Sophie’s Secret by Nancy Rue

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    “Well,” Mrs. Utley said. “A person would have to have his or her own DNA compared to the DNA of the parent in question. You understand that, right?”
    “Is it expensive to do that?” Fiona said.
    Fiona! Sophie wanted to say. How am I going to get blood from Daddy?
    “Very,” Mrs. Utley said. “Now, blood type, which just about everybody knows about themselves, can’t tell you that someone IS your parent, but it CAN tell you if someone ISN’T. There are some blood types that could not possibly come from the combination of two other people’s blood types.”
    “Do you know how to figure that out?” Fiona said.
    “Yes,” Mrs. Utley said. She was still watching them closely. The chins were very still. “One thing that is very basic is that if, say, you have the same blood type as your mother or your father, then it’s possible that the one with that blood type is your parent—but it doesn’t prove it. Beyond that, I would have to know the exact blood types involved.” She folded her plump hands on her desk. “Now, do you want to tell me why we’re having this conversation?”
    “Research,” Fiona said. “Thanks.”
    The minute Sophie brought up blood types at the dinner table that night, Daddy broke into a grin.
    “At last—some interest in science! Some project for school, huh?”
    Sophie didn’t have time to deny it. Daddy was already going around the table, pointing.
    “Your mother is A positive. Zeke is A positive. Lacie is A negative—”
    “I’ve always been special,” Lacie said, flashing a cheesy smile.
    “And you, Soph, are AB positive. I know that for sure, because it’s the same as mine.”
    “And a good thing too,” Mama said.
    “Why?” Lacie said.
    “What’s for dessert?” Daddy said.
    “I’m not done yet!” Zeke wailed.
    Sophie let them argue that out in a blur beyond her as she sorted things through. So Daddy COULD be her father. But Mrs. Utley had said that didn’t mean he definitely WAS her father. She was really no closer to knowing than she had been before.
    Later she padded downstairs to have Daddy check over her math homework. She got almost to the bottom step, when she heard Mama talking to him. They were sitting at the snack bar, having their decaf and, obviously, a serious conversation. All Sophie heard was Mama saying, “Rusty, I just think it’s time she knew.”
    That was all Sophie had to hear. She crept back up the stairs, clutching her math homework in her sweaty hand.
    Sophie didn’t even have a chance to tell Fiona and Kitty the next morning before Maggie was suddenly there in the hallway with them.
    “I know you said you didn’t want to know,” she said, without a hi or anything, “but I think you should let me tell you about the rumor that’s being spread about you.”
    Sophie was sure she couldn’t carry another thing in her mind. ALL the space, God or No-God, was being taken up with the biggest worry on the planet.
    “Why does she need to know it?” Fiona said.
    “Because it’s getting worse,” Maggie said. “And it’s going to keep getting worse if Sophie doesn’t stop it.”
    “The only reason it’s getting worse for me is because YOU keep bringing it up!” someone shouted, someone who didn’t sound like Sophie, but was. “I told you, I DON’T WANT TO KNOW. So leave me alone! Just leave me alone!”
    Everyone in the hallway outside the Language Arts room stopped and stared. Even Fiona’s jaw had dropped. Kitty was whimpering.
    But it was Maggie who looked the most stunned of all. She took a step backward and let the cement look take over her eyes, but not before Sophie saw the flash of hurt go through them.
    “I’m sorry,” Sophie said. Her voice was already shaking.
    “Too bad,” Maggie said. “Now you’re just gonna have to find out for yourself.”
    She stomped into the room, passing Mr. Denton on the way.
    “Everything all right out here?” he said.
    “No,” somebody said. “Sophie just pitched a