Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! What had Sophie done?
She had gone and put her precious new name in the grubby hands of Toby Myers. That was what!
She heard Ms. Moffly tell the class that their interview time was over. And she watched Toby go back to his desk and start laughing with Archie right away.
Of course he was making fun of her. Sophie could just tell. She wanted to scream! This was not at all how Sophie the Awesome was supposed to start!
Of course, it wouldn’t have been so bad if she had set the jump-rope record. Or if she had done anything awesome so far that day. Then her awesomeness would have been proven. But Sophie could feel it in her guts. She should have waited till the next day to tell everyone her new name.
She had made a BIG mistake.
Maybe, if it was almost three o’clock, Ms. Moffly would let them wait and do their reports tomorrow. Sophie looked at the clock. It was only two-fifteen.
Sophie’s stomach got all knotty as Ms. Moffly called the first group up.
“I interviewed Mindy,” said Jack.
Mindy stood up and took a bow, and Lily applauded loudly.
“Anyway,” Jack went on, “I asked her if she has any brothers and sisters. She doesn’t. I asked her what her favorite sports are. She said gymnastics and ice-skating.”
“And horseback riding!” Mindy added.
“You didn’t say that,” said Jack.
“I just remembered,” said Mindy.
“And horseback riding,” Jack repeated. “And I asked her how many teeth she lost. Six.”
“That’s all?” called out Archie. “I’ve lost eight.”
The whole class giggled.
“I meant eight,” said Mindy quickly. “Is it my turn now?”
“Yes, Mindy,” said Ms. Moffly. “Thank you, Jack. And, class, please be respectful. You all know better than to interrupt.”
The whole class nodded. That didn’t stop the giggling, though.
There was giggling when Mindy said Jack had never had a dessert that was on fire before.
There was giggling when Grace said Ben’s favorite cartoon character was Tweety Bird.
There was giggling when Eve said that Dean was afraid of butterflies.
There was even giggling when Sophie A. said that ants on a log were Kate’s favorite snack. Sophie did not know what was so funny about that. Those things were good!
Sophie could only imagine how much giggling there would be when her nickname came up. It would ruin the whole name thing! Inside, her whole body groaned.
And then it was her turn.
“Sophie M.,” said Ms. Moffly, “why don’t you share with us now? And no more giggling, class, please.”
Sophie looked at the clock. It was only two-forty. Could she make her report last twenty minutes? Long enough that Toby would have to wait till tomorrow? She would have to try.
“Sophie?” said Ms. Moffly. The teacher waited, then leaned toward her. “Sophie?” she said again.
There was giggling. Sophie pointed to herself and looked surprised.
“Huh? Who, me?” she said.
“Yes, you,” said Ms. Moffly patiently.
“Oh, sorry.” Sophie shrugged. “I thought you meant Sophie A.”
“No,” said Ms. Moffly. “I think I said ‘Sophie M.’ And Sophie A. already went.” She cut her eyes across the room. “No giggling, please!”
“So it’s my turn?” said Sophie. She sighed and stood up with her paper.
She cleared her throat.
She counted to three.
Then four. Then five.
“Anytime, Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly.
“Thank you,” said Sophie. “Thank you very, very, very, very, very —”
“Sophie!” Ms. Moffly cut in.
“Much,” Sophie said.
She breathed in. Then out. She looked around the classroom.
“Get on with it!” Archie yelled.
“Archie,” Ms. Moffly said sharply. Then she turned back to Sophie. “It’s okay to be nervous, Sophie. That’s not usually like you,” she added. “But please, just relax and go on.”
Relax. Right. Sophie would do that. She would relax. And go slow.
“Okay … sooooo … I interviewed Toby. Toby Myers. You all know Toby, right?”
“Yes!” the class yelled.
Sophie cleared her throat again. “Okay. Sooooo … I interviewed Toby. Aaaand …”
Sophie carefully studied her paper. Then she picked at some green paint on the back of her hand.
“Yes?” said Ms. Moffly.
Sophie looked at the teacher. “And I found out what his favorite color is.”
“Yes?” said Ms. Moffly again.
Sophie cleared her throat one more time. “Toby Myers’ favorite color is … not blue,” she said.
Giggles popped up all around the room. But Sophie didn’t care. The longer it took for her to give her report, the better.
It was two forty-five. She just had to make her report last fifteen more minutes.
“That’s enough, class,” said Ms. Moffly. “Sophie, please go ahead.”
“Toby … Myers’ … favorite … color … iisssssss …” Sophie put a long pause between each word.
“Red!” Toby yelled.
The whole class clapped and cheered.
“And my favorite ice cream is chocolate! And I have two cats! And I want to be a reporter or a baseball player!” he added.
“Toby!” said Ms. Moffly.
“Sorry.” He shrugged. “She was just going so slow. I was trying to help.”
Help? Sophie glared at Toby harder than she’d ever glared before. She could feel laser beams shoot from her eyes. Well, almost. If they really had, that would have been awesome!
“I’m very sorry you were interrupted, Sophie,” said Ms. Moffly. “Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?”
There sure was! Sophie wanted to tell everybody that Toby Myers was a big, giant pain in the neck! She wanted to tell them not to listen to anything else he had to say. She wanted to tell them that no matter how hard he and the whole class laughed at her that day, the next day she would earn her awesome new name.
But she didn’t. She just said, “No,” sat back down, and waited for Toby to ruin her life.
“I interviewed her,” Toby said. He pointed a thumb in Sophie’s direction.
“The name’s Sophie Miller,” Sophie muttered.
Everyone laughed.
Toby snuck Sophie a teasing look. He was thinking about her nickname. She just knew it. He was thinking about how he should say it, to make it sound as silly as he could.
Sophie put her head down on her desk.
Why did Toby have to be her partner?
And why did she have to tell him, of all people, her awesome new name?
Why couldn’t she have kept her big mouth shut until the next day?
She did not feel like Sophie the Awesome. She felt like Sophie the Dumbest Girl in the Whole World.
“Anyway,” Toby went on. “I found out that she says her favorite baseball and football teams are the Giants. But she probably doesn’t have a clue, because that’s just really weird.”
“It’s crazy!” yelled Archie.
“Archie! Toby!” Ms. Moffly said.
“Well, it is,” Toby said. “And she says her favorite basketball player is a giant. I mean, they’re tall. But giants? Come on.”
He laughed, and a bunch of the boys joined him.
“That’s enough,” said Ms. Moffly. “And remember, Toby, your job as a reporter is to stick to the facts. Are there any other facts you’d like to add?”
Toby looked at Sophie.
Her face felt red. She could only imagine what it looked like. She waited for him to say her new name, and for the whole class to laugh. Again.
But Toby just shrugged and went back to his seat. “Nah. Nothin’ else. She’s way too boring,” he said.
Of course, everyone started giggling. Everyone except Sophie. She had never been so happy to be called boring in her whole life!
Had Toby really just finished his report without making fun of the name Sophie the Awesome at all?
Sophie pinched herself. Ouch! Okay, she wasn’t dreaming.
She didn’t look at Toby, just in case it might remind him. But she silently thanked him. Who would have thought that Toby could do something so … awesome?