Lara Bergen: Sophie the Daredevil

Sophie held her breath and waited. Mindy was thinking; Sophie could tell. She bet she was thinking of something Mindyish. Something like, oh, kissing her shoe. But if that was what it took to make Mindy think she was a daredevil, then that was exactly what Sophie would do.

Bring it on, Sophie thought.

But Mindy did not.

Instead, she said, “Let me think about it. Here. Take my backpack, Lily. Let’s go.”

Hmph!

The next day was Saturday. Yay! That meant a bunch of great things:

No school.

TV in the morning.

And chocolate chip pancakes!

Plus this Saturday there was one more great thing: Mia’s birthday party. Hooray!

Well, it was a half-great thing, really. The great part was that the party was at the brand-new rec center pool. But boys were invited, which made it half horrible, too.

None of the girls had been happy when Mia told them that news. At first, Sydney even said she wasn’t going. Boys ruined everything, according to her.

Mia told them she couldn’t help it. She said her mom had made her invite the whole class. But Sophie knew the real reason the boys were invited: Mia had to invite Ben because he was her best friend. And parents seemed to have this rule that when you invited one boy or girl, you had to invite all of them.

Sophie thought that was another good reason not to have a boy for a best friend.

Oh, well. No party was perfect. And Mia said it was a very big pool. Maybe there was even a baby pool for the boys to use. (Ha! Kate had told her that joke. Sophie thought it was pretty good.)

Still, Sophie could hardly wait for the party. She dug out her bathing suit as soon as she got up in the morning. The party didn’t start until two. But she put it on, anyway.

The suit was Sophie’s favorite — a blue-green tankini with lots and lots of butterflies. But … Hmmm. Sophie guessed she had grown since the summer. She didn’t remember it feeling so tight.

And look… There was her belly button. She didn’t think that had showed before.

No, her suit didn’t look — or feel — as good as it used to. But that was okay. At least it matched her hair that day!

“Your hair!” her mom had exclaimed as soon as she’d seen it the night before.

That was pretty much what her dad had said, too. But he added, “Is it real?!”

Yes, it was real. Real hair — that was really blue!

Why? Because her sister, Hayley, had said, “I dare you.”

Sophie had asked her for a dare. And Hayley had blue hair spray left from last Halloween.

“I dare you to do it. And wear it all weekend,” said Hayley.

So of course Sophie did!

She really liked it, too. It looked super-daring, just like a daredevil’s hair should!

Sure enough, when Sophie got to the rec center, her hair got oohs and aahs right away.

“Too bad you have to wear a swim cap!” Kate said.

Yes, it was too bad. But what could she do? Sophie could dare to break the swim cap rule, but she’d just get kicked out of the pool.

She put on her white rubber swim cap. (Ugh. It was even tighter than her suit.) Then she grabbed Kate’s hand, and they followed Grace and Sydney to the pool.

It really was big! And it was indoors, which was so cool!

The only other indoor pool Sophie had been to was in a hotel she had stayed in last spring break. That was definitely the best part of her family trip to Washington, D.C. But that pool seemed like a puddle now. This pool was a million times bigger, at least!

Sophie walked — she didn’t run — to the edge. (That was a pool rule, she knew.) Some of her friends were already swimming. Sophie couldn’t wait to jump in, too!

But just then, Mia and Eve and Ben walked up.

“Yay! You’re here!” said Mia. “Want to try the slide with us?”

Slide? Sophie turned. Wow! Talk about cool! There was a real waterslide. And it was swirly, too! But that wasn’t all. There was something else at the end of the pool. Not one, but two diving boards. And one of them was super high!

Sophie crossed her arms. She knew something right then for sure. No matter how many boys came, this would be the best party in the world! Why? Because there were millions of dares to do in this pool!

Dares like holding her breath underwater. And going down the slide headfirst. And what about the high dive? Who would dare her to jump from that?

Sophie couldn’t wait to find out. And she didn’t have to!

Mia saw her staring at the high dive. “Hey, Sophie. What would you do if I dared you to jump from there?”

Sophie put her hands on her hips. “I’d do it. Of course!” she said.

“Whoa!” Ben looked surprised.

Kate made a “really?” face. “Are you sure? It’s pretty high, you know.”

Sophie stuck out her chin. “You know there’s not a dare that I won’t do! That high dive has my name all over it!”

“Hey, everyone!” Mia shouted. Most of the class was now in the pool. “Guess what. I dared Sophie to jump off the high dive. And she’s going to!”

“Wow!”

“Ooh!”

Sophie grinned and took it all in. She felt like she’d been wrapped up in a warm towel. She took a quick bow. Then she walked — she didn’t run — across the deck to the diving boards.

She reached the ladder and bowed again. She heard a few more whoops and cheers.

Then she heard a whistle. “Hey, you! Not so fast!”

Huh? Sophie looked over her shoulder. A lifeguard was staring at Sophie from her chair.

“How old are you?” the guard asked.

“Um … eight.” Couldn’t she tell?

“Well, if you’re under twelve, you have to pass a high-dive test,” the lifeguard said.

Then she pointed to a sign. It said pretty much the same thing.

“Oh …” A test? Really? thought Sophie. “So … what does that mean?”

The lifeguard explained that it meant she had to swim the looong way across the pool. Then she had to tread water. In the deep end. For a whole minute.

But that was no problem! “I can do that!” Sophie said.

She had done exactly the same thing in the old, outdoor rec pool. She had never liked taking swim lessons very much. But now she was glad her mom forced her to.

She jumped in and started swimming … and treading water … until she passed the test. Then she climbed out of the deep end. Whew.

“I did it!” Sophie called.

“The diving board’s all yours,” the lifeguard replied. Then she leaned out of her chair. “Hey, kid! You’re blue! Are you alright?”

Blue? What was she talking about? Sophie looked down. Sure enough, a bright blue puddle was forming below her on the tile.

Oh, no! What’s wrong with me? Sophie worried. But a second later, she knew. It was Hayley’s blue hair spray. It had washed off in the pool!

Hayley had never said if it was waterproof. And Sophie had never thought to ask. Now she didn’t have to.

She wiped her face off with her hands. Yep. They were blue, too.

The lifeguard pointed to the locker room. “I think you need a shower,” she said, “before you get back in this pool.”

Sophie came back from the shower clean and ready to jump. But there was one big problem. No one was watching anymore. Now everyone was playing Marco Polo in the shallow end.

Sophie waved. But nobody saw her. “Yoo-hoo!” She waved again.

At last, Kate noticed her. “Hey!” she yelled. “Sophie’s back! She’s going to try again!”