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  ZONDERVAN

  Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco

  Previously titled Sophie Breaks the Code

  Copyright © 2005, 2009 by Nancy Rue

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

  ePub Edition September 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-56823-0

  This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are products of author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530

  * * *

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Rue, Nancy N.

  [Sophie breaks the code]

  Sophie’s friendship fiasco / Nancy Rue.

  p. cm. — (Sophie series; bk. 7) (Faithgirlz!)

  Summary: When Sophie’s efforts to protect her friends from a group of mean-spirited popular girls lead to misunderstandings at home and at school, she turns to Jesus for help.

  ISBN 978-0-310-71842-0 (softcover)

  [1. Bullies—Fiction. 2. Conduct of life—Fiction. 3. Imagination—Fiction. 4. Middle schools—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction. 6. Christian life—Fiction. 7. Virginia—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.R88515Skf 2009

  [Fic] — dc22 2009003015

  * * *

  All Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

  Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. www.alivecommunucations.com

  Zonderkidz is a trademark of Zondervan.

  Interior art direction and design: Sarah Molegraaf

  Cover illustrator: Steve James

  Interior design and composition: Carlos Estrada and Sherri L. Hoffman

  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,

  but on what is unseen.

  For what is seen is temporary,

  but what is unseen is eternal.

  — 2 Corinthians 4:18

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Glossary

  About the Publisher

  Share Your Thoughts

  One

  Sophie LaCroix groaned out loud in the hallway of Great Marsh Middle School. “Can I just say I loathe PE class?” she said.

  “Is loathe a Fiona word?” Kitty said as she linked her arm through Sophie’s. She giggled, the way she did at the end of almost every sentence.

  “What’s it mean?” said Maggie, who hardly ever giggled.

  Fiona pushed aside the stubborn strip of golden-brown hair that was always falling over one eye and continued to lead the way down the hall toward the PE locker room. “It means ‘hate,’ ” she said.

  “Only it sounds smarter,” said Darbie, who had an Irish accent. She gave a firm nod, making her own reddish bangs dance on her forehead.

  “I don’t feel very smart in this class,” Sophie said. “Coach Yates is always yelling at me — and every time I try to explain something to her, my voice comes out all squeaky.”

  The Corn Flakes grinned at each other.

  “Your voice always comes out all squeaky,” Maggie said in her that’s-a-fact way.

  “That’s just you, Soph,” Fiona said. “You’re just you, and we’re all just us.”

  Sophie managed a little bit of a smile. Just being them was what made them the Corn Flakes. Other people might think they were ditzy and flaky and say the things they did were corny. But the Corn Flakes knew better.

  “Hey, Cue Ball!” somebody yelled. Sophie felt her smile snap away.

  “Get Kitty into the locker room!” Darbie said.

  Willoughby and Fiona unlatched Kitty from Sophie, and Maggie shoved the three of them through the door with Darbie on their heels, just as Sophie felt her quilted hat being plucked off her head. She grabbed at her glasses so they wouldn’t go too.

  “Catch, Eddie!” Colton Messik cried.

  Sophie saw Eddie Wornom’s belly bulge out from under his shirt as he jumped up and caught Sophie’s hat. Ewww, she thought. Eddie hurled it at Tod Ravelli, whose face came to its usual point as he slam-dunked the hat into the trash can.

  “Score!” Colton’s grin seemed to spread from one stuck-out ear to the other. “Hey, Cue Ball,” he said to Sophie. “You’re bald!”

  Like you haven’t told me that a bazillion times, Sophie thought.

  She waited until the boys had shoved each other into their locker room before she went calmly to the trash can and fished out her hat.

  At least they didn’t get to Kitty, she told herself as she pushed it down over her shaved head. That’s all that matters. After all, she couldn’t expect Fruit Loops like them to understand how a Corn Flake could part with all her hair to keep a sick friend from being the only girl in the whole school who was bald.

  When Sophie got to her locker, the other Corn Flakes were almost changed into their PE clothes. Willoughby slung her arm around Sophie’s shoulder and pressed their cheeks together, her almost-dark curls tickling Sophie’s face. She was the only one of them who was short enough to do that — and even she was a few inches taller than tiny Sophie. “You’re the best,” she said in her bouncy voice.

  “Trash can again?” Fio
na said.

  Sophie rolled her eyes.

  Maggie shook her head at Kitty, so hard that her Cuban-dark hair splashed against her cheeks. “Boys are just lame.”

  There was a grunt from a few lockers down. Julia Cummings, the tall leader of the Corn Pops, tossed back her auburn hair.

