Sophie Under Pressure

by Nancy N. Rue

  “We’re also being very quiet,” Kitty said.

  Sophie nodded solemnly and slipped in between them. She wasn’t even worried about floor dust getting on her khakis. This was serious stuff, and so far Jesus hadn’t given her so much as a hint of a plan.

  “So what are we going to do?” Fiona said, voice low.

  “We don’t even know if it was really Maggie who broke the robot arm,” Sophie said.

  “I know,” Fiona said.

  “Can we prove it?”

  Fiona’s dark eyebrows squeezed together over her nose. “You mean, like, fingerprints or something?”

  “We have to be scientific about it,” Sophie said. “Besides, if we accuse her and it turns out she didn’t do it, we could get into big trouble.”

  Fiona folded her arms stubbornly across her chest. “I still say it’s Maggie. It has her name all over it. And how are we going to protect our project with her still involved in it?”

  Sophie nibbled at the ends of her braids.

  “The only way is to get rid of her,” Fiona said.

  “Like throw her over the side of the tree house?” Kitty said. Her eyes were bulging like a terrified bullfrog’s.

  “Hello! No!” Fiona put her hand over her mouth and looked toward the opening in the curtain.

  “What?” Sophie said.

  “I just don’t want Maggie to hear us. You know she’ll be looking for us any minute.” She leaned in, and so did Kitty and Sophie. “I mean, we have to prove she did it and then Mrs. Utley will take her off the project.”

  Sophie knew what to say now. “It’s not our job to prove Maggie did it. Our job is to show how microgravity is different.”

  “And how are we going to make sure it doesn’t get sabotaged?” Fiona said.

  “Does that mean ‘torn up’?” Kitty said.

  Fiona had barely nodded when Sophie heard a voice thudding from the direction of the cafeteria door.

  “Sophie? Fiona? You guys in here?”

  “So what’s the plan?” Fiona whispered.

  “I’ll get back to you,” Sophie squeaked back.

  “But we can’t talk about it with her around,” Fiona said.

  “We could pass notes,” Kitty said. “We used to do it all the time when I was a Corn Pop.”

  “I would get caught,” Sophie said. “I can’t do anything without getting caught. It’s a curse.”

  “You guys?” Maggie’s voice was getting louder and closer. According to Sophie’s calculations, she would be on the stage in five seconds.

  “I’ll take that job,” Fiona whispered. “If you get any ideas, just write them down and stick them in my pocket between classes. Then I’ll put together a list.”

  Four, three, two, one —

  “In here, Nimbus!” Sophie called out.

  Maggie stuck her head through the opening in the curtain. Sophie hoped they didn’t all look as guilty as she felt.

  Nine

  By the time second-period social studies was over Fiona had so many notes stuffed into her side jeans pockets she looked to Sophie like she had an extra set of hips. When Maggie came up behind them in the hall, Fiona turned to her, walking backward.

  “Hi, Maggie,” Fiona said.

  “What’s going on?” Maggie said. “You guys are acting all weird.”

  Kitty shot Sophie a whimpering look. Fiona’s glance clearly said, Uh-oh.

  “See?” Maggie said to Sophie. “It’s like you have some kinda secret or something.”

  Suddenly Sophie felt like she was one of the Corn Pops, about to squeal out, Oh, no, Maggie, we would never keep a secret from you.

  It made her want to hiss at herself. This definitely wasn’t the job she was supposed to be doing. She linked her arm through Maggie’s and held on as they walked, even though Maggie stiffened up as if Sophie were trying to freeze-dry her.

  “We didn’t want to upset you,” Sophie said. “But you should know.”

  Fiona suddenly sounded like she was choking to death. Kitty was now whimpering out loud.

  “Know what?” Maggie said.

  They stopped outside the door to the computer room.

  “Somebody tore the robot arm off the Freedom 4 yesterday,” Sophie said.

  “Who?” Maggie said.

  Fiona gave Sophie a what-are-you-doing stare.

  “We don’t know who did it,” Sophie said. “But we have to protect the project.”

  “You mean, like, set up a stakeout?”

  The whining, whimpering, and choking all stopped. The three other Corn Flakes stared at Maggie.

  “Tell me some more,” Sophie said.

