Sophie turned from the picture to Ms. Bart.
“Is that you?” she asked.
Ms. Bart grinned. “It sure is!”
Sophie headed back to her table. Kate was almost done with her self-portrait. She was adding freckles. “What do you think?” she asked. “Too much?”
Sophie grinned and shook her head. “No. Definitely not.”
Kate had made her hair a little wilder than it really was. And her eyes were kind of far from her triangle nose. But her smile was so big you hardly noticed at all.
Sophie picked up her pencil and thought about how she felt inside. She leaned over her paper and she started to draw.
Ms. Bart came over later, just as she was finishing.
“Sophie,” she said. “That’s wonderful! I can’t wait to hang it up.”
Sophie smiled. It wasn’t perfect. Her ears looked like seashells. And her bangs were way too short. But she liked the way her smile curled up just enough. And her long eyelashes made her light brown eyes stand out.
Some kids had just drawn a face. But Sophie drew a shirt, too. Not the plain red one she was wearing. No. This shirt was green, and it had a rainbow heart in the middle that got bigger the more she drew. Her smile was not as big as Kate’s. But it showed lots of teeth (and a space for the one she had lost recently).
In fact, the more she looked at her portrait, the more proud Sophie felt. But she wasn’t sure she wanted it hung up.
“Is it okay if I take it with me?” she asked Ms. Bart.
The art teacher nodded. “Oh, yes!” she said. “Of course!”
Sophie had one more thing to add. It was the most important part — a big speech bubble. Because her feelings had something to say to someone.
Chapter 10
Back in room 10, after art, Sophie walked up to Ms. Steele.
She swallowed. Two times. And she handed the sub her self-portrait.
“For me?” Ms. Steele asked. She gently took it. And something happened to her eyes. They got crinkly at the corners. Sophie got a little worried. Then she saw that it was part of a big smile.
The sub looked down at Sophie’s picture and read the words:
I am sorry I snooped in your stuff.
I hope you sub for us again.
I have a message for you, too:
“Good luck, Sophie Steele.”
Ms. Steele’s eyes moved to Sophie. “Thank you so much, Sophie. This means a lot.”
Sophie sighed. She felt much better. It was good to have those feelings out.
But she was still feeling other things. They quickly filled her insides up.
She still felt sorry that her snooping had gone so wrong. She had thought she was a natural snoop. Now she guessed that she was not.
And she felt mixed up about Toby. Was he really being mean? Had he been trying to make her look silly when he’d faked those mysteries? Or maybe he didn’t hate her as much as she thought. Maybe he was trying to help her be Sophie the Snoop after all.
It was so hard to know!
She went back to her seat — the one next to Toby.
I should have asked the sub if I could move, Sophie thought.
She checked the clock. It was almost three. Phew. Any minute, the bell would ring. Then she could get up and go.
But maybe, just maybe, she should take this chance. Maybe she should say something to Toby. Maybe she should even thank him.
But how?
Well, there was one way. Sophie swallowed — hard.
“Thank you, Toby,” she said very, very softly.
Toby’s head was down. He’d been pulling rubber off the edge of his shoe. Slowly, he looked up.
“For what?” he asked her.
“Uh …” Sophie bit her lip. Her mind was suddenly blank. What should she say next?
“For getting us both in big trouble today”?
No. That was no good. “For trying to help me be Sophie the Snoop”?
But Toby was looking at her so funny Sophie wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
“Uh, for letting me borrow your pencil. Even if I did get cooties on it,” she mumbled.
“Oh, that.” Toby shrugged. But then he also grinned a little.
Wow. They were almost having a conversation!
And then the bell rang.
Ms. Steele stood up.
“Good-bye, class,” she said. “It’s been a … um … very memorable day.”
Sophie got up along with the rest of the class. Then she turned back to Toby. There were suddenly things she wanted to ask. Did he even know she was playing soccer now? And had he gotten a new dog yet?
But the next thing she knew, Archie was standing next to them. And that wasn’t all. He had her Sherlock Holmes hat!
“Hey, that’s my hat! Hand it over!” Sophie cried.
Archie stuck out his tongue. “Make me!” He laughed.
Sophie glared and tried to grab the hat. But Archie was too quick.
“Hey, Arch!” she heard Toby say. “Pass it. Over here!”
Sophie turned to see Toby waving. She did not know what she was more full of — surprise or happiness.
Archie didn’t know that Toby was on her side again! She watched Archie toss Toby the hat. And she crossed her arms and grinned. She held one hand out and waited for Toby to give her the hat.
Then … what?
Sophie couldn’t believe it. Toby took the hat and ran out of the room instead!
How could she, Sophie Miller, have been so dumb? Toby Myers had not changed. Not one little bit!
Sophie chased him into the hall and all the way outside, with Archie close behind. “Give it back, right now! It’s not even my hat. It’s my dad’s,” she called.
“Then he’ll have to make me,” Toby shouted back. “Here, Archie! Catch!”
Ugh! Inside, Sophie groaned. If there was one game she really disliked, it was keep-away. She hated it so much!
“I’m not kidding, guys,” she yelled. “Give it back!”
By then, the whole class had gathered around.
“You know, the substitute is coming,” Grace warned them.
Archie shrugged. “Oh, all right,” he said to Sophie. “Have your hat back. Here.”
He started to hand it to Sophie. But then he stopped and did something terrible — something that made the whole class go, “Oh, no!”
Archie held up her hat and he licked it.
Ew! Gross! Sophie thought.
She took the hat with two fingers. She didn’t know what else to do. She held it very far away from her. And she wrinkled up her nose.
“Put it on. I dare you,” Archie said. He laughed and gave Toby a high five.
Sophie’s nose unwrinkled. She glared her fiercest glare. Had Archie just dared her?
How dare he do that!
She looked at the poor hat, all cootied up with Archie’s spit. She did not want to wear it. But now she had to.
Sophie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she set the hat on her head.
“Whoa!” her friends gasped.
“Wow! You really did it,” Kate said beside her. She was impressed.
Sophie shrugged. “Well, he dared me, didn’t he? There’s never been a dare I wouldn’t do…” Then suddenly, she smiled. She was getting an idea! “Hey, Kate! Maybe that’s it!”
Kate grabbed her hand. She waggled her eyebrows and grinned. “Come on, Sophie the Daredevil!” she said. “Let’s go home and wash that hat!”
Preview
Does Sophie dare to try out a new name?
