30 Days of No Gossip (13 page)

“I don’t think we do that,” Jessica said. She looked at Sydney. “Do we do that?”

“You’re all missing the point,” Sarah said. “We’re talking about Vi and the fact that she’s sitting over there by herself.”

“She’s not by herself,” Sydney corrected. “She’s with the brainiacs.”

We all turned to look and, sure enough, Vi was seated at the table where all the smart people sat. The mathletes and honor students were all talking to her as if she’d been hanging out with them forever. I felt a little stab of jealousy.
She was my best friend. So why did she already look like she was so happy with her new friends?

Finally, I’d had enough. Everyone was turning on me and my best friend had moved on to other friends. I had nothing to lose. So I told the truth.

“Vi challenged me to go thirty days with no gossip,” I said. “That’s why I stopped putting the
Troy Tattler
out. That’s why I haven’t been gossiping as much. I was doing it to save my friendship with Vi.”

They all stared at me without speaking. Finally, Sarah looked at the other two before saying something.

“She said she wouldn’t be friends with you anymore if you didn’t stop gossiping?” Sarah asked. “What kind of friend is that?”

“She was trying to make me a better person,” I answered. I knew I was supposed to be defending myself here, not Vi, but I couldn’t let them blame Vi for this. “She thinks I need to look at why I talk about other people and how much it hurts them.”

“It doesn’t hurt anyone if they don’t know about it,” Jessica said.

“I guess Vi thinks it hurts
me
,” I said. “It makes me a worse person.”

Sydney tossed her half-eaten cookie down on her plate.
“That’s ridiculous.” She sighed. “Everyone talks about other people. If we didn’t, what would we talk about?”

“TV, movies . . . ,” Sarah said. She started to list more, but Jessica spoke up.

“But even that’s no fun if you can only say nice things. ‘Did you see Rachel McAdams at the awards last night? She had the prettiest dress and her hair looked so perfect. . . .’ ”

“That’s how we talk about Rachel McAdams,” Sarah said, confused.

“But imagine if we talked that way about everyone,” Jessica told us. “How boring.”

“How
sad
that we have nothing else to talk about but other people,” I said. “Maybe we should find something else to talk about.”

They were all staring at me now.
Me
, the queen of gossip, arguing against talking about people. It surprised me, too. But I’d seen how hard it was to keep from gossiping around here.

“I don’t think it’s all me.” I sat up a little straighter. I felt more confident now. I looked Sydney directly in the eye as I spoke. “I’ve spent almost a week trying not to gossip, and everyone else filled in the blanks. I never even said
24-Hour Makeover
was coming here. Jessica said it, in a question.”

“I did not,” Jessica said. “
You
told
us
.”

“Actually, Maddie’s right.”

Sydney was the one who said that, surprising all of us. Once we were all staring at her, she continued.

Sydney sighed. “I’ve been watching Maddie for Vi.”

Now she had our full attention. Especially mine. Sydney was the “way” Vi had of knowing if I gossiped? It made sense, but knowing two of my friends had some kind of agreement about me made me angry. And embarrassed.

“What?” Sarah asked. “Why did you do that?”

“Because Vi asked me to.” Sydney shrugged. “I was supposed to try to get her to gossip, but I was so impressed that she was actually going through with it, I couldn’t do it. So I mostly just watched her.

“And . . . ?” Sarah asked.

“And she’s right,” Sydney said. “Most of the gossip that came out was from everyone else filling in the blanks. When Maddie didn’t talk, people would talk for her. Like the time we were asking about
24-Hour Makeover
.” Sydney looked over at Jessica. “You’re the one who pieced that together and asked Maddie about it. She didn’t even answer at first.”

Jessica was speechless. And that wasn’t a normal thing. I felt like I had to say something to make things right.

“Vi’s right. We don’t have to gossip. We could find more useful things to talk about.”

“Than what’s going on in school?” Jessica asked. “Like what?”

“I don’t know, but we have to work on it.” I stood, gathering my mostly empty tray and my books. “I’m going to the library to figure out what. Anyone want to join me?”