  “Write it in a note,” Fiona said. “The bell’s gonna ring.”

  Not that Mrs. Yacanovich ever noticed people coming in late. It took her half the period just to call the roll and get people to stop hollering things across the room to one another long enough to give the assignment. That gave all the Corn Flakes a chance to whip off notes. The only thing Sophie was worried about then was getting them mixed up with the ones the Corn Pops were delivering to each other. They actually had it down to a science, Sophie noticed. Julia could write a half-page letter and get replies back from Willoughby, B.J., and Anne-Stuart in the time it took Sophie to get one folded. They’d obviously had a lot more practice.

  Maggie wrote a note to Sophie, folded it up into a perfect triangle, and dropped it next to her computer. Before Sophie could even reach for it, Colton came out of nowhere and snatched it up. He shot it like a basketball toward the corner trash can.

  Fortunately, Colton was no basketball player. The note missed by about half a classroom and landed right on top of Anne-Stuart’s computer monitor. Good fortune was with them again, because Anne-Stuart was, of course, blowing her nose at the time, and didn’t get to it before Kitty leaped from her chair and grabbed it. She looked at Anne-Stuart and said, “Sorry — wrong address!” Then she giggled and flipped around in time to avoid Mrs. Y. who was chasing Eddie Wornom down the aisle. He had her grade book.

  But Sophie saw that more trouble was coming Kitty’s way in the form of Tod.

  “Kitty!” she hissed. Although how Kitty was supposed to hear her over the classroom racket was beyond her.

  When Tod kept dodging stuck-out feet and elbows with eyes riveted on that note in Kitty’s hand, Sophie scrambled up to her knees in the chair and waved her arms.

  “Give it up, LaCroix,” said a male voice at her elbow. “You’ll never get off the ground.”

  Sophie whipped her head around to look at Colton. In that nanosecond there was a Kitty-squeal. Sophie forgot Colton, who was now imitating her like an out-of-control flamingo. Tod had the note and was continuing down the aisle, head back, balancing it on his Whoville nose. Which was why he didn’t notice Mrs. Y. holding her hands over her head, about to explode. When she yelled, “Class! QUIET!” he jerked his head up and the note fell into Mrs. Y.’s oncoming path. Sophie gasped, and she could hear Fiona doing the same. Kitty was whining like a cocker spaniel.

  Mrs. Y. stopped right in front of Tod — and stepped on the little triangle.

  “Now!” she said. “Everyone take your seat — immediately!”

  There was a mass-scurry as if an anthill had just been destroyed. The only person who had been sitting the whole time was Maggie. But she’d seen it all, Sophie knew, because she, like the rest of the Corn Flakes, was staring at Mrs. Y.’s left loafer with horror in her eyes.

  “I’m no longer going to yell to be heard in this classroom!” Mrs. Y. — well — yelled. “Everyone start Microsoft Word and do not speak a single syllable while you’re doing it.”

  Fiona turned to Sophie with her lips already in mid-whisper.

  “Not that kind of micro-soft word, Fiona,” Mrs. Y. said.

  Colton let out a laugh like the kind on TV commercials. “You’re really funny, Mrs. Y.”

  “Yeah, I’m a real crack-up. Now get to work.”

  The whole class lowered their faces behin
d their monitors except for the Corn Flakes, who peeked out from the sides to watch Mrs. Y.’s left loafer. The teacher turned to march down the aisle, and the note went with her. It was stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

  “We’re doomed,” Fiona mouthed to Sophie.

  Sophie couldn’t even mouth back, “Oh, we so are.”

  After that, it was hard to type and keep track of Mrs. Y.’s constantly moving heel at the same time. The Corn Flakes automatically took turns, and they weren’t the only ones.

  When Mrs. Y. passed Colton, he pretended to be picking up his pencil — who used a pencil in computer class? — and tried to grab the note. To Sophie’s immense relief, he missed. Eddie looked like he was going to shoot a rubber band at it, until Tod hit him over the head with his mouse. Sophie couldn’t figure out how Mrs. Y. didn’t see that. No wonder the class was a zoo most of the time.

  Sophie and the other Corn Flakes were all still watching the progress of the note and the loafer when Maggie tapped Mrs. Y. on the arm.