  “Someday you’ll grow up and change your mind,” Julia said.

  She smirked at Anne-Stuart, one of her fellow “popular” girls, who gave the usual juicy sniff. She was pale and thin, and Sophie had never known her not to need a Kleenex.

  “Grow up?” said B.J., the chubby-cheeked Corn Pop. “I don’t think so.”

  A girl who had strawberry-blonde hair trailing down her back laughed — way loud — and looked at Julia like a puppy waiting for a treat. She was Cassandra Combs, the newest Corn Pop wannabe.

  Sophie hoped the Pops would leave, but they just went back to putting on lip gloss. Sophie went into slow motion as she turned to the locker she and Kitty shared, dialing each number on the lock with precise care.

  “You’re gonna be late one of these days,” Maggie said.

  Willoughby went into the arm motions for a cheer. “Class won’t be so bad today, Soph. All we’re doing is running the track, and if you keep going Coach Yates won’t yell at you.”

  “Coach Hates,” Fiona put in.

  Sophie kept her eyes away from them. “It takes me longer because I’m helping Kitty,” she said.

  Kitty peeled off her bright pink T-shirt, revealing the tiny “porthole” in her chest just above her bra. Kitty had leukemia, and the hole was where a tiny tube had been inserted so the doctors could give her the chemotherapy medicine — which hopefully would stop her disease — through the tube instead of having to give her shots. Sophie crowded in close until Kitty pulled on the white tee with GMMS — for Great Marsh Middle School — sprawled across the front in the red and blue school colors.

  “Thanks, Sophie,” Kitty whispered as she slipped off the quilted hat that matched Sophie’s. Sophie replaced it at lightning speed with a red bandanna.

  Only when Kitty’s bald head was covered did Sophie step back. So far most of the Corn Pops hadn’t seen the hole or gotten a close-up view of Kitty’s head, and Sophie wanted to keep it that way. Even though chemotherapy had made all Kitty’s hair fall out, Sophie and the Corn Flakes thought Kitty’s naked head made her blue eyes seem bigger and bluer than ever and her tiny nose look even more like a piece of fine china.

  But Sophie knew there would be no end to the Corn Pops’ blurting out things like, “I wouldn’t even come to school if I looked like that!”

  Just as she always did, Sophie whipped off her own cap like a knight removing his armored helmet at the end of a tournament, revealing her peach-fuzzed head before she tied on her bandanna.

  Kitty giggled. “You’re so brave, Sophie.”

  “They can’t hurt me,” Sophie said. “Besides, it’s only hair.”

  “Or lack of,” Fiona said. She stood up from tying her tennis shoes. “You coming?”

  “I’m not ready yet,” Sophie said. “I was helping Ki — ”

  “You were foostering about, is what you were doing,” Darbie said.

  Maggie gave a matter-of-fact nod. “You’re gonna get detention if you aren’t there when Coach Yates blows her whistle.”

  “Your father will take your camera,” Fiona put in, “and then we won’t be able to make our next movie — ”

  “I’m coming!” Sophie snapped. All five pairs of eyes widened, and Sophie softened her voice. “You guys go ahead, okay?”

  The Flakes left. So did the Pops, finally. Sophie could now get into her gym clothes without them seeing that, unlike every other seventh-grade girl on earth, she didn’t even wear a bra yet. She still looked exactly the way she had in sixth grade. It didn’t take much to imagine what the Corn Pops would do if they saw that.

  Sophie put her PE shirt between her teeth, letting it hang in front of her while she unbuttoned her top. She would just have time to wriggle out of the blouse, yank the shirt over her head, and tear outside to get in line before roll check started.

  Just as she parted her teeth and let go of the T-shirt, Sophie heard sneakers squeal to a stop on the floor a few feet away. Cassandra was staring at Sophie’s bare chest, mouth open so her pale blue braces gleamed.

  “Oh, my gosh!” she said. “I thought you were a boy!”

  Somehow Sophie got her shirt pulled on and ran past Cassandra and out to her line just as Coach Yates was ending the long toot on her whistle. The coach, her too-tight, graying ponytail pinching her face, gave Sophie a look with a warning in it. Sophie was just glad she didn’t yell. They’d found out the first day that this lady could bellow like an elephant. What really stunk was that they had her for PE and sixth period Life Skills. That was a lot of bellowing.

  Coach Yates blasted out the order for them to run twice around the track, and Cassandra gathered the Corn Pops around herself. They took two steps and exploded into high-pitched shrieks and turned around to gawk at Sophie’s chest. She was sure they were going to rush up to her and rip off her T-shirt just to check out Cassandra’s story.

