Grace smiled a very big smile. “Wow! Can I come, too?” she asked.
Sophie bit her lip. She was feeling hot. “Um, no. You can’t.”
Now Grace frowned a very big frown. She crossed her arms. “Why not?” she asked.
Sophie took another deep breath. “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you,” she said.
Then she turned around. But Grace turned with her. Her hands were on her hips.
“I thought you were Sophie the Honest. Or are you just a chatterbox?” Grace said.
“I am not a chatterbox!” Sophie said.
She was Sophie the Honest! But then she thought about what that meant. It meant telling the truth … no matter what the consequences were.
“Okay,” Sophie said, standing up straight and tall. “The truth is, Kate can only invite two friends. And she’s inviting me and Sydney. She would have picked you, Grace. But you are too bossy sometimes. But don’t feel bad. Mia laughs too loud. And Eve gets scared at sleepovers.”
“Bossy?” Grace repeated when Sophie stopped for air.
Then Ms. Moffly flashed the lights. It was time for lunch. At last!
Some days, Sophie liked school lunch. Like pizza days — those were good. And some days, she did not. Like this day. Chili day. Blech!
“No, thank you,” she told the lunch lady when she offered Sophie a scoop of chili. “To be honest, it reminds me of mud.” Sophie took two rolls instead. And four pats of butter.
Then she turned to see Kate in line behind her. Kate did not look happy at all.
“I know,” Sophie said. “Chili. Blech!”
But Kate didn’t nod or smile. What she did do was shout, “How could you, Sophie?!”
Then she turned and stomped off.
Chapter 7
How could she?
How could she what?
How could she take two rolls? But she had done that before.
How could she take four butters? Okay. Maybe that was too much.
Or how could she have gotten into the lunch line without Kate? Maybe that was it. Sophie should have waited. But Kate had gone to the bathroom, so Sophie thought it was okay.
She paid for her lunch, grabbed her tray, and hurried to catch up with Kate. Sophie wasn’t sure where Kate was going. She didn’t even have her lunch yet.
“I’m sorry! Honest! I’ll wait for you next time. I promise!” she said.
But Kate didn’t look any happier. In fact, she looked even more mad. “That’s not what I’m mad about,” she said.
“Then what is it?” Sophie asked.
“I’m mad because you told everyone about my horse-riding sleepover!” Kate cried. “And now they’re all mad at me!”
Oh.
Sophie felt like her feet were starting to sink into the floor.
“I’m sorry, Kate. Really, really sorry! But I didn’t tell everyone!” Sophie crossed her heart. “Honest!”
Kate gave her a look. It was a look she gave to Toby sometimes. “Don’t lie!” she said.
“I’m not lying,” said Sophie. “I only told Grace. But I had to. She made me.”
“How did she make you?” Kate asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“Well … she asked me,” Sophie said.
Kate shook her head. “And did she make you tell her I said she was bossy? And that Mia laughs too loud? And that Eve gets scared?” Kate asked. “Because that’s what they said!”
Oh, no!
Grace isn’t just bossy, thought Sophie. She’s bad at keeping secrets, too!
“I didn’t want to tell Grace all of that. I just had to,” Sophie said to Kate. “I was being honest. That’s who I am! Remember?”
Sophie smiled at Kate. She had to understand. She just had to!
But Kate did not smile back. She crossed her arms instead.
“You know what?” Kate said. “Your name shouldn’t be Sophie the Honest. And it shouldn’t be Sophie the Chatterbox, either.” She glared so hard at Sophie, Sophie had to look away. “It should be Sophie the Big Mouth, if you ask me!”
Ouch! Kate’s words hurt more than any pinch from Toby ever had.
“I’m sorry, Kate,” said Sophie, looking down at her shoes. “Don’t be mad. I’m your best friend.”
Kate shook her head slowly. “Honestly, Sophie, I don’t think you are. I just can’t trust you.”
And with that, Kate walked off to get her own rolls and butter.
Sophie looked around. One whole lunch table was staring at her. But Sophie felt so bad, she didn’t even care.
It was Sophie’s worst lunch. Ever. Worse than the one where she dropped the meatball sandwich in her lap.
For one thing, there was no one to sit with.
Not Kate, of course. She was too mad. She sat with Sydney.
And not Grace or Eve or Mia. They were too mad to sit with Sophie or Kate.
Plus Grace had told more girls about Kate’s horse-riding party. And now they were mad, too.
That left only the boys to sit with. But who wanted to sit with them?
Toby walked up to Sophie as she sat all alone. “Why aren’t you sitting with Kate, Chatterbox?” he asked.
Sophie wanted to say, “Mind your own beeswax!” But she was Sophie the Honest. She had to tell the truth … even to Toby.
She lifted her chin. “Because I don’t think we’re friends anymore,” she said.
She was glad that Toby kept on walking. She was pretty sure that if he had stayed, her “no crying in school” rule would have been broken.
Sophie picked up a roll off her tray.
It had raisins in it. Gross!
The rest of the day went by slowly. (And staying inside for recess — Sophie’s consequence from yesterday — didn’t help.)
Finally, it was three o’clock. But for Sophie, that just meant sitting by herself on the bus home.
Or even worse, sitting next to Ella.
Ella Fitzgibbon was in kindergarten. She lived next door to Sophie. She had always been a pest. But then Sophie had saved her life. She’d stopped Ella from running into the street in front of a car, and had become Ella’s hero. Since then, Ella had been worse than ever!
“Sophie!” Ella squeaked. She pointed to the empty seat next to Sophie. “Is Kate sitting here?”
Sophie looked across the bus. Kate was in a seat already. She had to be honest. “No.”
“Oh, goody!” Ella said. She plopped down.
She smelled like crayons and glue and … rotten fruit? Sophie sniffed. What was that?
“Ooh! I like your bug pin!” Ella said. “Hey! Want to see my shrunken head?”
Before Sophie could say yes or no, Ella held up something small and wrinkly. “I made it with an apple! Do you like it?” she asked.
Sophie looked at it closely. It was shrunken, yeah. But a head? Sophie didn’t think so.
She sighed and turned to the window. Suddenly, a hand was on Sophie’s shoulder. Someone was leaning over the seat.
Kate? Sophie looked up hopefully. Did Kate want to talk to her again?
No.
It was just Sophie’s big sister, Hayley.
“How could you?!” she cried.
Chapter 8
How could she?
How could she what this time?
“How could you tell Sam that I had a crush on him?” Hayley whispered.
Sophie sat back in her seat. She had not known that a whisper could sound so mad.
“But I didn’t!” Sophie said quickly. She had never even talked to Sam!