30 Days of No Gossip (8 page)

“WHO’S THAT?”

The question came from Emma, who was sitting behind the girl across from me in social studies the next morning. We were all waiting for the results of midterms. I turned to follow Emma’s stare. She was watching something out the window. By then only a few of us were looking out, but we were all looking at the same thing.

It was Miss Hollywood, surrounded by those same two guys who had been with her Saturday morning. They were heading down the sidewalk toward the parking lot. If Miss Golden was trying to keep all of this top secret, why was she walking out there in broad daylight, in front of everyone?

“Nobody knows,” Liza Cross said. “She’s been here all morning.”

“I heard she’s here to buy the school,” Kimberly Browning said. “They’re going to tear it down and build a shopping center.”

That was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. But it immediately spiraled out of control.

“Where will we go to school?” Liza asked.

Kimberly shrugged. “They’ll probably combine us with Beechwood Middle.”

Emma spoke up. “Ugh. They have roaches the size of cats in that school.”

Did these people even listen to themselves? “They aren’t selling the school,” I said.

Everyone was looking at me. I was the one who knew things. I’d straighten all this out.

I looked out at Miss Hollywood and her helpers, climbing into a car. How much could I say?

“She’s helping improve the school,” I said. “She was asking me questions.”

Wrong move. Of course, Kimberly latched right on to that. “About improving the school?”

“Like what?” Emma added.

“I’ll bet they’re going to remodel the whole place,” Kimberly said. “Maybe we’ll even get carpet.”

“And TVs.” This from Liza, who sounded even more excited.

“I doubt we’ll get TVs in school,” I corrected.

“Why not?” Kevin Jones asked. He was seated behind Emma. “It could be educational. They could show documentaries about the war or something.”

When Liza spoke, she had a dreamy expression. “And they could set up a whole break area with big, soft sofas and a snack bar . . .”

“And cell phone rooms, so we could talk in private,” Kevin said.

I bit my lip to keep from speaking up about what we’d discussed in Mr. Shelly’s office yesterday about a break area. Miss Golden would be glad to know our idea was a hit with students, though. If only I could tell her.

Miss Turner showed up, passing our midterms out. My sixth B. I was betting Vi got all A’s. For the rest of social studies, I worried about what I’d said. I’d just said Miss Golden wanted to improve the school. That was fact. Still, I worried what would happen next. If it spread through the school and got back to Vi, and she found out I was the one who had started it, I’d be in big trouble.

It wasn’t a good sign that everyone seemed to latch on to me as we were leaving class. I looked around nervously as I stepped out into the hallway. No sign of Vi, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t turn a corner and run directly into her.

“Did you meet her?”

“What did she say?”

“What does she plan to do?”

The questions were unending, which was a good thing, since I wasn’t answering any of them. Everyone’s words were jumbled so closely together, there wouldn’t have been time for me to say anything even if I wanted to. I just kept walking, going faster as I headed toward my locker.

“I need to get stuff for my next class,” I announced to no one in particular. That somehow helped me shake a couple of them, but Emma and Kimberly remained. And then, as I was turning my locker combination while wishing they’d all just vanish, I heard Jessica’s voice.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“You know that new woman who showed up at school today?” Kimberly asked. No, Jessica had no idea who they were talking about, I was pretty sure. But Kimberly continued anyway. “Maddie says she’s here to completely remodel the whole school.”

“I didn’t say that,” I said, whirling around to face all of them. “I said no such thing.”

Only Jessica’s eyes widened at that outburst. Everyone else just stared at me like they were waiting for me to say something else.

“You said she was here to redo the school,” Emma pointed out. “I heard you.”

“I’m lost,” Jessica said.

“I met her in the principal’s office.” I sighed. “She’s really nice. She was talking about some improvements, that’s all I know. Now, I really need to get to class.”

I wasn’t sure if I’d said the wrong thing or not, but that was all I could think to do to fix it. My next step was to run.

•  •  •

Jessica and Sydney were waiting for me after last period. Usually Vi and I caught up with them outside, in the area where the buses were, so I knew what this was about.

“Spill it,” Sydney said.

I clamped my lips together and shook my head. Most important, though, I kept walking.