  “Now what are they up to?” Darbie said at Sophie’s elbow.

  “Something heinous, guaranteed,” Fiona said.

  Sophie moaned inside. Fiona’s favorite word for evil, heinous was perfect for this situation.

  “I know exactly what they’re doing,” Willoughby said. “Don’t forget I was a Corn Pop before you guys saved me from them.” She nodded wisely. “Cassie’s trying to pass one of their tests for being accepted into the Corn Pops. She has to tell them something they can use for ammunition.”

  Sophie’s stomach went into an immediate knot.

  “What do you think it is?” Kitty said.

  “What was yours when you got into the Corn Pops, Willoughby?” Sophie said quickly. The Corn Flakes shared everything, but this situation was way too embarrassing, even in front of her best friends on the planet. Her heart started to knot up too.

  “You don’t even want to know,” Willoughby said.

  “Let’s get a move on, ladies — or you’ll be doing three laps!”

  They all broke into a run at the sound of the coach’s roar, except for Kitty, who only had to walk as far as she could. Sophie peeked back at her over her shoulder. Kitty looked so small and puffy-faced and quivery all by herself. She and the rest of the Flakes had tried hanging back with her before, but Coach Hates had said a big-time NO to that.

  “No Corn Pop better say an evil word to Kitty,” Fiona said.

  “We can’t do anything evil back to them if they do,” Maggie said.

  “Our blasted code,” Darbie said. “Sometimes it’s a bit of a bother.”

  The Code was actually the thing Sophie loved most about the Corn Flakes. They had vowed never to put anybody down, even though people did it to them. The also vowed not to fight back or give in to bullies, and instead take back their power to be themselves. And they promised to talk to Jesus and obey God’s Word, because God gave them the power to be who they were made to be. The Code made Sophie feel noble, like a maiden from medieval times who was as honorable as any knight of the Round Table —

  Her name was Aurora, and she was the leader of six young maidens. She had led them to the Code and they lived by it, vanquishing vixens and villains with sheer goodness.

  Willoughby gave Sophie a poke that brought her out of her dream world. She was pointing at the Corn Pops, who were a half lap behind them. They all had their heads leaning toward Cassandra, who still appeared to be enchanting them with her tale.

  There isn’t THAT much to tell about one flat chest, Sophie thought.

  “I think Cassie passed her first test,” Willoughby said.

  “So what’s her next one?” Fiona said.

  “Now she has to do something about whatever she just told them.”

  Sophie swallowed hard.

  “They’re gonna get in trouble if they do
anything to us,” Maggie said. Sweat was making plastered-down sideburns in front of her ears. “After all the stuff they got caught for at the end of last year.”

  Fiona turned around to run backward so she could face them. “That was a whole different school though. The teachers here don’t know about all that. The Pops are starting over with a clean slate.”

  “No fair,” Maggie said. “We have to keep them from making fun of Kitty.”

  Sophie put a hand on her knotty side. They could protect their Kitty, she knew. But she wasn’t sure how she was going to protect herself now that Cassie had seen —

  But then she shook her head. It doesn’t matter, she thought. I won’t LET it matter. They can’t hurt me. She tried to ignore the knot that was now twisting the rest of her insides like a whole bag of pretzels.

  I will hold up the Code like a Shield of Honor before me, Aurora vowed to herself. And I will turn my thoughts to another, more noble cause — which surely I will find, because I always do — “This probably sounds lame next to having leukemia,”

  Willoughby said, “but I’m scared about cheerleading tryouts.”

  Sophie pulled her mind back to the Flakes. “Why?” she said. “You’re good.”

  “We should know,” Fiona said. “We’ve been watching you practice twenty-four/seven.”

  “You’re so gonna make it,” Sophie said.

  Willoughby shook her head. “You know the Pops will try to make me mess up.”

  “Yeah,” Maggie said from several steps behind them. She was now puffing like a train. “They hate you worse than any of us right now because you dumped them.”

  Willoughby pushed a bunch of curls up from her neck. “If one of you would try out with me, I wouldn’t be so scared of what they might do.”

  “Not me,” Maggie said.

  “You don’t want me either,” Darbie said. “With my long legs, I’ll make a bags of the whole thing.”

  Fiona was already shaking her head. “I’d end up getting right in their faces if they even looked at you wrong.”

  “Sophie?” Willoughby said. “What about you?”

  A laugh gurgled up out of Sophie’s throat. “Are you kidding me?”