Lara Bergen: Sophie the Daredevil

Sophie looked down at the cup in front of her. It was full. Very full. And what it was full of did not look very good.

“Drink it!” said Jack. He leaned across the lunch table.

Sophie sighed and waited for it…

“Go ahead. I dare you!”

The other kids from her class were all gathered around. “Drink it! Drink it!” they chanted.

“I will, I will,” Sophie said at last. “You dared me. And there’s not a dare that I won’t do.”

But she also couldn’t help leaning back in her chair. Whew! That cup did not smell very good!

It pretty much smelled like the things that were in it. And by themselves, those things were okay. Sophie liked milk. And fruit punch. And chocolate pudding. And ketchup. And applesauce. And ranch dressing. And chicken noodle soup.

But together?

Not so much.

But Sophie had asked for it. Well … she had asked for a dare. Anything to help her prove her great new name.

Sophie the Daredevil! How good did that sound?! Sophie had been looking for a name that would make her stand out. She was tired of feeling average in every single way. She was sure the right name could change that. And here it was, at last!

It had come to her when she had put that hat on — the one that Archie Dolan had licked.

“I dare you to put it on,” he told her.

“Oh, yeah?” she said.

And she did!

No one thought she would do it. (Who knew what kind of germs Archie had?) But Sophie stared Archie in the eyeball and totally showed them.

Of course, as soon as Sophie got the hat home, she washed it really, really well.

Sophie knew if she could do that dare, she could do any dare in the world. And she made sure to tell her friends the next day: “Dare me! Bring it on!”

She had lots of ideas about what some extrafun dares would be. Dares like climbing up the big oak tree. Or jumping off the swing. Or holding her breath for a whole minute. (She even started practicing that one.)

But so far, her friends’ dares had been … different. In a word, they had been GROSS.

So far, Sophie had licked the blacktop and the school bus window. She had smelled Dean’s sneakers (both of them!) and sat on a mysterious wet spot.

Then there was the lunchroom. That was getting to be too much. This “Drink of Doom” was Sophie’s second one.

Sophie looked down at the lumpy liquid. A noodle floated to the top.

“Drink it! Drink it! Drink it!” her friends chanted.

She swallowed hard to keep the pizza she’d just eaten from coming up.

Sophie’s best friend, Kate, patted her back. “Close your eyes and pretend it’s a smoothie. Just like the last time,” she said.

“Right.” Sophie made a face. She wondered if she’d ever drink a smoothie again. She guessed she would if someone dared her. Ugh. That thought made her feel worse!

At last, she sat up straight. She took a deep breath and grabbed the cup. She pinched her nose with her other hand and squeezed her eyes shut.

Gulp … gulp … gulp. She let the liquid slosh down her throat.

Then she put the cup down and covered her mouth. Uh-oh. She did not feel good.

For a second she thought, Was it worth it?

Then a cheer rang out: “Yay, Sophie!”

She grinned. Yep! It was worth it. She had shown everyone that she was a daredevil again.

Plus her friends had to be tired of gross dares now. She turned to Kate, and they high-fived.

That was when Eve slid a plate in front of Sophie. “Hey, Sophie. I dare you to eat this!” she said.

Oh, boy.

Sophie looked down. It was a sandwich. She slowly lifted the top piece of bread. Sure enough, it looked like everyone in the lunchroom had added something to it. Though thanks to the chocolate pudding on top, it was kind of hard to tell.

“Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!” Quickly, a new chant started up.

“It’s going to be hard to pretend this is a smoothie, isn’t it?” Kate said, giggling.

Sophie sighed. She rolled her eyes. Was this the best they could do? Sophie was ready and willing to do anything — not only swallow disgusting food.

Where were the “ride your bike with no hands” dares? Or the “knock on mean old Mrs. Corrigan’s door” dares? Where were the “skateboard blindfolded” dares? Not that she really wanted one of those.

She crossed her arms. “I am Sophie the Daredevil. Not Sophie the Garbage Disposal,” she declared. “Doesn’t somebody want to dare me to do something just plain daring?” she asked.

Eve frowned and looked down at the sandwich. Some other kids shrugged. Some other kids nodded and seemed to try to think of stuff.

Good, Sophie thought. Now maybe her stomach could take a break.

She rubbed her hands together. “Somebody dare me! Go ahead.”

“I have a dare for you,” somebody said. Sophie turned to see the somebody. It was Toby Myers! Uh-oh.

Sophie tried to tell herself not to worry. What was the worst thing Toby could say? But as soon as she thought about that, she got even more afraid.

That was the whole problem with Toby — you never knew what you would get. Just when Sophie thought he was the worst boy ever, he’d do something nice. Then when she thought he was maybe okay, he’d do something super-slimy, like give Archie her hat to lick!

And to think that back in first grade he had been her very best friend!

Anyway, that had been a long time ago. Now she tried her best not to think about him. But he had a dare. And Sophie had asked for it.

“Okay,” she said. “There’s not a dare that I won’t do.”

Toby grinned. Double uh-oh, thought Sophie. That couldn’t be good.

Everyone at the lunch table leaned forward.

“I dare you … to go into the boys’ bathroom!” Toby said.

“Oooh!” The sound rolled around the table. Sophie felt a tingle shoot straight to her toes.

Go into the boys’ room! That was a terrible, horrible dare! So terrible and horrible it was by far the best one yet!

Sophie almost wanted to thank Toby. But of course, she couldn’t do that. Instead, she turned to Kate.

Kate looked as thrilled as Sophie felt. “Are you going to do it?”

“You bet!” Sophie’s eyes said.

Then she turned back to Toby. She looked him square in his beady blue eyes. “I accept your dare,” she told him.

“You do?” He looked surprised.

The rest of the class all looked different. Some looked happy. Some did not.

Grace looked worried. “But that’s against the rules.”

Sydney looked horrified. “Ew! Think of all the germs!”

Jack looked confused. “How will we know if you went in? We can only leave class to go to the bathroom one at a time,” he said.

“What? You mean you don’t trust me? I am insulted!” Sophie cried. “Remember, I was Sophie the Honest not too long ago!”