Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,12
Sophie’s wet hair off her face.
Sophie rubs her arms. “I’m cold.” She’s shivering and her teeth are starting to shatter. It might be warm for fall, but not warm enough to run around in wet clothes.
“Here,” I say, unzipping my sweatshirt. “Why don’t you wrap her up in this?”
Mabel looks up at me with so much gratitude I worry I may start blushing. “Thank you,” she says, taking the black-and-orange Tiger’s sweatshirt and wrapping it around Sophie. “We better get you home, Sophs.”
“I’ll walk you back,” I offer and Mabel turns and looks up at me. My stomach ties into a knot and I quickly add, “I mean, if you want.”
“That would be great,” she says, quickly looking back down at her sister. She stands up, lifting Sophie with her and slides her onto her hip. Sophie’s a fairly small girl, but not so small that carrying her the ten or so blocks home will be real easy for Maybie.
“Hey Sophie,” I say, leaning down to get eye level with her, “could I carry you home?” She narrows her eyes, looking me up and down for a second. “I guess so.” She puts her arms out to me. I sling her up onto my back.
“You smell funny,” she says, her little arms around my neck. Mabel laughs, then bites her lips shut.
“Gee thanks, Sophie.” I laugh, even though I can feel my face heating up.
I carry her piggyback style all the way to their house. Mabel and I talk the whole way there. We’re walking close on the narrow sidewalk, and every time her arm brushes up against mine I feel a ripple of goose bumps spread across my skin.
When we reach their house Sophie starts squirming to get down. I set her on their front step, my back now wet and cold, and squat down in front of her. “No more falling into fountains. Deal?” I give her my best serious look.
It’s a total fail. She giggles, shrugs off my sweatshirt, and runs into the house without a word. I stand back up and turn to Mabel, who looks like she’s trying not to laugh at me.
“I guess that was a ‘no deal,’” I say, scooping up my now-wet sweatshirt.
“I guess so.” She looks like she’s trying not to laugh at me, but the corners of her mouth are turning up despite her efforts to keep them down.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I say. “You and Amber are still planning on coming over, right?”
“Yeah, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go, but I can be very convincing. It’ll be fun.” Her sparkling eyes make me think she even means it.
I know I’m beaming at her like an idiot, but I can’t help it. At least until she says, “Hopefully Amber and Nick can figure it out this time.”
My heart sinks and my shoulders slump. This is their date, not ours.
“Yeah, right. Hopefully,” I say to the sidewalk.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow.” She turns and walks up to her house, her ponytail swinging back and forth.
That’s it. Tomorrow night I am asking her out. And I am not inviting Nick and Amber.
Chapter Seven
I sneak one last peek back at Lance before heading into the house. Mom already has a towel wrapped around Sophie, rubbing at her wet head. They look so much alike, with their tan skin and dark, curly hair. Although Sophie’s is wild and wet and sticking out everywhere and my mom’s is neatly pulled back in a low ponytail. Sophie is telling her what happened at a million words a minute, her voice high and excited.
“And I was playing in the water, but then I fell in! There was a huge splash and water went right up my nose!”
My mom gives me a look that says how did you let this happen? and I shrink down into my tennis shoes.
“Sophie, you have to be more careful. You can’t be running off like that,” she scolds Sophs, and I know I’m next.
“I’m sorry,” Sophie says, not sounding sorry at all. “But I’m okay. Mabel and Lance found me right after I fell in and then Lance carried me the whole way home.”
“Really?” my mom asks, her eyebrows raised in my direction.
“Yep, he was really nice. I think he likes Maybie,” Sophie says with a big goofy smile. My mom is staring at me and my cheeks warm.
“Really? So, tell me more about this Lance guy,” she says, apparently forgetting that she was about to chew me