Sophie the Hero Read Free Page A

and scanned the field for danger.
    Sniff, sniff.
She sniffed the air for smoke. Or a wild tiger.
    She searched the sky for aliens. Or asteroids.
    Sophie was ready for any danger she could think of.
    Of course, Sophie knew she could not stop a wildfire. Or a tiger. Or an alien. Or an asteroid. But she could be the first to tell everyone to run!
    “Sophie, pay attention!” she heard Mr. Hurley holler.
    Huh?
    Sophie turned. She was stunned, but not because Mr. Hurley was hollering and waving his arms. He always did that. She was stunned that someone had kicked the ball to center field … and that it was rolling right past her!
    Sophie ran after the ball.
    “Aw, Sophie! Hurry! You should have had that!” her teammates cried.
    “Yay, Kate!” she heard the other team cheer as Kate scored a home run.
    Sophie finally stopped the ball and rolled it back to the pitcher. She really wished that Toby hadn’t been the pitcher right then. He was frowning at her. Hard.
    “I bet you did that on purpose, to help Kate!” he yelled.
    Sophie stuck out her tongue at Toby. “Of course I didn’t!” she told him.
    Sure, Sophie was happy for Kate. But she would never try to make her team lose.
    She put her hands on her hips and told herself to pay attention. It was not going to be easy to be a hero
and
play kickball. But she would have to try.
    Sophie kept her eyes on the field. And the ball. And the players. And before she knew it, she got her chance to be a hero—by saving Grace!
    Grace was in right field. Someone had kicked the ball to her and it was sailing right toward her head.
    Sophie knew she had to hurry. She ran across the field at top speed. And she gave Grace a giant push.
    They both fell—
thud!
The ball flew past them and rolled away.
    Grace jumped up and glared at Sophie. “I could have caught that!” she said.
    “Are you kidding? That ball was headed straight for your head!” Sophie said.

    Then Sophie heard the words that filled her with tingles. It was Mr. Hurley hollering, “Good job, Sophie! Way to go!”
    “See?” she said to Grace. Even Mr. Hurley could see she was a hero!
    Then she realized something. Mr. Hurley was hollering to Sophie A., not her.
    Sophie A. had kicked the ball … and scored another run.
    “Sorry, Grace,” Sophie mumbled as she trudged back to center field.
    “What does that big ‘H’ on your shirt stand for, anyway?
Horrible?”
Toby groaned from the pitcher’s mound.
    Grrr!
Sophie glared. She was too mad to stick her tongue out. “No, it’s for ‘hero,’” she said under her breath.
    Sophie would show him. She had to save someone
soon!
    But she was also kind of ready for the inning to end.
    Then suddenly her eyes popped wide open. There was something buzzing around second base — and Dean’s head—right in front of her!
    What if it was a bee?
    What if Dean was allergic?
    What if it stung him and he swelled up like Sophie’s cousin Will did once? Sophie’s Aunt Jan had called the ambulance and everything!
    But even if Dean was not allergic, nobody liked to get stung. One time a bee stung the bottom of Sophie’s foot and she couldn’t walk on it for a week.
    Sophie had to get rid of that bee so she could be Dean’s hero!
    For one second, Sophie worried that the bee might sting her. But she knew that was not how a hero’s mind worked. So she ran up to Dean and started whacking.
    She meant to whack the bee, of course. But Dean’s head got in the way.
    “Ow! Stop! Help! My hair! What are you doing?” Dean cried.
    “It’s a bee! It’s a bee!” yelled Sophie. “Oh, wait …” She looked at the bug more closely. “Never mind. It’s just a fly.”
    Then she saw Dean’s hair. It still looked like a toothbrush, but now it looked like a toothbrush that a dog had chewed on. Sophie tried not to laugh … but everyone else did.
    “Back to your positions!” Mr. Hurley hollered.
    “Uh, sorry, Dean,” Sophie said. She was careful not to look at him. And then, at last,