“Come on, you know stuff,” Jessica pleaded, rushing to keep up with me. “You have to tell us. We’re your besties.”

That tugged at me, but I couldn’t say anything. Any
second now we’d run into Vi and she’d overhear everything we were saying.

“I didn’t say anything,” I said. “I was just trying to make them feel better. They were all worried we would be merging with Beechwood Middle.”

Sydney gasped. “They’re sending us to Beechwood Middle?”

“No.” This was just getting worse by the minute. I needed to stop talking. Maybe I should stay home for the rest of the thirty days.

“Then why did you say they were?” Sydney asked.

“I didn’t say that. I was telling you what the other people in class were guessing, but it isn’t true. I was correcting them on it.”

I’d stopped walking and now was looking at both of them, trying to let them know that it was very important that they understand this. This wasn’t my gossip. It was other people’s gossip. It was starting to hit me, though, that Vi was blaming all of this gossip stuff on me when I wasn’t the only one who gossiped. Sure, I did my part, but even when I wasn’t trying to gossip, they were all filling in the blanks, making gossip out of things I didn’t say.

“Vi!” Sydney called out. Vi. She was still speaking
to Sydney and Jess and . . . well . . . everyone else who was gossiping their little mouths off. The only person she wasn’t speaking to was the one person who had stopped gossiping.

I had to stop this. Whether Vi was speaking to me or not, I had to tell her what was going on before she heard it from someone else.

“We have to talk,” I said to Vi. “Something’s happened.”

“Vi! I’ve been looking for you.”

Vi was still looking at me when Kathina Freeman pulled her attention away. Kathina was running up beside me, but her attention was focused on Vi. I held in a groan. If Kathina was talking to us, it had to be about Travis, and if it was about Travis, I might be in even more trouble. I hadn’t said anything to anyone about it since I’d promised not to gossip, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still get into trouble somehow, as I was finding out.

“Guess who was asking about you?” Kathina said. She had one of those looks on her face that I knew all too well. It was a look that said she knew something nobody else knew and she couldn’t wait to tell someone.

I missed that feeling.

“Who?” Vi asked. Her level of excitement didn’t even come close to Kathina’s. In fact, Vi sounded kind of bored.

“Travis Fisher,” Kathina answered. Her smile had widened so much, I thought it might fall off her face. “He asked me how well I knew you.”

I looked over at Vi. She had a puzzled look on her face. I wouldn’t have expected her to frown over news like this.

“Exactly what did he say?” Vi asked.

“He asked how well I knew that Vivienne Lakewood girl,” Kathina said. “I told him we go all the way back to first grade. He wanted to know what you were like.”

This time I was the one to ask, “What did you say?”

This should be interesting, since Kathina and Vi
didn’t
go all the way back to first grade. Sure, we’d all gone to school together, but Kathina and Vi had maybe had four conversations in all that time. One of those conversations was the one where Vi had found out I told Travis she liked him.

“I said you were really sweet,” Kathina told her. “Kind of quiet, but very classy. Like an old-timey movie star. I think he might like you. Whoops, that’s my ride. See ya.”

We’d stepped through the school entrance onto the overcrowded walkway in front of the school. In front of us, kids were climbing into the school buses lined up, ready to leave in just a few minutes. Instead of heading toward our bus, though, Vi stopped to stare after Kathina.

“What did she mean by that?” Vi asked.

Vi was speaking to me. Well, she’d said the words to the air in front of her, so it sounded almost like she was talking to herself, but if there was a small chance she might speak to me, I had to go with it.

“Let’s get on the bus and talk about it,” I rushed to say before she could realize she was kind-of-sort-of talking to me. We had more to talk about than Kathina. I wanted to warn her about everything that had happened at school that day.

“Old-timey movie star?” Vi asked, unfazed by me trying to urge her toward the bus. “What does that mean? That makes me sound boring.”

“No, it doesn’t. You’re classy. Like Audrey Hepburn or Julia Roberts. You know, an old-timey movie star.”

That didn’t seem to help. She still wasn’t moving.

“And she said I was quiet,” Vi said. “I’m not quiet. I’m very talkative. He’s going to think I’m one of those people who never talk.”

“I don’t think he’ll think that, but we’re going to miss our bus.”

