“Come on, Kate. Let me change my shirt. Then we can go out to the playhouse,” she said.
“Hang on!” Sophie’s mom said. “Don’t you want to take a shower?” She lunged for Max as he pulled open the fridge. “Not so fast, young man!”
Sophie felt her pigtails. They were stiff and crunchy, and she knew they were bright blue. But now that the paint was dry, it didn’t feel that bad.
“Nah. I’ll take one later,” she said.
Sophie had wasted too much time already. She still had to make a heroic plan!
She pulled Kate toward the stairs. “Yell if you need a hero!” she called back over her shoulder.
As soon as she had changed, Sophie led Kate outside to her playhouse. She had the bananas in her pocket and Tiptoe in her hands.
Sophie’s playhouse had been Hayley’s, until she got too big for it. Now Sophie was getting too big, too. She had to duck when she went in. But there was still just enough room for two third graders inside. And it was still Sophie’s favorite place to have long, important talks with her best friend.
It used to be Sophie’s favorite place to play Hansel and Gretel with Toby. But that was back when they had been little. Back when they had been best friends.
Sophie sat down on a small wooden chair and let Tiptoe tiptoe around her feet. Then she reached for the pencil and notepad on the counter.
“Okay,” she said, trying to be businesslike. “What are some other things I can do to be a hero?”
“Hmm …” Kate thought for a second. Then she leaned out the little playhouse window. “Ooh, check out that giant spiderweb!”
Sophie watched her friend. “Hey! That’s it!” she said.
“What?” Kate said.
“You pretend to fall out the classroom window tomorrow, and I’ll catch you!” Sophie said.
Kate looked at her funny. “I don’t think so,” she said.
“Why not?” Sophie asked. “I promise I’ll catch you. And even if I don’t … we’re on the first floor.”
Kate crossed her arms and looked at Sophie the way her mom sometimes did.
“Okay. Fine,” Sophie said. She knew it wasn’t the best idea. But it was something.
“Besides, I’m your sidekick,” Kate said. “I need to be beside you, not hanging out the window.”
“You’re right,” Sophie said, scratching her crunchy, paint-covered head. She drew a big curly question mark on her paper. “But my next heroic deed has to be something good, like the firefighters talked about this morning.”
Kate nodded. “Right,” she said. “Like the school catching fire so you can save everyone or something.”
Sophie’s felt her eyebrows jump up. “Exactly!” she said.
“But we don’t want the school to catch fire,” Kate said quickly.
“No. Of course not.” Sophie shook her head. “But what if I pull the fire alarm anyway? What if I tell everyone I thought there was a fire? And that I was trying to save them?”
She could almost hear the cheers. She could imagine Principal Tate giving her a great big medal!
Then she saw Kate shake her head.
“If you pull the alarm, ink will spray out. And you’ll get kicked out of school,” Kate said.
“Oh … too bad,” Sophie said. She sighed.
She put down her notepad and picked up Tiptoe.
Would she ever think of some way to be a hero again?
What were other hero things firefighters did? If only she had some Jaws of Life! Or was it Jaws of Death? (And what were they, exactly?)
“Ouch!” Sophie cried all of a sudden. Tiptoe had grabbed her hair.
She reached up and gently pried the kitten’s claws loose. The dried paint made it harder. Then a thought hit Sophie smack in the middle of her blue head.
“Come on, Kate! It’s time to rescue a kitten from a tree!” she said.
They ran outside, and Sophie tried her best to get Tiptoe to climb the pine tree.
Then the maple tree.
Then the elm tree.
But Tiptoe did not want to climb any tree at all.
In fact, the more Sophie tried to help her, the more tightly Tiptoe clung to Sophie. Sophie was glad the kitten’s claws were so tiny. Or they might have hurt. A lot.
Oh, well. Sophie sighed. She set Tiptoe down on the grass beside her. Then she pulled the bananas out of her pocket and handed one to Kate.
Sophie peeled hers with a frown and gloomily took a bite. Then she chewed it, thinking hard. And slowly, she began to smile.
Sophie pulled the peel all the way off her banana. Then she held it up in front of Kate’s face.
“I’ve got it!” Sophie declared. “This is just what I need to be a hero!”
Chapter 6
The next day, in the lunch line, Sophie took a banana. It had some brown spots. But for once, that was okay.
Sophie and Kate sat down, but not at their usual table. They sat at the one by the trash can, near the tray rack.
Sophie quickly ate her banana. It tasted better than it looked. At the same time, Kate dug into her food. It was her favorite: breakfast for lunch.
“Are you really going to do it?” Kate asked. She slurped some syrup off her spoon.
Sophie nodded. When the coast was clear, she tossed her banana peel onto the floor.
Then Sophie stuck a finger into her syrup and licked it. But she was too excited to eat more. Besides, she liked pancakes with chocolate chips. But plain? Not so much.
Sophie sat back and waited. She had everything planned out. All the students had to walk by her to put away their trays. She just needed someone to slip on the banana peel. Then Sophie would jump up and save the person. She would be a hero again! (And she’d drawn an H on another shirt to be ready.)
It was hard for Sophie to wait for everyone to finish eating. But at last, some kids got up to clear their trays.
Sophie moved to the edge of her seat. “This is it!” she whispered to Kate.
Except it was not. Because nobody slipped.
Sophie stared hard at the floor, and even harder at the banana peel. At least a hundred feet stepped over it — but not one touched it.
“I can’t believe it!” Sophie told Kate.
“I know,” Kate said. “Hey, are you going to eat that?” She pointed to Sophie’s pancakes.
Sophie slid them over. “Go ahead.”
“Thanks! We sidekicks have to keep up our strength,” Kate said, digging in.
Of course, Sophie was glad that some people did not slip. Like Dean, since he was the biggest kid in her class. Could Sophie really catch him if he fell?
She wasn’t sure about that.
And then there was Mindy, who walked by with Lily. They were pointing and giggling and Mindy’s foot almost touched the peel.
Phew! Sophie was glad it missed! She knew she could save Mindy, but she did not really want to. That would be as bad as saving Archie or Toby, who walked by next.
Sophie held her breath and kept her eyes down. She watched their sneakers step up to the peel … and stop.
“Check it out,” said Archie. “There’s a banana peel on the floor!”
Sophie felt Kate kick her under the table. Her throat got very tight, and her heart beat a little faster. Was Archie going to pick it up and ruin her plan?
But Archie had something different in mind. “Geronimooo!” he yelled as he jumped and landed—SPLAT! — right on the banana peel.
To Sophie’s surprise, he did not slip. He just jumped off.
“Sweet!” Toby yelled.
The boys high-fived and walked away.
“Aw. Too bad,” said Kate.