  “You have something stuck on the bottom of your shoe,” she said.

  Sophie’s fingers froze on the keyboard.

  “Oh,” Mrs. Y. said. She reached down and pulled the note off. “Thanks.”

  Fiona looked Sophie full in the face and mouthed, “It’s OVER.”

  Sophie closed her eyes, but before she could even beam up Captain Stella Stratos she heard Fiona let out the sigh of the century. When Sophie looked around, Mrs. Y. was tossing their little triangle into the trash can.

  Nearby, there was a thud. Eddie Wornom had fallen off his chair.

  WHAT HAPPENED? Sophie typed on her screen.

  HE WAS LEANING OUT TO WATCH HER AND HE FELL, Fiona wrote back. KLUTZ.

  What is so interesting about one of our notes? Sophie thought. Do I have a sign on my back that says, “Drive Sophie crazy”?

  Sophie looked around to see how the Fruit Loops were reacting. Tod was typing away with a too-innocent look on his face. Colton was looking at somebody and shrugging his shoulders. He was all but saying, What do you want from me?

  The somebody was Julia.

  When the bell finally rang for lunch, Sophie stepped out into the hall to meet the rest of the Corn Flakes.

  “That was so close!” Kitty said. Her face was pale to the tip of her nose as she looked at Maggie. “I thought we’d had it when you told her!”

  Fiona too was looking at Maggie. Although Sophie knew it pained her to do it, Fiona said, “That was pretty smart, Nimbus. Good call.”

  “I try,” Maggie said. As always, her face didn’t have an expression.

  “So what did the note say?” asked Fiona.

  But Sophie put up an elfin hand. “Wait a minute,” she said. “Why are we even doing this note thing? Why don’t we just talk about it at lunch?”

  Kitty giggled. “Because, silly, Maggie — ”

  “Maggie wants to help, don’t you, Mags?” Sophie said.

  “How does this solve anything?” Fiona muttered to Sophie as they headed for the cafeteria behind Kitty and Maggie.

  “I think Maggie’s gonna tell us that herself,” Sophie said. “I want to hear her idea about a stakeout.”

  Fiona twisted her lips. “I do too. Just when I was starting to really despise her, I have to agree with her.”

  Sophie linked her arm through Fiona’s. This was more like it.

  After they all put their lunches in the center of the table, Sophie said to Maggie, “So tell us your idea.”

  Fiona picked up a half of Sophie’s PB&J. “This looks good. We never get this at our house.”

  Sophie flipped her braids over her shoulders. “All right, Nimbus. Please speak.”

  “I think we should have somebody in the space station all the time, keeping watch,” Maggie said.

  “All the time?” Kitty said. “Like, sleep up there?”

  “No. All the time from two thirty in the afternoon until six and all day on the weekend.”

  “All four of us at once?” Fiona said.

  “No. We take two-hour shifts, two of us at a time.”

  “Who goes with who?” Kitty said. She clearly had a fearful eye on Maggie.

  Sophie looked at Fiona. She hadn’t challenged Maggie’s idea so far, which meant she actually thought it might work. But her nostrils, Sophie saw, were in the first stages of flaring.

  “How should we choose partners?” Sophie said to her.

  “I know,” Kitty said. “We put our names on pieces of paper and whoever’s name we pick is our partner.”

  They all looked at Kitty in surprise. After all, she usually wasn’t the one coming up with the ideas.

  “That’s what my mom does with me and my sisters when we go anyplace. Everybody has to have a buddy.”

  Sophie nodded. That made sense. There were six girls in Kitty’s family. They would all get sick of one another if they didn’t switch off now and then.

  “I’ll write my and Kitty’s and Maggie’s names, and then Soph, you pick one.” Fiona was already selecting a gel pen from the complete collection in her bag. “Whoever you pick is your partner, and then the other two go together.”

  “Roger,” Sophie said quickly. And then she prayed she wouldn’t pick Kitty, which would put Fiona and Maggie together. That could mean the end of the space station before the first hour of the stakeout was over.

  She fished around in the Tupperware container Kitty’s carrot sticks had been in and pulled out a slip of paper. Nimbus, Fiona had written.

  Sophie tried not to look stunned. Two hours every day alone with Maggie from now until next week when they turned in their project? Maybe there was another way to do this.

