Sofia’s Puppy Love
A Second Chance
The next morning, the doorbell rang bright and early. Sofia hurries to answer it so it doesn’t disrupt Mom. She opens the door to see Jasmine in her old jeans and blue bandanna. Keiko has on paint-splattered overalls, Madison has on gray sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. Keiko’s holding a bag full of smocks, paintbrushes, and cleaning supplies. They’ve come to help Sofia paint.
Sofia is surprised by this act of kindness. But she doubts Dad will let her help with the painting again. But then, Sofia hears Dad’s voice behind her. Apparently, her friends already reached out and asked Sofia’s father if they could help. He decided the more helping hands, the better.
Sofia changes into a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. When she comes into the spare room, Dad is pouring paint into four plastic trays. He gets a long roller to help him get the top parts of the walls. Together, they all start to paint. It’s hard work, but also fun. Most of the paint ends up on the walls, but they all get some on themselves, too.
In just a few hours, they’re done! Sofia smiles. With her friends’ help, she’d managed to fix her painting mistake. But she knew it wasn’t enough.
The next day at school, Sofia heads straight to Ms. Chen’s desk instead of lunch with her friends. She’s nervous, but her friends stand in the doorway giving her encouraging thumbs-up signs. Sofia tells Ms. Chen that she knows the deadline was missed, but she’d really like to enter the science fair, if that’s okay.
Ms. Chen leans back in her chair. She’s not sure, and says the teachers have already started arranging the gym for all the projects. She asks Sofia what she has in mind.
Sofia says she still doesn’t have an idea, but she can come up with one super quick. After the longest three seconds of Sofia’s life, Ms. Chen says that she’s willing to give Sofia a second chance. But Sofia must come up with an idea over lunch period.
Sofia practically skips out of the classroom, clutching a new form for the science fair in her hand. Now, she just has to come up with the best idea for the science fair ever.