They all stared up at me. I could tell from looking at each one of them that they thought I’d lost my mind. As soon as I stepped away from this table, they’d start talking about me. For once, I didn’t care. I turned and walked toward the library, deciding that whatever they thought of me was no longer my problem. From now on, I was focusing on what was important.

Maybe that was the progress Vi had been talking about.

•  •  •

“All seventh graders, please report to the gym for a special assembly.”

I was leaving the library, two books about the history of our town in my hand, when the announcement came over the loudspeaker. The bell had rung a few seconds earlier, so students were just starting to pour into the hallway from classrooms. It didn’t matter what grade a student was in, when the announcement came on, everyone had the same expression.

What’s that all about?

I made a sharp right turn to head toward the gym. I
had a feeling this was about
24-Hour Makeover
, and I felt a huge weight in the pit of my stomach at the thought of it. This was where we were going to be called into the assembly to be told someone had gossiped and blown the most exciting thing that had ever happened at Troy Middle. Mr. Shelly and the teachers may have no idea who had leaked the news, but half the students in seventh grade knew. And they’d all turn their glaring eyes on me.

Never mind that other people had gossiped too. Never mind that other people had filled in the blanks when all I had done was hint there might be something going on. My friends at lunch had echoed what everyone else in school would say if anyone pointed out that they gossiped too. They didn’t think
they
gossiped. They thought they just listened to me.

I suppose I deserved all that. The whole school could hate me for all I cared. The important thing was that Vi would be sitting there, in the auditorium, next to her new friends. She’d hear all of it, and it would just confirm what she’d thought all along. I wasn’t a good friend. She was right to stop speaking to me.

Since I was close by, I was one of the first people in the gym. Whenever we had an assembly, Vi and I always sat in the same area, so I headed there. Maybe she’d come up and
sit, mad at me or not, out of habit. A few minutes later, as the bleachers filled up, I started to feel really silly sitting in the center toward the back with nobody around me.

Luckily, Jessica, Sarah, and Sydney came in and found me. At least I hadn’t completely messed things up with them. They even talked about a few of the people coming in—what they were wearing, who they were dating, that sort of thing—and didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t join in.

“See if you can get Vi to sit with us,” I said to Jessica the second I spotted Vi coming in. She had her new friends with her, so it was doubtful, but there was an entire row in front of us that was empty. It would be far easier for them to sit there than anywhere else.

As Vi’s gaze scanned the bleachers, it momentarily landed on me. She looked, for just a second, like she might wave to me and come up and sit down. My heart fluttered and I smiled, my hand automatically gesturing for her to come here. But just as I thought she might start up this way, someone said something and she turned away, following the group of brainiacs to a seat near the locker rooms.

“So much for that,” Sydney said.

I didn’t really have time to dwell on that, since Sarah chose that time to have a semi-meltdown. She grabbed Sydney’s arm so hard, Sydney cried out.

“There he is, there he is, there he is,” Sarah began chanting.

I followed the direction of her gaze and saw Aiden. The reason she was freaking out was that he was walking this way. He was climbing the steps leading up to where we sat, staring straight at Sarah as he walked. I would probably be freaking out too.

“What do I do?” Sarah asked.

“What are you talking about?” Sydney asked, pulling away from Sarah’s grabs. “Just be cool.”

Sarah did exactly the opposite, sitting there stiffly, staring straight ahead as Aiden and one of his friends plopped down on the bleacher directly in front of us. He turned and said hi to her, and the hi she gave back sounded like something that came from an excited four-year-old.

I rolled my eyes as he turned back around. What was the big deal? She already knew he liked her, so why be all nervous? Plus, she’d had a boyfriend before, so wasn’t she used to this stuff ?

“Testing, one-two-three,” Mr. Shelly said into the microphone. The noise in the gym seemed to get louder instead of quieter at that. I didn’t get it. Wasn’t everyone as anxious to hear what this assembly was about as I was?

“We’re all in trouble,” Sydney whispered, leaning over so
only I could hear. “He’s going to tell us
24-Hour Makeover
was scared off by all the gossip.”