  But she held up the paper and said, “It’s you and me, Nimbus.”

  Maggie broke into the biggest smile Sophie had ever seen on her face. A pang went straight through Sophie’s chest again.

  Well, God, she thought, I guess that must be my job.

  She knew the first thing she was going to have to do in the space station that afternoon was keep Maggie from complaining the whole time that she didn’t have any records to keep. Maybe now Sophie would be able to give her the idea she’d been trying to tell the Expedition Crew for two days, only either Fiona or Maggie kept cutting her off: Maggie could write down how long it took for the crew to assemble each part of the space station, which would be sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than it had taken the people in space. She hoped Mrs. Utley would just ignore the fact that the Freedom 4 was lighter than the International Space Station, like by about a million pounds.

  Hey, Sophie thought. I really am doing my job.

  She just hoped God would do his.

  Meanwhile, Maggie wrote up the schedule and had a copy for each of them by sixth period. Even Fiona had to admit it looked very scientific, although she did say to Sophie, “Since I live there, I could come up with you two and hang out.”

  Sophie got a sudden image of Fiona rolling her eyes at Maggie for two hours, until her eyeballs disappeared completely into her head. It wasn’t pretty.

  “No, Jupiter,” Captain Stella Stratos said. “I know your loyalty to Freedom 4 goes very deep, but I want you to be fresh for your own shift. You can’t properly do surveillance if you’re overtired.”

  “What?” Maggie said.

  Sophie sighed. “It means we’ll be just fine on our own,” she said.

  Maybe she could work on Maggie’s imagination a little bit up in that tree house and she wouldn’t be so bossy and Fiona would stop wishing she would disappear. One thing was for sure — this beat worrying about the Fruit Loops. Besides, if the Corn Flakes could get along and be strong, even the Fruit Loops couldn’t drive them nuts.

  By the time Sophie got the camera from Boppa that afternoon — because he was keeping it there for her so Mama didn’t have to deliver it every day — and got up to the tree house, Maggie was already copying the information Fiona had given her onto one side of a page in a notebook. Sophie watched her while she mu
nched on the Rice Krispies treats Kateesha had transported up to them.

  She’s really kind of pretty, Sophie thought, in a scientific kind of way.

  Captain Stella Stratos sat back and watched the businesslike Nimbus work. She is so important to our crew, she thought. We wouldn’t be able to achieve our goal without her. Captain Stella Stratos leaned closer to her loyal crew-woman to get a better view of her work. If you would only smile now and then, Stella wanted to say to her.

  “Take some joy in saving the planet,” Sophie said.

  “We’re not saving the planet,” Maggie said. “We’re doing a science project.” She edged away from Sophie. “And how come you’re practically in my lap?”

  Sophie blinked. She was sitting so close to Maggie, they were barely taking up a whole place on the bench. She scooted back.

  Maggie put her pencil down and blinked back at Sophie.

  “What?” Sophie said. She was getting bristles under her collar. Fiona must feel like this times ten when she was around Maggie.

  “We’re just trying to keep somebody from tearing this thing apart,” Maggie said. “You don’t really think we’re saving the planet, do you?”

  Sophie shrugged.

  “Well you don’t, do you? This is a little puny science project. The universe goes out for millions of miles.”

  “Okay, no,” Sophie said. She could hear her voice squeaking. “But it seems more real when you pretend.”

  “But it isn’t real.”

  “But it seems like it.”

  “So?”

  “So — it’s fun.”

  Maggie picked the pencil back up and examined its point. “It’s not fun for me,” she said.

  “Then why — ” Sophie bit at her tongue. No, it wouldn’t be the Corn Flake thing to ask Maggie why in the world she wanted to hang out with them then. Fiona, she knew, would have asked it in a heartbeat. “Why isn’t it fun?” Sophie said.

  To her surprise, Maggie’s dark face was suddenly fringed in red, and she looked up at the wings and down at the space lockers and out at the robot arm — everywhere but at Sophie. “Because I’m not any good at it,” she said finally.

  Sophie didn’t say anything. After all, Maggie was right about that. She’d just always thought Maggie wasn’t even aware that she acted like their robotic arm in every scene they’d ever done for a film.