Sprinkles and Secrets by Lisa Schroeder Page B

glass to his mouth and chugs it.
    Dad hands me my own glass. “I don’t get it,” I say. “What are you congratulating me for?”
    â€œYour agent called today,” Mom says. “I wantedto wait until your dad got home to tell you. You got the part!”
    I feel my knees buckling. I grab the counter, setting the glass of cider down in front of me. “What? Are you serious? That can’t be right.”
    â€œWould I kid you about something like this? Running through a football field in my underwear is one thing, but your acting career is quite another.”
    Dad looks at Mom like she’s gone insane.
    â€œWhat did Candace say exactly?”
    â€œShe said you are just what they’re looking for. On-screen, you look fantastic, like the girl next door, friendly and approachable. They love you, Sophie! They want to film the actual commercial very soon.”
    Now I look at Mom like she’s gone insane. They
love
me? Did she really say that?
    â€œWhat did you tell her? Did you say I’d do it?”
    â€œYes, honey, of course I did! You have the chance to be on television, which could lead to other, bigger roles. Who knows how far this could take you? And they’ll pay you! You could take that money and buy some lessons, like you’ve been talking about.”
    Bigger roles?
    Money for acting lessons?
    This is so amazing!
    And then I think of Isabel. And it’s not so amazing anymore. Part of me wants to dance down the street while the other part of me wants to find a hole and crawl in it.
    I try to push the thought of bigger roles and money for acting lessons out of my mind. It’s like pushing a huge boulder down the street—I have to push really, really hard. Finally, with what feels like a boulder in my throat, I say, “Mom, I don’t think I can do it. You should call her back and tell her I can’t.”
    Dad steps forward and puts his arm around me. “Honey, wait a second. Not so fast. Is this about Isabel?”
    â€œYes,” I say. “I won’t make her choose between me and her family. I won’t. So I have to be the one to make the hard choice.”
    Dad gently pulls me over to the table and pulls out a chair. I sit down, then he sits down across from me, and Mom does the same.
    â€œCan I go to my room?” Hayden asks, his hands full of chocolate-covered strawberries.
    Dad’s soft, warm eyes don’t move from my face. “Yes, please.” He waits until he’s gone. “Don’t you think you should talk this out with Isabel? See what she says about it? You might be surprised, Sophie.”
    I shake my head. “Dad, this whole time I’ve been trying to figure out what made it so hard for me to tell her. And I finally know. I figured it out yesterday when we went to the cupcake shop after school. She cares about her family so much. Things with her mom haven’t always been easy, but she loves her! And I’m her best friend, so of course she cares about me too. How can I tell her that I want to do the commercial, but only if she says it’s okay? I’d be asking her to make an impossible choice.”
    â€œBut I don’t think-”
    I interrupt Mom. “Isabel is one of the nicest people I know. People at school gave her a bad time about winning the contest, and she never got mad. They thought she was buying stuff, being selfish, and what is she doing with the money? Taking
me
on a trip to Seattle. See? Nice! This is my chance to dosomething nice for Isabel. Don’t you understand? I need to make the choice for her.”
    Dad looks at Mom. “I think it should be Sophie’s decision. If she doesn’t want to do it, we need to respect that.”
    I standup. “Good. I’m not doing the commercial.”
    Mom comes over and gives me a hug. “Okay. If that’s what you want. I’ll call Candace first thing in the morning, when the office is open.