Sophie the Hero Read Online Free PDF Page A

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 gloomilytook 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!”

T he 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!”