Sophie’s Secret by Nancy Rue Page B

said.
    “I KNOW! Shut UP!”
    Lacie slid down the wall and sat on the floor and sobbed. That woke Zeke up from his nap, and the minute he saw Lacie crying, he started. Sophie was about to escape to the attic in search of Dr. Demetria Diggerty when Daddy walked in with a bag with Chinese writing on it.
    He took one look at the two crumpled heaps on the floor, said good-bye to Boppa, and made the three of them sit up at the snack bar, containers in front of them, chopsticks in hand. He stood across from them, leaning on the stove, and said,
    “Okay, one at a time. Zeke—you first—you’re the loudest.” Daddy looked at Lacie. “You think you can hold it in for five minutes?”
    Lacie gave a miserable nod.
    “What’s up, Z?”
    “I want Mama!”
    “I do too, pal,” Daddy said. “The good news is, she’ll be back.
    The even better news is, this means a lot of McDonald’s.”
    “Every day?” Zeke said.
    “Whatever it takes,” Daddy said.
    Zeke tore into his fortune cookies, and Daddy turned to Lacie.
    “Next. What’s with the tears?”
    Lacie poured out her story, crying all over her chow mein. Although Sophie saw Daddy’s face-muscles twitch, he just said, “No problem. I’ll talk to your teacher—we’ll get it straightened out.”
    “But when? You’ll be at work all day!”
    “I’m working at home in the afternoon while your mom’s gone. I’ll pick Zeke up from kindergarten and be here when you girls get home from school.” He straightened up from the stove. “I’m Mama until the real Mama gets back.”
    Sophie put her chopsticks down. Fried rice suddenly tasted like sawdust.
    Sure—you’re going to go stand up for Lacie with her teacher, even though her mistake was HER OWN FAULT! she felt like yelling at him. But you haven’t even ASKED me if I have any problems.
    But Sophie decided right then he couldn’t help her anyway. He wasn’t enough Mama for that.
    Which was why the next morning she practically RAN straight from the bus to Mr. Denton’s room without looking for Fiona and Kitty. She didn’t want Fiona grilling her about whether she had asked about the adoption.
    Mr. Denton was grading papers when she arrived, and she tried to skip past him to go back to her locker. There was really nobody she wanted to have a conversation with. But he looked up and smiled at her.
    “Sophie!” he said. “Just the person I need to talk to.”
    Sophie dragged herself back to his desk. “I want to recommend you for the Gifted and Talented Program,” he said. “You know, GATE. I need for you to take this letter and application home and have your mom or dad help you fill it out, and then one of them needs to sign it.”
    Sophie stared at the papers he held out to her.
    “Me?” she said.
    “Of course, you,” Mr. Denton said. “And Fiona. And Kitty.”
    “Why?” Sophie said.
    Mr. Denton leaned back in his chair with his eyebrows scrambled together. “Because you’re three of the most creative students I’ve ever had. You all need to be in GATE.” His lips twitched. “Unless you don’t WANT to, of course—”
    “I do!” Sophie said. “Thank you!”
    Suddenly, she could feel her chest going loose, as if some space were opening up in there. Maybe God was coming back …
    When Fiona arrived she slipped into the table beside Sophie and went straight to a piece of news.
    “The Corn Pops are passing a notebook around to each other,” she whispered “They’re writing in it.”
    “What do you think it means?” Sophie said.
    “I think it means they’re trying to be like US. Theirs isn’t purple, of course.”
    “Of course,” Sophie said.
    She had an open and light and good feeling, and she couldn’t wait to get home that afternoon and show Daddy the application. Maybe it didn’t even matter if he was her birth parent or not, as long as he was proud of her.
    He was at the dining room table with his laptop computer and his cell phone and his electronic organizer. Zeke was at the