I started walking and, thank goodness, Vi followed. I guess it was either that or stand there talking to herself. She was still trying to put it all together as we walked, though.

“I don’t think I’m old-timey,” Vi was saying. “I do all
this interior design stuff. Why couldn’t she talk about that?”

“She probably doesn’t know,” I replied. “Did you hear the part where she said he might like you?”

That was the important part, I figured. It was huge news, but she couldn’t see past worrying about the other stuff. To me, that seemed more negative than all my gossip, but who was I to say?

Besides, if Travis liked her, that meant telling him hadn’t been such a bad thing. And since I was on the verge of being busted for starting rumors, any help I could have would be good.

“Come over?” Vi asked. I could tell from the pleading look in her eyes she wasn’t just asking. She didn’t want to be alone. I could see that. I didn’t want to be alone at my house, either.

There was no way I’d say no. I missed my best friend. I didn’t even realize how much until she spoke to me again. I felt this giant wave of relief wash over me as we both got onto the bus and started toward Vi’s house.

I didn’t even have to call my mom to tell her I was going over to Vi’s. We’d had so many days of hanging out at each other’s houses that both of our moms knew if we weren’t home, we were at the other person’s house. That was just how it worked.

But the weird thing here was, I hadn’t been to Vi’s house since our initial blowup. At first I wasn’t sure if I’d be invited over until the thirty days were up. So it was a relief to be camped out on Vi’s couch with baked veggie potato chips and coconut water. That was the closest thing to junk food we could find at her house. My house wouldn’t have been much better.

“I have to show him I’m outgoing,” Vi said. “I don’t want him to think I’m shy.”

“Why don’t you just talk to him?” I asked. “I could introduce you.”

It beat offering to talk to him
for
her, which I was sure would just make things worse between us. I should have known that wouldn’t work for Vi, though. She was terrified to talk to boys. Especially boys she liked as much as she liked Travis Fisher.

“That’s what an outgoing girl would do,” I reminded her. “Shy girls are afraid to talk to boys.”

“I don’t want him to think I’m chasing him,” Vi said worriedly. “I just want to get to know him without all that.”

I wasn’t sure how to help her there. Maybe she just wanted someone to listen to her. So that was what I did. I quietly munched on chips while Vi talked.

“Maybe if he knew my interests . . . ,” Vi said. “He’d like me then, right?”

I nodded but she didn’t even look at me. She just kept talking.

“I could show him what I’m doing with my room,” Vi commented. “But he probably wouldn’t care about that, would he?”

I thought for a second. There was no natural way to let him know about Vi’s decorating talent. He probably wouldn’t care about what she was doing to her bedroom anyway. That was more of a girl thing. What we needed was a way for him to see her talent in person.

“We need a school project,” Vi said. “Some way we could work together on something.”

She was having the same thought I was. But I had one thing she didn’t—knowledge that Troy Middle School may very well have a project they could work on together. Only I couldn’t tell her about it.

“Maybe if people knew about your stuff,” I said, pointing to her sketch pad on the table between us. “We should make sure the people in charge know.”

Vi looked at me. At least she noticed I was there. I was beginning to wonder.

“People in charge,” she added.

People like Miss Golden and her two guys. People who could put Vi to work showing off her talents to Travis Fisher and the world.

“Mr. Shelly, for one,” I said instead. Because the whole Miss Golden thing would have been impossible to explain without gossiping. “And maybe some of the teachers.”

“I already showed Miss Hunter,” Vi pointed out. “Why would I tell anyone else about it?”

That wasn’t so easy to answer. I took a shot at it anyway.

“If other teachers know about your talents, Travis will know about it,” I said. “Understand?”

She thought about it for a second before saying, “Nah. I don’t think so. It’s no big deal, anyway. I’m sure Travis and I have something in common and it probably has nothing to do with decorating bedrooms.”

But if she didn’t tell Mr. Shelly about her skills, the crew from
24-Hour Makeover
might not find out about them. They might come in, start doing their renovations, and never involve Vi. It would be all my fault because I knew about it and didn’t tell her. She’d never, ever forgive me for not telling me her favorite show was coming to our school. But I
couldn’t
tell Vi.