I stared at her, my eyes wide. That was exactly what was about to happen. How had she known? Had someone said something to her? I swallowed against the lump in my throat and turned back to survey the scene on the gym floor in front of us. Mr. Shelly stood in front of the mic with all the teachers gathered in a straight line behind him. None of them had a grim, depressed face. If we were all in trouble, wouldn’t some of them look a little mad? Wouldn’t they be scanning the audience to see who the bad guy was who had ruined Troy Middle’s chances at national fame?

Even weirder, Miss Golden was standing off to the side, and she didn’t look mad either. She
was
scanning the audience, but she had a big smile on her face. People giving bad news didn’t smile, from what I’d noticed.

“Okay, everyone, could we pipe down a little?” Mr. Shelly said into the microphone. “We need to get you all back to class.”

It seemed like the noise increased, which wasn’t a surprise. Nobody was all that excited about getting back to class. Maybe he should try another trick.

When a couple of minutes passed with still no relief,
Ms. Hunter grabbed the mic from him. “Quiet!” she shouted, her voice echoing off the tall ceilings.

Within a few seconds, the noise had dulled to a small murmur. A couple of seconds more and Mr. Shelly had the quiet he needed. That was when my heart really started racing.

“We have a special guest with us here today at Troy Middle School,” Mr. Shelly said. “And she’s going to talk to us about an exciting new opportunity. Everyone, please welcome, from the popular cable show
24-Hour Makeover
, Ashley Golden.”

Exciting. New.
Opportunity
?

I didn’t get it. Was this some kind of trick? Get us all hopeful and then pull the rug out from under us? Tell us we were going to be on national TV and it was going to be so exciting and, yes, we were even going to get new paint and floors and stuff . . . all for free. Then, once everyone was all excited, step in and tell us that because someone had let the secret out, the whole deal was off ?

Miss Golden’s smile widened as she stepped in front of everyone. She wore a T-shirt and jeans, which made it look like she was ready to start working now. I wondered if she’d help out on the project. Or did she just come in, set it up, and head back to Hollywood?

After a long pause, Miss Golden started speaking. “How many of you take classes in the language arts wing?”

Hands went up all around me. Of course we did. Language arts was required for seventh graders. We were the only ones who ever used that wing, except for some eighth graders who had lockers down that way. I’d figured they stuck the seventh graders there because it was the worst part of the school. Sixth graders were new and they didn’t want to scare them off, and eighth graders had paid their dues and deserved to have classes in nicer areas.

“How many of you think that wing could use a twenty-four-hour makeover?” Miss Golden said enthusiastically.

The enthusiasm caught on. People cheered. Some clapped. Even those who sat silently seemed to be buzzing with excitement. They knew something big was happening here.

“How many of you would like to see a break area take the place of that old deserted classroom at the end of the hall?” Miss Golden asked.

More cheering. I realized then that I was probably the only one in the whole place not cheering. I was just sitting there, staring at Miss Golden, feeling like my entire body was frozen in place. What was happening here?

“The TV show
24-Hour Makeover
will bring you that
and so much more,” Miss Golden said. Now she sounded like a cheerleader. “And that’s not even the best part.”

No one cheered that time. Everyone was listening attentively, trying to figure out what came next. A big-screen TV? Built-in computers for checking e-mail? Free fresh-baked cookies any time of day?

“You get to help.”

Miss Golden was looking at all of us, but it felt like she was looking right at me. I’m sure everyone else thought she was looking at them.

“Since the seventh graders use that hall the most, the seventh graders get to help,” Miss Golden continued. “Just show up Saturday morning at six a.m., and we’ll put you to work.”

Mr. Shelly stepped forward and took the mic. “You aren’t guaranteed to be filmed,” he said, before handing the microphone back to her.

“The cameras will be rolling all day,” Miss Golden said. “But we can’t make any promises about what will end up in the final cut. Still . . . if you don’t show up, you don’t have a chance.”

Mr. Shelly stepped up again. It sounded like he was telling her to tell us something else. She turned back to us, speaking into the mic.

“Yes, there is a catch,” she admitted. “Only those who are here when we open the doors get to help. We’ll let in whoever is outside the front doors, but then they will be locked.”