the three gossiping meanies

名称：the three gossiping meanies
内容简介：
Dear Arizona,
　 There’s this kid in my class who’s pretty much a professional gossip. She acts like she’s your best friend, then as soon as you turn your back, she talks about you. What I don’t get is how she can act like that and still be popular!
　 —Wondering in Wisconsin

Dear Wondering,
　 I know! You’d think the most popular people would also be the nicest, but in my experience, it’s not always like that.

At my school, it isn’t one gossiping meanie, or two gossiping meanies, but three—count ’em, three—girls who make it their life’s work to say unfriendly stuff about pretty much everybody! I don’t want to use their real names, so let’s just call them Lavender, Lilac, and Petunia.

One day at lunch, Lavender taps me on the shoulder and says, “Lilac and Petunia are being so annoying. Can I eat lunch with you?”

So I say, “Sure,” and scoot over to make room. And she says, “You’re so sweet, Arizona. Not like my so-called friends, Lilac and Petunia.”

Then she takes a bite of her sandwich, washes it down with some juice, and keeps talking.

“Can I trust you to keep a secret?” she asks.

“I guess,” I say, not really feeling all that comfortable hearing the secret of someone I hardly ever talk to.

“OK, here goes,” Lavender says, with a mouthful of sandwich. “Lilac and Petunia act all cool and everything, but they’re really just a couple of babies. Lilac cries if she doesn’t get her way, and I happen to know for a fact that Petunia still sleeps with a teddy bear! Isn’t that so immature?”

“Well, if it is,” I say, crunching my carrot, “then I guess I’m immature, too, because I can’t fall asleep unless the tiny scrap of my old baby blanket is under my pillow.”

“Really?” Lavender says, sounding super-interested. “Well, that’s different. I mean, you know what I mean. Anyway, yeah, well, see you around.”

She leaves so quickly that I figure she has to run to the bathroom or something. But as soon as we get back to class, I realize she rushed off to tell the entire world what I just said.

By the way that Lavender, Lilac, and Petunia are acting, it’s clear that they’re getting along just fine. They’re whispering and acting all buddy-buddy, which wouldn’t bug me except they keep giggling, passing notes back and forth, and pointing at me!

That’s when I figured out what Lavender had been up to. She was just looking for some new gossip— at my expense!

What was I thinking, telling Lavender about my baby blanket? How could I have been so stupid? I’d never thought that sleeping with the blanket was a problem. But now, it was definitely a problem! By the end of the day, it was the talk of the entire class.

That night before bedtime, I was so upset that I took the little piece of blanket out from under my pillow and threw it in the wastebasket. “Dumb old thing!” I said. “I should have thrown you away years ago!”

I went to brush my teeth. When I came back, my cat, Cow, had knocked over the wastebasket and was playing with my baby-blanket scrap like it was the most exciting cat toy in the world.

“Stop it!” I yelled without thinking.

I grabbed the special bit of blanket and gently put it back where it belonged, right under my pillow. Then I realized how mean I’d been to Cow, so I told him that I was really, really sorry for yelling at him.

He meowed once, tilted his head, and purred, which in Cow talk means, “Well, I’ll consider accepting your apology—in exchange for a scratch behind the ears.”

The next day, I was totally expecting to be teased again. But luckily, everybody had already forgotten about the whole embarrassing thing. Except maybe Lavender, Lilac, and Petunia, who are always whispering and giggling about something or other anyway.

So, dear Wondering, you might want to watch what you say around that professional gossip in your class. If I were you, I’d focus on my real friends, ignore rumors, and refuse to pass along those “juicy tidbits” (about, say, baby blankets) that might embarrass people.

And if you solve the mystery of how mean people can also be popular, please write back and let me know!

Ciao for now,

Arizona