost every eye was on her. Then she jumped.

“Ta-da!”

Toby followed her.

“Ta-da shma-da. Anyone can do that,” he said.

Oh, yeah?
thought Sophie. She ran back up to the fifth step. But Toby was already there.

“Ay, caramba!” he hollered, leaping. He landed and grinned. “Five steps. New school record. Beat that, Sophster,” he said.

“Guys!”
Grace groaned. “Let’s go now!”

But Sophie wasn’t ready to go. She ran up to the sixth step.

“What are you doing?” Kate asked.

Sophie held out her arms. “Behold! I am about to perform the most awesome step jump ever.”

“Are you crazy?” said Kate. “You can’t jump six steps. You’re going to break your neck!”

“You’re going to be in big trouble!” said Mindy.

But Sophie just grinned. “I can do it!” she said.

Then she made the big mistake of looking down. What was she thinking? Six steps was way too much!

But Sophie could never, ever say she was awesome if she gave up now.

She closed her eyes and … wait! What was she thinking? She had to look!

So she opened her eyes and jumped.

The good news was that Sophie landed on her feet. The bad news was that she also landed on her bottom.
Ouch!
Dumb, slippery new shoes. Boy, that hurt. A lot.

Sophie did not want to cry. But it was hard not to when she looked up at Kate.

Kate knelt down beside her. “Would you like to go to the nurse?” she asked softly.

Sophie sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, maybe,” she said. And not just because her bottom hurt. It would also get her away from everyone. Including Archie and Toby.

“Ha-ha!” Toby laughed and gave Archie a high five. “Crash landings don’t count. I still have the record!”

Sophie made a face at him. Good old Kate stuck out her tongue. Then she helped Sophie up.

“Out of our way,” Kate said. “Could someone tell Ms. Moffly I took Sophie to the nurse?”

“Oh, we’ll tell her, all right,” said Mindy, grinning smugly.

Kate held Sophie’s hand and led her back up the stairs toward the nurse’s office.

“Hey. Knock-knock,” she said after a second.

“Who’s there?” Sophie sighed.

“Orange,” said Kate.

“Orange who?” Sophie asked.

“Orange you glad you didn’t break your neck?”

Sophie sighed. Yes, she was glad she had not broken her neck. And she was glad that she did not have to go back to her classroom yet — and see Ms. Moffly.

Plus she needed time to think of something else awesome to do.

Kate left her at the nurse’s office. Mrs. Frost, the nurse, crossed her arms in front of her. She had a very big front to cross. But somehow it worked.

“Well, if it isn’t Sophie Miller. What happened to you?” asked the nurse.

“I, um, fell on the stairs,” Sophie said.

Mrs. Frost clucked her tongue. “I hope you weren’t jumping,” she said.

Sophie filled her cheeks with air.

“Tell me, where does it hurt?” asked the nurse.

Sophie pointed to her backside, and the nurse took a look. She made Sophie bend and squat and twist.

“Looks like you’ll be fine,” said Mrs. Frost. “Do you want me to call your parents?”

Sophie thought for a minute. Then she shook her head. She was already feeling better. And she really didn’t want her day to end like this. She’d had a rocky start at being awesome. But she wasn’t giving up yet!

“Could I maybe just lie down for a little while?” Sophie said. That would give her time to think. And time for her face to get less red.

The nurse had Sophie lie facedown on the cot in the corner. It was lumpy, but cool and clean. Sophie tried not to think about all the throw-up it must have seen. (Like hers. Last year. The day after Halloween.)

Suddenly, Sophie felt a chill on her bottom. She jumped.

“Ice pack,” explained the nurse. “Now be still. Do you need another?”

“No, thanks,” Sophie answered. One was plenty cold enough.

She lay there for a few minutes and tried to think
of more ways to be awesome. But it was kind of hard with a freezing-cold ice pack on her bottom.

Sophie looked up at the big white clock on the wall. Twelve o’clock. Her stomach rumbled.

“Uh, Mrs. Frost?” she said.

“Yes?” answered the nurse. “Did you change your mind about that second ice pack?”

“Um, no,” Sophie said. “I was just thinking that I feel better. Can I go to lunch now?”

“Very well,” said the nurse. She took back the ice pack and helped Sophie to her feet. “So, what lesson did you learn today, Sophie?” she asked.

Sophie rubbed the back of her pants. “I guess I learned my bottom is not that tough,” she said.