Lara Bergen: Sophie the Snoop

Soccer was a new thing for Sophie. She had just started playing that year.

She had wanted to do something after school. But she hadn’t been sure what. (Just as long as it wasn’t ballet. Her sister, Hayley, did enough of that for both of them.)

Then Kate told Sophie about soccer. She had played the year before.

So Sophie’s mom signed her up, too.

So far, it was pretty fun, though Sophie thought it would be more fun if her ball didn’t always try to roll away. At practice, she was always chasing it while everyone else played.

It would also be nice if her feet would listen to her — for once. Did they think it was funny when she tried to kick and missed the ball?

Sophie did not.

What Sophie liked best about soccer were the uniforms. They were the best color — sour-apple green! And the girls on her team were all supernice. Plus Coach Courtney was great. Especially when she said things like “Good job, Sophie! You’re getting better every week!”

That day Coach Courtney said something else, though. Something not as great. That day she said, “Sophie, what’s with all this running on your toes? Do you think you could stop? And that’s a pretty cool hat. But you can’t wear it while you play, you know.”

Oh .

Actually, maybe those were good things after all. Tiptoe soccer was not easy. And Sophie’s detective hat was making her head sweat a lot. Plus no matter how many times she pushed it back, it kept sliding down to her nose.

Sophie ran over to the sideline, where the girls kept their soccer bags. They all looked the same and were labeled “Official” — which was pretty cool, Sophie thought.

Sophie picked up her bag and dropped her hat inside. Her magnifying glass was already there. Plus a notebook. And a pencil. Just in case there was a soccer mystery. A snoop had to be ready, after all!

She spotted her water bottle on the grass. She picked it up and took a long sip. Then she slipped it into her bag, pulled the drawstring tight, and ran back onto the field.

To start, the team did some drills. They kicked the ball with both sides of their feet. Then they had dribbling races. (And for the first time, Sophie beat Kate!)

After that, Coach Courtney handed out big, bright orange tank tops to half the girls.

It was time to play a real game!

“Can I be goalie?” Sophie asked. Not because she liked to block the ball, but because then she wouldn’t have to run around as much.

During her time in goal, Sophie only let the ball by twice. That was good for her! Then her turn was over. It was time to run back and forth across the field. Sophie got the ball and took a shot … and wow ! She scored!

Or — no. She would have scored — if she hadn’t shot the ball into her own team’s goal.

“Sorry,” she told her teammates.

She would never be named Sophie the Soccer Star. That was for sure.

Finally — hooray! — Coach Courtney called, “Water break, girls!” But Sophie was too tired to drink. She lay down in the grass and took a giant breath instead.

“Sophie! Sophie !” Kate was calling her name.

Sophie looked up and saw Kate pulling a girl named Ana by the hand across the field.

“Tell her, Ana! Tell Sophie what’s wrong!” Kate said.

“It’s my water bottle. I can’t find it anywhere,” Ana said, shrugging.

The Case of the Missing Water Bottle!

Sophie forgot all about being tired. She jumped to her feet. “This sounds like a case for Sophie the Snoop!” she cried.

“See!” Kate grinned. “I told you, Ana.”

Ana nodded at Sophie. “I’m really thirsty! Can you hurry?” she asked.

“I will do my best,” Sophie told her. “There might be witnesses. But first, I need the facts. Where did you last see your water bottle? And did you notice anyone out of the ordinary or suspicious around?”

Ana pointed to the sideline. “The last time I saw my water bottle, it was there. And what do you mean by ‘out of the ordinary’? Do you mean like you before, when you were wearing that funny hat?”

Funny? My hat?

Sophie started to shake her head. But speaking of hats, Sophie wasn’t sure if she needed hers to crack this case. But she did need her notepad and magnifying glass!

Sophie nodded back toward the sideline. “Come on. Follow me.”

She tiptoed — again — as fast as she could across the grass and picked up her bag.

No, wait. That was Kate’s. Sophie picked up another. It was heavier, and it had her name on the side. Perfect. She reached in and pulled out her notepad and a pencil.

She carefully wrote

The Case of the Missing Water Bottle.

Then she looked up at Ana and got ready to list the clues.

“So what does your water bottle look like, exactly?” Sophie asked. “Give me every detail. Don’t leave anything out.”

“Well …” Ana twisted her braids as she thought. “It’s metal.” She paused. “And it’s silver, but not shiny. It’s kind of dull. The top is black. And you twist it off. Oh! And it has two black swooshes on the sides. You know?”

Sophie nodded as she wrote everything down. “Yeah, I think I do. It sounds kind of like my bottle.”

Then Sophie stopped writing.

Hold on .

That sounded a lot like her water bottle. Except for the two-swoosh part. Sophie’s bottle used to have two swooshes, but then the dishwasher washed one off.

Slowly, Sophie bent down. She picked her bag up again, reached in, and felt around.

Whoops .

Sure enough, there were two bottles inside. Sophie pulled out both. She handed the one with two swooshes to Ana.

Kate raised an arm in triumph. “See! I knew she would find it, Ana!”

“Sorry, Ana,” Sophie said, making a face. “I picked yours up by mistake, I guess.”

Ana smiled. “That’s okay. I’m just glad to have it back.” She took a very short drink. “There’s, uh, not much left.”

Whoops. Again .

“Yeah … I guess I drank most of it. Sorry about that, too,” Sophie said.

Tweeeet ! Coach Courtney blew her whistle.

“Back on the field, girls!” she yelled.

“Here, Ana, take my bottle.” Sophie traded with Ana and they ran back onto the field.

Sophie was glad that another case was solved, at least. But if someone else could be guilty the next time … that would be a nice change!

The next day, Sophie’s wish came true. There was a brand-new mystery at school. And Sophie was pretty sure that it did not involve her.

It was the Case of the Missing Ms. Moffly!

Because Sophie’s third-grade class had a substitute.

“Where do you think she is?” some kids whispered as they hung up their coats.

“This is definitely a case for Sophie the Snoop!” Sophie declared. Then she whipped out a spy kit she had put together at home. A real spy kit, just like every snoop should own!

Not only did she have her notebook and magnifying glass, now she had little plastic bags for collecting evidence, too. And her mom’s rubber gloves, to make sure she did not mess up any fingerprints. Fingerprints were a great way to find criminals. Everyone knew that. So Sophie also had baby powder and a small paintbrush and a roll of clear tape. She had learned that they could pick up fingerprints (though she hadn’t tried it yet).