Sophie Under Pressure by Nancy N. Rue Page A

didn’t have one her own age at school.
    I remember what that felt like when I first moved here , Sophie thought. Everybody had a friend but me , until Fiona came.
    But who wanted to be Maggie’s best friend? She had said herself she was bossy.
    But she could also moonwalk. And she had a chocolate laugh. And she was way smart.
    Three reasons why I like her , Sophie thought.
    Fiona spent the night with Sophie Friday night. They sat in the middle of Sophie’s room with some mini-pizzas from the microwave and the lights off and the covers draped over the headboard to make a tent where they could shine their flashlight. With Lacie and her friend Valerie playing Beyoncé on the stereo in Lacie’s room and Zeke out in the hall pretending he was Spider-Man and trying to climb up Sophie’s door, they had to seclude themselves if they were going to get any best-friend stuff done at all.
    â€œSo, Soph — is it awful?” Fiona said.
    â€œIs what awful?”
    â€œBeing up in the space station with Nimbus?”
    Sophie carefully licked some tomato sauce off her fingers. She knew Fiona wanted her to say it was absolutely heinous —
    â€œIt isn’t awful,” she said.
    â€œBut doesn’t she boss you around?”
    â€œSometimes.”
    â€œHow ’bout all the time?” Fiona peeled a piece of pepperoni off her pizza. “Once this project is over, I think we should just — ”
    â€œShe taught me how to moonwalk,” Sophie said.
    Fiona stopped, pepperoni on her lips. “You mean that dance thing?”
    â€œYeah. It’s so cool. I’ll show you — ”
    â€œI’ve seen it.” Fiona’s gray eyes were looking stormy.
    â€œI thought you said you agreed with her about the stakeout idea,” Sophie said.
    â€œA lot of good it’s doing. Since she’s the one we’re staking out, you don’t think she’s going to break something else while we’re up there, do you?”
    Sophie put down her half-eaten piece of pizza.
    â€œWhat?” Fiona said.
    â€œI don’t really think Maggie’s the one who broke our robot arm.”
    â€œOh — so now you’re her best friend,” Fiona said.
    â€œNo!” Sophie said. “You’re my best friend.”
    Fiona slanted her eyes down toward the pizza, but Sophie could tell she wasn’t seeing the cheese. “Am I your only best friend?” she said.
    â€œYou can only have one!” Sophie said. “Du-uh!”
    â€œYeah,” Fiona said. “Well, sometimes people forget that. I’ve had it happen.” Then she shrugged and held back her head and let a string of cheese drop into her mouth. “Okay — so let’s talk about our film. You know all the kids are going to be totally astounded by it.”
    Sophie nodded, but her mind was twirling around other things.
    She’s scared I’ll like Maggie more than her.
    Should I stop getting to like Maggie so Fiona won’t get all jealous?
    What if I do like Maggie and Fiona stops being my friend?
    Sophie looked at Fiona, who was opening their purple book. Her eyes were shimmering again, the way they always got when the two of them were planning something astounding. She was the made-especially-for-Sophie-LaCroix best friend.
    But thinking about Maggie made her squirm. Maggie, who didn’t have a special bud. Maggie, who was up to three reasons for being liked. Maggie, who was probably giving everything she had.
    The next morning when she and Fiona were brushing their teeth together — with matching toothbrushes — Sophie made a silent decision.
    Today the whole time we’re up in the Freedom 4, I’m going to find out more reasons to like Maggie. When I get up to ten — then Fiona will understand.
    When they climbed into Daddy’s truck for him to take them to Fiona’s, Zeke was already in his car seat in the crew cab.
    â€œZ-Man’s