Lara Bergen: Sophie the Daredevil

Sophie grinned and waved “thanks” to Kate. Then she took another bow. Then she grabbed the ladder and started climbing. One rung … two rungs … until she started slowing down.

Wow. This diving board really was high! How high had she climbed? She stopped to look down.

Agh! She was way, WAY off the ground.

Sophie quickly looked back up. The top was still far away. A lump was lumping in her throat. She tried to swallow it. But it stayed.

“Go, Sophie!” she heard kids shout. And suddenly, she wished she were down with them, splashing and playing in the shallow end.

Then she stopped. What was she thinking? If she were there, who would she be? She sure wouldn’t be Sophie the Daredevil anymore. She wouldn’t be special. And she wouldn’t be unique.

She swallowed her lump (or at least most of it). And she started to climb again.

“Go, Sophie, go!” she heard. And it helped a little bit. Still, Sophie couldn’t help shaking. She wondered if everyone could tell. And would her trembling, slippery hands hold her? She was almost surprised that they did.

Finally, she got to the top.

“Yay!” the kids in the pool below cheered.

Yay … and HELP! Sophie thought.

She closed her eyes and reminded herself, I am a daredevil! There’s not a dare I won’t do. I’ve already worn a hat that Archie licked. And I stuck my nose in Dean’s shoes. (Ew!) I’ve even been in the boys’ bathroom. And dyed my hair blue! Dares aren’t supposed to be easy. They’re supposed to be hard. And they’re supposed to give you tingles. Even if the tingles don’t feel good.

Okay. That seemed to work. A little. She could do this. She could. She just had to open her eyes and step forward. So she did…

AHHHH!

She stepped back as fast as she could.

What was she thinking? She could not look over the edge. She was at least a mile high. She needed a parachute for this!

Meanwhile, her friends were waving. They looked far away … and small. And the water below her? It looked far away … and hard.

I have to jump. And I will! Sophie thought.

Just as soon as I count to ten. One … two … three …

She got to ten. And didn’t move.

She still wasn’t ready. So she tried it again … but it still didn’t work.

Maybe if she counted backward?

Ten … nine … eight …

Her mind was saying, “Jump, Sophie the Daredevil! If you can go in the boys’ room, you can jump in a pool!” But it didn’t matter. The rest of her was saying, “Don’t move!”

Meanwhile, a brand-new handstand contest had started in the shallow end. Everyone had gotten tired of waiting — except for Kate. She put her hands up as if to say, “What gives?”

“Hey, kid,” the lifeguard called. Sophie was way above her now. “You’ve got to jump, you know. If you can’t, you’ve got to climb down. Those are the rules.”

Sophie bit her lip. Climb down? Would Sophie the Daredevil really climb down?

Now she didn’t know which was worse: risking her life by jumping, or risking her name by giving up!

“Bwock! Bwock! Look! It’s Sophie the Chicken! So there is a dare she can’t do!”

Sophie’s eyes zoomed around and landed on Toby and Archie. Grrrrr! Her hands made fists.

Archie was pointing and laughing. But Toby was doing something worse: He was flapping his bony elbows and totally making fun of her!

Sophie stopped trembling. Completely. Sophie the Chicken, huh?! She put her hands on her hips. “I am not a chicken, either!” she called. She took a step forward. “I am a — AGGHHHH!!!”

Oh, no! What had she done?

Had she stepped off the edge of the board? She hadn’t meant to step that far!

Sophie’s eyes were shut tight … but yes, she was pretty sure that was what she had done.

She was falling through the air. Her arms flapped, but they could not keep her up. At least she wasn’t screaming — now that her stomach was in her throat.

Sophie wondered how long it would last. How long did it take to fall a whole mile? Should she try to open her eyes? Should she try to hold her nose? Should she try to stop waving her arms and legs before she —

Smack!

— hit the water?

Ouch!

Sophie opened her eyes then. She was underwater. Way under, in fact. She pulled and kicked until she popped to the surface. She gulped for air. Hooray! She was still alive.

And then it suddenly hit her: She had done the dare! She was still, without a doubt, for sure, the most daring kid in her whole class!

Sophie beamed as she climbed out of the deep end.

Kate was there to meet her. “Are you okay?”

Sophie nodded. “Of course! I’m awesome! So? How was my jump?” she asked.

Kate’s mouth twisted. Her nose wrinkled. “It looked like it hurt,” she said.

Sophie pumped her fist. “Yes!” she said. “That makes it even more daring! Doesn’t it?”

She stood up, dripping, and fixed her bathing suit. (The jump had — oops — twisted it some.)

“I sure showed Toby and Archie, didn’t I!” she told Kate.

“Um … yeah …,” Kate said. But she didn’t look so sure.

Sophie turned to bow to the shallow end, just like any great daredevil should.

“Yeah!”

“Yay!”

Wow! Were those cheers?

“Listen to that!” she said to Kate.

But Kate did not look thrilled. Instead, she pointed up. Sophie followed her finger. The next second, her jaw dropped.

Toby was standing up on the high dive! He did a strong-man pose. Then he yelled, “Ay, caramba!” and ran … and jumped!

Sophie couldn’t believe it.

He didn’t!

But he did.

Kate put her hand on Sophie’s shoulder. “Who cares? You were the first,” she said.

Right. Sophie nodded. That was the truth. Anyone could go second. Daredevils went first.

Plus Toby’s jump didn’t even look like it hurt!

Still, it was Toby who had gotten those cheers. And that wasn’t fair. It was giving Sophie a feeling. The feeling of losing her name. There was only one thing to do, she knew: climb back up and jump again.

And this time, she should do it backward. Or maybe add a flip.

But what if she climbed back up and was afraid to jump again?

She looked at the diving board high above her. Yeah. That could happen, she guessed.

Plus she really wanted to slide down the waterslide and do handstands in the shallow end.

Being a daredevil was so hard! Sophie sighed. She had to choose. Then she sighed again. Nope, she didn’t have to choose — because Mia’s mom was calling them.

“Time to get out of the pool, kids! There’s pizza and cake in the party room!”

Great, Sophie thought. This should have been the best party ever. Now it was the worst. And all because of Toby. Mia should never have invited boys!

The girls went to their locker room, while the boys all went to theirs. The girls showered and changed out of their bathing suits.

“That was so much fun!” Sydney said.

“I’m totally having my birthday party here, too!” Grace declared.