“Archie.” Ms. Moffly’s voice was firmer now. “Please get a tissue from my drawer. I insist,” she said.
Archie got up with a groan. Sophie slowly opened her eyes.
Well, she had gotten out of saving Archie one time, but she could not get out of it again. Besides, heroes could not pick and choose. They had to save everyone.
Sophie turned to Kate. She wished that she could wink. But she couldn’t, so she just smiled. Then she crouched on the balls of her feet. She was ready to save Archie when he screamed.
But he did not scream. Or jump. Or even say, “Hey, look at that. It’s a snake.”
What Archie did was open the desk drawer, take out a tissue, and blow his nose. Hard. Then he closed the drawer and dropped the dirty tissue on the desktop.
“Archie! Put that in the wastepaper basket, please,” Ms. Moffly said.
Sophie sat back. Her mouth hung open. How could Archie have missed the bright orange snake in the desk drawer? Were his eyes broken?
Archie shot the tissue into the garbage like a basketball. “Yeah! Three-pointer!” he called.
Nope. Archie’s eyes were fine. Which could mean only one thing.
Uh-oh!
The snake was gone!
Ms. Moffly kept reading, but Sophie did not hear a word. She looked around the classroom carefully. Snakes did not just disappear. At least, Sophie did not think so.
Rumplesnakeskin had to be somewhere. But where?
The end,” Ms. Moffly said a little while later, closing the book. “Sophie M., what did you think?”
Sophie felt Kate nudge her.
“Hmm?” she murmured. She had been trying to look under the bookcase for a candy-corn-colored snake.
“What did you think of the story?” Ms. Moffly asked again. “Did it surprise you that a mouse could be such a hero?”
“The mouse was a hero?” said Sophie.
Really? Huh. She was sorry she had missed that.
“Oh, Ms. Moffly!” Mindy’s hand shot up.
“Yes, Mindy?” said Ms. Moffly.
“I don’t think that mouse was really a hero,” Mindy said. “He didn’t save the boy from a fire, or anything.”
“But he did drive an ambulance,” Ben said.
An ambulance? Sophie was very sorry she had missed that.
“Well, why don’t we go back to our desks and write down what we each think makes a hero,” Ms. Moffly said.
She stood up and put the book back on the shelf.
“Let’s each make a list and share it,” she said. “And remember, a hero can be someone who is very strong or brave. But a hero can also be someone who is very generous, wise, or kind.”
Then Ms. Moffly walked to her desk to put away her glasses.
“I know what will be first on my list,” Mindy said.
“What?” Lily asked.
“Saving people — or kittens — from fires,” Mindy said.
“Oh, mine too,” Lily said.
Kate rolled her eyes. Sophie would have, too, but her eyes were too busy looking around for Rumplesnakeskin.
“Do you know what will be last on my list?” Mindy went on.
“What?” Lily asked.
Mindy looked right at Sophie. “Saving Slinkys,” she said.
“Oh, mine too!” Lily agreed.
Sophie glared at Mindy. For a second, she forgot about looking for snakes.
How many times did she have to tell Mindy? She had not saved Slinkys. She had saved a kindergartner. There was a big difference!
But Sophie did not get to tell Mindy that.
Because Ms. Moffly started screaming her head off before Sophie could even open her mouth!
Chapter 9
“Agh! Snake!” cried Ms. Moffly. “A snake!”
She was standing frozen by her desk, staring at her chair.
Kate grabbed Sophie’s arm. “Ooh! Ms. Moffly screams good, don’t you think?” she said.
But that was not what Sophie thought.
The first thing Sophie thought was Phew. She found Rumplesnakeskin.
The second thing she thought was Hey! This is my chance to be a hero again!
And the third thing she thought was Oh, no!
Because before Sophie could move, Toby ran over and picked Rumplesnakeskin up off the chair!
Ms. Moffly’s eyes were big and wide. “Be careful, Toby!” she said.
“Oh, it’s okay,” he told her. “It’s just a corn snake. They don’t bite.”
Ms. Moffly’s face untwisted. A little. “Well, you are still very brave, Toby,” she said.
But that was not all she said.
“In fact, I believe you are my hero today!” she added.
Sophie could not believe her ears!
“Yeah, Toby!” the whole class cheered. They began to gather around him and Rumplesnakeskin. Even Kate ran up to see the snake.
Only Sophie stayed back, thinking, I was supposed to be Ms. Moffly’s hero! Those cheers should be for me, not Toby!
How was she going to be Sophie the Hero now?
Sophie stood alone in the reading corner, crossing her arms and frowning. Life was not fair, not when even Toby could be a hero! Why did he have to be such a giant pain?
Sophie almost stomped her foot. She almost did not even want to be a hero now!
Maybe Ms. Moffly was right. Lots of people could be heroes. They could be heroes for all kinds of things, in all kinds of different ways. And maybe being a hero wasn’t the best thing for Sophie. Maybe it was better to be something else.
But what?
Oh, poor Rumplesnakeskin! Sophie looked at him and felt bad. She had not meant for him to end up in Toby’s yucky hands.
She watched Toby pet the snake’s head. “Can we keep it?” Toby asked.
“We can call it Corn Dog!” Archie said.
“Oh, can we hold it? Can we? Please?” a bunch of kids asked.
Ms. Moffly shook her head and held up her hand. “Now, just a minute, class,” she said. “This is not a toy. It’s a wild animal, remember.”
“Uh, I don’t know,” said Toby. “I think it’s a pet.”
“A pet?” said Ms. Moffly. “Well, where did it come from?” she asked. She looked a little closer. “You know, this snake looks a lot like Mr. Bloom’s new snake,” Ms. Moffly said. “I wonder if it is….”
Sophie watched her tap her chin. Sophie was suddenly very nervous. But she was also very impressed. Ms. Moffly was pretty smart for a teacher.
“Toby, you stay there. Everyone else, take a step back,” Ms. Moffly said. Then she picked up the phone on the wall by her desk.
“Hello, Mr. Bloom? It’s Lila Moffly, in room 10. I was just wondering if maybe you lost a snake.”
Sophie watched Ms. Moffly listen for the answer. The teacher bit her lip. Then her eyebrows went up.
“You have?” said Ms. Moffly. “Well, we found one! Yes. It is orange…. Where? On my chair … Oh, believe me, I’m still shaking! We’ll bring it back to you now. I have a brave student holding it right here.” Ms. Moffly smiled down at Toby.
Sophie felt like smoke might actually come out of her ears.
Ms. Moffly hung up and looked around the room.
“Well, I was right,” she said. “But how in the world did that snake get in here?”
Sophie quickly turned around. She did not want Ms. Moffly to look at her and get any more ideas.
She grabbed a book from the reading shelf. She had read it before. (Twice.) But she opened it and tried to look busy … and not guilty at all.
“Sophie?”
She heard Ms. Moffly’s voice, but she did not turn around. Besides, Ms. Moffly could have been calling Sophie A., not her.